Hank – I slept fairly well on my new Thermarest sleeping pad last night. We got up at 5:00 am and were on the road by 7:20. A county road took us north to state highway 21. We planned on stopping in Necedah for a meal. Coming into town we found some interesting yard ornamentation. We bypassed the Subway fast food place and went downtown to see what we could find and hit the jackpot. 

JB Deli is a Polish deli owned and operated by Sofia Puszynski. She was just taking fresh-baked sandwich rolls out of the oven. She asked us what meat, cheese and condiments we wanted and fixed us a couple of sterling sandwiches. Sofia and her husband came from Poland to Chicago. Five years ago they moved to Necedah because the land and weather reminds them of their home in Poland. Plus, her husband loves to fish. She has a guestbook for special people to sign. We were the second entry. We made the list!

After eating we followed highway 21 to the Coloma Campground Rough Cut Saloon. $20 for a tent site and they have a bar that also serves pub food. Looks like we’re all set. Along the way here we heard from some family friends who are driving from North Dakota to Pennsylvania and would like to see us. Since the forecast calls for rain tomorrow and we’d love to see our friends–they were the ones who were not at Minot when we were going to be there–we’re going to take a short day and stop in Redgranite. With five kids they don’t get a very early start so we should be in Redgranite by the time they arrive from La Crosse. We have a Warmshowers host scheduled for tomorrow in Oshkosh so I’ve asked them if we can stay there Saturday instead. Plus, I have an old Air Force friend who lives in Neenah who will now be home when we come through so we should get to see him as well. It’s great when things work out like this.

The tent is up with the rain fly on and the bikes are covered to protect them from the rain. Tomorrow we’ll get wet but we’ll have a hotel room waiting for us.

Something new I learned about Wisconsin–this state is the number one producer of cranberries. Yep, and has been so since 1995. I had no idea Wisconsin had so many wetlands.

Something new I learned about America–cranberries are one of three fruits native to here. The others are blueberries and Concord grapes. All those other fruits growing here are invasive species with no natural predators. Eat them all. 😉

Kathy – Today was a mixed bag during our 52-mile ride.  At times we had very little shoulder room on the road with tons of semi’s rolling by us. Other times we had a wide smooth shoulder.  The weather was warm but not too hot and not much humidity, however we had a fierce headwind our last 20 miles.  We saw lots of dead animals on the roads today including tons of dead dried-out frogs that were laying stretched out with their hands above their heads.  For some reason this struck me as odd as I dodged them for hours.  Then there were the beautiful wildflowers along most all the roadways today.  I can look at them for hours.  I love how many states are planting wildflowers along their roadways to reduce the weeds.  So, it was a little of everything today.

We really enjoyed meeting Sophia, such a lovely and hardworking lady.  We also loved her amazing sandwiches for lunch.  She had some gorgeous Polish Pottery in her store, but it was a little pricey so I skipped it.  I have collected some much Polish Pottery that I really don’t need anymore…well, I don’t need any today.  🙂  It was another good day of riding.  We are really looking forward to seeing Michelle, Andy and their adorable children tomorrow!