Day 28 27/07/09 Minneapolis.

Woke up on cycle timing which was a bit annoying although allowed me to update the blog! After sorting out a few things, Brett showed me around Minneapolis by bike! Went through some lovely parks & gardens as well as the downtown area. Had lunch in a cool restaurant nearby to the uni then went up the theater to get a good view of the river. Cycled back through the uni campus which was Huge! Got ready & watched a few episodes of the inbetweeners - glad its crossed the big pond :) Met up with the others and went out for a meal in an Ecuadorian restaurant before having a few shots at a friend of bretts and heading to a bar! Food was really good a bit like eating pancakes with meat (no cutlary!) Unfortunately i had not considered that cycling for a month & not drinking may somewhat reduce my alcohol tolerance.. bit embarrassing but a lesson learnt!

Day 27 26/07/09 Wabasha > Minneapolis. 95miles.

Woke up Nick Connie & Amy and left Wabasha by half 7. Crossed over the bridge and cycled along the 35. All went pretty well cycling along the 35 one puncture along the way between the four of us. Stopped off at a nice coffee house & ice cream shop along the way. Really nice riding with other like minded people :) Got to Prescott around half one grabbed a bite to eat then went to find a 'ice cream social' at a nearby church. Turned out the church was infact 8 miles away but the people who directed us ended up going to a nearby shop to get us ice cream as we were sitting under their tree! Had our own mini ice cream social! Had a quick swim in the Mississippi before heading onto Minneapolis. Started off on quite a busy road but turned off it to find a nicer route into the city. Was quite sad to say goodbye to the others after a great couple of days but plan to see them tomorrow (today now). Took a long time to get across the city as it is pretty big (over 10miles wide) which began to be quite tiresome considering the length of time i had been riding. Lovely to arrive at Brett's apartment and go grab a few hot-dogs! Had a newcastle brown which was sorta homely tho unsurprisingly it was chilled!



Above: Puncture repair time!



Above: Ice cream time!



Above: THE MAN.



Above: Nick feeds the lama!



Above: Minneapolis from afar!



Above: (Left to right) Me, Nick, Connie & Amy.



Above: Sunset across the lake.

Day 26 25/07/09 La Crosse > Wabasha. 71miles.

Left la crosse EARLY planning to make minneapolis (160miles). Followed the ACA route which took me right out into the middle of nowhere on disused roads one car every 20-30minutes! VERY hilly!! Bit of a close encounter with an eagle to! Saw it land in a tree in front of me low to the ground had to cycle past it which was quite intimidating considering its size! Would have taken a photo when i went past it had i not been scared! Cycling flattened out a bit as i left the ACA route to follow the Mississippi. Broke my front derailleur which was annoying as it meant i could not use my top end gears but managed to get hold of a new one 20miles on down the road. Stopped off at a real nice bakery. Whilst filling up my water bottles at a gas station i saw 3 people cycling past with panniers! Shouted and ran up to them excited at the thought they might be going the same way as me! They were (to minneapolis!) Joined Nick, Amy & Connie! Had a great time chatting to them about all sorts of stuff all had cycled new york > seattle the year before so had lots to tell me!
We watched a parade in wabasha before camping in a football field. Got woke up in the middle of the night by the police who warned us about some kids going around - didn't mind too much that we were camping where we were as long as we were gone in the morning.



Above: Crossing the Mississippi



Above: Scenery



Above: Eagle from 25metres back.. no way was i getting the camera out any closer!



Above: Nick's worn out shoe!









Above: Parade



Above: Dinner on the Mississippi

Day 25 24/07/09 Wildcat Mountain State Park > Le Crosse. 22miles.

Very tired this morning because of the lack of sleep! Got another bird spot before heading off for breakfast. Only got 22miles done before thunderstorms came & didn't leave! Waited for 2hours under a roof before hitching a few 17-18miles down the road to le crosse where i checked in at a motel watched the weather which showed tornado warnings in the area! Slept all afternoon!



Above: Another bird spot

Day 24 23/07/09 Middleton, WI > Wildcat Mountain State Park, WI. 88miles.

Left Eric's after coffee & a bit of bird watching! After about 5miles i had a few issues as my front pannier rack broke but i managed to fix it up with a larger washer. Nice cycling towards Sauk City along the cycle track. Carried on cycling got pretty hilly! Saw thunderstorms coming so found shelter and ended up sleeping under a church porch thing! Slept in a state park which was different! Eat pork with a family which was lovely before watching the sunset & trying to get some sleep. Problem was this wierd animal that was sniffing & snorting around my tent! Freaked me out a bit! Even stole my pears the cheeky thing! Most likely to be a racoon i am told.



Above: Eric



Above: Bird spot for mr. lee



Above: Wild turkeys





Above: Scenery



Above: Sunset at Wildcat Mtn State Park

Day 23 22/07/09 Lake Geneva, WI. > Middleton, WI. 91miles.

Left Red's house and had a lovely fry up with 'english muffins' that turned out to be crumpets in Lake Geneva town. Finally got myself some headphones after trying LOADS of shops, felt really good to hear some music! Really nice cycling today along. Had lunch with some locals 10miles before hitting madison they were shocked at our lack of guns! Didn't understand how we protect ourselves! After narrowly avoiding a downpour i cycled into madison which is a really pretty college town. On the way in i bumped into a guy called Eric who was also cycling (without panniers). Eric showed me around the town (capital city of wisconsin) before kindly offering to let me stay at his house. Stunning condo in middleton that looked over a woodland with loads of wildlife. Took me out for a drive in his 1980 porsche 911 (could not stop smiling) and also taking me out for a meal followed by frozen custard - real good high fat ice cream (aka heaven). Chatted for a while about the trip and eric's really interesting swimming career & watched some of the tour de france. Had myself a really comfy kingsize bed to! Much appreciated!





Above: The way into Madison



Above: Sweaty me on the Lakeside.



Above: Me & the porsche

Day 22 21/07/09 Chicago, IL. > Lake Geneva, WI. 81miles.

Left Keir, David and Sylvia very grudgingly! After imediately getting the really simple directions wrong... i left Chicago! The shit really hit the fan then as the road i was following became an interstate without any proper warning signs. Just before the turn off i was pulled over by a rather unhelpful policeman who thought i was having a bit of a laugh which i can assure you was not the case! After a few phone calls home mr lee sorted my head out and after an hour's break i carried on the road which was very busy so changed direction north to see what would happen! Went through lovely country roads before ending up on a cycle track! Much better!
Came off the track near the WI/IL border where i grabbed some food and met Tiffany, Tammy, Scott and Red, who kindly offered to put me up! Scott sorted me out with a really good route for the next few days!



Above: Departing Chicago



Above: On cycle route



Above: Me with the lovely Tiffany & Megan

Day 21 20/7/09 Chicago

Packed up at Owens before heading downtown on the subway to watch BRUNO! haha bit cringey but funny none the less! Posted back a load of stuff i decided i didnt need to loose weight tho it was very expensive and not helped by the rude post staff apparently they are all like it! Went back to get our things after another cheeky Mexican then headed to david's, who had kindly offered to put us up. Arrived at his work shop - absutely stunning! Loads of vintage cars and bikes in superb condition that he had restored. Later arrived at his house which was beautiful & also very interesting. Had dinner with david and sylvia which was lovely before heading off to sleep.









Above: A selection of cars from the warehouse

Day 20 19/07/09 Chicago.

After a long lie in till 10 woo! We had some homemade waffles with maple syrup and strawberries made by owen's girlfriend angela which was delicious.Yesterday whilst in Owen's bike shop I had noticed a flyer for bike polo which it turned out owen did often. So we all cycled out to it and me and jon watched on as they played the first couple of games before i had a go. Which was a lot of fun! me and then jon headed back and popped out to get some food from a local mexican restaurant and before we knew it it was almost 6! so we headed on back to the apartment before owen threw a bbq for us and their neighbours from downstairs (a classic quote from keith which included something about eating 15 year olds for breakfast) .it was lovely to have a laugh and eat great food and beer. Before sleeping like a baby.






Above: Bike polo times!


Above: Setting up the BBQ

Day 19 18/07/09 Granger, ID > Chicago, IL. 102miles.

Not a great start to the day! Dark and raining when i woke up. Packed up a wet and gritty tent slowly before heading off. First 30miles were fairly trouble free then i had issues! Got a puncture on a fairly busy highway, which didn't please me too much. When replacing my tube i found that my pump had decided to give up the ghost. Good timing! Hobbled with my bike to the nearest restauant which was thankfully pretty close, asked around trying to hitch to the nearest town (Michagn city) with a bike shop. No joy on the hitching but one nice guy went back to his house and brought me a pump to use quickly! Carried along the highway before getting another puncture (i was on the way to the bike shop at this point!) thankfully it was a slow one and held out until i got there. Sat on their floor eating a gorgeous sandwich they had ordered for me before grudgingly continuing on the trip.
Next few hours went quickly averaging a good 16mph through nice quite roads. And then i entered Gary... this made harlem look like disneyland! I did however make it out alive for which i am grateful! Lots of steel & petroleum industries on the 15-20miles into Chicago.
A few hours on i met Keir on the Lakeside Drive cyclepath in Chicago which was really nice being out of traffic and by lake Michigan with good views of the city. Lovely to meet Keir aswell after a long day in the saddle!
Got to Owens apartment who kindly put us up for a few nights and took him out to a restaurant for dinner before flaking out!





Above: Views of the city taken from the cyclepath