A Classic Old Fashioned

Not surprisingly, last night’s early slumber led to an early rise this morning. I’m still not a morning person but I’m gaining an appreciation for the perks of hitting the road early. As such, that’s what I planned to do. In this case, very early. Not my earliest departure ever – I still think that was my morning in Montauk in 2014 – but today I was packed and rolling away from my campsite at 6:00 AM. I’d even had a couple handfuls of Mini-Wheats before heading out. A good start to the day.

As rides go, the first seven minutes of this one went really well. Then it stopped. Not by my doing – well, I guess technically it was my doing in that I applied the brakes to stop my bike. The reason for stop was entirely out of my control. I hate that feeling.

Remember those train tracks that were right next to my campsite? Well, those same tracks intersect the road that leads from the campground (and neighbouring community) to the main highway. And, not-so-hypothetically speaking, if a train decides to stop and block that intersection there isn’t much one can do. There’s also not much SEVERAL can do for that matter and I was not the only one trapped by the train. We had to wait it out. I actually considered unloading my bike and carrying all my gear between the train cars but I suspected that would’ve been frowned upon. Besides, how long could the wait possibly be?

That question was asked repeatedly over the next 70 minutes. Yes. 70 minutes. There I stood, next to a dinging railway crossing for 70 minutes. On the upside, if misery loves company this was the place to be. As I said, there were several people suffering the same fate – some of which had more pressing matters to attend to than trying to make good time. Some folks were going to be VERY late for work.

One person didn’t have overly pressing matters but really wanted to go for her 2-mile run. And that’s how I met Mary. Mary arrived at the crossing not long after me. We chatted for the next hour about, well … a whole lot of things – after all, we had a lot of time on our hands.

With my early departure I was really hoping to reach the next town (Prairie du Chien) by 7:30 AM. Not that I NEEDED to be there by then … it was strictly a “how early can I get there” sort of scenario. The answer was clearly “Not as early as you thought!”

For the record, even though I was on the wrong side of the tracks, I’m not going to admit to actually staying at the River of Lakes Campground. Yeah, I know … posting photos probably won’t help that argument. The only reason I mention this is that I MAY not have exactly paid the full fare for my site last night. Or any portion thereof. But it wasn’t really my fault. I mean, when I was in the office the previous afternoon I was told to go look for a site. Can I help it if the office closed early for fourth of July festivities thus making it impossible for me to pay last night? Can I help it if I was on the road before the office opened this morning? Yes, those are both rhetorical. Or, at the very least, the answer to both is, “No!”

And so, there I stood. Trying to make my escape. Blocked by a train. Sigh.

I’d say fast-forward 70-minutes but there was nothing fast about that 70-minutes. And clearly there was no forward movement. That said, it was great chatting with Mary during that time … had I been there on my own I may have gone mad. So thank you to Mary. Side note: I’m reasonably confident that had there been no one else around I SO would’ve taken my chances and moved my gear between the train cars. I mean, it’s not like trains make jackrabbit starts.

It was around 7:20 AM when the train finally cleared the intersection and everyone was able to resume their journey. On the surface, everyone seemed to be in reasonably good spirits – under the circumstances. What everyone was ACTUALLY feeling, well … who knows. All I know is I was glad to be rolling again.

I ended up arriving in Prairie du Chien around 8:40 AM. Considering the aforementioned and long-winded delay, I felt that was pretty good. I had originally planned to stop at ALDI to restock my diminished food supplies but, as they didn’t open until 9:00 AM, I had to resort to Walmart. Sigh.

With the mostly-necessary provisions replenished, I got back on the road. Destination: La Crosse, WI. About 100 km away. Well, it was 100 km away from my current location. Since I had already done about 25 km to get to Prairie du Chien, I was looking at a 125 km day.

For the most part, the ride to La Crosse was pretty easy. After a couple of days of sort-of-favourable winds, there was a headwind for most of the ride but, fortunately, nothing drastic. My first stop ended up being in Lynxville, about 30 km from Walmart. Specifically, my stop was at a roadside snack bar called The Dawg House. As one might expect, they had hot dogs, burgers, fries, ice cream. All the good stuff you’d expect from such a location. Despite the tempting aroma coming from the small kitchen, I ended up having some peanut butter on a tortilla wrap from my recently replenished supplies.

I’ll fast-forward here to my arrival in La Crosse – otherwise, this update could go on forever. Suffice it to say, the rest of the ride went without incident. There was pedalling. There was water consumed. There was some wind. There were some crappy roads. Then there were some good roads. Oh, and there was a lost nut/bolt from my toe-clips. Sigh. But nothing critical.

My hosts for the evening were Taylor and Cami. And they were great. Prior to Cami’s return home, Taylor took me around town to see some of the sights including Granddad Bluff Park and Pearl Street Brewery. The former provided great views. The latter provided great beers. An excellent combination for an excellent afternoon.

After dinner, Taylor and Cami took me into town where we wandered around for a bit before we enjoyed a beer on the roof of The Charmant Hotel. The evening later ended with Wisconsin’s state cocktail: a Classic Old Fashioned (my first ever) at Schmidty’s Bar & Grill. For a brief moment I got to pretend I was Don Draper (which only means something if you’ve watched Mad Men) … then it was back to reality where I am pretty much the polar opposite of Don Draper. For better or worse.

Even though the day got off to a bit of a slow start, it ended up being yet another great day. Except for that giant hot dog … I still think it’s leaning towards being creepy!

Today’s totals:
Distance: 124.18 km
Ride time: 5:45:57
Average speed: 21.53 km/h
Maximum speed: 57.97 km/h