Monday, July 26, 2010

Day 35: Fond du Lac to Manitowoc, Wisconsin


A gorgeous day for bicycling. We started out riding through the Lakeside Park in Fond du Lac, a city on Lake Winnebago. Then a couple of miles on a bike path-- lots of wild flowers. At about mile five we started a moderate climb to the town of St. Peter and were up on a ridge where traditional dairy farms and wind farms dominated the landscape. There were dozens of windmills. To me they are beautiful things-- all twirling away gracefully-- but I understand that people who live near them have real concerns, particularly about the noise they create at night.

The ride was reasonably short-- 58 miles (I neglected to note that we rode 85 miles yesterday). John took the first shower and I was serenely ridding myself of sunscreen, bike grease and general dirt in my shower, when the front desk called and offered an immediate shuttle to the laundromat. Thus John hustled off while I got to relax and do nothing.

Our hotel is what Mike Munk describes as "out on the concrete" and although there are stores of almost all descriptions there is none where I can find a new book to read. Glumly contemplating whether to do yet another sudoku puzzle, I fell asleep at 7:00 and slept until 6:00 this morning. Very little riding today because of the ferry ride across Lake Michigan so we will have a nice slow morning and I am hopeful that I can find a book before we get on the ship at noon. It is the S.S. Badger and we are told that it is huge-- can carry 200 vehicles.

4 comments:

  1. Once when staying on an island off the coast of Panama, I ran out of reading material. Desperate, I took a ferry to a small town where they said I might find a book in English. There was exactly one and the title was 'Dead Bride in the Nude.'

    Yes, dear reader, I bought it and savored every word. May your luck be as good as mine.

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  2. I bought a Kindle for travel reading and love it! Maybe you should try one and never be out of books!

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  3. Yes, several of the riders have Kindles and they all rave about them. My hesitation was that I plan to reward myself with an iPad when I get back!

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  4. Ah yes, iPads. A couple relatives have them and say they are not good for reading in the sun. One relative has both an iPad and Kindle, loves the iPad for pictures, docs, etc, but likes the Kindle better for reading. Choices, choices. IPad sounds like an awesome reward!

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