Off on a Glacial Experience

I continued on the journey of Rail Trails and picked up one on the outskirts of the Milwaukee metro area. Did you know that Allis Chalmers were made in Wisconsin? I passed through a town called West Allis.

New Berlin Trail, then through Kenosha, and on to the Glacial Drumlin Trail. I met up with Scott at the start of the Glacial Drumlin. I had met him at the Downer Ave bicycle races, where he was selling his book, Falling Uphill: 25,742 Miles, 1,461 Days, 50 Countries, 6 Continents & 4 Moments of Enlightenment on a Bicycle, about his bicycle journey around the world. We bicycled to Dousman and the Coffee Vault Cafe, a former bank converted to a cafe (The vault is a supply closet.).

Scott headed back to Kenosha, as I headed on towards Madison and had a flat and mostly lonely ride. The hills (drumlins) were all to the north, left there from the glaciers. Corn and soybeans. Have I told you how boring it is to pass those fields for miles at a time? Luckily the trail was lined with trees, except for the hordes of mosquitoes that surrounded me when I stopped.

I made it to Madison and was greeted by a note left by Shaili and Keith, friends of Rachel and Eric from college. I hadn't read much since beginning the trip, and I relaxed and read the free weekly on the front porch. Keith came home from ultimate frisbee with the kids asleep, and Shaili arrived a bit later from a work meeting. Very friendly and generous people. I didn't think I'd ever meet anyone as quiet and reserved as Eric but Keith gives Eric a run for the title.