Driftless Zone, we had missed you…?

We left Whitewater Lake bright and early, as fast as possible, and had breakfast down at a beach rather than at our mosquito-laden campsite. Once we got moving, we found ourselves heading west for, oh, about 45 miles, and mostly into a 10-15 mph quartering headwind. The route took us through Janesville, where we dipped down low to cross the Rock River, and then climbed out of its valley for what seemed like an eternity.

Eventually we settled into a groove, and at mile 45 and hour four of pedaling, we connected with the Sugar River Trail. We found a few new friends on the trail (see note later), made a late lunch for ourselves, and plowed through the remaining 15 miles to New Glarus. ‘Plowed’ is the correct, possibly only appplicable verb.

We splurged and got a motel (with showers!) which allowed us to unpack everything and remove some of the latent moisture on our gear. With the AC running overtime, we walked into downtown New Glarus and had an old-fashioned veggie burger w/fries and beer. After that we ran into our friends from down south as we headed to Culvers for a lemon-raspberry-ice. This couple had managed 50 miles on the Sugar River Trail — and also had two flat tires. 9 hours on the trail for them compares favorably with our journey.

More T-storms last night.

This morning we’re going to be picking our way across the driftless zone; our ultimate goal is Black Hawk Lake Recreation Area. Our fallback is Governor Dodge. Either one will be challenging due to the hills. Wish us luck!