Madison, Wisconsin

Here we are, Diane and I, together with our children Ada & husband Andrew, sitting in an air-conditioned coffee shop, sipping lattes and blogging to our heart's content. It's hard to believe that we now have 6 weeks behind us. As I said to Ada, how many kids living in Madison can say that their dad cycled all the way from Seattle to visit them?

Diane went home with A & A already last night, so she missed a rare event this morning: pouring rain. I awoke at 4:30 to a light pitter-patter which soon became a steady downpour. It lasted until 5:40 precisely, exactly the time most of us get up, so how's that for divine timing, eh? That meant we could pack up and eat breakfast, etc, without getting wet - although I had to dry out the tent when we arrived in Madison.

Today's ride was beautiful, but then Wisconsin is a beautiful state. The road conditions were great, and our ride included a 15 km stretch on Military Ridge bike path, a hard packed dirt track that separated us from a major highway, lined with trees, as you can see below. Pictured are Roughrider Melinda (she's from Saskatchewan) and Jason Veldhuizen. Also pictured is a view from between the trees where I stopped to, uh, well, water the grass.......


We were warned in advance that the ride would be hilly too, and so it was. But we were usually able to slingshot from the downhill portion to near the top of the next rise. The only place we couldn't do that was one especially steep hill where the road was under construction. The road was so narrow that cars could not pass you, so I was chugging along furiously in my lowest gear with a long line of cars behind me urging me on. Man, talk about pressure! And what a view they had... And what views we had everywhere along the road, such as the one below.

I left Fennimore late this morning, at 7:30, and arrived at Crossroads CRC in Madison at 12:10. Ada arrived to pick me up about an hour later, and now we are about to go out for a steak dinner with the 4 of us. We will likely not be involved in the celebration service tomorrow, as we're in the mood just to be away from it all for a couple of nights and relax with children we don't see as often as we'd like.

By the way, thanks for all your letters and e-mails. We got snail mail today too, with thanks to Peter & Marja, mom & dad, Rich & Marian (love the pillow cases - thank you!!), Chris & Jeff, Joel & Marsha (really loved the Timmy card - it's already all spoken for by several members of the large Canadian contingent and will be gone at the first Tim Horton's across the border), Aubrey & Heather, Jack & Anne Oudman (say hi to Sid & Karen Doornbos for us). It's amazing how nice it is to get stuff in the mail, and a good reminder to us to do the same for others.

Alright, that's it for now. Sorry about the last couple of blogs. Apparently the satellite dish is now repaired or reset or whatever, but truth is we're rather cynical about the whole thing. I do not plan to blog tomorrow, as you don't need to hear details about our time with Ada & Andrew. I'll just leave you with a few pictures of them and the place they're living at the moment, part of a property and buildings owned by Andrew's parents. Have a blessed Sunday. God is good, and we experience his faithfulness everyday in umpteen ways.




Today's stats:

Distance: 117.49 kms
Average speed: 24.7 kph
Maximum speed: 56.4 kph
Time in saddle: 4.45.02
# of flat tires on tour: 7 (the number of completeness, I hope!)