July 30 Prairie du Chien to Dickeyville, WI

Distance 58 miles, 8.9 mph average, ride time 6:30, total time on the road hours and 5 minutes, expenses today $65.06

Have you donated to National Multiple Sclerosis Society yet?  If not here is the direct link to my profile page where you can make a donation and end this world of MS:
http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR?px=1782261&pg=personal&fr_id=17893&s_tafId=230714
Your donation will make a difference, please help.  Thank you.  The Old Guy

I woke up this morning totally refreshed from a great night sleep in a comfortable bed at the Windsor Place Inn.  I am having a bit of soreness to my bottom side as I developed a rash from skimping on the use of Chamois Butt’r and no doubt aggravated from having to ride in the rain yesterday.  Lesson learned I brought along only one tube of Chamois Butt’r instead of two as originally planned.  Bad idea on my part as this product is great in helping one avoid rashes due to long days in the saddle, I highly recommend you always bring enough with you when touring.  Another product to always have is a tube of a quality athlete foot ointment which works quite well healing bottom side rashes just in case you make the same mistake I did by not using Chamois Butt’r everyday and applying as necessary throughout the day.  Hope you bicyclist travelers take heed of this advice for your adventures.

Today I’m a bit apprehensive about the many hills on this final section of the Wisconsin MRT as there are more hills between here and Dickeyville than anywhere else on the northern half of the trail.  Outside of the first 45 miles since leavingPrescott,WIit has been primarily flat and the route predominately has been following or paralleling State Hwy 35 making it a pleasurable riding.  Oh almost forgot but very important to you MRT bicyclists, the maps for the MRT inWisconsinare great.  There are 10 sections each displaying approximately 27 miles of the trail.  A plusWisconsingot it right for what the size of their maps should be, each map is 8 ½” wide x 4” in height which fits almost perfect in most bicycle map holders.  Other valuable information included on each map is an elevation guide so you have a pretty good idea how difficult each mile of the route will be. Wisconsin’s map comes close to equaling the quality of maps available from the Adventure Cycling Association.  I’ll attach a picture of the map for your viewing.

Section 10 Wisconsin bicycle route map, they got it right for size and details.

My salvation in my struggle to drag my 110 lbs of bike and gear plus my 220 lb body up these hills is that my friend Jim is heading this direction to SAG for me.  By my calculation Jim should meet up with me before noon and just before the hills become a real challenge.  Thank you, thank you and thank you Jim for volunteering to help this Old Guy along the toughest section of the MRT.  After having ridden the past 12 days with all my gear it will be nice to lighten my load by about 70 lbs.

Not everything always goes as planned.  Trying to delay the inevitable of having to climb all the hills today I dilly dallied around the hotel before leaving, stopped to take a couple pictures and even stopped for a snack or two and an early lunch. 

Arriving in Dickeyville my first thought was to find a restaurant and sit down to a good meal and a few cold beers but that plan fell apart as well.  Seems all the eating places in Dickeyville close by noon or are closed totally on Mondays.  The only place serving any kind of food was a convenience store which had stale pizza.  The place did have hand dipped ice cream which I indulged in after the pizza a double dip waffle cone.  My next task, find a motel to stay for the night.  There were only two choices both small dated motels independent places, one seem to cater to a rowdy bunch bit full of guests, the other was a big if as it appeared out of 30 rooms they may have had one rented so what was the problem with it, I thought to myself.  I checked with the second motel and discovered it to be another little hidden gem on the road.  As mentioned the motel was vintage 40s-50s era but in good condition, rooms were small but very clean, rate was higher than what I thought it should be but the next available motels would be in Dubuque another 12 miles away which I did not care to ride any further this day I chose to stay at this motel.

I went into panic mode when I discovered my phone had shut down sometime between my text to Jim and now.  Not wanting to miss any messages from Jim, I had put my phone in one of the rear pockets of my jersey guess the 100+ temperature of the day plus my body heat was more than the phone could handle.  Thus, after checking in my room I parked Spirit and my body out front of the motel by their sign in hopes when Jim arrived in town he would see me, he did.  I was elated to see Jim and meet his beautiful wife Julissa and their adorable 4 year old twins Jasmine and Joella.  I was wowed with the entire family.  Jim and I studied the maps for tomorrow, mostly a downhill run to Dubuque and then a fair amount of hills getting through there and the next town south Galena, Illinois then the road would level out a bit and without having to lug 70 lbs of gear up the hills I should be able to stay the course and do another 60 miles tomorrow.  After putting together a game plan I said goodnight to Jim and family and turned in for the night.  Probably took me all of 5 minute to drop off into a deep sleep.  My last thought for the day, thank you Jim and family for volunteering to SAG for the Old Guy.

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