T. W. A. T. or N. O. T.

[cheesy]

I got back home a little after ten last night after a marathon 454 mile ride. I am in a world of hurt today.

Anyway, starting last Sunday, I made a valiant attempt at riding the Tran Wisconsin Adventure Trail to Cornucopia, WI. I didn't keep a daily mileage log because I forgot though I did manage 1306 miles Sunday through Thursday.

I left home about 1:30 pm Sunday, gassed up twice, and crossed into Wisconsin just north of Galena, IL about 5 pm.


This is the Driftless Area of Wisconsin and Illinois where the hills go straight up, straight down, and there are ninety degree curves on either end that can be on camber, off camber, or flat.

I figured that I had to find a campground soon. A friend that had done the trail several years ago recommended two. Neither exists anymore. I found an open campground that was RVs only. I guess tent campers don't spend enough money to bother with. I remembered there were some state parks in the general area from back when I was a kid. The first one I checked closed their campground decades ago. I found campsites at the other but they required reservations and did not do FCFS. So, it's 7:30 Sunday evening, the season is winding down, the place is pretty much vacant, and the ranger office is closed until 6 Monday morning. Stealth camping is going to happen and it did.

I had a lousy nights sleep, mostly because I set up in the dark and didn't bother to set up my cot. The jerk in the site behind mine kept wandering around his site with a flashlight until midnight and started again at 4 am. I broke camp and was on the road at 5:30. It was humid and foggy. I stopped in Prairie du Chien for coffee, a donut, and gas.


I found a Wayside about an hour later and stopped to make breakfast.




The Wayside was along the Mississippi and there was some barge traffic.


After breakfast, I followed the trail via the .gpx files on my Garmin. It was all paved and took me through some pretty country but trying to wrestle the Ural through the twists and turns was tiring. By the time I got to my next gas stop in Sparta, I was wiped.

Time to change plans.