Day 2: Corn Makes Wind
I drove past the mud hole the first time, not wanting to believe the GPS was right. It had failed me before.
Circling back I came to the conclusion it was correct, and this was the only way to get to the dock and the Fast Ferry from Muskegon, Michigan to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. A two and a half hour journey that would cut about eight hours and a bunch of cities off my itinerary.
But the hidden cost was a hundred yards of mud and water of unknown consistency, with deep ruts on the edges from trucks gone astray. There was nothing to wait for, I slipped the clutch and dipped the front wheel into the mess that passes for road construction these days. In the end I got lucky and it was two-inches of muck - a 1,200 pound bike and rider don't do well in the squishy stuff. But it could have made for an epic photo montage. Amirite?!
Day 2 of the 2019 Prefrontal Tour was,... leisurely. My schedule was predetermined and beyond my control so I departed the hotel at 8 AM in a light fog and boarded the ferry at the allotted time, tying the bike down to D-rings in the lower deck in a manner less than satisfying. But it's a big catamaran and there's no chop, with a ride so smooth it probably didn't need to be tied down. Better safe than sorry.
I made a dozen new friends at the terminal, everyone wanting to know whence I came and whither traveling, and I'm better at returning the favor than I was last year. I'm a slow learner.
I disembarked in Milwaukee and met up with my favorite uncle in Delafield by 1 PM, then we were off within the hour for the bucolic rolling farmland of western Wisconsin, all rolling hills bedecked in the green of new grass and the tan of last year's corn.
My new theory is that corn makes whiskey, but it also makes wind. Everywhere I've ridden that grows a lot of corn also has a shedload of wind, and today was no exception. Post hoc, ergo propter hoc.
It was the best day of the Tour yet, dear readers. Tomorrow promises to be wet given the weather forecast between Williamsburg, Iowa and Denver, Colorado. Dust off those weather chops and make your route recommendations! Onward and upward!
Circling back I came to the conclusion it was correct, and this was the only way to get to the dock and the Fast Ferry from Muskegon, Michigan to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. A two and a half hour journey that would cut about eight hours and a bunch of cities off my itinerary.
But the hidden cost was a hundred yards of mud and water of unknown consistency, with deep ruts on the edges from trucks gone astray. There was nothing to wait for, I slipped the clutch and dipped the front wheel into the mess that passes for road construction these days. In the end I got lucky and it was two-inches of muck - a 1,200 pound bike and rider don't do well in the squishy stuff. But it could have made for an epic photo montage. Amirite?!
Day 2 of the 2019 Prefrontal Tour was,... leisurely. My schedule was predetermined and beyond my control so I departed the hotel at 8 AM in a light fog and boarded the ferry at the allotted time, tying the bike down to D-rings in the lower deck in a manner less than satisfying. But it's a big catamaran and there's no chop, with a ride so smooth it probably didn't need to be tied down. Better safe than sorry.
I made a dozen new friends at the terminal, everyone wanting to know whence I came and whither traveling, and I'm better at returning the favor than I was last year. I'm a slow learner.
I disembarked in Milwaukee and met up with my favorite uncle in Delafield by 1 PM, then we were off within the hour for the bucolic rolling farmland of western Wisconsin, all rolling hills bedecked in the green of new grass and the tan of last year's corn.
My new theory is that corn makes whiskey, but it also makes wind. Everywhere I've ridden that grows a lot of corn also has a shedload of wind, and today was no exception. Post hoc, ergo propter hoc.
It was the best day of the Tour yet, dear readers. Tomorrow promises to be wet given the weather forecast between Williamsburg, Iowa and Denver, Colorado. Dust off those weather chops and make your route recommendations! Onward and upward!
