Here we go, headed east to Kettle Morraine. The roads were mostly long and flat.



We scheduled a stop at a Rock County Park, hopes of having a nice picnic and finding drinking water. We did have a nice picnic, but the water pump was broken. We could only get a small trickle of brown water from it. The pit toilets were interesting--basically a board with three holes carved into it with no private stalls. There was a nice river running through the park. A lot of kayakers and canoers likes to put in there.



Here was the next county park on the map, in Indianford, WI. It smelled like the port-o-poddy. There were tons of fishermen and motorcyclists. We ended up picking up bottles of water at the local bait ship.



Thomas's brain started to "boil" and he could not think right (he missed our turn), so we immediately stopped, found some shade, and he was given a bottle of water and caffeine pills until he felt better.

Finally, we made it to the campsite. We were exhausted and Megan told Thomas to rest and drink until he had to go to the bathroom again.

Our sight was wonderful--down a long driveway and almost completely surrounded by woods. The only reason I can think of for why it was one of the last sites available was the proximity to the pit toilets. When the wind blew a certain direction we got a big whiff of them.

Picnic tables are good places to lock bikes.

We went on an evening hike after dinner, along the Ice Age Trail. There were some pretty ponds.

Don't eat the poisonous berries!

Beautiful flowers (if there is a botanist reading this, please let us know the scientific or even the common name).

There was a nice platform for viewing wildlife here. A fish jumped out and sent Megan hollaring.

I can't believe Thomas put this morning picture of me in (Megan).

Thomas chose a scenic rest room spot.

Back in Indianford with the fishermen.

Coming back was tough towards the end. We had to stop frequently for breaks to refuel.

Read the full story below:

Thomas and Megan went on another bike ride this weekend. It was nearly twice as long as our previous trips, 125 miles total. We were prepared for this, so we managed to plan ahead enough to leave at a record early time of 8:30 am on Saturday. We prompty returned back because we'd forgotten our lunch cheese in the fridge. But that did not put us too far behind. Thomas set our goal speed at 11 mph, 1 mph faster than our usual 10 (was that bike computer present such a good idea?). We started off pretty well, even making 20 mph on one of the local bike paths. We kept chugging along, although Megan will admit Thomas helped our average at times by speeding way up and getting way ahead of Megan, then stopping as fast as possible and waiting for Megan to catch up.
Halfway through the trip there we stopped at a nice county park by a river (see pictures). We had a nice picnic. The pit toilets were very interesting--basically a board with three holes so three people could sit side by side and do their business. The water pump, unfortunately, was half broken. Only a dark brown colored liquid came out of the fountain and none came out the the bigger faucet. Megan might be investing in a water pump before the next trip, because there was a nice big river right there.
Not far from the county park we came to the small town of Indianford. Here there were lots of motorcyclists, fishermen, 3 bars, a river, a stinky county park with a porta poddy, and a bait shop. We were lucky the bait shop had bottled water for us. I am including a picture of the motorcycles in Fulton, a small town near the county park. It reminded us of Rolling Thunder, the 1000s of bikers in washington DC over Memorial Day. I attached some pictures of Indianford. Note Thomas's new blue gloves that match his blue bike shorts, and also his new mirror so he can keep track of Megan way behind him.
We continued on in the hot sun, and soon Thomas started to feel like his brain was boiling and got a headache and could not think straight. At work in our bathroom stalls this month they have a few pages about heat stroke and illness, so Megan was quick to respond with advice she learned from going to the bathroom at work. We quickly leaned our bikes at the corner where we were, and Megan sent Thomas to the nearest shade with a full bottle of water and a caffeine pill (ok, they actually do not recommend caffeine at work, but Thomas is a special case). Megan made sure he drank the bottle of water and we were not to continue until he felt better and we would bike slower and not push it. We were only about 15 or 20 miles away from our destination at that point and it was only 2:30 pm so there was no rush.
Thomas soon felt better (I think the caffeine pill did its trick) and we managed to keep up our average, and arrived at Kettle Morraine State Park Whitewater Lake East Campground shortly after 4 pm! We did have a long boring road for 12 miles, where the only excitement was a little dog chasing us and its owner shouting at it. And we exceeded our goal of 11 mph--our average was 12.4 mph.
I attached another picture of Thomas when we arrived at the campground, resting on his thermarest. Megan made sure he drank another bottle of water and had to the go to the bathroom before he could get up. The advice from work is that your pee has to be the color of straw. But it is hard to check when you have sunglasses and pit toilets.
I got the tent set up while Thomas rested. We made our traditional spaghetti dinner, and then since biking 63 miles was not enough, we went on an evening hike. We hiked on the Ice Age Trail, and ran into some pretty pink flowers. There were also some ponds and lakes around the trail. One had a nice platform to sit on and observe wild life. Thomas and Megan took pictures of each other on the platform since, as mom has pointed out, we like to do that (attached). Also, a fish jumped out of the water and sent Megan holloring with fright.
Back at camp we enjoyed some Swedish Raspberry Vodka (Megan choked it down; Thomas went on about how Sweden has such high quality-- I pointed out Ikea and H & M might not be considered the highest of quality, esp. since my new HM pants already have a hole in the side...). Then we slept like rocks. The fireworks and people at the nearby campground did not even bother us too much. Our site was very nice, down a long driveway and then almost surrounded by trees. But I think I know why it was the only one available when we booked it 2 weeks ago-- it is very close to the pit toilets so when the wind blows a certain direction... --well it wasn't too bad.
Sunday we got up early--7 am and made it on the road again by 9:30.
Megan got a quick snapshot of Thomas on the side of a hill during a break. The little dog tried to attack Megan again on the long 12 mile road. There were cows by the road. We stopped at the bait shop again by the river in indianford (Thomas thinks the money is interesting since he collects it). We also stopped at a historic store in cooksville for a gallon of water. It was so interesting and old, and they had to take us to a special back room to get ice cream.
By the end we were so exhausted. Megan could barely go 5 miles per hour. At one point Thomas said to Megan "You see those things your feet are resting on? You can use them to paddle and actually move!" Our average went down to 10.9 mph for the entire trip. but I'd say that is close enough to our 11 mph goal. esp since on the way there the wind was in our favor, and on the way back it really slowed us down. We were so sore today.
Megan's highlights were Indianford with the river, bars, bait shop, and fishermen (it felt like a really different place), the county park, the historic store in Cooksville, and the campground. Thomas's highlights were his new mirror and bikes gloves, the butterfly species, ice cream, and how far we went.