Wisconsin

Day 54. Solon Springs to Davos Chalet. 92 miles. 3291 miles TTD. 3831 feet elevation. Weather cool with a little rain.

Unfortunately, I only get to spend two days in Wisconsin. Sometime tomorrow, I will be passing into Michigan. Wisconsin has been a pleasant and enjoyable section of the trip. The population density is low, and so biking has been nice with few cars. The cars that did pass invariably pulled as far over as they could to give me safe passage.

Noticeably, people have well-tended yards. Many of them are acres in size, but they’re almost always mowed. Many of them also have really pretty barns. It seems the people take pride in their property. I’ve read that there’s a fair number of Scandinavian people in this area. I learned something really interesting about the country and Scandinavia from a book I’m listening to that talked about the Holocaust. Denmark was the only European country to fight for the Jewish people. There were about 8,000 Jews at the start of World War II living in Denmark. The Danish people helped evacuate 7,500 of them to Sweden right before the Nazis took control. Even the 500 that did get sent to death camps, only about 50 of them died because the Danish government continued to fight for them. Obviously, in other countries like Holland, where Anne Frank was hidden, some people weren’t very helpful.

Surprisingly, I gained almost 4,000 ft of elevation. It was definitely the result of many hills, rather than a couple of big ones. The entire area just seems to be rolling. The forest on either side of the road is thick and beautiful, with pine, birch, and other deciduous trees. It made me wonder again how people traveled through these woods the first time.

Around mile 65, these three—Nick, Caleb, and Ridge—showed up. They had flown from Colorado Springs the night before, then rented bikes in Duluth. We met up in Mellon and then pedaled together for about 25 miles to the White Cap ski area.

It was wonderful to have their company, especially since the last 25 miles can be rough on a long day. It flew by as we chatted and rode together. We had a really nice dirt road and almost no traffic. It was a great mid-trip treat to have family with me. And better still, they are riding with me tomorrow to Silver City, Michigan.