46 Miles
Woke up to the smell of warm rosemary molasses cookies and happily remembered I was in Heidi’s huuuuge (by Chicago standards) apartment. It was Monday, and Heidi was getting ready to teach some 7th graders. Britt and I knew we had the shortest day, mileage wise, so we took our time and made ourselves breakfast. We were back on the trail by 8:30ish, and the ride down Blue Mounds was more fun than the ride up it a couple nights prior!
Heidi advised us to take County T road towards the Wisconsin River, which is the flattest route out of the state. The first hills down were amazing! My cheeks were sore from smiling so much. The valleys of the hills were beautiful, which were noticed on the slower uphill strokes. Britt pointed out my positivity when I claimed that we were getting better at climbing them. Whatever, I’m not always a pessimist, I just keeps it real.
Right before we crossed the river into Spring Green – Britt had to go to the hardware store – we ran into some ladies looking for a cemetery where Frank Lloyd Wright’s wife was buried. Then we saw them again behind an old chapel which contained said cemetery. Long story short, we peed behind the chapel, next to the cemetery where the late Mrs. Wright is buried.
Once we got on 23, the realization that Frank Lloyd Wright’s old house on some rock and gift shop/cafe was right there. Britt suggested we should see the house, and I’m all like, umm, we live in Chicago, we see sweet architecture like everyday! We both agreed to continue on our own route when reading a sign that told us that special house was 6 miles out of the way. No thanks.
Spring Green had twice the population of Blue Mounds and even has a visitors’ center. I don’t know if you know this, but it’s kind of a big deal. The best part of this place was getting Sprecher Root Beer. I don’t even like root beer that much, and here I am raving about this one. At the restaurant, people were telling us to go in all sorts of directions to get to Muscoda
(pronounced musk-ah-day) from Spring Green. We decided to take the old reserved guy’s advice at the hardware store since he seemed to be a more reliable source.
We crossed the river back to the southern side in Lone Rock. The ride on the bluffs was scary for me, seeing that the road was narrow, hilly, and curvy – making it more difficult for fast moving vehicles to see you. Britt on the other hand was just flying down the hills, without much care. Sometimes I think our personalities rub off on each other, even switch.
Muscoda was reached around4:30. We spent $6 at the grocery store, set up camp along the river, showered, ate, and watched the sunset over the Wisconsin River. All in all, it was pretty simple day biking through pretty simple towns, with beauty all around.
… I found Britt’s reaction to be more entertaining.
