Breakfast in Freedom on the Fourth of July - A UP Bike Tour - CycleBlaze

July 4, 2016

Breakfast in Freedom on the Fourth of July

I slept all of two minutes last night. The drunken campers two slots over were watching the movies until midnight. And it was way colder than I expected. And my sleeping pad was useless.

So I got up early and hit the road. I ended up in Freedom (I kid you not) on the 4th of July. As I was about to raid a minimart, a local told me to eat at Rico’s around the corner. So I did.

For $12 + tip I got 2 plates of food, a giant glass of OJ, and 3 1/2 mugs of watery coffee. I simply could not eat it all. Good thing too. All the other Rico’s customers were about as large as you might expect.

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For some reason the next 15 miles seemed uphill the whole way.

There were farms. Of every persuasion. It was depressing to see the veal operations. I don’t eat veal often but I think I’ll stop altogether now.

For much of the ride I was off in space. I’d sort of snap out if it from time to time. My biking is my meditation indeed.

I was serenaded by red wing black birds all morning. Their chirps were so regular they had me wondering if something was clicking on my bike.  A pair of quail burst out of some roadside underbrush.

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The terrain began to get hillier. Despite this, I was considering pushing for an 85 mile day until I met a cross country bike tourist by the name of Rob Bloomquist heading east. (I later learned that I had read some of his bike journals on line.) He stayed at the campground I was shooting for. He said it was crap so I went back to plan A. I stopped at 70 miles. The campground is quiet and has a waterfall.

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Tomorrow is set to be my first 80 mile day. That’s the plan but I’m going to take it one mile at a time,  Riding  between over and next.

Today's ride: 70 miles (113 km)
Total: 127 miles (204 km)

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