August 11 Day 41 Portage WI to Sun Prairie WI Sunday 45 miles 2126 climbing

This morning. We woke up to mist that turned to rain quickly. We watched the weather and kept thinking happy thoughts. The weather was passing through and the reports said it would pass by 11:00.

We needed to make sure the house was clean and ready for some friends of Mike Blang's  that would be arriving in  the afternoon. Roger who is the perpetual happy person was right. 11:00 and the rain stopped. Jim was going to drive today to let Sam have an opportunity to ride. Chris wrote instructions for us to get to a town called Sun Prarie where we would stay the night.

In Merrimack Jim is waiting for the ferry to go across the Wisconsin River. He wouldn't make it with us.

Well maybe the truck but the trailer would have to wait.

It takes about 16 minutes and 32 seconds for the ferry to make it round trip.

Ferries are cool. It makes you feel like you've gone back in time or in another part of the world.

That is Jim. He is first on this time.

The instructions Chris gave us had just had roads we turned on. There were no indications of how many miles.  Finally crossed over highway 94. This elephant was beside a gas station. I checked into it. The elephant has been there since the 1960's. the family who owns the station now call it Andy's Elephant gas station in memory of an infant son they lost. I found the info on a website called " roadsideamerica.com". They also sell souvenirs.

This cheese place is next door to the pink elephant.

Now this is Sissy. She is next in line on the road. They call her the Cowlosuss of Roads.

Marketing at it's finest.

Sam had a flat. It worked out great for me. I was r early hungry, so I got a chance to eat my waffle.

These girls were hanging at the trough. Cheered us on as we passed. As we got further down the road. We saw signs for road closure. When we got to it Roger said he's never seen a detour that stopped a bike. He went on through and I decided to follow him. He's an ole mountain biker and can ride anything. Me I just follow through, I told him I closed my eyes a couple of times.We got all the way through without getting off our bikes. Sam and Larry took the 5 mile detour. Roger was happy to have me along. He didn't have a clue where he was. We beat them in by a little bit. Jim motor paced Sam to the hotel. There was a party at one of Chis's shop. His employees put it together. We drove for about 50 miles to get there. It's harder sitting in a vehicle now than sitting on the saddle of my bike. Jim and I were happy to see Chris's son Julian. He worked with us one winter. He is real special. We also got to meet his fiancé. We get back to the hotel around 8:30 and we are all ready for a good night's sleep. Tomorrow  we drive into Madison to hook with the guys for Trek World. The best part of the day we never got caught in the rain.