Amazing how refreshing 38 degrees feel after 40. Once out of Chicago we were back up to speed, temperatures a little lower and our cooling vests started to work again. The temperatures continued to fall as we went into Wisconsin (they really hate their governor here
). At 35, the vests were cooling us too well (it get's positively cold!) so we took them off. Helmets came off too for the first time on this trip. What a relief! Put them back on about 50Km later as the relief wore off and being pounded in the face by bugs at sunset stopped being fun.
Twisties in Wisconsin?
Wisconsin was mostly boring flat farmland until we got off the highway after Madison. On our way to Lacrosse we hit some hilly countryside roads with sweeping turns and almost no other traffic. What a welcome change after the long highway drone.
On a sad note, we got our first and hopefully last road kills of the trip. First Jesse hit a bird head on. Straight into his forehead, jettisoned behind and fell on the road. We like to think the poor thing was just knocked out and survived. Shortly after, another bird slammed into the bottom of my windshield. That one was dead instantly, don't ask how I know
. I hope we paid our dues to suicidal animals and that they will stay out of our way in the future. We weren't even going very fast, 80-100 at most...
Farming in Wisconsin
Spending the night camping on a lovely farm of Giselle and Ron. No sense writing more, pictures will have to tell this story.
Slept better than previous night, it was nice and cool. Gnats that greeted us in swarms did not manage to get into tents. Forgot to put my ear plugs in and ended up listening to raccoons chatting around my top case all night. I guess they smelled the breaded chicken that was in there, but they couldn't get in. The noises those animals make are really amazing, they sound like a bunch of R2D2 robots from Star Wars arguing about something
. I was tired enough to filter them out and get a good night sleep. Gnats greeted us in the morning too, but we ignored them. Those insects will get straight in your mouth if you are not careful! Beautiful scenery and good company more than made up for that annoyance. The farm has the rustic charm of a place people were working on for generations.
Total for the day: 918Km
Moving average: 98Km/h
Time on the move: 9:22
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