Saturday, July 08, 2000

We rode 60 miles from Osseo WI to Sparta WI. Again the ride was up and down a number of hills. The day started out very cloudy. As the day progressed, we got more and more sunshine. However, the humidity was very high and the temperature when we reached Sparta was 93. I think that I sweated at least a gallon of water. At times the road looked flat but we could not get up any speed greater than 5 or 6 miles per hour. However, the altimeter kept telling me that we were going up hill at a slow but very steady rate. We were riding against a head wind almost all day. At Taylor I was able to get a picture of a Wisconsin Central train. This is the first train that we have seen that was not a Burlington Santa Fe train.

Just as we got into Sparta, we had another flat rear tire. We called a couple of motels and they were full so here we are with a flat tire and motels are full. In a panic, I fixed the flat rear tire in somewhat of record time. We then traveled to the interstate area where most of the motels are located and found one with an available room. We took it and got out of the heat and into a cool motel. I have patched the hole in the tube, Mary Kay has done the laundry in the motels guest laundry, and we have both taken very needed showers.