Tuesday, June 16th, 2015

Start/End: Marshall/Wisconsin Dells, WI
Mileage: 60+8+
Weather: A little bit warmer, but the morning was cooler

Today was just a beautiful day to ride a bike. There were so few clouds in the sky, and after the rainy days that we have had, this was just such a refreshing sight to see when we woke up.

Today’s ride was dedicated to a rider’s second cousin who lived in Madison and battled leukemia. This is a very tough disease to battle, especially as a young man.

The ride started with a short trip into Waterloo which was just down the road, but we went there to visit one of the few locations Trek has! Trek is a huge sponsor of Illini 4000, and I know that without some of their assistance through the Trek Local a Great Athletes program, many of the riders would not be able go on this trip. We stopped by their facility which houses designers and manufacturing of amazing Trek bicycles. We had the opportunity to learn about the company and even see parts of their manufacturing process. Seeing all of the fine detail that is put into these bikes was not expected, but very cool. We are so thankful for the time they spent with us today, showing us the facilities and teaching us more about this company that is so pivotal to this organization’s success.

After visiting Trek, we continued on our route, back through Marshall and up to the
northwest. It was a pretty uneventful day,Mohicans can just be a lot of fun. Many groups stopped at a local dairy/creamer store which sold delicious ice cream,Maggie milk, cheese and some other produce. This was definitely a highlight of the day. During our second rest stop, we stopped by a nice park and got to sit by a river and play on a swing set. We have totally grown up, we promise.

At the end of the day, we arrived in Wisconsin Dells, an area well known to some of the team members who had previously visited on family vacations. We arrived early enough to spend some time exploring the downtown, which was very close to our stayover for the night. There are so many places to buy fudge and ice cream, and plenty of other very touristy attractions. Some of the team went mini golfing, while others went in search of cheese curds to finish out our true Wisconsin experience.

We still have one more day in Wisconsin tomorrow, but then we are all looking forward to our stop in Rochester, MN, where we will be staying for 2 nights. We do have a mail drop at this location so if you have anything to send, get it in the mail ASAP and send it to: Rider Name, Illini 4000, 324 Third Avenue Southwest, Rochester, MN, 55902. If it arrives late, we cannot guarantee it will arrive, but hopefully this helps.

Tomorrow will be another long day like yesterday, but we will get out rest and get at it again in the morning!
-LAH