My last blog was a long time ago, so I'll try to make up some ground here in reverse chronological order. We just entered Wisconsin and it's hillier than I thought it would be. A lot of the roads are in worse than poor condition, but they got better as we came into the suburbs of Madison. Before this, we rode into Lake Geneva where we had a stayover at Brad Topol's place. His parents were amazing hosts and had great food for vegetarians and carnivores alike. The vegetarian chile was exceptionally fantastic: there were beans, tofu bits and lots of seasoning. We jumped into the lake which might have been a mistake since my clothes haven't dried, but I don't regret it - the swim was fun. We had some trouble with directions and our route, but a hero came to the rescue. We met a 14-year-old who took the lead and took us to the border of Wisconsin, at which point he turned back because he wasn't allowed to progress any further. Below is a picture of our young hero:
Before that we spent time in Chicago, which went by really quickly. Some of the old riders decided to join us for the fun. Before that we were in a number of towns, including Champaign. That was a nice opportunity to drop things off which were unnecessary. Having a small pack makes all the difference on a trip like this.
Indiana was surprisingly a nice time and we got alot of support from the communities there, in the form of meals, laundry and sleeping places. Ohio was really good to us too, especially the stay at the Eriksons'.