Friday 15 July 2011

Day 13,Ralf's Ride

Left 7am LaQuinta St.Paul and crossed over into Wisconsin. Took 20 miles to get out of city and connect with hwy 10.  Nice paved wide shoulders-reminiscent of Ontario with the rolling hills,vegetation etc.   Ralf is an ardent Pittsburg Steeler fan. Must hide this from the locals because the 'Cheeseheads' (Green Bay fans) will not be too kind to this tourist.
Temperature low 70's F.Thunderstorms at time of phone call. Waiting for storm to pass.  Challenge is to get to boat in 21/2 days. This keeps Ralf focussed and motivated to 'keep on cycling'. "Frankly,I'm getting tired of pedalling". May look into replacing cycling with something more sedentary like Yoga when he gets home (lol).
9:30 pm: Staying in Super 8 motel,non honeymoon suite,in town of Osseo.
ROUGH day. Severe thunderstorms all day;5 flats;weather horrible. No tubes left after 5th flat; valve broke on last tube; switched tires four times on side of road in thunderstorms.
 Becoming a 'triskaidekaphobia'-fear of #13 after this horrible day. In bad mood so conversation limited and brief.  Would like me to meet him in Ludington after he crosses Lake Michigan....and bring  4 bicycle tubes,3 patch kits and a vontrager hand pump. Requested that I am his support vehicle for 2 days. Emotionally spent especially when navigating thro inclement weather.
Told Ralf that the Brampton Guardian did an article on his cycle (plight)  in today's paper. He was ? happy to hear that especially after the horrible day he had. So it looks like I may be travelling to Ludington Michigan Sunday am .On second thought, Ralf doesn't think he'll cover 200 miles in 11/2 days so it could be Monday.
Ralf confident that he will be back in Brampton next Sat.We will be sending out more info on the "Bringing Home Ralf" party that will immediately follow his return home.So circle the date in your calendar-Saturday July 23.Hope to see you all there, especially Ralf.

No comments:

Post a Comment