as written by Jeff

Illinois Beach State Park to Racine, Wisconsin

We woke up in beautiful Illinois Beach State Park at the crack of 9:00am. Okay, we were exhausted from the 37 mile ride the day before… and most of us didn’t get to sleep until after midnight. Last night our dear friends the Wilsons drove up to the park to give us a hand: they picked up one of our Burley trailers that Cora (age 9) and Elise (age 11) were taking turns pulling. It was just too much for them, so we decided to repack everything into 4 trailers and send one back with them. To make that easier, we exchanged several of our large puffy sleeping bags for much more compact flannel sleeping rolls. They were a welcome sight for us all: and they brought a few treats as well: grapes, corn on the cob, and Diet Coke. Angela’s heart was full.

But then, she got about, oh, 3.5 hours of sleep—you know, first night in a tent, it was warm, and David woke up at 4am asking, “I see light, is it day yet?” Grrr…

So, we were a little slow getting out of the gate… like 11am slow. Another reason for our delay was caused by bike repairs… Elise and Cora were hearing their back tire rubbing the brakes. Upon inspection, we found a wobbly wheel, with 2 broken spokes. Ugh, this is a more complicated situation.

Google maps to the rescue—a bike shop was less than 2 miles away, in Zion! We crammed our gear into our 4 trailers (that took some engineering) and headed out. It’s only 2 miles, what could happen on the way, right? Well, let’s see: two stops for gear (derailleur) adjustments, two more for brake adjustments, and at one point Angela (in the rear) started seeing gear strewn on the road! Apparently Brittany’s trailer was not closed tightly and random gear was dropping out. Lydia’s bag of clothes was affected the most—but to the bag’s credit none of her clothes were damaged.

This is what a bag looks like after it’s been run over by a bicycle trailer

We limped into Zion Cyclery at 1:00pm. Wow, it’s going to be a long day. I asked for 2 spokes and a spoke wrench; Dave the mechanic said “Sure, let’s have a look at the wheel.” After taking off the freewheel, he pointed out that many of the spokes were damaged. Yesterday the chain had come off a few times between the rear freewheel and the wheel, and at least one of those times had really ground into the spokes. We could replace all the spokes, or change out for a new (and lighter) wheel. So, new wheel, a couple of new tires (the old ones were 20-30 years old), and the bike was ready to go! The mechanics at the shop were incredibly kind and supportive of us and our trip, even encouraging us to fill our 20 water bottles from their (ice) cold water dispenser. Thanks guys!

It’s tough to see, but the spokes on this wheel are damaged from when the chain derailed a few times. 🙁

Dave (left) of Zion Cyclery hooked up Cora and Elise with a new wheel, and he and bike mechanics Duane (right), and Al (not pictured) were so encouraging to us!

Finally, around 2:00pm, we hit the road. Only 30 miles to go, right? Yeah, but it was a HOT one – temperatures were around 90 degrees until evening. We made a lot of water stops… water NEVER tasted so good. We have discovered so many AMAZING bike trails—we have been able to stay off the streets for 90% of our ride! Wisconsin’s trails have been especially great—wide, paved pathways with beautiful woods and communities along the way. Truly a treat.

We puttered along all afternoon, and finally reached our destination just after dark. Unfortunately, while turning into the park, Brittany did not negotiate the curb so well, and the trailer hit a rock, upturning both itself and Brittany. Not a fun way to end a day! She was okay, just some bruises and scrapes, but scary nonetheless.

Setting up camp in the dark is not fun, but everybody pitched in, and the tent and dinner were both ready in 30 minutes. After both he and David were eaten alive in the tent the night before, Joshua was militant about keeping the tent door closed, allowing a .8 second window to open the tent for people to enter or exit.

Cora counted 62 bug bites on David’s body from our first night camping. Poor guy!

Dinner for the day: a dozen+ packages of Ramen noodles that we had brought from home. It was fast, easy, and GONE faster than you can say, “There’s no nutrition in this.” Hehe. Fortunately we also had some grilled chicken from the night before.

After dinner and cleanup, the kids went to bed around 11pm. Angela and Jeff… well, we weren’t asleep until after midnight. The smiles on our faces as we lay down on our sleeping mats: priceless.