Big Ride Day 33

Photos from Day 33

On the way out of Madison, we stopped by the main pedestrian mall near the university and also went and saw the lakefront. What a beautiful setting Madison is in! The two lakes make a beautiful backdrop for the rest of the city. On the way back from the lake to the route, I fell over at an intersection because I couldn't unclip from my pedals in time. I fell right on the knee that was hurting and that started a kind of a crappy day. I felt really tired from the start, like I hadn't fully recovered from the previous day's riding. That continued most of the day and I didn't feel like I ever really got my cycling legs under me. We continued through the rolling Wisconsin countryside for most of the morning and finally reached Beloit, the border city between Wisconsin and Illinois. Beloit and its counterpart South Beloit, IL are not the most beautiful cities I've ever seen. After the border crossing, we were greeted by a volunteer from the Illinois ALA with some much needed water. A little later, we saw some inspirational signs by the side of the road put up by some well-wishers -- we never found out who.

We continued on through Illinois to the campsite, which was in a beautiful park in Belvidere. When I went to set up my tent, I realized to my dismay that I had left my tent poles in Viroqua -- what a bummer! I had to set up my stuff under the pavilion in the park. That actually turned out to be great since it rained and I stayed perfectly dry! Other people got the same idea but I had a good night's sleep anyway. The coolest thing about tonight's campsite, though, was that we saw our first fireflies of the trip. There are some people on the trip who have never seen them. That's amazing!

This page modified November 25, 2000