Day 9: Friday, August 16, 2013
Location: Connecting Route between CTH CH at Marquette/Waushara County line to beginning (southern) point of the Chaffee Creek Segment, Waushara County, WI, plus the northernmost 1.1 miles of the last connecting route in Marquette County
Expenses needs a little more updating. Add to the previous total of $809.37 (not counting gasoline): Mosquito repellent: $23.72; Yellow Marking Paint: $4.59; Two traveling pillows: $7.55; Twin air mattress with batteries: $49.51; New bicycle for Theresa: $474.75. Running total: $1369.49.
Today was an absolutely gorgeous day for hitting the Ice Age Trail. Unfortunately, I had to work. We prepared the night before for a rapid departure, though, and after a too-big dinner at home, loaded up both vehicles and the bicycles and headed for the Marquette/Waushara county line. I should say something about the new bicycle for Theresa. The one she was using was OK, but it didn’t make her feel safe. By the time we got done adjusting everything, she felt like she was riding too high, and felt top-heavy. The new bike had a different design, and she’s lower to the ground, and happier. Hard to put a value on safe, but $475 seems like a good deal to me.
The plan was to bike as much of Marquette County as we could manage over the 2+ day weekend, since Marquette County is essentially ALL connecting route. By 7:00 pm we dropped one vehicle off at the end point, a dead-end stub alternatively called 5th Rd or 6th Ave, depending on which map you use. Then we raced the setting sun up and around in a circle until we reached Dakota Ct, dropped the Prius, and biked rapidly up CTH CH until we reached the edge of Marquette County (about 1.1 miles), and then rode the 3.2 mile connecting route at the beginning (south) end of Waushara County. CTH CH is a relatively dangerous piece of road, where lots of folks were heading out to their favorite watering holes around sunset, and we were happy to get off that particular piece of highway. East on CC, then Czech, Then 5th Rd then 6th Ave. Too dark to do anything else for the day except camp, that’s what we did. We went and got the Prius, and came straight back to the end of 6th Ave. It was full-on dark when we got there, and so we just pulled off the road in a quiet place (as quiet as we could find next to the highway) and pulled out the twin air mattress for the back of the van. This was our first camping effort in the van in about 10 years, so we were a little out of practice. Nevertheless, the presence of the air mattress made all the difference in the world, and we were soon both sawing logs. It was a MUCH better experience than tent-camping on the hard, hard earth. Running total: 51.5 miles of trail covered; 7.6 miles ‘extra’ hiking/biking. End of Day 9.
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