July 6, 2009 Eric and MP's home

“Eastern” Traffic; MP and Eric’s hospitality

This trip has taken its toll on us. Griff decided to just go to bed last night without going to dinner with us. All he had was an apple and a soda pop. Bill, Bob and I went out to look for dinner, first at Outback but it was closed. We found a TGIF which was open until midnight so we pulled in and had a nice dinner - at 10 PM. And we didn’t get back to the room until 11 or so. I then hooked up my computer and reserved tickets on the highspeed ferry for the 7th, leaving Milwaukee at 12:30 PM. I think we must have gotten shares of stock with the tickets since the cost was $640 for the four of us and our four bikes. No wonder we were able to get tickets at this late date - that seems very expensive. Then I wrote my blog and it was about 12:40 when I went to bed. Then up at 6:50 for the free breakfast at the Comfort Inn. We had about 170 miles to go to Eric’s so it was going to be an “easy” day.
It was Bill’s time to lead but he said he wanted to take us in to Eric’s, so Bob took the lead. The traffic increased the further we went and it was very crowded on the interstate, some going 65, others 70 and a few even faster. Bob did a good job keeping up with the heavy traffic and we managed to all stay together most of the time. Thankfully, the weather was good. We stopped to gas up just short of Madison (aka the “People’s Republic of Madison”), and then Bill took the lead. After making the turn onto Interstate 94 toward Milwaukee, the traffic thankfully decreased and the remainder of the ride was much easier. After Wyoming, South Dakota and Minnesota, the 6-lane traffic was a big shock.
The GPS led Bill and us right to Eric’s doorstep, and we were greeted by Ashley who was getting the mail out of the mail box. We pulled into the yard and were soon surrounded by the Fenton clan. And what a welcome it was. MP drove up soon with hamburg buns, cold cuts, pop, black bean salad and pico de gallo salad. We ate on the back porch and finally relaxed. Bill needed an oil change so we went to the HD dealer in Oconomowoc, and I had my headlights repositioned so that it didn’t just shine 5 feet ahead of my front wheel. That’s one good reason why I haven’t wanted to ride at night.
We returned to Eric’s where I finally washed my filthy dirty looks-like-it-had-gone-around-the world bike, treated the leather and now it looks like a million dollars - for a day or so. Then we went to little league games played by Kylar and on the adjoining field, TJ’s game. We just walked back and forth between the two games to see them when they batted or pitched. Dinner was back here, bratwurst, homemade potato salad, green salad and ice cream sandwiches, all very generous of MP and Eric, and much appreciated by us to sit in a home and eat a home cooked meal for the first time in 2 weeks. Thank you MP and Eric!
Off to Michigan tomorrow via Lake-Express and we’ll see how far we can get after disembarking at 4 PM EDT in Muskegon.
Ciao, Dad, Nat, DB, Matt, “Gunny”