Today’s ride destination is Dodgeville, which savvy internet and catalog shoppers will note is the home of Lands’ End. (Yes, the apostrophe is in the right place.) Lands’ End has a huge company headquarters here as well as a small retail store on the main drag. Across the street from the Lands’ End store is,… Read More Tour d’Midwest, Day 7: The XYZ Ride
We are chugging up the road to the highest point in Wisconsin, the Blue Mound State Park. It’s only a one-mile climb, but the grade keeps getting steeper. It starts at 10%, but it is 17% at the top. Did we make it? Of course we did. There are two observation towers at the top… Read More Tour d’Midwest, Day 6: Troll-ing For Beer
Our quest on this trip is to find the best beer, pretzels, cheese and ice cream in Wisconsin. Today, we consume all four. The day begins with a 43-mile ride to Lodi. We sing a CCR song as we roll into town and find a bakery. They are not hard to find as every town… Read More Tour d’Midwest, Day 5: The Cheese Stands Alone
The 12% grade on my Garmin tells me that we are no longer in Indiana. We have left the flatland behind for the hills of south-central Wisconsin. After a couple of miles of Middleton traffic, we are back in the car-free, rolling rural roads. The roads here are very wide, so even if there is… Read More Tour d’Midwest, Day 4: The Farmers in the Dell
It’s our last morning in Middleton, and we have time for a 38-mile ride before we leave town. On our route again is Shipshewana, but this time we approach it from the south. We are really here for one reason, the same reason we were here yesterday–pretzels! An unexpected store stop pops up at the… Read More Tour d’Midwest, Day 3: The Amish Flea Market
It’s Monday, and finally everything in the area is open. Middlebury is a manufacturing town, known for it’s recreational vehicles. The Jayco Corporation, who must make a lot of these things because they are spread all over the landscape, is right next to our Hampton Inn. Haulmark, who makes utility trailers was on our Sunday… Read More Tour d’Midwest, Day 2: Amish Amongst Us
We are off on our latest adventure, this year traveling to Wisconsin via Indiana in search of (in no particular order) beer, ice cream and cheese. For the next two weeks, we’ll be reporting and riding from many different cities and states as we combine our two favorite activities: eating and cycling. We leave Atlanta… Read More Tour d’Midwest 2012: Prologue and Day 1
