Shelley & I had a fabulous week on the 40th anniversary year of the Pedal Across Wisconsin tour. We are already planning next year’s tour. The PAW crew is a well-oiled machine loaded with lotsof kindness. The cost of the tour was beyond economical. It was started by the father, now 93 and has been carried on by his son. His 10-year-old granddaughter is in training to keep it going.
Ninety of us spent seven days
riding south, west and north of Madison amongst serene, manicured yards and
farms for 340 miles. Even the shoulders of many roads had their grass mowed,
looking like a golf course green. I loved all the beautiful birds flying up as
we passed, especially the red-winged blackbirds. Flowering phlox dotted the
roadsides. I have never seen such huge double poppy blooms growing in many yards.
Peonies so plentiful they could be their state flower.
In addition to their well-known
cheese curds (pass!), they have their own version of Old Fashion, made with
brandy, not bourbon, made either sweet or sour. Little did I know that Culvers frozen
custard originated in Wisconsin. Culvers was in every town we stayed. Happy
hour (included) started at 4:00 every day in the parking lot of our hotel.
Day 1 was a 100% rain ride but, no big deal. I
can’t recall any other ride having as many low-traffic roads as we experienced.
So bucolic. My rest-day was a 2-hour tour of the amazing Frank Lloyd Wright
home and school, Taliesin in Spring Green, surrounded by hundreds of acres of
beautiful farmland and the Wisconsin River. Frankie boy had quite the scandal with his
mistress, a devastating loss and no mental cognizance of finances. His skill as
an architect was genius, well beyond his time. A trendsetter. He lived to a ripe old age of 91.
