Ken and Janet’s News

We Made It!
We have finished the 2006 GRABAAWR!
Today (Saturday July 1, 2006) was scheduled to be 64 miles. Our motel was about 3 miles from the school which is the official start – so we saved a little bit, but then gave some of it back hunting for main street in Bascobel for lunch. We had a big hill in the am and then again in the pm. There were several places where the headwind was significant so we used pace lines whereever we could. The terrain was varied and hilly.

We were trying to reproduce our “men in the cornfield” picture but had trouble finding the right spot. We took pictures but somehow didn’t get one on my camera. I will try to add one from someone else’s camera when I get a chance.

We did get this group shot.

We had lunch in Bascobel at the Unique Cafe. The food was very good. We recommended it to Janet and Amy who also ate there and enjoyed it.

The last stretch of road from Bascobel into Prairie du Chien was hot and dry – we used up all our water so stopped one of the GRABAAWR sag wagons and got more water. It really helped get us to the end. We had a little trouble finding Hoffman Hall (whrere we took showers at the end of the ride) but ended up in the right place, showered, shuttled the cars from parking, repacked for the road and headed out after saying goodby to Amy and Brian.


We stopped at a Culvers for some ice cream before we left Prairie du Chien to tide us over until Dinner.

We wended our way down to Marshalltown and then Des Moines on back roads. At about 7:30 we stopped for dinner at a diner at exit 131 on I-80. It turned out to be near my Aunt and Uncle Ruth and John. They joined us for a brief conversation since the Jaz in July band concert they were attending got rained out. We made it to Omaha by about 11:30pm for a long day.

After breakfast we said goodby to Martha who is flying back to MD and we headed west. At theYork rest stop Janet switched to Rick and Janelle’s car and I headed for Concordia to finish getting ready for the Switzer Reunion in Lindsborg starting Thursday. The rest of the group continued on to Boulder.
This wraps up the blog entries for the 2006 GRABAAWR. Hope you enjoyed it!
The additional pictures associated with the blog are at www.flickr.com/photos/kws1111

Today we rode from Baraboo to Richland Center.
We completed the ride sucessfully and I will add more details later.
We spent a lot of time in a larger pace line.
We had ice creme in Prairie du Sac
We had lunch out in the middle of no where – but it was delicious.
We had dinner at a Mexican restaurant.
We had a planning meeting in the President’s room to optomize our time when
we finish the ride tomorrow.
Tomorrow is our last day. We ride from Richland Center to Prairie du Chien.
kws

Todays ride was from Adam-Friendship to Baraboo – a distance of 59.3 miles on our route. (The distance by car would be much less). Our motel didn’t serve breakfast – so we ate at a restaurant just before we got to Friendship. John and Brian and I had fun with a 3 person pace line early on. We were sailing along over 20mph but then stopped everyonce in a while for our group to catch up. We stopped for a scenic view at a dam along the way and took some pictures. It was one of the 33 dams along the Wisconsin that generates electricity. We also stopped for our required picture with hay.

We had lunch in Wisconsin Dells and stopped at the International Crane Foundation in the pm. It was very informative and interesting.

In Baraboo we stayed at the Park Plaza motel and had appetizers on the Sky Deck on the 5th floor. We ate dinner at a Italian restaurant on the square in downtown Baraboo.

Tomorrow we have our longest day of the ride. We will do 81 miles plus another 2.5 because we are going through Devil’s Head State Park.
Needless to say we are trying to get to bed early.
kws

GRABAAWR Day 4
From Stevens Point to Adams-Friendship.
The listed for today is 69.2 – but our motel is about 5 miles north of town so our mileage was closer to 74. I drove the SAG wagon in the morning so I only got 37 miles in. Normally I would have gotten more by driving to the midway point and then riding back to join the group and then riding the normal route. But I chose to do some work on my computer for an hour or so before I drove to the lunch stop. By the time I got there, the group was only 4 miles away so I decided to just stay. The terrain was mostly level – no big hills and much of the route was along various bodies of water – very pretty to look at. Rick drove the SAG in the pm. We are staying at the Inn of the Pines a few miles north of Adams-Friendship. We stayed here once before on the 4th of July and celebrated with some sprinklers – and plan to reenact it tonight.

We stopped for an opportunistic photo on a dock along the way by a large lake. Please excuse the helment hair!

We had dinner at the restaurant associated with the Inn of the Pines. It had its normal unique way of doing things. Including the brown and serve rolls that are steamed but not browned. We still managed to have a good time.

The fireworks have been postponed since it was too light and people were ready to go to bed.

Tomorrow we go from Adams-Friendship to Baraboo. Amy and Janet will join us there. It is another reasonable distance at 55.6miles. Friday will be another storey with 81.5 and an optional scenic route of an additional of 2.5 miles.

Today we rode from Merrill to Steven’s Point – for a distance of about 66 miles. We had some interesting hills today – but mostly it was rolling hills. We saw one accident where we think the person broke his collar bone – but not sure. Janelle drove the SAG vehichle today all the way from Merrill to the motel. but did stop by a farm for a picture with some cows.

We had lunch at a church in Mosinee and then headed out to get to the finish. We didn’t stop at the cheese factory, but noticed the park where we ate lunch in 2002 where Patti and Ruth prepared a picnic feast overlooking a lake.

We were joined on our ride today by Chuck the Christmas Chicken sponsored by the Guilford family. Chuck is a very well traveled rubber chicken – having been all over the world.

At the finish we went to the school and asked for directions to the Stevens Point Brewery where they were serving food and free beer.

While getting directions we met some locals who recommended Rusty’s Backwater Saoloon for a place to eat dinner. We tried it out and it was very interesting. They had great homemade french fries.

Tomorrow we will be heading out from Stevens Point with a destination of Adam’s-Friendship. The milage tomorrow should be 69.2.
kws

Today was another great day for riding a bike in Wisconsin. It was sunny all day and not too cold and not too hot.

It was a little hilly at the start – just to make sure we were awake. After that the terrain was rolling hills except for one steeper one as we got close to Merrill. Somehow I thought that the group was ahead of me so I was peddling hard to catch up just before lunch but they were behind me. Anyway we all got together again at lunch.

Brian had a problem with the rear cassette (shifting mechanism) and the bike mechanic at the lunch stop said they could fix it in a few minutes once their parts truck arrived – which should be in about 30 minutes. So the rest of the group left and Brian and I waited for the parts truck. About an hour later the truck arrived, the bike was fixed and we took off to try and catch the group. Unfortunately my bike developed a loose spoke and the wheel went out of true and the tire started rubbing on my brakes. We fixed it the best we could and continued on trying to catch the group. We passed several strawberry fields that were actively being picked and they smelled really good too.

We caught the group at the 2nd lunch stop and joined them for a bite to eat. We checked into our AmericInn motel and each went our own way on activities. I finally got yesterdays blog and pictures done after having a terrible time with Internet access yesterday in Rhinelander. I have several different options that I use, and none of them worked. Other people could connect so it was some cockpit error on my part – but I don’t know what. We walked to dinner at a nearby restaurant to the motel.
The official distance for the ride today was 57.5 miles. We rode a little more because our motel is on the far side of town from the school.
Tomorrow we head from Merrill to Steven’s Point. We are having breakfast at 6:30 and should be on the road shortly after 7:00am
kws

GRABAAWR Day 1
Today was the first official day of the 2006 GRABAAWR. It was
raining when we got up, when we loaded the car, while we got our
bikes, and then it stopped just as we were ready to start the ride.

The highway mileage between Eagle River and Rhinelander is just 27
miles, but by taking backroads in the beautiful wooded countryside
and along many lakes and rivers we managed to do 51 miles for the day.

As the day went on, the clouds gradually went away and the sun came
out and it was a wonderful day.

Halfway there in Three Lakes, the town was having a festival and had
blocked off the main street. I got a flat just before we pulled into town
There were lots of craft booths and food
booths. Some of us had an early lunch (brunch?) and tried out the
brats and sweet corn. We continued through rolling hills and lots of lakes and made it to Rhinelander about 12:30 and decided
to have our (2nd) lunch. We ate lunch at “Pauls Pub” and enjoyed it. They had huge hamburgers and great fries.


After lunch we went our various ways, some enjoyed the motel pool and
hot tub, some worked on their bikes, some did laundry, some snoozed,
etc. We got together for drinks and appetizers in Robin’s room at 5:00pm
and then went for dinner at 6:00pm at the Rhinelander Cafe and Pub.
We were joined by Ingrid’s sister and brother (David) who live nearby

Tomorrow we have another shorter ride (57 miles) from Rhinelander to
Merrill. John is driving the SAG Suburban all the way to Merrill and
then riding back to the group. He says all bags must be on the SAG
wagon by 6:30 so he can leave before we do.
kws