Day 5,6 – Part 2, Medford, Wisconsin

At the rate I’m going, I think those in the buggy might make better time. By now I should be averaging about fifty miles (eighty km) a day. My goal is around sixty miles (100 km) a day once I get back in shape. Of course, the real problem has been the weather. It just has not been cooperative. I refuse to ride in lightning and it has been a constant on this ride thus-far.

• Day 1: 54.50 Miles (87.7 km)
• Day 2: 34.17 Miles (55.0 km)
• Day 3: 57.27 Miles (92.2 km)
• Day 4: 27.43 Miles (44.1 km)
• Day 5: 49.17 Miles (79.1 km)

As I write this, I am in Medford, WI. I stayed at the Medford Inn last night. The hotel was alright, but it had zilch for WiFi. It had three “hotspots” for WiFi and they weren’t even tepid. I finally found that if I sat in the office, in a particular chair, I could get enough of a connection to make it work. As has been the case in my travels around this country, T-Mobile is non-existent here. They’re fine in metropolitan areas, but come up really short in rural America. If you plan on travel, do look into AT&T or Verizon, it is worth the extra cost.

I stopped in Gilman, WI on my way. It is a charming little town. I had some lunch at the Kountry Kettle and really enjoyed the “down home” cooking. I felt right at home and everyone made me feel welcome. These are the moments that make a trip such as this such a joy.

I stopped by the Gilman Veterans Memorial on the way out of town. I began to wonder that if we gathered up all the military hardware from around the country, we could outfit a pretty good army. I think that is an M60A1 tank, we have one something like it at home in Sarasota, Florida, too. Even though I am a veteran, I would rather see us spend more on schools and health care and less on hardware that ends up sitting.

At one time, many years ago, I was asked by a certain someone to go pick out some wallpaper for out bathroom. I found what I thought was perfect. It had little toilets on it. That ended my interior decorating days forever. In a bathroom along the way, I saw the perfect match to my choice (see above). What do you think?

I’ve decided to take an early “Zero day.” Hikers refer to a day off as a Zero-day because they are walking zero miles. The weather alert this morning was forecasting doom and gloom, so here I sit is a Boarders Hotel in Medford. At least the WiFi is great here. With all the rumbling and flashing going on outside I think I made a good decision.

I had a light lunch and a two-hour nap…life is good.

Author: Dennis Blanchard

Dennis Blanchard was born in Bristol, Connecticut. He and his wife Jane moved to New Hampshire in 1980 where he has climbed thirty 4000-foot mountains, biked the trails and enjoyed the wilderness. Never living very far from the Appalachian Trail, Dennis was always aware of the seductive siren’s call to hike it. Dennis is an electronics engineer who has freelanced for amateur radio, technical and motorcycle adventure magazines. He now lives in Sarasota, Florida. View all posts by Dennis Blanchard