Two weeks ago I loaded up my bike and left Duluth on a four day trip to Rhinelander, Wisconsin.
The weather gods were smiling on me that day and sent me off with a 20 MPH tailwind.
The most challenging part of the day came about 9 miles in, when my 250lbs + 40lbs of gear + 40lb bike had to lose 700 feet in elevation over 2 miles without overheating my brakes and blowing out a tire in the process.
I realize that relatively speaking it's not really that much of an elevation drop compared to mountainous areas, and I wasn't really going to blow out a tire, but after 10 minutes of riding my brakes on and off, it took my hands a little while to stop shaking.
End of drama.
This was the last I would see of Minnesota before getting on the Bong Bridge to Wisconsin.
I had never crossed the bridge on a bike before. When I stopped to take this shot, I discovered how much the wind and traffic can cause it to shake.
After making my way through Superior, I was rewarded with some very nice scenery.
I spent the entirety of day one looking forward to having a burger at the Lake Nebagamon Dairy Queen when I got to town. I didn't realized they only served ice cream. I had to settle for gas station egg rolls. Fortunately, everything tastes good when you're hungry.
I ended the day with 57 miles and 1 geocache find. I spent the night camped out in a friends yard where I was well fed, got a great nights' sleep, and was able to take a shower before heading out for my second day.
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Day two greeted me with sunshine and challenged me with plenty of hills.
I didn't take many pictures the first couple of days. The scenery isn't that much different than what I see at home, and sometimes it's nice to just enjoy the ride without pulling out a camera every other mile.
After 65 miles, I arrived at Day Lake Campground in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. With the exception of the campground hosts, I think I was the only person using any of the 52 camping sites. That's just on of the reasons why I took this trip now, and not during the summer months.
After eating dinner and building a little campfire, I walked down to the lake to enjoy the sunset. It was a perfect ending to a beautiful day. What made it even better was knowing that I still had two days left.
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