Chippewa County

70.7 miles, 3108 feet. Today was another rural day through Wisconsin. The roads were nice and smooth which made up for the hills! The farms are beautiful and we enjoyed the old and new barns. Our route took us through Amish and Mennonite areas. Since it was Sunday, we say many horse and buggies and young people on bicycles. Everyone was dressed up for Church and they waved as we rode by. We also passed two Mennonite Churches and every car in the parking lot was either black or dark gray.

After lunch, we reached the small community of Colby. They were having a three day cheese festival complete with a parade. The main streets were blocked off, but they let us ride through. We watched the parade for a bit. It was very long and like most rural parades included every vehicle and farm implement in a 20 mile radius. We headed to the concession stand to kill some time because our hotel rooms would not be ready until after 2:00. A cool drink in the shade was very pleasant. The local newspaper reporter for the Tribune Phonograph stopped and took our picture and interviewed us. We watched a tractor pull on the way to our hotel. It was the first time we ever saw one held on a city street. We are used to seeing them in fields or grass tracts.

Tomorrow we head to Wittenberg and will probably encounter more hills. Some friends are meeting us for dinner tomorrow evening so we look forward to that.Read more