Madison, WI

Sunday August 10, 2008:
It is Sunday afternoon and I am sitting by the pool of a family in Madison, Wisconsin who offered to have a few of us over for a couple of hours.
The CRC here in Madison is not very big but they welcomed us warmly and had transportation and other opportunities available to us. We are actually staying in the church yard. They have a nice size lot with plenty of room for us. They provided transportation to showers to make things easy on us.
Our ride across Iowa and into Wisconsin consisted of long days. We rode 3 100+ mile days in a row and finished the week with a 72 mile ride into Madison. It is amazing that a 72 mile day seemed almost like a day off compared to the rest of the week. Our ride through Iowa was difficult because of the high mileage days. However, the winds were either cross winds or tail winds and did not cause too much of a problem. The temperature and the humidity are both down which was welcomed compared to the heat of Nebraska.
On Saturday our riding group stopped for a cup of coffee in Dodgeville, WI. We ended up talking to a couple for a while and before they left they had given us a donation for our cause. It is encouraging to meet people like this who are supportive and willing to give.
Our ride on Saturday was on a small ridge going through the farm land of Wisconsin. We could see for many miles in each direction which made for the best scenery we have had in a while.
It was great having Jane & Kari visit at Dordt College. It was good to see them after 6 weeks being apart and there visit helped break up the week.
We are looking forward to next week as we work our way around Lake Michigan and into Grand Rapids. Our average miles for the upcoming week is much lower which will allow us a little more time to stop in the towns along the way.
Please pray for safety as we ride through a bit more traffic going around / through the Chicago suburbs.