Day 37: "...Cause You Wanna Sey 'Hey' to Everybody"

So apparently last night was a lunar eclipse the likes of which we won't see again for a while says amateur astronomer Allison I woke up at 5am and quickly glanced up at the moon, but before I could process any possible difference in its appearance, I fall back asleep 'totally not worth it' I think to myself. I wake up again around 8am to the sound of a tractor trailer engine sputtering down the road, and have a hard time blocking out the noise. I guess I had better get up I make myself a breakfast of oatmeal and protein powder, and get ready for the day. Last night there was a cool breeze and no humidity which kept the tent from collecting condensation, and thus kept me from being a cranky wet mess in the morning. It's still almost cool out It's a good morning.

I hit the road around 9:30am and ride back out to HWY 104 which I will take all the way up to Madison. It would be a short day and I would be able to stop for the day before lunch time or at least that was the plan. Instead there was a massive detour which added maybe 2 hours onto my day.

Wisconsin does not have trees or shade, and it gets extremely hot. I pass through some more Amish country, and stop for water under even the slightest tree shadow; anything to keep cool. I can't believe I ever complained about the cold.

The highway I am on turns into a freeway about 10 miles south of Madison and I am forced to exit and take a slew of back roads lined with State Prison Work Programs. As I enter Madison bike lanes start cropping up everywhere, and I see more cyclists than I have ever seen in my life it's like some sort of utopia. Every sign indicating some sort of restriction for automobiles ends with EXCEPT FOR BIKES. Cyclists have their own turn lanes! It's incredible and everyone in this town cycles.

I ride up and down State Street, which is sort of their equivalent to Bedford Ave (for you NYC people) (7th Ave in Ybor for you Tampa people) except it's closed to all cars. I eventually find the perfect spot to park my bike so that I can eat Mexican food, use wifi, and also keep a close watch over my stuff. After lunch I walk down the street and hear Neutral Milk Hotel being blasted out of a storefront. Small cramped stores selling posters, bags (see pic below), drug paraphernalia, beer ... all the markings of a college town. I really miss Tallahassee sometimes. I ride around town for a while and its clearly the first week of school Kids are in guitar and drum circles on their front porches guys are playing football in the street and posturing for the girls that watch from their porch it's all so beautifully obvious; the stuff that college cliché's are made of. So maybe this is where all those media representations of college life were based on? My amazing roommate, Crazy-Sarah went to school here I wonder how she is doing in the Peace Corps?

I ride down to the lake and am approached by Matt Johnson. He's about my age and he did a cross country bike trip last summer. He doesn't have a place of his own to offer me, but we talk for awhile, and he's a really neat guy. Next month he's hitchhiking down to Mexico to study Spanish in Chiapas with the Zapatistas. I can't even imagine. oh yeah... I might go stay with his parents in Minnesota... or maybe just get dinner with them or something... we'll see.

So I went to the campus, took off my shoes and walked in the lake (they have a beach ON campus). It's a really beautiful town, and seeing all the new and returning students running about all excited to be starting a new year it made me lonely for the first time on the trip. In case there was any doubt I am absolutely a city person.

I stop at a YUMMY BUFFET (my way of protesting how healthy this town claims itself to be) and load up on Chinese Food before heading east to meet up with Tucker who has graciously agreed to put me up for the night.

Remember what I said about feeling guilty whenever I walk into a clean house? his apartment was very nice and very clean made me a bit nervous but he was a great guy getting his PHD in Biology at UW Madison has done lots of bike touring all over the world. I do some planning for the route tomorrow and then go to sleep on the couch. I sleep very well; by a window with lightning in the distance, but no thunder.

"It's so hard to go into the city. Cause you wanna say 'hey' to everybody"