Link to photo gallery

I've created a gallery to put a more complete collection of photos which you can view here.

The photo of the day is entitled "André Unplugged" LOL.... recharging everything at my sister Donna's house in Portage, WI.

posted from Bloggeroid

Notice anything missing?

The first mechanical misadventure of the trip, a broken chain. Happily friend David Knuti is on his way to the rescue!

posted from Bloggeroid

Glacial Drumlin Trail Lovely

Today the last 5 miles or so were on the Glacial Drumlin Trail, which is lovely. I'm much busier than I imagined I would be to take down and set up camp and load and unload things. I suppose I will get more efficient with practice. Tomorrow, about 15 more miles on the Glacial Drumlin Trail before getting back on actual roads to head the rest of the way into Madison. This picture is actually from a couple of days ago in Barrington, but I just got around to editing it and looking at it today and thought it was pretty good for a selfie, and worthy of posting!

posted from Bloggeroid

Made it to Big Foot Beach State Park

Made it to Big Foot Beach State Park near Lake Geneva, WI with nothing to complain about except I'm pretty tired. I ended up walking a long ways because I got lost trying to visit the town. Happy Birthday and thanks to Matt Myren (and Margaret and the whole family) who not only let me camp on their back yard last night (a bed was offered but I insisted on tent camping add a way of checking to make sure I had packed everything such add tent stakes and so on) but also didn't complain when I starting walking around made the dog start barking (too) early in the morning.

posted from Bloggeroid

Off to a good start!

I'm writing this post in a park in Glencoe, Illinois after a great start to the trip. It feels so great to finally be on the road! After staying up late last night trying to finalize the packing and so on, and not getting a very good night's sleep, I was worried that today was going to not be fun. But the send-off at Northside Community Resources was lovely and it was great to see so many friends. Thanks again to everyone who helped arrange that event and who attended. Not 15 minutes into riding, I already had an amazing and fun experience which was this guy (Brandon Love) rides up behind me and says "Are you carrying all that stuff with you because you are commuting or are you going on a tour?"

We rode together a while up the North Channel Trail and the Green Bay Road Trail and Brandon told me about his recent bicycle touring in the northwest etc. and I told Brandon my plans. His blog is here. Anyway Brandon, thanks for saying "hi" and it was awesome chatting with you .... that was an auspicious beginning to the trip. I'm not surprised, however, that things are getting off to a good start, given the many good wishes and blessings for the road I have received. Among them, from the lovely baking crew at Our Lady of Consolation I received a St. Christopher medal with blessings from my dear friend Fr. Paul which is mounted on Birdie's (that's my bike's name) "dashboard"

You can see more pictures from the Ohio trip here. Another really interesting blessing I received was a Jewish traditional blessing from my Kung Fu teacher Sifu Cardona which was two one-dollar bills, one of which I am to give to a poor person when I arrive at my destination and one of which I give to another poor person when I safely return home.... This makes me a messenger of charity and basically puts me on a divine mission with special protection and help to accomplish the journey and complete the mission successfully. Well, I guess my lunch break is over and I'll start pedaling again!