The Train Keeps Rolling

Aug. 4
I sweet talked my friend Sarah into picking me up in Manitowoc last night, the cold beer on the trail at the end of long, hot day at Straight Lake paid off I guess! I ended the night with a few Schlitz and some horseradish cheese. Quite scrumptous. Sarah's boyfriend is a pretty nice guy, how he puts up with her is beyond me. She dropped me off the next morning in Manitowoc and I got my hike going again. I stopped into a Fleet Farm where I forgot my trekking poles, the same poles that had been to Machu Pichu. I dont think Joe and Monica would be too happy if their final resting place was a Fleet Farm. I figured I'd better back track a few hundred yards and retrieve them.

It was a bruiser of a day with the heat and humidity. I missed the lake breeze! Lucky enough I ran into another ice cream shop. Their cones are 25 cents a scoop which became free after a nice couple gave me a coupon! Score! As I'm walking, I'll get the occasional rock in my sandal or shoe, most folks would get them out but I like leaving them in because one of these times, a rock is going to turn into a pearl. No luck yet though.
Made it to School Hill which was my goal and found the bar. The town looked unincorporated on the map but when I got there, there was no sign but quite a few houses actually. Sure enough, one bar, one church. The bar of choice was Shadows. It was huge with a pretty good beer selection, although slightly old as shown by the Point winter and spring seasonal on tap. I was talking to an old guy at the bar when another guy yells over to the guy I was talking to. This guy looks like Gabby Johnson from Blazing Saddles, the old coot with a big beard who mumbles and is hard to understand ("I think he said the Sheriff is near!") but a little easier to understand. He yells "Al (the old guy), you drinking soda?" Al responds "Yeah, my diabetes is giving me troubles." Gabbyesque guy "You need more sex! That'll help with the diabetes. You gotta fist pound (as he raises his fist) a girl to cure your diabetes." The few of us in the bar chuckle. I couldn't really believe I just heard that. Anyways, they were going to let me sleep out back when this guy comes over and offers up his couch. I'll take it I said. John told me that he has had other hikers stay over in the past so I thought I'd continue the tradition.

Aug. 5
Shadows opened at 6 so I stopped in on my way out of town. I almost had a bloody for breakfast, almost. Ended up having a snapple instead which turned out to be diet meaning no calories and pretty worthless to me. Oh well. A sad note today, I crossed into Sheboygan County. I knew I was getting close because the air started smelling worse and animals were walking around with deformations. 4 legged dogs are rare in Sheboygan, 3 or 5 legs are more common. The only thing worth anything in the county is Johnsonville and Miesfelds. I should be out of the county soon enough.

I was making pretty good progress under the improved weather conditions when I got to Rhine Center. Rhine Center is an interesting corollary for unincorporated towns, it has the token bar, but no church. I like it. The bar resided in a sweet old building so I just had to stop in. Plus, on the sign it said "friendliest place in town" and it was the only place in town. It was only 11:15 but what the hell, lunch sounded good (also a PBR). The building the Black Dog Bistro was in was built in 1856 and once was a recruitment center for the Civil War. Yes, Civil War. Lots of interesting people have passed through there and I just added to that list! After an excellent sandwich, the DBD, I made it to La Budde Creek, the first section of real trail in many miles. It was nice walking in the woods for a change. I got to see some trail I had built during IAT-U in 2008, trail that was built entirely with my boot because I had no other tools and I'm awesome like that.

Next stop was the Sachse cottage on Crystal Lake. No one was home but that didnt stop me from refillng my water from the garden hose. I burned through the last couple miles to the Greenbush Segment trailhead. That starts over 30 miles of trail, I'm pretty excited! My friend Matt from the Ice Age Trail picked me up and brought me back to his cabin on Crystal Lake. I got a shower and did some laundry, I was pretty stinky. Matt's dad Charlie showed up and had money burning a hole in his wallet so he took us out for dinner at Culvers. Score again! Culvers is like the poor persons steakhouse. They dont have enough money for a fancy restaurant and they eat McDonalds and BK all the time so when they want to dress up and go somewhere nice, they'll go to Culvers. Its more expensive than other fast food places, but damn, its good. I love upgrading the fries to cheese curds. Real nice! Intersting side note, Charlie had his wedding reception dinner in Rhine Center in the same building I had lunch.

My feet are pretty sore and I'm not the swiftest but the miles keep flowing by. I should be in West Bend Saturday night and the Waukesha area shortly after. Hopefully if things keep going OK I'll be in Madison in 2 weeks, 2 long weeks. I wish someone could record what goes on in my head while I'm walking. Random movie quotes and song lyrics flow in and out, melding together into a symphony of awesomeness. You can usually tell my mood by what song I have in my head. This morning when I was doing great, I had "Early Morning Rain" by Gordon Lightfoot serenading my thoughts but this afternoon when my dogs (feet) started hurting, I switched over to the 357 String Band, mainly "Dust Devil." Hopefully there is more Lightfoot in my future! Whenever I do need a shot of motivation though, I just remember, Wollmer's no pussy.