Comedy of Errors

Aug. 8
The haze of banality that clouded my thoughts has hopefully lifted. I forgot to write about how nice it was to leave Sheboygan County. It was like having that first ear of super sweet corn from Bob in EC in July, or a cold beer after a long day working the trail. Sheboygan always leaves a bitter aftertaste. One thing that does not leave a bad taste in your mouth is Sheboygan Summer from Joe Brew. Its crisp, clean aftertaste may be attributed to the fact it's brewed in Chicago. Who knows. After the rousing success of my last Star Wars reference (that no one probably got) I decided I better keep up sweet nerdy references in all my posts. I'll try to include a bit about Star Wars or Lord of the Rings in all my posts from here on out, or at least until I forget about it and stop.

Saturday night, Katie sacrificed the good bed for me and tried sleeping in her own bed, leading to only a few hours of sleep. Now thats hospitality! Being a well-known baker, she rose early and had breakfast and cookies waiting for me when I awoke. Not a bad start to the day. Then I looked outside. Driving rain with a whipping wind and plenty of thunder. Great day for hiking! By the time I actually hit the trail at 11 (after Katie had refilled my garlic mustard seed bag. I figure having some fresh herbs along the trail may help entice more long-distance hikers), the tempest had blown itself out, leaving blue skies and a nice breeze. As I walked, I realized I hadnt seen a bar in over 50 miles. Is that even legal in Wisconsin? What a travesty! I passed a supper club kind of place that had brunch going, thought about stopping, but I dont think they know about second breakfast. I got closer to the Polk Kames segment and passed what looked like the first real bar in many a miles. Glancing at my watch, I saw that it was after noon, late enough for a beer, but a bit too early in my hike. I could wait until Slinger for a beer. I arrived at the Polk Kames segment and noticed what looked like Rambo's car (There are a lot of names my non-ice age friends dont know, but they could get to know the awesome people behind names like "Randy", "Rambo," or "Matt." You could come to an event, which are actually a blast, and join the family. The next project is actually this weekend in Waushara County and everyone I've talked to along the trail is going to be there so it should be a great time (especially because my smartass remarks and myself will be gone).). Awesome, a trail friend out doing some maintainence work! We talked for a bit and I carried on my way.

Slinger was next, where they were getting ready for the races that night. I'm sorry I missed that... Walking down the main drag I had a sense of deja vu when I realized that I had been at the bar I was looking at before. At the MSC project last May we stopped there for a few drinks while people kept calling and telling us the food was ready. Dont they know we had beer to drink?! Hankering a burger, I ambled into the Slinger House which has the "best burgers in the universe". Nickleback was blasting on the juke, a couple guys with tats sat at the bar and the bartender was good looking but in a trashy kind of way. Not what I was looking for for a burger place. I got a beer and watched the Brewers game, when McGhee hit a dinger and everyone at the bar got a free shot! I'll take it! After leaving, I realized I should've ate there because I was feeling a little tipsy with an empty stomach and maybe a bit on the dehydrated side. Oh well. Made it to Pike Lake State Park where I called Broman who had offered up his place to crash that night if the storms were going to be bad, he said the storms shouldn't be too bad. I carried on and found a camping spot a few miles farther down the trail. The storm hit at 3:40, bringing heavy rain, lots of lightning and big thunder. I rolled over and went back to sleep.

Aug. 9
Woke up at 6:15 to some tree rain and maybe real rain. I packed up and headed down the wet trail to Holy Hill. If you've never been there or seen it, I suggest checking it out. It's this huge church they built on top of a big kame (hill) and you can see it for miles. Hartford may be the closest town but I'm not sure. I ran out of bug spray so I put the legs on my pants and put on my long sleeve shirt, leaving only my head unprotected. Those mosquitoes were still bastards. I wonder how many of them will die this year without sucking any blood? Not enough! There are a lot of people I would consider mosquitoes. Annoying, omnipresent and bring nothing good to your life. Jared from Subway is a prime example. That guy has been on TV about 5 years too long and he just looks like a dick. I can imagine him thinking he is actually somebody and looking down on all the "commoners". I hate that guy. We need some human-sized dragonflies to take care of our human mosquitoes.

I walked through the Loew Lake segment and thoroughly enjoyed it. Other than Weber Woods, the bugs were the most manageable leaving me to actually look around and see what is off the trail. Plus, I was looking forward to having lunch with Leah at a bar in Monches that had been talked up. Naturally when I got there, I found it closed. It didn't open until 3 on Mondays and it was only noon. I probably shouldnt have been counting on that for my lunch. I was famished and finished off most of the rest of my food, leaving only some Uncle Ben's rice. Not good. I thought I better keep walking, so I did. Leah was going to meet up with me later and she could bring me some food. Three miles went by and I took a break by a sweet train bridge with a river and road running under it. I was running out of water and didnt really have any food, but what do I see? Wild grapes! I munched on those for a few minutes. I can only imagine what people driving by thought. They could probably smell me as they cruised by with the AC cranked up. They were good though! I planned for Leah to get me after walking a railroad track for 2 miles and we could finally have lunch. Awesome. When I got to my ending point, I was soaked with sweat, dehydrated and hungry. A comedy of errors on my part! She arrived to find a shirtless, sweaty, really stinky (although ruggedly handsome) dude standing on the side of the road. She brought me the gatorade I had asked for and instantly chugged it. I needed that. Burgers were next on my mind so we headed into Hartland. We stopped at the Phoenix Bar and Grill which happened to only be serving Chinese that night. Weird. We tried the sports bar down the street but they werent even open yet. Not a good day for food! I ransacked the Piggly Wiggly and we headed back to the now open sports bar. My burger at last! We didnt finish til 6:30 and I had no motivation to walk anymore so Leah dropped me off at Pat's house in Oconomowoc where I was going to spend the night.

The last two days I've only walked 32 miles or so so hopefully I pick up the pace again. The heat took a lot out of me the last few days and perhaps my lack of sleep and food may have something to do with it also. I have lots of city walking on Tuesday through Hartland and Delafield until I reach Lapham Peak. Pat offered up her house again so me being a pansy, I'll probably take her up on the offer! Anyways, thanks for all the support everyone! I couldn't have made it this far without you. I'll try and keep the train going. As the great Huey Lewis once said, "You don't need money, don't need fame, don't need no credit card to ride this train." My train does take money in the form of crisp $100 bills though. It also runs on encouragement or as I would do, smartass comments.