Esd Madison-West

The weather was the story today as we traveled from Chicago to Madison, WI. Things were great until we reached Madison and then all the elements combined to make an interesting evening. But we weren't deterred. We walked thru the campus and down State St to see the impressive capitol building. Monday morning we took off for our end point of Mitchell, SD. Along the way, we saw farms, cows, and more farms as we drove thru WI, Minn and SD. Before ...

Wow, can't believe it's been a year since I left my house and moved onto the road. With hindsight I wish I took more pictures. I was in great places where I didn't document with my camera. Hopefully this next year I will be again motivated to write in this travel blog and take more pictures.

While I was in Madison I had a great time! So many good friends! I took photos of the Dairyland Cowboys and Cowgirls barn dance, the Union Terrace and ...

... to be out of the traffic jam...my left hand was starting to ache from controlling the clutch at low speed. Good practice indeed! At one point we just turned off our engines and pushed our bikes along slowly.

We've gone through Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, and now we're in Madison, Wisconsin. There aren't any 'border crossings' as such and sometimes not even a sign to tell you you're in another state. It all merges and flows into ...

... a couple of girls on a birthday celebration (one of which was (a) the birthday girl and (b) WAY too drunk), we were pointed towards Genna's bar which turned out to be cracking late night bar with a strong array of beers that Greg and I proceeded to sample around 40% of before trudging home at what must have been 2 or 3am. Day Four Stats: Mileage - 163 (958 total) State registration plates seen - 0 (31 total) States visited - Illinois, Wisconsin

From Roswell we traveled north through a tip of Texas. No photos but lots of memories of seeing and smelling cows in feed lots. We drove through a nasty little snow storm in Kansas City, MO. and I now know how well Shorty Too travels in the show.

Madison was significantly colder than NM, the lakes were ...

... because we had to go back up a huge hill and then divert for a few miles on a really poorly maintained and heavily trafficked road. all in all, the diversions probably added close to 8 miles to our route. oh, and just before we hit the water-logged road, brad had his first flat tire of the day. the most surprising part of the day was the ridiculous hills we had to climb. at no point had i thought that wisconsin would have insanely steep hills like we ...

... to the wind blow through all the trees. I told myself this whole year that once I got to Wisconsin I would have to enter reality again...so I have stayed true to my word and resumes have already been sent out. I am looking for work as a landscape architect in the san francisco area which is pretty competitive, so cross your fingers for me!

Below, you will find a copy of the correspondence between me and Girum Asnake, the person who runs the rehabilitation center for street children in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. I hope that these letters will enable individuals to understand the needs of these children and possibly encourage some to make monetary donations for the center. I will not be using any donations for the costs of my trip; rather, any monies collected will be used to purchase needed items as ...

... day I recovered my luggage and set for home to get my life back in order. That happened much easier than expected and I think it's because I went back to the same job, and the same people were doing the same things.... not that that's bad, it's just in 4 months time I had done and experienced so much and had left everyone at home to endure the shittiest Wisconsin ...

... allowed you to get up close to them. And they made funny faces by pressing their face against the glass wall.
Next I went and stopped by Lake Mendota. It was getting late and I had to get some supplies, which I did at Nakoma Plaza then headed south were I found a spot for the night at a wayside on 92/69.