Wisconsin Visit continued

Friday the 5th

Looks like another nice day. Tina and Denise spent the day shopping for …… I went into Antioch with my Mtn bike and road bike to get an estimate on repairing the shocks on the mtb and the front derailleur on my road bike.

Turns out the shocks aren’t meant to be repaired so the shop guy suggested I dis-assemble them myself, clean them real good and repack the grease. Four hours later I had re-assembled everything and had a new set of shocks. The shop guy is going to order a new derailleur on Monday and I can get it installed on Thursday.

Later in the afternoon we went to Jim and Leanne’s house for a visit and dinner. After visiting for an hour or so we all trooped down to the beach and went for a boat ride around the lake – it was very nice wit the sun out and no wind. Tina got several shots of a pair of swans with four babies.

Leanne had prepared Mastacioli and we had several salads and fresh French bread to go with it, yummy!! After dinner we played hand and foot, a kind of rummy and had ice cream. A really nice day.


Saturday the 6th

We got up this morning and it was cold out again with a strong wind coming out of the northwest. After we had our morning routine taken care of Tina, me and the kids joined Denise for breakfast. After that the girls spent time making potato salad and stuff to take up to Chad and Jenny’s while I relaxed with a book.

We left for Chad’s about 11:00 AM. They live about an hour north, just west of Milwaukee out in the country. I threw my road bike on the back of the car in case it was nice enough to go for a ride. We got up there about 12:20 PM and spent some time visiting. Even though it didn’t rain, it wasn’t nice enough to go for a ride. Since I planned to join Chad and Jenny on a charity ride for the Milwaukee Performing Arts Center the next morning I used Chad’s laptop to register and print out directions for getting to the start line.

After a while we were joined by Jim and Leanne, Josie and her boyfriend Jason, Austin and Alicia. With lots of snacks to keep hunger at bay we sat around and spent time visiting. Sometime around 5:00 PM we had dinner. Jenny had prepared a pulled chicken barbecue with sliced rolls for sandwiches. Along with several salads we had plenty to eat. After dinner we had a chance to see Alicia’s sky diving video. Seems she had an opportunity to go with some friends and do a jump. She did a tandem jump but had over a minute in freefall before the main chute deployed. The jump crew filmed the sky-dive for her, set it to music and turned it into a nice memory.

Later we loaded up the car, said our goodbyes and headed south getting home around 10:00 PM. Tina and I said good night to Denise and went out to the coach where I set the alarm for 4:30 AM so I could get up and drive into Milwaukee.


Sunday the 7th

The alarm went off at 4:30 AM and Tina gave me a nudge. I had put all my gear out the previous evening so I was in the car and on my way by ten to five.

With the sun coming up and a good Chicago radio station playing classic rock and roll I headed for I-94 and the 43 mile drive into Milwaukee. I only made one wrong turn as I neared town and ended up driving through town from the west weaving from street to street until I finally reached the downtown area. Finally I saw someone getting out of their car with cameras around his neck. Rolling down my window I was about to ask how to get to the performing arts center when he said, “Looking for the bike ride?” I said yes and he pointed over to a building about two blocks away and said that’s where I want to go.

I thanked him and parked on the street, got my gear out, took my bike off the rack, pumped up the tires and headed over to registration to pick up my packet. I got my stuff, clipped my rider number to the back of my bike bag, parked the bike against a tree and grabbed a cup of coffee from a kiosk set up on the corner. I called Jenny and we made plans to meet in a few minutes.

After a short wait, Chad came and got me and introduced me to John and Jill. We watched the first group head out from the start line led by a pace car and motorcycle policeman. Chad set a grueling pace (around 20 mph for the first three miles), followed by Jill, Jenny John and me. Eventually I had to back off the pace and let them go. I tried to stay on my own pace of about 15 to 16 mph since the course was fairly flat figuring I’d meet them at the finish line. And that’s the way it worked out. It was a nice 25 mile ride except for the condition of the roads (winter freezing and spring thaws play hell with the road surface).

We all ended up at the finish line where we checked our bikes and went into the Summerfest grounds for a bite to eat. Eventually we decided to split, so we got our bikes and headed out to our cars. I ended up riding through downtown Milwaukee from the finish line back to the start line with some assistance from other cyclists. I got to the car, loaded up the bike and headed for the freeway. An hour later I was back at Denise’s.

After showering and a couple of hours relaxing we headed over to Jeff and Andrea’s house for a visit and dinner. We were joined by Rene and Arthur, Mark and Tammy and all the kids. We visited and watched the Cubs-Cincinatti Reds game and a NASCAR race won by Jackie Stewart. Later we had a nice turkey dinner with mashed potatoes and fixins, followed by several sweets fixed by Rene.

Since we had Denise’s granddaughter with us and the dogs, we left for home about 7:30 PM where we spent the rest of the evening relaxing.