The Touring Series: Strangers In The Night!

A Guitar Ted Productions Series

Welcome to "The Touring Series". This series is a re-posting of a story I told here on this blog in 2008. The story is about what I named the "Beg, Borrow, and Bastard Tour". This was a fully loaded, self-supported bicycle tour from just Northeast of Waterloo, Iowa starting in a little village named Dewar and the goal was to get to Sault Ste. Marie, Canada in one week's time. The plan called for us to be picked up there and taken home by car.

  As mentioned, cameras, smart phones, and the like did not exist for us in 1994, so images will be few. There are some though, and I will sprinkle those in when they are relevant. I will also sprinkle in any modern images of places we visited when applicable and when I can find images that convey the same look as 1995. 


After a long day in the saddle the three intrepid riders found a convenience  store to refresh themselves. We now rejoin the "Beg, Borrow, and Bastard Tour" which has rolled into Gillett, Wisconsin for an overnight stay.........
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Just before coming out from the convenience store, Steve and Troy had made an inquiry of the cashier about potential camping spots. We weren't in too much of a hurry to find a spot, since there was enough daylight for the time being. What we didn't know was that the cashier had called the police in regards to us looking for a place to stay. So when the squad car pulled up right in front of us, and the window went down, and when the officer addressed us, well.........we thought we were in big trouble.

It turned out that the officer was merely looking out for us. He suggested we stay in the county fair grounds, which had plentiful lawn space, but not too close to the road, so as not to draw attention to ourselves. The fair grounds were right in town too, no long trip to get there. Bonus!

Well once we peeled ourselves up off the pavement and got over to take a look, we saw something much more appealing than the grassy lawn. A cattle barn, where show cows and livestock were bedded down during fair time, was all cleaned up with a nice smooth cement floor. Why set up tents when we could simply sleep in the cow barn? Troy and I laid out our sleeping pads and sleeping bags right on the concrete floor. Steve had a hammock and strung it up between two stalls across the aisle. We parked our bikes beside us, ate our meal for the evening, and settled in for a good nights sleep, just as the sun went down.

Location of Gillett, WI

I suppose it was about 2:30-3:00am in the morning when I was suddenly aroused by Steve's sudden yelp in the dark. Troy and I sat up suddenly, gripped in fear. We were surrounded by dark figures in the night! Somebody turned on a flashlight, which blinded our eyes.

Just then a sheepish voice could be heard. It was a young boy, about 10-13 years of age. I slowly focused on him and saw that he had several friends standing with him. Apparently he had seen us at the convenience store, and knew about the plans to stay in the fairgrounds. His friends didn't believe his story, so he was simply setting the record straight by showing his friends the evidence, and scaring us half to death in the process. He was very apologetic, and his friends were obviously scared, so we chatted with them to calm them down, and sent them on their way.

In a way, it reminded me of the wandering about town I used to do as a kid with my friends in the middle of the night in my small hometown. We never meant any harm, and everything took on an air of adventure at about 2:00am in the morning. I am quite sure these kids never forgot this little adventure they had back in 1994!

We went back to sleep, although cautiously,and slept till dawn with no further incidents. Once awake, we set to packing up, and discussing our strangers in the night. Outside it was cool, and it looked like it might be foggy. The plan was to get on out of Wisconsin and in to the U.P. of Michigan. Just what lay ahead, we had no idea.
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This was a chief memory from this tour. Obviously getting attention from law enforcement isn't what a group of three mangy looking cyclists wants. Typically we saw our selves as being marginal folk who were flying under the radar of any local officials and heck, of even the locals themselves. The less attention we got, the better, in our eyes. So you can imagine the relief we felt when we learned the cop was looking out for us. 

So the rousing of us out of our peaceful slumber was even worse. Then it swung the other way when we realized it was just some curious local kids being, well......kids. As I said, I empathized with those kids, having been exactly like them in my youth. Now I wonder how many of that group that awoke us in Gillett Wisconsin remember that night like I do.......

Next: Approaching Kitchi-gami