Day One

Day One, a beautiful morning in bucolic Oak Park.  Stec's driveway provides an appropriate landing in which to shoot some bull, critique the weight allowance of various riders, and repair Eligio's rack system, which seems to have been attached after a late night packing session.  Pictured, we see the smiling faces of Jack, Karen, Jim, John, Eligio and Mike.  Thus named the Gogebic 6. 
Our push off time was delayed slightly when we searched Woodstock for proper toilet (try starbuck's) and multiple photos taken in downtown Woodstock.  It is obvious, already, that this will be the best documented trip that Stec or Jack have organized yet.  We are also delayed when Eligio calls out that he has left his helmet in the shrubs at Mike's house.  At least he has a fancy european cycling cap made of real wool that will protect him from the dangerous UV rays.  Argument Number One ensues as some of us implore the man to buy a helmet immediately.  Needless to say, by the end of the day he had a perfectly suitable brand new helmet.  In fact, the helmet was purchased at one of those roadside hippie/cycling places that exist only in particular corners of the world (well, Not Chicago).

100 miles we rode through pleasant Illinois farmland and more pleasant Wisconsin farmland.  We finished in  at the Mayville Inn.   Jim has already in a previous life made acquaintance with our lovely and somewhat odd host, Jane.  The tidiness of the Mayville in is not lost on myself, the only woman in the crew, but the fact that i quickly named the downstairs enclosed patio room the bird room strikes me now as slightly, well, hitchcockian.  In fact, film buffs remember Anthony Perkins stuffed animal collection....well, i thought the dog behind the desk was completely real and even took time to admire him, which at the time i assumed was a result of my delirium from sun and exhaustion. 
By the end of the day we were all great chums, eating broasted chicken which upset the stomach of JD, at least and arguing about teen sex.