Illinois to Minnesota, Day 5, July 10

---

From Rolling Meadow, IL to Worthington, MN

What's hot: Windmills turning on the prairie

What's also hot: The bicycles in Madison, WI

What's not: The fury of a surprise prairie storm.

The road so far: Over 1500 miles behind us.
Heavy traffic around the cornfields.

Travel lesson of the day: Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore.

from Kathy:

“The dullest part of the trip is from Chicago to South Dakota.” That’s what the people say. Not true for the Floonian Roadster!

Our first side trip was Madison, WI, where I wanted to see firsthand what a real bicycle-friendly town looks like. True to rumor, Madison has its bicycle act together—we happened to talk with the son of the town’s Bicycle Pedestrian Traffic Manager, who works for the Department of Transportation. He put us on to the resources that will come in handy for Old Saybrook’s push towards bicycle integration.

Then JJ, who has been discovering the privileges of being 18 and announcing them from the backseat at random intervals, arrived back in the car during a gas stop with fireworks! We won’t repeat the discussion that followed.

And about that gas stop—the Floonian Roadster ain't bad on mileage and Madison is only our third fill-er-up since home.

On the horizon after Madison, we could see a dark storm approaching. “Is that what a tornado sky looks like?” someone asked. Not many miles later, we found out. No tornado, but the rain was blinding and we traveled at about 5 mph for a while. Temperature dropped 13 degrees in one mile and winds rose to about 60 mph. We went from A/C to heat and defog in nothing flat. We drove out of the darkness after 30 minutes or so, then the sun shone again on the mottled wood and moss shingles of old Wisconsin dairy barns. The storm made national news this morning, Thursday, July 11.

They play outdoor music at all the truck stops around here.

At Tremble’s Family Restaurant in Albert Lea, MN, the entire wait staff and kitchen staff went outside to wave to a procession of soldiers returning from Iraq.

We passed 10 or more miles of ghostly high tech windmills waving their arms in the breeze. Finally arriving at Worthington, MN, we all burrowed into our email and AOL IM. Our moving room on four wheels got a rest from its trek through this Starbucks Nation.

---

Photos

Madison, Wisconsin
Where the streets are bicycle-friendly.

More Madison
Will Saybrook ever be Madison?

Madison Again
Multimodal transport