Wow! Now THIS is weather. We slept inside last night because of predictions of thunderstorms. I awoke at 12:30 AM to the sound of thunder. And we were in the basement. I wandered upstairs and was treated to the biggest lightning storm I’d ever seen. Multiple flashes every few seconds. Some lit the whole sky. When I opened a door to listen to it, water poured in as if I was opening the hatch on a surfacing submarine. It was incredible.

By morning, all was calm. And warm. We started riding with the temp at 77°. The humidity was so high I was instantly soaked. This is getting to be a regular pattern in the Midwest. The ride today was so short, we only had one water stop instead of three. It was all easy rollers and flats. We lollygagged and still made good time. We were at picnic by 10. At this point the temperature was nearing 85°. We even got tailwinds after picnic. We sailed into Beaver Dam just about noon.

We decided to set up the tent since it was going to cool down during the night and the indoor accommodations weren’t great. After I got done with that, I took a shower. When I returned from the shower it was as if the lights were turned off outside. Closer examination revealed a big thunderstorm drenching the area. Water poured over the gutters on the side of the school. It literally frothed as it rolled down the walkways. Many bikes were leaned against the building and they were inundated. A few very late riders who had lollygagged more than we did, came swimming in. It was amazing. And it all ended in less than an hour. Right now the sky is blue and people are trying to dry off stuff they’d hung out to dry.

“But what did you see on the way?” the hungry reader asks. Pretty much more of the same. The terrain is still hilly. There are still lots of trees. The new bird we sighted today was a flying great blue heron. We saw a red-tailed black squirrel at picnic. And several large willow trees. We rode past a one room school house. But there was not much new to take pictures of.

We do have a photo question for you to answer. What do you think this structure is for? They abound on almost every farm. We’ve never seen birds in them despite their resemblance to an aviary. Answer will come later this week.

Until then, the operative phrase for this tour seems to be: “Be ready. Anything can happen.”