Day 0: Assembling Our Journey

Day 0: July 25th, 2016

Milwaukee, WI. 0 mi. 

By Judd Curran. 

Assembling our thoughts, schedule, route, and bicycles.  It takes a lot of mental preparation to be ready to set out for hundreds of miles across several states and an international border on a bicycle adventure.  This time, I'm not alone.  Victoria and I are traveling together, she with her self-contained bicycle complete with all the gear she needs.  Well, most of the gear she needs.   I'm carrying the rest. :)  

The plan -- To ride across the state of Michigan, into Ontario Canada to Niagara Falls, and then back into the U.S. at Buffalo New York.  We will traverse through big cities and small towns, but mostly farmland and rural America/Canada, riding along four of the five Great Lakes.

Today we awoke in Milwaukee Wisconsin after spending an awesome weekend at a big Curran family reunion in Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin.

Off to Coast In Bikes to receive and assemble our bicycles that had been shipped to this gracious bicycle shop a week prior.  Along the coast of Lake Michigan, this small bike shop has a big heart, going out of their way to help us prepare for our journey by providing a place to work on getting our equipment ready for our journey.

We spent most of the day here, behind the wall of the main counter, in the "self-service" room, complete with tools and a bicycle stand, unpacking, assembling, and boxing up our bike boxes for our destination.  This, of course, did not begin before first getting our morning caffeine fix at Anodyne Coffee Roasters around the corner.

Then, it was on to serious business.  First, the careful extraction of the bicycle packaging and loose parts around the frame before removing the bike itself.  I've done this before, but never 2 bikes at once.  We also tried a different box for Victoria's bicycle this time around, one that is MUCH cheaper to ship, but requires more disassembly of the bike.  

With the bikes out of the box, we then worked at a good pace screwing, bolting, adjusting, and even zip-tie fastening things together.

This, of course, generates a serious appetite.  Carolyn, a sweet employee of Coast In Bikes, recommended a nearby eatery called Camino for a savory chopped brussel sprout sandwich, and good beer selection. Sounded interesting.

On the way, we passed a local creamery boasting fresh-made cheeses and cheese curds, which happened to be the source of our yummy fried cheese curd appetizer that was amazing!

Yes, I'm well aware that it wasn't the healthiest way to start lunch.  But, just thinking about riding a bicycle a long distance burns lots of calories.  That is, of course, why we both washed these salty melt-in-your-mouth delights down with a local porter off their extensive beer menu.

The whole experience at Camino turned out to be fantastic, and just what we needed to help us assemble our thoughts about our remaining preparations.

We were completely assembled and ready for the beginning of our journey before the bike shop closed at 6pm.  The staff was so helpful to us and we highly recommend Coast In Bikes the next time you are in Milwaukee.  

We had a short ride over to an AirBnB accommodation that is just a few minutes from the ferry terminal that will whisk us across Lake Michigan to Muskegon MI tomorrow morning.  A cute house in a quiet neighborhood full of old-house charm and big green maple trees. We're anxious with excitement about what is to come.