Road Trip Day Seven

"Not all who wander are lost."

~J.R.R. Tolkien~

August 4th, 2013

I woke up at 8:30am, once again sure I had slept in too late until I checked the clock.  I climbed out of my tent to survey my surroundings.  It had been so dark when I pulled in that I wasn't really sure what this place looked like.  It was just a commercial site, so campers were packed in like sardines.  I headed for the office to pay for my 6 hours of sleep and get a code for the shower house.  Once there I quickly switched into riding gear and headed out for Winona Lake for a trail I had read about online.  After a quick stop for some protein and coffee at McDonalds I pulled up at the trail head and set out for a bike ride.

Trail reviews claimed this trail was a local gem, and once again I marveled at differing opinions of trails.  It was a decent ride, but just another trail you wouldn't want to hit as a destination spot.  I planned on running back out to the camp ground and showering before I headed out for Wisconsin, but excitement got the best of me and I jumped in my car drenched with sweat and set out for the 5.5 hour ride I had ahead of me.  I hit Chicago and traffic creeped along for at least an hour even though it was Sunday.  

I was headed for Appleton Wisconsin to meet a Matt Damon look alike I had met on Skout about 2 months previously.  I felt like I knew him after 2 months of talking to him, and I was growing more excited by the minute to get there.  I didn't think I was nervous until I got out of the car and heard him yell from the front door, "Hey Kansas!" Haha!  I love it!  

"Hey Matt!"  I hollered back at him through the screen before he opened it to invite me in and give me the grand tour.  When I told him I needed to shower before I did anything else he agreed and told me he could smell me from across the room.  This was just the beginnings of the shit talking him and I would throw back and forth at one another for the rest of my stay.  All cleaned up, I jumped on the back of his brand new motorcycle and we headed out to an awesome spot called Waverly Beach.  It's a restaurant with a huge outdoor area that sits right on the edge of Lake Winebago.  It has an amazing view, and a docking area where boats pull right up and people get out and walk up to the restaurant for dinner and/or drinks.  

Maybe it's because I'm from Kansas, but Matt does this thing when he talks that makes me smile repeatedly.  He makes a lot of statements about "how us Wisconsin's do things."  It makes me wonder how often I make statements about "us Kansans."  I talked about staying until sunset so I could snap some photos of the view when the sky was bursting with colors, but at about 7:45pm I told him I was already so chilled I couldn't imagine what the trip home on the back of a motorcycle was going to feel like.  We left quickly and I made a joke about how he planned this on purpose so I would hold him tighter on the ride home to keep warm.  He joked back that it was a master plan and it had turned out just like he had wanted.  

Back at his place we played with his baby, a German Shepherd named Elsa.  She's a sweet dog, but a bit high-strung.  He went to his fridge and pulled out a bag mixed with string cheese and cubes of cheddar cheese.  He said it was my welcome to Wisconsin gift since the state is known for its cheese.  I laughed and thought about how awesome a gesture it was.  Any welcome gift is a great thought.  Cheese?  Now that just makes me smile.  I do love me some cheese.  While we visited a few more hours into the night Elsa paced the room and whined just like he had told me she would.  

He took note of my Lenny and Eva cuff and as he was reading the inscription I explained to him that I had never spent so much money on jewelry in my life.  I've never been one for such frills.  This particular leather cuff isn't your typical piece of jewelry though, and the first time I ever saw them I knew one day I would own one.  Then I confessed that I owned more than one and he laughed as I  went to my bag and pulled out about 10 of the interchangeable metal plates that hook onto the cuff.  He read through the quotes and pointed out a couple that he liked the best, then made fun of one of them he thought was ridiculous.  Once again we gave each other shit because perception is reality; and we are each entitled to our own differing opinions.  I finally admitted that I really needed to call it a night because I hadn't been sleeping well on the entire trip.  We spoke a bit more about plans to camp the next couple of days before I went to sleep with visions of more bike rides and forests in my head......