I have this very lovely alarm sound on my phone. It doesn’t sound like an alarm at all. A pleasant little tone. Sometimes, it takes me a while to wake up to it because it is so pleasant. Not this morning. It felt as if I didn’t sleep at all. Noises in the night that aren’t familiar, tent zippers going up and down as the occupant went out for a late-night bathroom run. I finally even got up because, in my foggy brain, I remembered that holding it till morning is not only uncomfortable, but one’s body has a harder time staying warm. 

I finally fell asleep only to wake up half an hour later to my pleasant alarm tone which this morning, wasn’t very pleasant. I whispered loudly at Spirit to wake up. Around the 3rd time, she heard me and asked, “What!” “The alarm went off,” was my reply.

The packing of the backpack begins. I try to do as much as possible the night before, but my sleeping bag, pad, and pillow all have to be in the bottom. So in reality, nothing is packed. Breakfast this morning was Breakfast Essentials and coffee. 

The dew was super heavy this morning and the fly of my tent was soaked. Spirit had a few extra zip-lock bags, I shoved it in one so everything else wasn’t getting drenched

At 5:30 p.m., we were ready to go. You may be wondering why we got up so early. The heat and that blasted humidity, that is why. It was still dark, but we could make out the sandstone Gandy Dancer Trail. So, off we went into the night…morning.

We knew Ratman and Tumbler wouldn’t be too far behind us. I knew they would pass us as my left knee was already giving me aches and pains. The sun coming up was a brilliant red. It was beautiful to watch it come up over the cornfields. We hadn’t gone too far when Spirit had to make a pit stop by some cornfields. Extra fertilizer there. HAHA

We were doing pretty good when outside of Milltown we started picking up mosquitoes. They were swarming around us. We couldn’t get enough bug spray on us to keep them at bay. When we got to the shelter in Milltown we were thankful that it was in the bright sun as the mosquitoes seemed not to like it. My guess, they are vampires.

Out came the tents and ground clothes and for my breakfast, Oatmeal with freeze-dried mangoes. We lounged around until everything was nice and dry. Afterwards, we were off towards Luck, 3.3 miles away.

When we got there, it was blazing hot. Ratman and Tumbler led the way. They were sitting in a shelter that had a giant butter churn on display. I mean, we are in Wisconsin.

We took our backpacks off as quickly as we could. Seriously, no one likes them. Ratman and Tumbler went for a resupply at Dollar General while Spirit and I sat with the backpacks. I then remembered I needed a ground cloth as I had forgotten mine at home. Spirit told me to go ahead and get one.

I found a plastic outdoor window sheet and bought that because they are so lightweight. I got back at the same time Ratman and Tumbler returned. They had to hike .7 back the way we came and then .7 back to us. Extra miles no one wants to do. They had bought water to fill our bottles.

Spirit and I decided to head out for lunch at the Cafe Wren. The food was delicious. It was a little coffee/deli place. I charged my phone while there. It was nice just to sit in an air-conditioned cafe and get out of that weather for an hour. 

When we left, it was hotter then ever. My knee was on fire as well. Boy, it hurt. I was taking Tylenol for the pain and inflammation. Finally, there was some shade on the trail. I was carrying an umbrella for the past two days and it did help. But I knew Spirit needed some shade, we took off our backpacks. Spirit went to sit on her’s and over she went. Laying on the top of her backpack like it was a shell of a turtle. I got up to help her and she said, “Don’t you dare get your camera!” I said, “I wasn’t but don’t give me ideas.” HAHA

While we were sitting there a lady who had road by us on her bike was returning. She stopped to see if we were okay as sprawled out as we were. We said yes, though I don’t think she believed us. I asked if she had seen 2 hikers in yellow shirts (meaning Ratman and Tumbler). She said yes. I asked how far ahead. She said 2 miles and Spirit and I groaned. She then checked her watch and said 1 mile. She offered to pick us up in her car, but we said we could make it. That’s when she offered us a packet of Goob. It is an energy, recovery, caffeinated goop. I at first said no until I heard caffeine and then it was a hard yes! She then took our picture to show the trail maintainers why they shouldn’t cut the canopy of trees as we were tryin hard to hide exhausted on the trail.

The Goob was split between Spirit and I and off we headed down the trail to find the cement Trail Tunnel Ratman and Tumbler were held up in until we arrived.

It was a short distance to a trail angel’s home to get water. We went there and Art treated us and gave us water and then he jumped on his riding lawnmower and went down the Ice Age Trail to mow the trail and a spot to camp up on a hill.