The Best Rest Stop Ever

"This is the one ride that you can actually gain weight on," said Jon McGlocklin, as we lined up at the start line of the Trek 100 on Saturday morning.

And, boy, was he right!

But he failed to mention that the rest stops would be more than just food!

So, as I mentioned yesterday, JC and I skipped the first stop around Mile 9 or 10. Per my expert tour guide, it was the busiest and biggest stop on the ride which can be fun, but also congested. We chose, instead, to stop at Mile 20. By then we were both starving.

Picture this:

A lovely, quiet country road. Out of the countryside springs up a storybook cream brick two-story farmhouse with freshly painted white trim. And a porch. And a tree lined driveway with red barns and outbuildings in the back. Every single thing is perfect and well-manicured. There's a cow pasture on the left side of the driveway.

The cows were glowing. Well, they probably weren't. But in my Trek-drunk memory, they glow. In fact, I'm pretty sure they all looked like this:

Awwwwwwwww!

As we turned up the gravel drive, we could see the tents. They were right behind an enormous oak tree that looked like this: 

Can you hear the harp music? It was like heaven!

A nice man greeted all riders as they came in and dropped their bikes under the big shade tree. "Healthy snacks ahead on the right. Water, Gatorade behind that," he said, pointing to tables heavy with bananas, quartered oranges, energy bars, individual snack packs of nuts and chocolate chip cookies ... all the normal suspects. 

It looked like this: 

The big tree I spoke of is to the right of the striped tent. I ate 1.5 oranges and
swiped an energy bar to put in my bike jersey pocket for later. 

Our tour guide continued. "There's burritos over here," he said. "Beef, bean and chicken. The cows respectfully request you eat the chicken." That's right. You heard me. They had burritos. At the rest stop. Lots of 'em! 

That's JC in the center. The burritos were flippin' delicious ... we split a
chicken version. Yum! Thank you Fiesta Cancun in Oconomowoc. 

And then I hear it. 

It's a band. A live band, under yet another tent. Playing some kind of music that I can't actually identify, but I know all the coolest college kids listen to when they sit in cafes, coffee bars, brew pubs and indie venues.  

They even had a bongo drum.  Like I said, cool.

Utopia, right? Food, music, shade. I could have stayed all day and had a great time. It just could not have been more perfect. 

Or could it? 

We finally decided it was time to hit the road. I told JC I was going to use the porta potty before we pulled out. I made the walk back to the big, blue, plastic box, took a deep breath as I always do when I enter one of those things. My goal is to hold my breath the entire time, to involve as few of my senses in the experience as possible and ...

I noticed that both toilet paper rolls still had their outside wrappers on. 

I was the FIRST PERSON to use that unit!

  

Life just doesn't get any better than that. I smiled as I exited. Sad to be leaving this beautiful spot, but happy to be back on my bike and ready to finish the ride.