In the morning, we rode the 69 miles to Janesville, Wisconsin, population 60,000. I moseyed along for the last 30 miles, feeling the heat and enjoying my meandering. I stopped at a meat store and had a can of pop, read the Walworth County newspaper and perused the oxtail, livers, hearts etc. on display. People have great accents, and it finally feels a little different to what I know. Who knew the Northern United States was so homogeneous? Not me.
The best part of the day another stop a few miles down the road. I was sprawled on some grass under a tree when this old man hobbled over. I thought he might to ask me to get off his property, but instead, he said "Do you get good mileage on that thing?" and invited me in for a glass of icewater. He talked to me (and it was mostly him talking because he doesn't hear very well) for a half hour, until I needed to go.
He showed me the airstrip he is building in his backyard, the treadmill he just bought ("I walk a half mile on it every day!"), the stand-alone jacuzzi his daughter gave him, and his collection of antique stoves. One of the stoves is 125 years old, and it's been fully restored, ceramic tiles and all. He showed me the 1/4 size salesman models he has, his collection of stove finials and catalogues from the late 1800's.
He flew planes in WWII, which started when he was only 18, and he went to Carleton College on the GI bill. He was accepted at medical school, but then he didn't want to to anymore after the war. He ended up returning to the 220-acre family farm. His favorite class at college was a music appreciation course that was vastly different to all of the science classes he was taking. When he would listen to the radio with his kids, he would identify the composer and describe the themes of pieces of music they heard. He said his kids were way impressed by their farmer dad.
His cat, Wilbur, is his companion now because his wife died two years ago. He also had this drastic operation a couple of years ago for prostate cancer , and he said that he doesn't socialize too much anymore because of it. He has this wonderful outlook on life, and a joyful way of talking. He kept telling me that there is so much to discover in life and how much fun he has working on his projects. On the way out he showed me pictures of all of his family members. So much of the time it's hard to meet people because we are in a big group or too tired to talk. Which made this all the more special.
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