On Wisconsin!!

Dear Wisconsin,

It is with full confidence and excitement that I say you have officially won over the NUS'10 B+B group! Everyone was pretty tired of hearing me talk about you for the past few weeks, and they didn't have very high expectations. But low and behold - they were amazed with your majestic beauty, never-ending fun/beer/brats, and varying landscape! YAY!! Congrats and I'm so proud of and for you :)

Now I have to be honest...in the beginning, right when we crossed over from Illinois, people were less than impressed. There was construction, heat and unexpected hills - not a great combination. But I told everyone that Janesville didn't come free, they had to work for it...and was it ever worth it! Everything about our time in Janesville was extraordinary! I was so anxious to "come home" that to everyones surprise (including my own AND my mothers) I was one of the first people to arrive in town! Thank you Mr. Andrew Corcoran for helping me ride like the wind...aka blocking all of the wind for me - LOVE YOU! My mom greeted all of the riders (other than me because I'm just too fast to catch) with popsicles on Milton Shopire road, it was awesome and everyone LOVED it! I was sooo happy to be back home and in the company of my family and friends! Extra special thank you to Cullen, Tori and Amy for coming to see me and helping prepare for the party!

On Saturday we had our build day in Janesville and it was great! We worked on a house on Pine street and got to do a lot of work! We had people on the roof, putting in windows and siding and everything in between! After the build day we had what just may be the absolute BEST B+B BBQ of all time! First of all, I cannot say a big enough THANK YOU to my parents, Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton and EVERYONE ELSE that helped organize/plan this party...it truly was outstanding! The t-shirts, posters, unreal amounts of food, the absence of any and all forms of pasta and exceptional company was enough to put me right over the edge! I could not believe how many people came to see us!!! I was overwhelmed to say the absolute least at how many people were there - THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to everyone! I was SO happy to see you all and it makes me soooo happy to know you read my blog and are excited about this adventure I'm on! It means so much to me, and I LOVE that I can share it with all of you :) :)

The next day we rode into Madison and it was extra special because I got to share it with my family! My Aunt Peggy, Aunt Mary, Uncle Bern and cousins Connor, Tom and Beth all decided to ride with me...it was AWESOME! The boys obviously kicked my butt and are clearly future B+Bers...but they were nice enough to stay with me rather than speeding ahead and leaving me in the dust. We had so much fun and I was SO glad they all got to ride. We all made it to Madison, and I have to give a special shout out to my cousin Beth who was a total rockstar and had never rode her bike more than 10miles before this ride...you make this look easy! :)

We had our first day off in Madison and everyone had a great time! Then we were off to Soldiers Grove, La Crosse/Onalaska, and finished off our tour de WI in Pepin. We spent a lot of time on the Great River Road and it was absolutely GORGEOUS!! Long story short...everyone LOVED riding through WI (hills and rain included) and I had a ridiculous amount of fun doing it! I'll miss you and all your glory - but we will be reunited in September and I promise not to fall for another state other than you!