Feat #7: Cake and Ice Cream

We just got back from a terrific vacation at our family cottage on Lake Geneva in Wisconsin. For years, I've heard various cousins talk about riding their bikes over the rolling midwestern hills to Hebron, Illinois, just under 12 miles southeast of our cottage, for ice cream.

I'd never done it, so I talked Dad into going with me one hot, humid, windy day. 

Once we got past the steep, steep hill on Indian Hills Road within the first mile, the rest of the many hills we encountered seemed like a piece of cake. 

We missed one turn on the wandering back road route we'd mapped out--it would have helped if the map we took with us didn't end at the border of Wisconsin!--but our error only added a little. Our final round-trip mileage: 24.

The old Hebron ice cream shop that had been the big draw for my cousins isn't there anymore. But there's a newer one at the main intersection, right near the town's water tower, which is painted like a basketball, an homage to the unlikely 1952 state basketball championship team. Mom, Jack, and our friends met us there for cones and sundaes. 

Thinking of the long, hot return ride ahead of us, I picked a (possibly more hydrating?) chocolate ice cream soda. Not sure if it helped, but we did battle the headwinds and burning sun and made it home!