The Great Wander of 2026
Day 20: June 13th, 2026
States Hiked: Indiana, Wisconsin (16 total so far)
Trails Hiked: Indiana Welcome Center, Wisconsin Welcome Center, Wisconsin Lake Delton Rest Stop
Distance Hiked: 1.2 miles, .3 miles, .3 miles
Elevation Gain: Not Much Worth Noting
Cumulative Wander: 140 miles
Duration: Barely
Thank the Hiking gods that I got some real miles done in La Crosse, otherwise I would've ended this blog on Day 18.
Look, there was a tornado the previous night, and I got to my hotel shortly before midnight. Slightly before that, the billboards instructing those who were affected by the tornadoes dotted the landscape, and I read more about how at least three hit the area. I'm not defending my decision to keep driving, especially as I'd seen enough YouTube documentaries about the Joplin rain shadow tornado and others to know that just because I couldn't see it didn't mean it wasn't there. And even though I'd learned plenty from Swegle Studios about how rare night tornadoes are, as well as how comforting a voice can be despite talking about godslike natural disasters causing mass destruction, I'm not sitting here claiming it was an intelligent decision, only that I wasn't sure where to go, what to do, or how close I truly was to danger.
Also I knew I'd have to drive in Wisconsin later, and given that Driver's Ed in the state teaches highway driving as "get on highway, get in left lane whether going 40 or 80, never move or you'll be struck by cheese lightning," I wasn't expecting a ton of time, energy, or patience to be directed toward actual hiking.
I paced in the Indiana Welcome Center parking lot, which is probably the only place in Hammond, Indiana that I would've anticipated going hiking, and once I unlocked all the Adventure Labs there, my stops were limited to rest areas. I learned something else new at the Wisconsin Welcome Center: apparently giant groups of people stop there to just convene and have a little road trip block party, or at least that's what it seems. Groups, tents, camp chairs, grills, just having a grand old time at the spot a few feet from South Beloit, Illinois, which technically would've provided me my 17th and final state necessary to meet my goal, but alas, I skipped Illinois twice. Damn arbitrary goals taunting me with their incompleteness.
Given this was the same trip where rest stops in New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine felt more like stopping in time before the Langoliers got to it, it was an odd contrast with my discomfort at mob scene rest stops. My transcontinental journey aforementioned the ere year, the rest stops seemed like a quiet community of people sleeping in the middle of the night, this left me with little energy to do any real hiking.
Loathe to admit that I may have been tired after driving halfway across the country and back while hiking in more than a dozen states, it's easier to blame interstate motorists having pee stop shindigs. They're perfectly fine to celebrate overpriced potato chips and collective urine-splashing all they want, I was just over it all.
Then I got to La Crosse and got distracted by other things. Day 20: unofficial rest day.
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