We no more got done with the map meeting last night when sever weather moved in with thunder, lightning and high winds. Everyone scattered to their tent and brought everything in they could. It didn’t last long though and the winds subsided, lulling us to sleep . .

. . .since we were right in town several groups decided to head downtown for a second breakfast before we left town!!!!! Only 39 miles to Bowlus, our home for tonight so there was plenty of time to dawdle.

I headed to the library but there was really no place good to sit outside and it didn’t open until 10:00am . . . so off to the local McDonalds. Sitting outside working on a computer is uncomfortable,. buggy and worst of all is the constant glare on the scree. Sitting inside takes care of all those problems. At McDonald’s there is always free, and fast wifi, good coffee, clean restrooms and after the morning rush . . . very quiet!!!!

Alice, a stringer for the local paper, stopped by to get our story. She provides stories to the paper of biking groups coming through during the  summer. She asked what my favorite snack was and I said “gorp”, Nuts, raisins, M&M’s everything you need on the bike in one handful!!!!

Soon I was down the road and around lunch time pulled into Melrose. I was going to check out this beauty of a church but the doors were locked. A Ma and Pa pair stopped by to tell me the interior had been destroyed by an arsonist last March and the authorities’ had still not caught the culprit. The locals want the church rebuilt but the Bishop in St. Cloud says it must come down. They asked where I was from, and I said Madison, WI. They seem surprised I had not heard of the fire . . .

The town smelled of turkey and here is why,. a BIG processing plant taking up several blocks If you serve a Jennie-O at Thanksgiving, good chance it comes from Melrose!!!!

They are doing the right thing along the trail with their own ‘yellow bike’ rental program  . . .

. . .a little further down the road from Melrose I came upon Memoryville. I would have liked to wander around in it a bit but all the gates were closed and I could not find anyone around . . . .

Soon I arrived in Freeport. emJay and I have driven by this little burg many times on the way up to Karen and Bobs’ and always mention how we should stop . . . to much in a hurry I guess, but I always liked the happy face on the old water tower . . .and now I was here!!!

There is a BIG sign on the Interstate for Charlie’s, so even though I had eaten my lunch I wheeled in for a piece of pie. There were Corvin and Hugh just coming out after having eaten with Bob from Sacramento, CA and Dave from Yorkshire, UK.

Bob and Dave are doing the NT too but with their wives driving a SAG RV hauling all their gear. They all sleep in it every night. Sounds  COMFY!!!!!

I stopped in at the local church,Sacred Heart. It was open and  . . .

. . . a beauty

. . . back on the trial I came to the ‘fork in the trail’ just north of Albany. On to the Lake Wobagon, – Soo Line spur that would take us to Bowlus.

. . .inspiration messages . . .what a great idea!!!!

. . . and the county or MDNR do a great job marking where there are problems with the trail. You can see a lot of fresh repairs . . . I think they get on them for repair, right away!!

. . .GREAT design for a blue bird house

. . .first time I have seen these signs specifically for Fall or Winter biking. Good idea!!!

. . . just before Bowlus we passed this place on the trail. Got to see if the bike is ‘advertising’ a Warm Showers participant!!

Last town before Bowlus was Holdingford and they had a covered bridge. We stopped for one more Gatorade.

Downtown Bowlus, pop.202. We are staying in the city park tonight. Nice site with large shade trees. No showers . . .

. . . but Yahn and Jen are Warm Shower hosts, so we walked a block to their house took showers and enjoyed a beer under their vine covered gazebo . . .

. . . great people and very generous. They own the MN Trails magazine concentrating on non-motorized trail sports.

Mike and Hugh have cooking duty tonight but we all decided to go across the street to Jordie’s Restaurant where it is all the chicken and fixin’s you can eat for $9.99. They still need to buy breakfast and lunch goodies so . . . why not just roll the cart over to the park rather than bilking over and filling your panniers. Nice living in small towns!!!!

Jordie’s is right across the street from the park and they were ready for us at 6:00pm!!!

. . .an eclectic mix of goods for sale . . .

Jordie and Beka, our server for the night.

The boys didn’t need a second call to dinner!!!!

Broasted chicken with all the fixin’s . . . I made two trips!!!

Jordie stopped by to give us the history of the place, Very interesting and creative!!!

Easy sleeping after our BIG chicken dinner last night in Bowlus . . .

       

. . . soon we were on Nature Rd which we would follow 35 of our 65 miles today.

   

We are not going to Itasca State Park, which of course if the source of the Mississippi, but it did run near Bowlus and the trail we were on this morning.. Jordie had said Morrison County does not put up signs on any of their rivers, streams or creeks . . . could this be it????

 

… or this one? Jordie had said there was a dam involved but who knew it was this large  . . .

. . . it had a major spillway and you were not going to step across it like you can at Itasca .  . .

. . . BIG

. . . and the river was big too. No little stream. Too far south . . .

. . . but Connie and I did cross it.

. . . funny pruning job along the way!!!!

VERY tidy farms here in MN . . .

. . . some with great murals!!!!

Soon a bunch of us pulled into the Ramey store, about half way to Dalbo, for liquid refreshment.

oh yeah . . .you are up nort’ here in MN . . .

Hey emJay, TNC doing the right thing here in MN too . . .

Tonight we are staying right outside of Dalbo, pop.80, at Don’s ACA Bunkhouse. He has been providing lodging to bikers on the Northern Tier since 2006 . . .

We are staying in a converted  . . . with AC !!!!

. . . including a special tent for our meals . . .

. . .this is the lower level of the barn . . . everything you need to RELAX . . .

. . . off the main room are four bedrooms with . . .

. . .  built in dual cots set up for sleeping. Just roll out your sleeping bag!!!!

. . . and this is the second floor that can accommodate MANY more bikers.

. . . a nice kitchen and the refrigerator was stock with soda and Gatorade . . . a few can goods too if you do not come with provisions. Mark and Corvin borrowed Don’s car to go shopping in Cambridge for our viddles!!!!

, , , everything you need, and well organized!!!!

. . . an outdoor shower and outhouse round out the amenities

Don stooped by to visit and brought watermelon. His hospitality all started in 2006, when during some road road construction I,on front of his house, two weary riders came through pushing their bikes though the sand and asked I they could pitch their tents in his yard . . . the rest is history!!!

Four of us decided to ride the additional half mile into Dalbo when we heard the Dusty Eagle had a $2.00/beer happy hour from 4-6pm  . . .

sort of non descript from the outside but A LOT going on inside . . .

. . .we sort of hid our bikes in a side alley so as not to sully the ACA reputation in case we got out of control . . . and it was close!!!

. . .after our first beer, we tied up with the  . . .

Thirsty Thursday ladies group who are there every Thursday!!!! WE could not buy a beer . . .very time we set one down,another appeared. What a GREAT tradition and a GREAT gang of friends. They were very interested in our trip and what we had experienced. The town is hosting a group of 70 Swedes in a few weeks who are visiting some of their relatives homesteads.

. . .

Rod even met one of his old classmates, he had not seen for 40 years!!!!

What a great time we had at the Dusty Eagle, LOTS of laughs . . .  but soon it was time to pedal back to Don’s for dinner and our map meeting . . .

Before we did leave though, Katie told us about breaking her arm while getting out of her blue jeans . . . as she said, ‘There was alcohol involved’!!!

Comfortable and quiet night at Don’s Bunkhouse and we hated to leave. Great Hospitality, Thank you Don!!! On to the GREAT State of Wisconsin!!!

We are entering lake country again after several days of riding through ag country.  Nice scenery around every corner!!!

. . . going to have to look this one up!!!

Who knew . . .

. . . boy, now that is a ‘stretch’ for fame, even for the Village of Sunrise. Who was Frank O. Lowden? see the end of this entry.

We crossed Interstate 35 as we head for the Minnesota border . . .

Around this corner we came upon this 40 acres of solar panels . . . wonder how many megawatts it puts our????

Don had told us about a great restaurant in Harris, so of course we had to head in for a second breakfast . . . here was the place to be in Harris after 8:00pm. Mingle, Dance, Lounge . . . not necessarily in that order!!!

Kaffe Stuga was a hopping place. We tied up with Dan who recognized the ACA maps on our bikes and joined us for breakfast. He had ridden up from Mpls.

. . . typical of our group, after a full breakfast, several had pie!!!!! (no names mentioned to protect the innocent!!!)

Janie was MORE than willing to help us out . . . bring it on!!!

. . .  other highlights of Harris included this tattoo parlor right next to the Kaffe . . .

. . . with another repurposed VW bug!!!

. . . Anne arrived with might have been the ‘find of the day’  . . . nice patina on that spring!!!!

. . . as we vacated our space at the Kaffe, the second crew rolled in just in time!!!

. . . riding sweep is tough business and even Allison had to stop in for a piece of pie!!!!

Lots of Swedes in this area . . . and lots of Swedish words to say “CLOSED”!!!

Here was sort of a unique place for sale . . .  sort of  a ‘handyman special’, considering there had been an EXPLOSION in the house . . .

. . . wonder if it happened before or after it was listed??????

. . . we entered Taylors Falls, MN and had our final climb of the day into Wisconsin.  Here we are sitting in MN . . .

. . .  looking across to WI where we had a BIG climb up to Interstate State Park, on the Wisconsin side, our home for the night. It was a lot steeper than it looks, averaging 8-10% on the way up . . . after looking at it and plotting our strategy for about 15 minutes, it didn’t seem to be getting any less steep so we headed up . . .

. . . half way up I had stop to get this shot. Looks like we are still  ’Open For Business’ . . . not very unique. Allen has a photo of him entering the state of Florida and they have the same type of sign . . . I wonder if Scott Walker is still Governor in WI?????

We are staying at Interstate Park, which probably is the hilliest park in the Wisconsin system, nothing is flat. We are in the group campground on the south side of the park and the showers are two miles to the north in the park and up and down 6 hills.  Had to ride in granny gear back to camp after a shower so you didn’t get all sweated up again.

Only two days until Smoochie ties up with us in Hayward . . . YIPPEE!!!!!

Who was Frank O. Lowden? Frank Orren Lowden (January 26, 1861 – March 20, 1943) was a Republican Party politician from Illinois, who served as the 25th Governor of Illinois and as a United States Representatives from Illinois. He was also a candidate for the Republican presidential nominations in 1920 and 1928.

Very quiet in the park last night and the skeeters were not too bad!!!

Some touch climbs out of the park so early in the morning . . . the paddleboat was still in the Dalles . . this time in early morning light . . .

This is ‘old downtown’ St Croix Falls sort of a ix of tourist and local needs . . . quaint

Here is the dam right above town . . you can see the dam itself in the center of the photo before it curves to the left where it looks like a endless pool . . . don’t go over!!!

Sort of a sign of the future for small towns. You would think a little tourist town like this could support an American icon like a Dairy Queen . . but no. Instead it has moved 4 miles out of town to where the Walmart, McDonalds, Menards, etc etc are all located!!

Here is an ‘original’ sculpture entitled ‘Fish’ . . .

. . . not sure which side it looks best from.

The back story is it is located at the WDNR Fish Hatchery in St Croix Falls. When ever a new state building is constructed, or a major addition added, a certain percent of the funding for the building must be spent on ‘original’ art. Funny . . .this artist isn’t even from WI!!!!!

We rode out of St Croix Falls on the WDNR ‘Gandy Dancer’ trail. In WI the trails are not paved and you need to buy a special trail pass!!!! Not quite as user f\friendly as in MN where the trails are free (there is no free lunch  . . .someone is paying for them) but they are also paved!!!

A picture perfect riding day in WI. Low traffic, good road, just enough elevation to keep things interested . . . Wade and Doc Mike take the lead.

and the first predicted tailwind we have had since he we started 50 days ago. What a welcome to Wisconsin!!!!

First stop was the quaint town of Balsam lake. Nice water tower, clean streets lots of plants  . . .

. . .and what’s this . . . Have things changed since I left WI ?????

Really sorry we are not staying in Balsam Lake tonight . . .I would have REALLY like to see TaTi, the Island Boy, and even sample a few Leine’s!!!

Right outside of town was Ole and Lena’s Moose Theater featuring the Lutefisk Marching band . . . not sure what the giraffe was all about!!!!

The skeeters have jot been too bad yet . . . but it looks like there has been rain and puddles like this are breeding grounds . . .

. . . for the GIANT version as depicted here. They have been know to fly off with small dog and children!!!!

. . .must be a sad place . . may be the sister lake to Dead Lake in MN!!!!

We have the WDOT/County Rustic Road program in WI honoring great country rides. The kind families used to enjoy in a time past on a nice Sunday afternoon drive with a stop at the local drive inn. Not sure people do that anymore. Some of the roads are still recognized though . . .

. . .including Hunky Dory Rd!!!

First one of these I have seen in WI . .  haven’t seen any roadside fatality markers yet. It would be wishful thinking that signage like this was actually working . . .

Tonight we are staying in Cumberland at the City park. A REALLY happening place. Hope it quiets down tonight. To bad it is not a rest day . . . the Tower House looked very inviting . . .

Local mascot at the elementary school . . .

Oh, those Cumberlanders do have opinions!!!!

Tomorrow onto Hayward and a layover day . . . I started my career in 1977 with the State of Wisconsin, Department of Natural Resources, in Hayward as a trainee. It will be interesting to become reacquainted with it!!!

Noisy in the campground last night. People were still chopping fire wood after midnight!!!

Camping formula: City Park+Weekend+Nice Weather = Noisy Night.

On the road heading our 62 miles to Hayward we encountered this ‘Midwest Nice’ version of rumble strips . . they lay them out in the gravel shoulder so as not to create too much noise or cause vibration . . . go figure!!!

ummmmmm . . .effective in northern Wisconsin in the peak of summer? . . .would like to read the fine print on the contract!!!

We passed under State Hwy 63 today which I believe is the first time we have passed under a major road since Hebron. ND . . .  the night of the fly attack!!!

The first Christmas tree plantations we have seen in the Midwest . . . more to come I’m sure.

I don’t know . . . I just liked the name of this farm. Sounds homey . . . Garrison Keillor style!

We had some big climbs today that seemed to go on forever, shades of ND . . .

. . . but what a view these people had at the top of this one. Not a good representation in the photo but wide open vistas of WI elevation in the distance.

. . . our first town for a break this morning was Haugen. Handsome restored school. The whole village was spotless!!! The map said there was a store there but our experience has been they are usually not open early on a Sunday morning . . .

. . . but Hill’s store on Main St was open at 8:00am . . .

. . .and manned by no one other than Jim Hill himself who has been behind the counter for over 50 years!!!! There is a little of everything in the store. He told his wife, Yvonne, when they were thinking of purchasing it he would only buy it if they could stock it with enough of what people needed that they wouldn’t need to leave town.  And he has ever since  . . . even had nice, fresh produce. Jim had been an Emergency Fire Warden for 40 years and worked with two of the Rangers from my Class of 1977.

. . . and he had EFW Appreciation Awards through the years from four state foresters to prove it!!!

Outside we met Al, a local historian who filled us in on the local Bohemian Cemetery that has one civil war veteran buried in it. He spend over 4 months researching genealogy records to find the soldiers name. Abraham Lincoln purchase property and turned them into cemeteries all over the north in order to provide final resting sites for his soldiers . . .

Al is one of the Bohemian and Czech settlers of the area . . . can you tell by his name????

Wade found this biking jersey along the road and has vowed to keep loosing weight until he fits into it!!!!

. . . a great looking barn we passed along the way. I really like the stone and the door . . .

Our lunch stop was 52 miles into the ride at Edgewater, on Big Chetek Lake.The thermometer said 90 degrees!!!! The Gatorade was flowing . . . no beer yet.

As we continued on to Hayward, we passed a unit of the Washburn County Forest. Interesting that the sign STILL says Wisconsin Conservation Department. The name was changed to Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources in the early seventies, wedding the conservation activities with the regulatory environmental activities (air, water, solid waste, etc.), much to the chagrined of many people. I wonder if some of them are on the the County Forest Advisory group and are STILL in protest!!!!!

. . . oh, we were in BIG fishing country now!!!!

Hey it looks like our own mbbt member Jim Miller has returned to his roots in Sawyer County for a second career of  . . . ‘taking care of all your earthly needs’. You go, Jim!!!

As we rounded the corner in Stone Lake and were heading down the final 12 miles to Hayward we passed this closed ‘supper club’ I went to several times during the 5 months I was a trainee, in Hayward, for WDNR in 1977 . . . a lot has changed in the world, and my life, since then . . . including the passing of this place!!!!

. . . oh we had a hill or two left . . .

. . . and a cooling little shower from a head on this irrigation boom that was stuck watering the road!!!!

Soon we entered the greater Hayward city limits . . . where there is some outdoor activity for most everyone and most of the visitors seem to come from the Twin Cities,

. . .it’s a layover day in Hayward tomorrow and emJay is coming up to join us for five days. YIPPEEEE. She booked us into the cozy Riverside Motel , , ,

. . . no sleeping for me on the lawn of the church tonight . . .  (in fact most of our gang decided to motel it over the next two nights in Hayward)

. . oh the vino will be flowing out on our deck tomorrow  night!!!!

Yesterday after visiting West Dairy with Rod I was returning to the Riverside when I saw Denise coming across at the traffic light . . .

When Mark and I stopped at the Edgewater for lunch he  mentioned Denise had had a MAJOR blowout in her back tube. Sounded like a shotgun blast. He and Allen helped her change it, she took the bike for a loop or two, it seemed fine and she told them to go on as she added her panniers and stuff. She had still not landed at the Edgewater by the time we finished our lunch. Why . . . because she had a second BIG blowout!!! On closer inspection the sidewall of her tire had failed. She put on her extra tire and was soon down the road . . .

. . . this is the second Schwalbe Marathon PLUS tire she has side wall failures. It’s the same tire I purchased in Medora to replace my Continental Contact. I guess the Marathon PLUS’s are supposed to be puncture residence but it looks like they need to do a little reinforcing of the sidewalls. I’m keeping my fingers cross with mine!!!!

Slept GREAT at the Riverside and walked across the street to the Norske Noon or breakfast. Although they are know for their mile high cream pies, they have a great breakfast too!!!

Time to do a little touring around Hayward to see what has changed since I was a trainee here in 1977. I biked out to the ranger station base. As you can see  . . . part of it has been turned into ‘estates’!!!  . . .

The historic ranger station was moved across town and is now the Sawyer County Historical Center.  Good use for the old building and it is well maintained. Steve Early and I had desks on the second floor during our stay there over the winter of 1977-78 . . .

. . .this is the old Fire Control building now used as storage. As a trainee I had to help shovel coal into the cast iron stove in the basement to warm the place in the winter. That was anew one for a youngster from Mpls!!! The height of the newer sized fire fighting rigs made these building obsolete. Built in the CCC days, they are now usually used for storage . . .

. . . I can see the construction of bear traps has not changed much since ‘77. Lure the bear in with bait, the door closes and the bear gets mad!!!! The holes on the sides are used to aenethtisize the bear with dart guns before they remove it from the trap!!!

About the time I was retiring the WDNR had gone through a ‘reorganization’ , probably the third one I had experienced during my 33 year control. We no longer had the traditional Ranger Station where you could drop in anytime during business hours and get info. The Ranger and his family lived above the Ranger Station on the second floor so there was usually someone around 24/7. The final reorg before I retired brought about consolidated ‘service centers’ where we met with our ‘customers’ (formerly know as the public, in a very controlled environment.

. . . as you can see, the customer service is now only available 11-2, Monday – Friday!!!! Like a lot of customer service provided now a days, the trend is no personal contact but a website and 800 number. At least the 800 number is still answered by someone sitting in Madison . . . but very little local contact. If you need to speak to one of the local resource managers, you need to make an appointment!!!!

Near the old Ranger Station, on Hall of Fame Dr,  is the home of the ‘Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame.’ Last time I was here you had a clear view of the ‘World’s Largest Musky’ from just about all angles. Through the years greenery has been strategically planted to limit the free view of the Musky without paying the entrance fee of $8.00. Sort of creepy looking.

. . . I think they should have used a Disney designer to make it look more ‘friendly’!!!!

. . . watch out for that tail!!!!

. . the Lumberjack show is still running, a great family venue. We just missed the Championships by one week!!!

Down the street, and across from my first apartment in 1977, West’s Ice Cream store is still operating. Founded in 1954 . . .

. . .  the staff uniforms and interiors have been updated  . . . but you can’t really improve on the creaminess of their ice cream. Rod and I stopped for some on the way into town . . .

. . . across form West’s, was the first apartment I lived in after leaving home and moving to Hayward for my trainee period. I lived on the second floor, heated with one central space heater. There were a few drafty areas in the middle of a January cloudless night!!!! It has now been tuned into ‘Dakota Cigars and Swanky Things’ . . . my, how some things have changed . . .

. . . including the addition of McDonalds.  No fast food when I was here. I’m sure the City Zoning had something to say about the ‘log cabin’ design required in order for MC to build here. But . . .there is also a huge Minneapolis based Marketplace Grocery store . . .and of course a Walmart. A LARGE percentage of Hayward’s visitors are from the Twin Cites in MN. Many travelers like having  some of their normal creature comforts close by when traveling. For those who do not . . . try traveling cross country on a bike!!!!!

. . . sadly the DQ that was on main street closed in 2009, relocated near the WalMart and is now a Brazier, selling food too. When I was here in 1977, it was a great hangout on the main drag with everyone getting a cone and chattin’ it up with the neighbors from the hood . . .

I needed to stop at the Moccasin Bar, THE landmark in Hayward (especially since the old hotel on the corner burned down) and get a shot of the BIGGEST musky ever caught . . .

. . . but alas even the bar was closed on Monday, just like the local brewery. Guess everyone needs a day off . . . but the Moccasin will be open at 9:00AM tomorrow morning!!!!!

. . . I took my group gear out to the Weslyen Church, ‘our official residence’ in Hayward. Too bad we are not staying here on a ‘regular working’ night. We could have made great use of the kitchen and all the facilities!!!!

I was down at the Riverbrook Bike shop at 10:10am, they opened at 10:00am, and Allen and  . . .

. . . Corvin were already ahead of me in the service department. Rest days are a great time to get the bike retuned. I was having shifting problems and ended up needing a new chain. Only lasted 2,300 miles but they were loaded miles with LOTS of climbing . . .

. . . Allison was having trouble with her right STI shifter. The cable broke right where the shifter cable end passes through the mechanism. She had to perform ‘minor surgery’ three days ago to try and get the small barrel end out of the shifter and may have ’altered’ a few parts during the procedure.  . . . we’ll see how the ‘open heart’ surgery goes. Usually there are no ‘customer serviceable parts’  in the shifter. Might be time for bar ends!!!

It was a beautiful, lazy day for us in Hayward. Catching up on sleep, bike work, shopping and laundry. Just about everyone passed through this ‘dream spot’ today at one time or another. Local laundromat with a coffee shop right next store. A match made in heaven!!!

emJay has joined our group of happy bikers for the next 5 days . . . everything in my life is now good!!!

It’s always hard to get back on the road after a rest day, especially one like the layover in Hayward. Everyone found  something to do and had a good time.

As we were leaving the church last night after the map meeting, Rod grabbed this shot of me and my twin Matt who was also leaving the church.

He thanked me for letting him be part of my day . . . nice!!!

Breakfast was set up in the church kitchen at precisely 6:00am by the chefs.

Mark and Allen were the first in line . . .

On rest days, and with a kitchen available, there is time do do a little more for the gang like cutting up fresh fruit and making hard boiled eggs. Nice job Wade and Bernie!!!

Soon we were out the door and on the road . . . right out of town there was this place for sale. You’d think the owner might have taken down the “Depressed Fisherman’ sign!!!!! . . .

Oh yeah  . . . there are turkeys up nort’ . . .

. . and cranes. I’ve heard their prehistoric call several times in the last few days of biking but this is my first sighting!!!

. . . more Christmas trees. Shearing needs helps employee a few folks each year . . .

. . . as does the collection of boughs for making Holiday wreaths and other decorative hangings.

Most of the days 55 mile ride was though the Chequamegon Forest which has their own Scenic Byway!!!

. . . and we were seeing more color too . . . nice!

. . . nice ‘Mom and Pop’ fishing place along the way on Round Lake!!!!

I had to make a ‘nature call’ by stopping my bike. No need to get off though . . . as I did, Rod rode up along side me and ‘tagged’ me with a clothes pin on my ACA Triangle. We are playing a new roiling game where each of us has a clothespin with someone else’s name on it. One needs to snap it on the persons triangle while they are off the bike or ‘out of the saddle’ as I was. I need to get an ‘official ruling’ from Allison if it was a ‘legal tag’. I had to go!!!!

. . . this sounds like a fun place to live . . .

there has been an Elk reintroduction program on the Chequamegon Federal Forest property and one needs to look out for them in this area. Even when on a bike!!!!! The herd is growing  and the reintroduction sounds like it is going to be a succeeds. No hunting season yet . . .

. . . the thing I can’t figure out is how do the biologists train the elk to only cross the road, at these crossings . . .???????

. . . by the number of these signs we saw along the way it looks like they have developed a goo working relationships with local landowners. It would be great to wake up, get the first cup of coffee of the day and look out the window at an elk!!!

. . . this is the only elk we saw today, in Clam Lake, our halfway point and rest stop, as we cycled through the forest. Maybe next time!

WDNR has got out of the fire tower detection business, going with strictly citizen reporting and aerial detection, and is in the process of removing the towers. Looks like the Fed’s may still have a tower program on the Chequamegon National Forest.

We are staying in Glidden tonight. The gang is overnighting in the high school rather than the local park because there is rain predicted tonight and tomorrow. Bad news on food though, the only grocery in town has closed. There are several C-stores and chef’s Good Mike and Rod are going to see if they can rustle us up some grub . . . otherwise we will be eating out (three taverns in town!!!) I think the last time we had to rely on C-store provisions for dinner was in Concrete, WA where chefs Wade and Denise made us ‘Tuna Surprise’  with what they could find . . . and it wasn’t half bad!!!!!

Glidden has really done a great job honoring all veterans from the area who have served through the years . . .

throughout town there are murals with a star for each soldier . . .

. . . and life size painting of some . . .

. . . with their names, theater of activity and rank. Very Nice. It is amazing how many served from this small town of 200 people!!!

. . . emJay and I are staying up the hill at the Schroeder Hotel/Motel . . .

. . . nice clean place, only $50/night, and Connie gets her own bed!!!!

A quiet and peaceful night for emJay and I at the Schroeder Motel. We were over to the school fro breakfast and lunch making at 6:00am!!!

emJay helps load up Connie for a day of riding . . .

Glidden is known for the ‘Largest Black Bear in the World’. 666 pounds and standing 7’10’’. Every business in town seems to have Bear in the name!!!

a . . .  as we left town here was one of the Sappi wood yards where all the timber hauling trucks we have seen drop their wood . . . right next to a rail line!!!

Our first town to ride through was Butternut . . . a very neat and tidy little community.

. . .they were not celebrating veterans as such but their local citizens . . .

. . . including jack Koch who had a 40 year career in Wildlife Management with WDNR . . . great tribute to local citizens . . .

. . . to bad it was only 9:00am . . . a ‘tini seemed like a good idea!!!!

. . .lots of deer on today’s ride. This one was getting ready to check out the garbage can when I showed up. Put back it’s ears and was gone!!!

. . . hey nice idea, buy what about bicyclists!!!!

Denise helped this turtle across the road. It had two leeches attached to it back!!!!

. . .  lots of nice color today along the road . . .

 

. . . the flowers seemed to come in batches.

. . . the this is funny. I would have liked to meet the individual. I bet they know how to celebrate life.

Next town down the road today was Mercer . . . normally sort of a sleepy town . . .

. . . but the first Wednesday of every August is ‘LOON CELEBRATION DAY’ . . .and today is that day. Approx. 5,500 people descend on the town. Over 200 vendors set up shop. Everything you probably wouldn’t buy at home but people are on vacation!!!

. . .besides the pelican in Pelican Rapids, MN . . . the giant musky in Hayward and now the ‘Largest Loon’ in the world . . . right here in Mercer, WI.

emJay has some Nature Conservancy supporters who live in Florida half the year and Mercer the other half (I bet you can guess which half is where). They have a nice furniture store with lots of northern WI motif. Perfect for the cabin . . .

. . . and Otto invented this patented weed rake for removing weed in front of the cabin. Snow scoops too!!!

The Deer Lodge . . .

  . . . was welcoming visitors, along the way.

. . . today we rode by the WinMan Rec area where the mbbt has mountain biked or the last several years.

. . . we tried to stop at this place last year and it was closed. Still is . . . out of business, like so many establishments around the northern part of the state.

. . .soon we were entering the boulder Junction area at the end of our 70 mile day. The county has a paved trail the last 18 miles into town . . . nice!

. . . including new bridges just for bicyclists!!!

. . . this poor crittter did not survive crossing the path. Lots of bikes along the way . . many curious about our loaded bikes and what we were doing!!

. . . as we neared town we passed this fellow touching up the large propane tank proclaiming Boulder Junction as the ‘Musky Capital of the World’. I crossed the road and asked him’ I thought Hayward was the Musky Capital of the World?’. No answer. I thought maybe he hadn’t heard me or had ear buds in listening to music, so asked him, ‘Did you paint the fish too?’ . . . he never looked at me as he walked back and forth to his paint tray, but finally responded, ‘I’m working, I don’t have time to talk’. hmmm. .  I thought. I said, ‘Maybe I would let the Chamber of Commerce know that’ He responded . ‘Good idea!!!’. Never looked up . . .

nice stay in Boulder Junction . . . today it is 73 miles to Crandon!!!

We’ll be riding through the Northern Highland State forest today . . .

. . . and soon we were in the VERY small burg of Star Lake . . . here is the whole place . . .

. . .this was going to be our original lay over location until we changed it to Hayward . . . GOOD DECISION!!!!!

. . . lots of ATV/Snowmobile trails up here. one could mountain bike on them but road bikes, especially loaded, would not work so good . . .

. . . beautiful riding today, first on County K. mbbt has ridden this on several of our trips. No traffic, just enough up and down, lakes . . . beautiful . . .

funny . . . bike and bobber!!!!

. . .oh and we are still in loon county . . .

. . . surprised Corvin passed up this delicacy!!!

. . .looks like a lightning hit. Today it was originally predicted to have over 3 inches of rain in the area and strong head winds!!!! As it ended up, it did rain most of the day but the headwinds were not a problem . . . wet though. VERY wet!!!

. . . my old buddy Earl Meyer always carried a red arrow in hi his briefcase to honor those from WI who served in the 32nd division.

. . . the second EAUTIFUL ride today was through the national forest. 20 miles on Military Rd. Again no traffic, a little up and down and BEAUTIFUL scenery . . . and the Feds are looking out for the turtles!

. . . great riding, a surprise around every corner. Quite a comparison to ND!!!

. . one of the first roadside memorials I’ve seen in WI . . .

. . . soon followed by another. Both on the national forest roads . . . sad.

. . . a drumming school . . . probably a good thing is is located out in the sticks!!!! Mark stopped in and tied to talk to the folks. Not to friendly, leery of outsiders????!!!!

. . . suddenly a ‘road angel’ appeared with sea salt caramels and a BIG kiss . . .  nice!!!

. . .emJay and I have talked about RV’s in the past  . . .  this one looks, ‘interesting’!!!!

. . . hey Snaren, these folks must be from Ashby!!!!

. . . next little burg down the road was Hiles. Looks like there are a few Trumpster fans living in Hiles!!!

. . . Hile’s  Humor !!!!

. . . we finally arrived, in the rain, in Crandon . . .  where the gang is staying side the Baptist Church . . .

 

. . . a washer and dryer, warmth and a few old newspapers to dry out the biking shoes.

Pastor Dan, his wife Elizabeth, and their 4 children were GREAT hosts. emJay and I hoteled it though!!!

Doc Mike was in his element. Having 11 grandchildren he is good a bedtime story telling!!!!

The gang had a great night of sleeping in the Baptist Church

. . . and . . . emJay and I slept GREAT in the Main St motel . . .

People are ‘fleeing the ship’ for several days before we literally board the ship in Manitowoc. Doc Mike and Wade are veering off course for 4 days, heading to Green Bay for Packer weekend!!!  Jim ‘s wife Nancy is coming up for several days and they are moteling it. She will cross with us on the ferry and then drive back to Chicago. Mark has continued to have leg problems with his shin splints. His wife picked him up last night and they returned to Cedarburg. He’ll head to the doctor for some special treatments . He needed to shave his leg before he left for home. We teased him we could apply a Mustard (we have three bottles we are carrying) Poultice to his ankle as our special ‘on the road remedy’. Couldn’t hurt!!!!

This is what the remaining riders ‘faced’ on todays 74 miles ride. A string 15-20MPH wind BUT . . . it was actually a tailwind. The first we have had of this strength on the whole trip. It would REALLY help us sail down the road and eat up those miles FAST!!!!

. . . her was a BEAUTIFUL Lutheran Church we passed along the way . . . being renovated on the inside!

Lots of logging going on in the area . . . mmmm wonder forestry ‘best management practices’ are being followed here??????

Lots of grouse up in this part of the state and this is one of several improvement areas we passed . . .

. . .the nights have begun to coo la little which is GREAT for sleeping. emJay brought up a lighter sleeping bag I was thinking of switching out but am going to keep the heavier one. I hope this cover is to protect the plants from bugs and NOT from FROOST . . . too early in the year!!!!!

. . . just ahead lay this dreaded ‘DTT’ (Delaminated Truck Tire) . . .

. . . just lying in wait to jump out and bite a bikers tire . . . the group hasn’t had a flat since our riding on the Interstate system (other than Denise’s major tire BLOW out failure).

. . this was funny . .  . a golf green some landowner had created in a small forest clearing . . . 

. . . we crossed over the Wolf River which I believe is WI longest free flowing river and known to whitewater kayakers’ and canoeists throughout the Midwest.

. . . we passed these beauties along the way. I  asked them all to line up for a photo and they were happy to comply. Eddie, on the left, insisted on more of a ‘profile shot’ to show off his better side!!!!

. . . along he way we met Andrew and his daughter, Nadeja (means Hope in Bohemian), who are from Camden, Maine heading to Oregon. They are the first west bound riders we have seen since Fargo. They actually started a month later than planned because Andrew had a back issue. A great team . . . safe biking!!!

. . . we are near the Antigo area, Home of WI’s state soil . . .the ‘Antigo Silt Loam’ (yes, we do have a state soil!!!), which means LOTS of tator fields.  . . . and the terrain has started to flatten out some. Yippee!!!!

. . .some of our mbbt team spent Mondays, last fall and winter, hiking about 60 miles of the Ice Age Trail down near the Madison area. The trail follows the terminal moraine of the last glacial event in WI. Looks like we missed a piece!!!

. . I’ve been telling the gang about our ‘WI rollers’ (bumps you ride up and can just about coast down and 3/4 of the way up the next). To date they have all been ‘to extended’, large, to roll up. Finally we had a few today. Makes for nice biking!!!

. . . WI was one of the first states to come o board with the ‘Rails to Trails’ program. Most of our trail system is restricted to bicycles and hiking only, but here are trails that have been developed for ATV. Although one can bicycle on them, they are usually too rough and the stone too big,

. . . we finally blew into the Tilleda Campground, our home for the night. It is located right on the Embarrass River but it was easy to cross with this walkway. Connie REALL wanted to dip her hooves in the cool water after the big day.

. . . because of the rain from the last two days the camping area was a little ‘soggy’ and we were worried about mosquitos. No problem with either!!!

We decided while in WI we had to experience a good old fashion tradition . . . the Friday Night Fish Fry. Allison made reservations at the local restaurant and we took up all the tables they had available.

Usually a fish fry uses cod but as you can see above . . . there was a wide assortment of batter, beer batter or fried available . . . YUMMMMM!!!!

. . . I went with the fried blue gill and it was delicious!!!! After pie for desert and finishing our beers it was back to the campsite . . .

. . . along the way Rod had a call from Buzz, his wife. She has an uncanny knack of tracking him down WHEREVER he is!!!!