Coop's Corner: Slimey Crud Precursor

Saturday, May 3, 2014

Slimey Crud Precursor

Following last October's precedent setting pattern, I started this spring's Slimey Crud run Friday right after work. It felt good, really very good to be on the road with the bike and trailer in tow. All of the paraphernalia had already been loaded into the van Thursday night. I decided that I'd wait to load the TW200 on the trailer until just before I was ready to leave. It's been a rainy week and I just didn't think the bike needed to be tipped forward, stuck on the stationary trailer in hard rain.

Friday did bring us some clearing as had been predicted. It was actually turning quite pleasant in the afternoon but half way through my 4 hour drive to Richland Center there were more hard showers. The route takes me right through one of the area's major Amish settlements and I saw a dozen or so buggies moving on the wide shoulders of US 14 as evening came. However, just east of Sugar Grove, there was a buggy on its side, two men obviously struggling to calm a very nervous horse. I couldn't tell if anyone had been hurt seriously or at all. From what I could tell, things seemed ok but may have been more serious than was immediately obvious. I don't know and did not stop.

This morning's sunrise from the door of my motel in Richland Center. Obvious to anyone with a trained eye, the TDub is as ready as I am for today's adventure.

I'd just picked up a bottled water or I'd have been tempted to fill my cup from this spring along Double "O".

Working downhill on Riverview Ridge I noticed a commotion along the road bank as I passed. A turkey hen had caught its claw (they have talons) in an old piece of downed fence. Since I had all of my Turkey Freeing gear on ('Stich, helmet, gloves, boots), I went over as quietly as I could with my Leatherman. Speaking calmly to her seemed to help and she quieted as I very carefully cut two pieces of wire that were holding her very bloody and sore looking leg. Once free, she hopped and flapped her way across the road and down over the other side of the road. She wasn't able to stand on it and I'm not real confident that she'll be able to heal but I did what I could.

Hanging upside down, her head behind.

You can see the red fence post to her right. She's caught in the top band of net fencing.

Bogus Valley Road and State Hwy 60 adjacent to the very full Wisconsin River.

Indian Creek Road.......

No matter how much riding I do in the area or maps that I carefully study, there are always new discoveries to be made. I've ridden by the Shadewald Mounds numerous times before and had no idea of their presence. During the past week while planning today's ride, I stumbled upon some new information so a stop was in order. Read more about Frank and the mounds here.

You can see the 12 mounds in a line on top of the next hill.

I'm standing in front of the Bison Mound.....

Mentioned by me before, these hills and valleys are filled with some incredible contrasts. I went by at least a couple of homesteads today that appeared to have all of this year's garbage piled out near the road and most of last year's as well. Around the bend or in an adjacent swale, a person is just as likely to pass by this.......the end of the driveway unable to be seen from the house; the house up there somewhere.

Anderson Road.......

Pompeys Pillar Valley.....I expected great things and found them......it was lovely. In fact, I had managed to string a few real dandies together. Shop Hill, Anderson Road, Pompeys Pillar and Smokey Hollow together are about as good as it gets for this kind of riding.

Stopped for a Lori's Special in Highland at Grandma's Cafe.

Somehow the camera caught me doing puddle inspection......don't ask me, I have no idea.

In the vicinity of puddle inspection......

Vandalous Gate Art I'd have to imagine......I've never seen a pair quite like this.

Booth Hollow. You better add this one to the 4 above. Not connected to the others but close.

Stanek Road

At this time of year the trails created for logging the hillsides are visible. Just a few warm weeks and they'll be hidden.

The next time I complain about our driveway, point me back to this photo. Their driveway will intersect the road I'm on about a 1/4 of a mile to my right.

Big Spring Creek Trout Stream public fishing area.

Trout??.......maybe.

Not really very many miles but I'm a bit stiff and sore tonight. I stopped often as you can tell, enjoying the dry sunshine and warmth. Tomorrow will be more action packed.

8 comments:

Martha May 4, 2014 at 7:22 AM
Nice that you caught the trout fisherman! I'm sure his Maserati was parked right around the bend...I think you know what I'm referring to here...

Interesting spring along the road. I can't say I've ever seen that.

What a beautiful day for your outing. After last winter we all deserve more of these days and should savor every one- even if that means just sitting outside in wonder.

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SonjaMMay 4, 2014 at 9:15 AM
Thanks for the interesting link about the mounds. Only the areal views seem to give away the motives. Very interesting! For me your trip has all action needed. A ride, excellent views, some cultural flavour thrown in.
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TrobairitzMay 4, 2014 at 9:41 AM
A wonderful sunny day for your ride and the TW looks like the perfect steed for the day.

Thank you for freeing the turkey, you were wearing the perfect gear for it.
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DebMay 4, 2014 at 9:52 AM
Nice ride area, nice post! I am happy for the turkey hen too. Hopefully she will be ok.

What kind of bike is that?

Enjoy your "rest of the ride"!
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Others say....

"it was auspicious to approach any situation from a deferential, inquisitive place. Conceding that there is much to learn is the best blueprint for discovering something new." ----B. Fuller

The Man straightened stiffly above the block of salt fixed to the stake and looked at the young cattle ringed about him. The pasture was holding out well and the stock was looking good. This bunch would be ready to sell in another month, maybe sooner if the market was right.

A stir among the cattle down near the river brought him round to face the swinging bridge he'd built years before. Someone was coming toward him from the bridge. Someone in breeches, but it didn't look like a man, somehow. What was a woman doing in his pasture this time of night?

He bent over the salt again; maybe if he paid her no heed she'd go on past and let him mind his own business. He heard her footsteps come nearer and stop. "Good evening," she said.

Her voice was smooth with book learning but friendlier than most, and somehow almost shy. When he made no answer she went on, "I've been sitting on your swinging bridge....I thought I'd like to say thank-you...." Her voice stumbled a little, then she tried once more.

"You are Mr. ____". His name sounded strange in her voice, but she went on to tell her own.

"That's what they've called me the last sixty-eight years," he said, looking past her face to the hills fast darkening under a single star. "I reckon the woods are free for those that like to walk there."

The unfamiliar voice laughed a little. "That's what Emerson said: the grove belongs to the man who walks in it with an open heart....On that basis I guess I've owned part of your woods for a good many years.....". She made a final effort. "I've always wanted to thank you....."

Something deeply hidden stirred in him. "There's a stump up there, in the notch of the woods", he said slowly, "that before the timber grew so tall you could stand on it and see all over this country."

He kept still a minute, remembering, then, "I used to stand up there an' look at things, an' wonder how they come to be like they was, an' how the hills was created, an' all the things in Nature.... I told my wife I guessed all the religion I ever had I got standin' on that old stump, a-wonderin'..." He turned his face away from her.

She helped him out. "I know about that, a little. This afternoon I saw......." Her account of a thing she had really taken time to look at eased him, and he answered with telling of the badger den at the foot of the swinging bridge.

When she had gone, he turned to watch her. After a moment she stood clear and unmoving against the sky. You could hear the sounds of the river where she stood. She was one that could stand still long enough, he thought, really to hear what a body was saying, or a river.

Then she walked down the farther side of the slope and was gone. ------Margaret Snyder from A Chosen Valley

Fall was the end of harvest, end of the growing season, a burst of color and sun-warmth before killing frost turned the land gray and cold. Fall was a moody time, full of both life and death, a time when we were reminded of the power outside of us, reminded that the seasons happen to us. We do not invite the change to come.-------Ben Logan, from The Land Remembers

When you get those rare moments of clarity, those flashes when the universe makes sense, you try desperately to hold onto them. They are the lifeboats for the darker times, when the vastness of it all, the incomprehensible nature of life is completely elusive. So the question becomes or should have been all along, what would you do if you knew you only had one day, or one week, or one month to live. What lifeboat would you grab onto? What secret would you tell? What band would you see? What person would you declare your love to? What wish would you fulfill? What exotic locale would you fly to for coffee? What book would you write? ------- Ben Tyler

We were also cautioned about journeying far from home. As an example of the dangers, the town had a badly crippled lady named Lucy, who as a girl had traveled to New York City. As she traveled along a sidewalk, sightseeing, she was struck by the outstretched hand of a suicide who had leapt from high above. Her spine had been shattered and for the rest of her life, she was to walk bent forward at the waist, tapping the sidewalk with two black canes. Whenever the subject of travel to a big city was raised, someone would say, "Just remember what happened to Miss Tripp." ---- Ted Kooser, from Local Wonders

"Steamboats are like wedding cakes without the complications...." ----Mark Twain

"It's not about having lots of money, it's about having lots of options......." -----Chris Rock

As the very proud father of three former ponytail wearers, hopefully I can get away with this....."For the past few years it's been fashionable for young women to wear ball caps and to snap the strap on the back under their ponytails. I like the looks of that, their shiny ponytails jauntily swinging, but it's hard not to think of the rear ends of horses. There's a piece of harness called the crupper that goes just under a horse's tail to keep its nose down. If the horse lifts its head to look for a way out of whatever predicament it's in, the crupper tightens and hurts the horse. But it's foolish for parents to think that a ball cap might keep a young woman from running away. Anybody can see they're made for running." ------Ted Kooser, Local Wonders

"I tell the guy's girlfriend that the only difference between the book's main character Phaedrus and myself is that I am neither brilliant, tortured or insane, she looks at my bike and there is an uncomfortable silence." --------ahendepe (a.k.a. Vermin)