Coop's Corner: Slimey Crud Weekend

Friday, October 3, 2014

Slimey Crud Weekend - October 2014

Jim and I had made plans to try a camping, riding weekend this time. Last weekend we had temps in the low 80's and while I was hauling the TW200 down today behind the van, the radio folks were talking about sleet and snow for sections in central Minnesota. A big cold front was coming through, bringing high winds and cold moisture.

Due to the weather we decided to pull the plug on our planned trip. This morning I looked again at a forecast that seemed a bit more moderate and unwilling to cancel my entire plan, I booked a motel room and left home this morning. Arriving at around noon, I checked in, unloaded the bike and took off. Our camping area had been around Richland Center but the motel I booked is a place I've stayed many times before. Planned GPS Routes had been created for the Richland area to the west. Today I turned the old Quest2 on and followed my nose. I hadn't gone very far before deciding that I'd cross Wisconsin Lake on the State of Wisconsin's Ferry at Merrimac. I've used the DOT ferry before with various bikes but I don't remember ever having crossed before with the TW200.

North Freedom was one of the places visited on the way and once in town, I realized that though having been close before, I'd never stopped at the Mid-Continent Railway Museum.

Decorated for autumn.....

A popular tourist destination, the museum was very quiet this Friday afternoon.

The Depot........

An old SOO rail car......

Brilliant and bright leaf color on Freedom Road....

Happy Hill Road, the photo doesn't do this road's colors justice.

I wonder if Sonja will let me get away with calling these old Roman ruins.....on Happy Hill Road?

I crossed the Ice Age Trail numerous times and in numerous places today.

Waiting in line for the ferry at Merrimac........

The Big Yellow Line (Full Load) on the pavement 30ft. behind me, signifying the ferry's car capacity for each trip.

On the south side, after my crossing, the ferry full and heading back to Merrimac.

This Rustic Road, #110 came as a surprise. When I last was pursuing the extensive list of Wisconsin Rustic Roads, there were only 109.

I rode down to Lodi, filled with gas and had a cup of coffee to take the chill off. It seemed that every student in town was in uniform.....parents and families hustling everywhere and getting ready for a parade. Must have been Homecoming?

Just west of Lodi, one of the afternoon's quick showers popped up, this one a bit more serious than those I'd already ridden through. Harder rain, stronger wind and gradual cooling all afternoon were changing conditions quickly. Wouldn't you know, just as the harder rain started, I discovered that I was on some thick pea gravel. Visibility was not great and the pea gravel came as a surprise.

Chrisler and Van Ness.......

I took the ferry again, this time going north.....into the strong wind.....while another fast moving blast of drizzle dropped over the river. I happened to end up right in front, into the wind, the ferry punching through the white-caps with lots of splashing. Anticipating the spray, I left the bike and walked back two car-lengths. It was almost but not quite enough; the wind was catching gallons of spray.

Another Ice Age Trail Crossing........this photo captured one of the bright blue sky moments. There were a few, making the afternoon a real mix of the darkest grey's and some very blue openings.

Back through Baraboo and a stop at The Meat Market.......another store's products to sample.

Rain and snow predicted overnight, low 30's and snow at 6AM.....might be a later ride start tomorrow. It felt very good to get back inside late this afternoon.

5 comments:

David MasseOctober 4, 2014 at 5:13 AM
Doug that saddle doesn't look very comfortable for a long-ish ride. Nice bike though. I'm assuming it takes on pea gravel with sure-footed aplomb.
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SonjaMOctober 4, 2014 at 12:00 PM
Beautiful ride, lovely fall photos although I seem to feel the chilly air coming through.

And... there is no way that I am letting you get away with that, Coop. ;-)
If you had said Vikings... well alright.
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TrobairitzOctober 5, 2014 at 10:47 AM
Smart move booking the hotel room.

It looks like a lovely day on the bike. I really enjoyed the rail museum pics.
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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)