Saturday, August 26, 2017

Aug 25--Day 74--A Nice Day For a Long Bike Ride

It was pretty chilly to start with. I actually put on my leg warmers for the first time. It was 47 degrees in my tent this morning. I guess Fall is coming. At least it warmed up to a comfortable 70 or so. 

 

I wasn't really sure where my end point would be today. I had the option of taking a shortcut on an unpaved trail. When I was planning this trip, I thought I might take the trail, and camp somewhere along it. Although, I had no idea what the trail would look like. 

 

First, I had to get to Shawano, where the Mountain-Bay Recreational Trail started (for me anyway). It was another day of dairy farm after dairy farm (it takes a lot of milk to make all that Wisconsin cheese). I saw where the baby cows live. These little pens have a milk bottle holder on the side of the little kennel. I saw a guy putting the bottles in the holders (otherwise I would not have known that little tidbit of information). 

Baby cow houses

See the wire thing on the one to the left? That's where the milk bottle goes.

 

 

I don't think I could ever get used to the smell. I did a lot of breathing through my mouth, filtering it through my teeth. Even then, it wasn't the best. When I rode through the Naverino Wildlife Area I got a respite from the cow smell. I breathed deeply. As for the wildlife, I saw one deer.

The cow free zone of the wildlife area

 

 

I rolled into Shawano around 1:00 or so (maybe a little later). I had done 51 miles. I really did want to take the Mountain-Bay Trail. I stopped at the bike shop and asked how far it was from Shawano to Bowler, where I would get back on the route. Surprisingly, the guy didn't know (really??? You run a bike shop that's on this trail and you rent bikes, and you don't know the distances???). Well, he calculated it out to be 22 miles. So, the "short cut" saved me 3 miles. The only thing was that by taking the trail, I would bypass two campgrounds, and there wouldn't be another one until about 7 miles further along the route after I got off the trail. Still, it was a nice day...I opted for the trail. I had to buy a trail pass for $5. 

 

At first the trail was a grassy doubletrack to get out of town. Then I was on the road. There were directional signs that said "Hiking and Biking Trail". I followed them, but was on the road for what seemed like a long time. I was beginning to think I was going the wrong way, when one of the signs finally pointed to the unpaved trail. 

Getting out of town

Mtn-Bay Trail

 

 

I don't think it gets much use as a bike trail. There were very few tire tracks, and the plants were growing up in the middle. The whole time, I saw only one other bike. I think it probably gets lots of use as a snowmobile trail in the winter. It'd probably be fun for fat biking too.

 

I made it to Bowler. I stopped at a bar/restaurant because they had a sign saying soft serve ice cream. They didn't have soft serve, but they did have ice cream sundaes. I had that and a Sprite. I sat at the bar eating my ice cream. The bartender asked me the usual questions, and a gentleman waiting for a take out order also talked to me. His name was Elton, and he lived a mile and a half down the road I was going on. When I asked the bartender what I owed him for the ice cream and Sprite, he said it was on the house. He said, for how far I had ridden, it was the least he could do. I thought that was pretty nice!

 

I got back on the road to finish the day's ride. Elton honked as he drove by me. He turned into his driveway, and I waved.

 

I was quite happy to see the sign for the campground. It's a private campground with a bar. Too bad I'm not a beer drinker!!! I got my tent site. When the gal told me they had available sites, I said that's good because I've ridden 81 miles, and I'd rather not go further. She said even if they were full, she would've found a place for me. I like that about the private campgrounds.

 

 

So, today was just a half mile short of my longest day on this tour. It was okay though, because there was a variety of riding. And, it really was a nice day for a long bike ride! Heres a few more photos.

Now what are these birds?

More cranes

Barn with a guitar quilt

Ah, now I know why all the barns have quilts on them.

 

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