It rained last night so due to that, and condensation, my tent was a soaking wet blob once it was packed up...yay...
It was as thick as pea soup on the road. It makes me glad I have a headlight and taillight. Although, there was hardly any traffic to speak of.
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| Foggy road |
I continued on County Road FF. I decided FF stood for Fur and Feathers. First I saw deer bouncing across the road. Zoom in on the photo below and you might spot one.
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| See it? |
Then I saw a bunch of turkeys--some baby gobblers too. Then I saw a small rodent, not a mouse, too small for a mole, maybe a vole (there's such a thing right?). It was running across the street. A car was coming. Instead of continuing across the street, it did a sweeping 180, and headed back the other way. I told it to hurry or it was gonna get squished. I think it lived to scurry another day.
The first town I came to was called Butternut (no joke). I wonder if their football team is the Squash. Actually, I'm not sure if they even had a school. It was a pretty small town. I stopped at the gas station/convenience store for a snack. A guy asked me the usual questions. He asked if I was worried about the knuckleheads. I told him, so far, I hadn't met any knuckleheads, unless he was one. He said he wasn't. Later, as I was riding along, I heard a voice say, "Hey!" I stopped and said, "What?" It was the guy. He said, "I met you at the gas station. This is where I live." I gave him the thumbs up and continued on my way.
It was a long straight road to and through Glidden, then I turned onto an even longer straight road to Clam Lake. I saw more deer, and more turkeys (at the same time). The deer were crossing the road going one way, and the turkeys were going the other way. It was like they had the Walk signal, and the cars had a red light.
In Clam Lake, I was at 50 miles. There was another campground 10 miles further, so I had some lunch, and kept going. The gal at the store said maybe I would see some elk. I hoped so, so I could continue with my Fur and Feathers theme of the day. Unfortunately, I did not see any elk, even though they are certainly prevalent, according to the highway signs. I did see 4 more deer. Also, a hawk came swooping down. Either I distracted it, and it missed its prey, or there wasn't any there. Either way, it came up empty clawed, and flew away.
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| Elk...maybe |
I came up to Boulder Lodge and campground. I couldn't remember the name of where I was staying. I pulled out my little book. Oh, it was Boulder Lodge. According to my map it was supposed to be at the junction of Hwy 77 and County Road S. I hadn't seen the Junction yet. I'm guessing it's just out of sight. Anyway, I pulled in and gave my $20 to Michelle. This is a nice place, but I don't think there is anyone else here. I'm sure they'll be packed this weekend for Labor Day. Oh, and it's on Ghost Lake--oooooooo...could be scary!!!
Now just 4 more days!
2 comments:
hi Colleen! It's Julie, from Presqu'Ile Provincial Park in Ontario. I just wanted to let you know how thrilled I am that I met you and just how inspiring you have been. I've been following your blog and haven't been able to get the idea of bike touring out of my mind. (and to think I didn't even really know that bike touring was a thing when I met you!) So on Wed. I dug out my big box store cheap hybrid bike (it's not very old...just got it 6 years ago) and decided to see just what I could fit into my 2 panniers, my handlebar bag and my rear rack. Well, I fit everything I'd need for a night of camping into those bags pretty easily. I also found the coolest little tent on a second hand website! It's what you'd call "vintage" but it's in great shape and the bag it goes in attaches onto the crossbar of my bike with velcro! It's a very, very small tent, like a tunnel. I slept well but it's too small for my liking, so I'll be shopping for something better for next summer. I've got all winter to peruse ebay and a lot of other local second hand sites here. I decided to ride my bike from our house to Presqu'Ile, which is a 50km, or 30 mi ride. I got to the park in 2.5 hours yesterday which I was very happy with, and had a great ride. I set up my campsite, my cousin drove up to visit and we had a big bonfire and a great time visiting. The ride home today was HELL. Headwind from the northeast and that's the direction I travelled in the entire time, NORTHEASE. OMG what a completely different ride today from yesterday. I was pretty tired. But overall I felt very good and I cannot wait to do a short trip next summer. I think I'll start with something very short, like maybe 4-6 days. I know that if I do decide to do anything much longer I'll need to get a better bike or spend some $ upgrading mine. For e.g. my thumb is killing me because shifting gears on my bike isn't real easy...but you don't notice it until you do such a long ride!
It's really neat how things work out. You camped out for how many nights on this trip? Probably almost 100. I got lucky enough to be at the site across from you when you rode through Presqu'Ile. And now I have a new hobby! LOL
Hope you made it to your sons today. I've been thinking of you lots!
When you have time, check out my step mom's granddaughters' FB page that she's created. She's in her early 20's and is embarking on a 6 month bicycle tour of N.Z. with her boyfriend in a few weeks. She is a very, very avid biker having worked in a bike shop for several years, same with her bf. She's very, very eager to hear advice/tips from other people so I thought you might like to read her blog and offer any you might have. I already shared with her a link for the Da Brim, I thought that was really cool and she's definitely interested. Anyways, here's the link:
https://www.facebook.com/LifeUponWheels/
If you want to email me (I just noticed I'm on my daughter's google account here, I have no idea how that happened...) my email is rjsoule@xplornet.com or I'll send you a friend request on FB! I'm Julie Christine on FB.
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