Riding the Local Roads

 I have been riding the local roads as of late.  I had thought with my long sought after time off, I would have had time to do some touring, or at least some long rides.  That has not been the case, as this has been an extremely busy summer and it is not going to let up for at least another month.  Our local roads are great to ride though...low traffic and mostly smooth.

 The view from the touring cross cockpit.

 Some may not like to think this, but fall is on the way.

The end of the rainbow was on our land...I wonder???

Get outdoors and have some Fun!!!

Namekagon Canoe

 Earlier in the summer, Janice and I made a four day canoe trip on the Namekagon River here in Northwest Wisconsin.  On that trip we had forgot an essential item for the trip and my parents dropped it off for us at a designated spot, along with some chocolate cake.  They had mentioned that they would like to make a canoe trip, and earlier this week we did just that.  The above pic was at our launch site, the McDowell Bridge landing.

 The river was high from the recent rains, which made conditions ideal.

 

 There are several campsites along the way and this is the one we chose for lunch.

Sore lunch of fish and fresh fried potatoes was on the menu.

 Lunch is served!!!

 The scenery of the Namekagon offers a little of everything, from high banks on the side to low land.  The above is some of the low land.

 I am not sure, but I think Janice was checking to see if I was paddling...and I wasn't!!

 This is where the Totagatic river dumps into the Namekagon.  The Totagatic is on the left.  From here the Namekagon continues on about another six miles before it dumps into the St.Croix river which then dumps into the Mississippi. 
       

 The two in this canoe represent a lot of river experience...Few canoe at eighty two!!  We have been very blessed to have them in our lives and love them dearly.

 A place for things to hide.

It was a perfect day...temps about 75, sun didn't beat us and about 17 drops of rain.

This was our take out bridge.  For years it was an old steel bridge and it was known as The Steel Bridge.  It was replaced a few years ago with this one, so I now call it The Concrete Bridge.  I think the real name is something like Namekagon Trail landing.  Not for sure...I am sticking with the Concrete Bridge.


remember...Get outdoors and have some fun!!!

Ride on the Gitchi

 Janice and I made a trip up along the north shore of Lake Superior recently so that I could ride the Gitchi-Gami State Trail.  Although only about 25 miles of the 88 are completed, this trail will eventually lead from Two Harbors to Grand Maris MN along the shores of Lake Superior.

 This is a view from the top of the Blatnik Bridge.  It is one of three  bridges connecting Minnesota and Wisconsin in this area. 

 Our plan was for me to ride a completed portion of the trail from Minnesota's Goose Berry Falls State park to Beaver Bay and back...and while I was riding the trail, Janice picked a nice spot near the falls to read a book.

This was the bike I chose for this days ride. 

Goose Berry was a popular place on this day, as it is on any of days.

This is not a rail trail.  It has some nice hills and it is very scenic, because as I said before, it travels close to the big lake. 

The construction was the downfall to this ride.  The trail had little pieces of rocks here and there along the construction area.  One of this little rocks I hit, a person could quite literally shave with it.  Although small, about the size of a thumb nail, it was razor sharp.

It cut completely through the casing of the tire and of course punctured the new tube I had installed 9 miles previous.  That is the way the ball bounces sometimes.

A person can't let little things like a ruined tire and a punctured tube spoil the day...and we didn't.  We played tourist on the way back stopping at some of the access points to the beach, explored a new area to kayak I recently learned of and ordered some pizza for a lunch on the beach.  Goooood time!!