Day 2 - Tuesday, 5/20/97
Somerset, WI - Balsam Lake, WI
36.65 Miles; 5 hours, 17 minutes
On-bike time: 3 hours, 39 minutes
Avg speed: 10.02 mph
Max speed: 28.8 mph
Picture 1: Farm in Wisconsin
Picture 2: Trish on the farm
Picture 3: Trish on the road
Picture 4: Ben on the road
Picture 5: The horse
Picture 6: Trish returns from talking to the horse
Picture 7: Emory Radio Shack
Picture 8: Lutefisk Road
Picture 9: Looking right out of our campsite onto the Apple River
We got out of the campground this morning at around 11:30. We tried
to take showers in the morning, but the water didn't work. Anyway, we rode
out of Somerset into what would be an almost constant headwind for the
entire trip. We rode 64 east, then took county road C, CC, and H to Star
Prairie.
In Star Prairie, we had our first wipe-out. We were doing a U-turn
when we went into some gravel on the far shoulder. The bike slid over,
and Trish went down a lot harder than I did. It was a good thing she was
wearing long pants - several small holes in her pants testify to the sharpness
of the gravel.
We used the restroom at the local gas station, then pressed on. We
stopped at the bike store / fishing store and picked up a new water bottle
- mine was leaking quite a bit. Going out of Star Prairie, we hit a pretty
steep hill. It was one of several we had to walk up today. I'm glad we
put a 24 tooth ring on the front - just when the bike becomes un-pedalable,
we're only going 2.5 mph, which is about the speed we push it up the hill.
Between Star Prairie and Amery, Trish found a horse and harassed it
for a while.
We rode 65 out of Star Prairie, and took county C to county F and rode
into Amery. We looked for a nice small weather/AM/FM radio at the Radio
Shack there, but couldn’t find one. On the way out of Amery, we saw Lutefisk
road. My Dad thinks Lutefisk is funny, so I took a picture of it.
We rode 46 north to Highway 8, then took county H north to the campground
we're staying at. It has a TV/VCR and video games, so Trish and I are pretty
excited!
Just sitting here eating dinner, we saw a Bald Eagle fly overhead,
being chased by two ravens. It was beautiful, and we watched it for a while
with our binoculars. There are also quite a bit of woodpeckers around.
Just before we arrived at the campground, we saw what appeared to be two
Ospreys living in a huge nest atop a power pole.
Ironically, our campground yesterday was on the Apple River, and today
we’re also camping on the Apple River, 30-something miles downstream.
