runningchunk.com

Saturday, 23 Jul 2022
106.80 miles
2979 ft of climbing

I got up at dawn, which was pretty early in Central Time. This was the first night on my new sleeping pad, and I woke up several times during the night wondering if it was holding air or if I was on the ground. It held up fine, and I felt no lingering effects from yesterday's ride.

In the early morning quiet I made myself coffee and oatmeal on my little woodgas stove. I checked the weather forecast, hmm, storm coming in the late afternoon. Time to break camp and get going toward Marientte County. Today would be a route I hadn't taken before, one without a lot of alternate options if the big highways turned out to be busy.

I made my way down to Highway 70 on a forest road lined with glacial erratic boulders hidden in the shadows of the trees. It was cool and quiet so far, and I opted to stay on 70 and then 139 instead of taking the gravel bypass I had planned. What was I thinking with that gravel route anyway?

Oh, hmm. Maybe my routing software knew better than me. I followed the detour route to Tipler, and stopped at a pavilion there to look at a map and see how many miles this detour was likely to add.

Ah ha! I had found a detour off of this detour, and it seemed like it was all paved. Well, it wasn't but it worked out in the end and was much, much shorter than the official detour.

I rejoined Highway 139 just south of the "out" bridge, and had it all to myself as I made my way to the town of Long Lake. Between Grandma Sally's bakery, the general store, and the water spigot at the fire hall, I left fully restocked and ready to enjoy the 20-odd miles to the next town.

It was warming up again but I was trying to take it easy and avoid another round of heat exhaustion. I stopped at a park in Laona for a short break.

(Definitely making plans to come back to Laona for the community soup, sounds delicious.) I topped off my water bottles at a convenience store, and then, well, I couldn't just ride on by the ice cream shop.

Back on rural roads, I was watching the forest gradually turn to fields, and on one of the rolling hills I found my first farm selling fresh produce. Bodwéwadmi Ktëgan farm has a large hydroponic operation, and I was eager to stock up on veggies. But their store was nearly empty so I left with...one cucumber. I figured that would be enough to balance the ice cream and pork rinds I'd had earlier.

My cucumber and I emerged from the farm roads in Wabeno (or was it Soperton? Are these the Twin Cities of Wisconsin?). Downtown Wabeno is a the most Wisconsin place, with a Paul Bunyan, a steam locomotive, a museum, and a good place to get a chicken sandwich to go.

And about 20 bars, more or less. None for me today, back up the hill to beat the storm.

As I rolled down County Road C, I felt a few raindrops and stopped to zip up my bags and pack away anything I didn't want to get wet.

I left County Road C for Parkway Road, noting a couple of other campgrounds along the way in case I needed to turn back from my first choice, Veterans Memorial Park just south of the High Falls Reservoir.

About 13 miles later I rolled into the park, quickly scanned the check-in instructions, and chose a spot in the walk-in tent camping area. Just in time, too. It was sprinkling as I set up my tent, but I managed to keep everything relatively dry.

As I was walking back from the self-registration station, another camper flagged me down. "Hey, we were walking over by your site earlier today...check out this snake we saw! I don't know what it was, but it was big and hooded!" He showed me photos on his phone, and I concluded that I should probably step carefully and keep my tent zipped up. Our conversation was cut short by the rain and wind, which were picking up fast, and I retreated to my tent to stay dry.

After texting Nancy to warn of my probable fate (snake bite and/or blown away in a thunderstorm), I decided that I would probably not head back up the road to find some food for supper, and I broke into my reserves. A packet of tuna, one delicious cucumber, a muffin and a few other things, and I was full enough.

One last check of the tent door zippers, and off to bed.