A side note to Mother Nature here:
You can dial it back at any time…we’ve all had enough of your
shenanigans.
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What was a slight warmth and
redness on my face last night became a full blown crazy biker look overnight: cheeks,
nose and front of my neck are very red…my forehead, the side of my face (helmet
straps), and the top of my cheeks were untouched by the sun, thanks to my
helmet and goggles. And since my goggles
cover more surface area than my regular glasses do, there’s a white border
between the sunburn on my cheeks and my glasses. I’m okay with how it looks as long as I don’t
look in the mirror… 😏
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Layering is the key to
staying warm when riding…well, unless the sun is out and the temp hits in the
80’s, then it’s all about undoing the layers.
I started out with 3 layers today…short sleeve nylon shirt under a long
sleeve shirt with a cozy fleece to top it off.
Temperature was in the mid-60s when we left this morning and 3 layers
felt good as we rolled along. It was
when we stopped for lunch in Ladysmith, WI, that the fleece came off, then the
long sleeve shirt came off about an hour later and I finished the day with the
short sleeves pulled up and tucked under my bra straps. I like riding in the warm
sunshine!
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Yesterday as we were leaving
Escanaba, Kim told Rapunzel to direct us to Ironwood and I told Biker Girl (my
bike’s navigation system) to do the same just to see if they’d chart the same
route…they did. When we got to the
restaurant last night, Biker Girl’s mission was accomplished so I deleted the
route and didn’t think much more about it...until this morning when she tried
her best to talk me into turning left at every intersection as we cruised
toward Hurley, WI. She obviously didn’t
get the memo last night that we had arrived in Ironwood and her services were
no longer required. I didn’t have a clue how to turn her off since
I thought I had done that last night and I wasn’t about to ride the next 260
miles with her nagging at me to turn at every intersection and then
recalculating when I didn’t obey. So
about 2 miles from the hotel we had to pull over so I could figure how to make
her stop talking…and it turned out to be as easy as pushing the ‘Stop’ button
in the route menu. Who’d have thought?!
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Rapunzel was our designated
director of travel today and she did a wonderful job. Kim told her the address of the KOA in
Rochester, MN, we were staying at tonight and then set her to avoid highways. The
bulk of our route was through rural Wisconsin where the speed limit is 55 or
below, the hills are rolling, the roads are designated by single or double
letters and the corn is plentiful…like thousands of acres plentiful. The route coupled with great weather made for
a great day of riding. 😊
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Yesterday we saw fall color
starting to pop along US 2 about 50 miles out of Ironwood. Today more color was evident as we angled south
through the upper reaches of Wisconsin.
As we rode along with trees on both sides of the road showing color, I
had an idea for a photo shoot…and wouldn’t you know it, our route changed
directions about that time and we started seeing less color. But I’ll keep my eyes open for another
opportunity as we travel westward.
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Rounded a curve today and saw a lumber mill up
ahead…not an unusual sight in logging country.
However, there were 4 or 5 sprinklers spraying water on multiple piles
of logs…I’ve never seen that before. I
asked Kim what that was about and he thought maybe it helped keep veneer logs
from drying out too quickly. I made a
note to ask Google and here’s what the Fox Hardwood Lumber, LLC site had to say:
Logs are a perishable item and have a shelf
life. The water sprayed on the logs is similar to the process grocery stores
use in periodically misting fresh fruit and vegetables. Water maintains the
logs’ moisture content, preventing the sap from staining (a defect in furniture
lumber) and bugs from boring into the logs as well as checking and busting.
Another site offered this as a way of
explaining ‘checking’: Checking is caused by improper drying of wood,
especially in a kiln. Kiln drying speeds this process but always changes
the wood. The outside of the boards become more brittle (case hardened)
and if this brittle layer becomes too thick you will get surface checking (cracks),
especially in plain sawn wood.
I also found a couple of forum sites stating that wetting a log makes
it easier to cut and helps prevent bug infestations.
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Small towns throughout the
country stake their claim to the unusual qualities that set them apart. Today in Montreal, WI, we saw a sign for a
Geographical Marker and of course, I wanted to check it out. It was a monument and sign celebrating the ‘World’s
Deepest Iron Mine’. The sign claims the
Montreal Mine held that title at the time of it’s closing in 1962…however, my
research indicates that it is no longer considered the world’s deepest. It wasn’t exactly the geographical marker I
had conjured up in my head but we were there so I took a picture. And just after I made a wise crack that we
were probably the only people to visit in the last month a car pulled to check
it out…😏
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We intend to avoid highways
and ride the road less travelled during this trip. I am holding my own competition and the only
criteria is that a town must have a population sign to be in the running. My intention is to find the smallest small
town each day. Today’s winner of the Small Town of the Day contest is Winter, WI…population 313.
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Set up reservations this morning at the KOA in Rochester, MN. We reserved a tent site but upgraded to a
cabin when we arrived. Before we leave
tomorrow morning, we’ll look for another KOA about 300 miles down the road, make
reservations and then let Rapunzel direct us again.
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Tuesday miles: 267
Total miles: 651
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