Day 31 (03 Sep 09) Osceola to Birchwood 88 miles
After breakfast at the River Valley Inn, we made a stop at the Coffee Connection on our way out of Osceola. It was a bit of a late start for a 90 mile day, but what the heck, this is a tour, not a race. After an easy ride into town, we were confronted with a very steep hill for so early in the ride. We made it up the hill, whereupon, Jim discovered that his rear derailleur would not shift down. Ultimately, we discovered that the kickstand was compressing the derailleur wire. The problem is resolved by repositioning the kickstand. The kickstand (a two legged affair) seemed like a good idea and it works fine when the bike isn’t loaded down with 40 to 50 pounds of stuff. Because of the torque on the point of attachment, the stand comes loose from the bike frame and then contacts the left pedal crank producing a clicking noise with each revolution of the crank - very annoying! After trying a variety of solutions, the best seems to be to attach it securely and not use it - an extra useless pound to haul across the country.
On the way out of Osceola, we experienced high density auto traffic for the first time since day 2 of the ride! However, in a short while, we were back in farm country. As the day progressed we encountered more and more small hills which at the end of the day added up to almost 2900 feet of climbing, bettered only by our days back in Washington and western Montana. In addition to farm land early in the day, we are now beginning to see much more forest, quite similar to New England.
We stopped for lunch at a funky little restaurant, the County Line (at the county line strangely enough) where we talked to a couple of farmers and the proprietress. The farmers were quite interested in all of the details of our journey and answered a few questions we had about crops and equipment. You may recall that we were speculating about why we were seeing so much corn - the farmers answered in unison: “crop insurance.” Which we inferred to mean crop subsidies, i.e., a no lose crop. We learned about dry and wet corn (neither Len nor I could remember why dry corn is preferable). All the corn we were seeing was destined for animal feed, ethanol, or processing into other products used by consumers (see Michael Pollin’s book “The Omnivores Dilemma” for all you really want to know about the things that are made from corn. We had noticed that the corn plants seemed small and our observation was confirmed - the corn is about 30 days behind schedule, in terms of growth. Dairy herds are being sold because the low price of milk cannot sustain small herds. The first frost is in mid-September. We’d better hurry up and move on.
After a somewhat frustrating day of up down, up down, we ended the day with a “Wally ride” that kept us on the best road we’d been on all day and made for a quick, smooth ride into Birchwood.
Day 32 (04 Sep 09) Birchwood to Clam Lake 69 miles
We go to Pappa Pete’s for breakfast in the Bluegill Capitol of the World. Len has “the Hook, Line and Sinker” and Jim French toast - no bluegill for either of us. We only have 69 miles to ride; practically a rest day. We have time for a sit down breakfast rather than the banana-yogurt room breakfast. I don’t see any mullet hairdos this morning.
“Grumpy” is carved in stone threshold to Pappa Petes. Seven men are playing dice at the bar to determine who pays for the coffee. You have to be there at 5 AM to play the game. Cooking does not start until 6 AM. Menu items include: Hook, Line and Sinker, Bills Usual, Garbage Can.
We order. As we are eating we hear the waitress say good morning to Bill. This is Bill of “Bill’s Usual.” Bill orders the usual after a moment thinking whether he would like to substitute a sausage patty instead of links. However, on consideration he gets the usual.
Waitress to the kitchen, “ Bill will have the Usual.” Turns out that Bill lost his wife and teeth some time ago. He tended the boiler at the local mill for 60 years, 7 days a week. He eats at Pappa Petes and no matter what he orders the price is $3.25 food + $1.00 coffee + tax = $4.48. Others pay the menu price. it’s a small town thing. He and the owner have been neighbors for years. We didn’t meet Pete unless that was him on the threshold.
The most pleasant part of the ride is through the Chequamegon National Forest. We see swamps, hardwoods, wild flowers, hear birds and see beaver lodges. When we reach State Highway 77 there are warning lights for elk crossings. As it turns out we did hear crashing in the forest when we were pedaling. Speaking to Dan at the Elkhorn Lodge it probably was elk who live near highway.
Our room is on and ATV trail. Dan, the president of the local ATV club and the self-appointed mayor of Clam Lake tells us of hunting, ATV rides and the quiet life of Clam Lake. The antlers at the Elkhorn Lodge are huge; we learn that they are dropped antlers from Dan’s uncle’s 22,000 acre ranch in Montana where he does not allow hunting and the elk have the chance to grow big antlers. One of the sets is the third largest on record - they are huge; wish we’d taken a photo but can’t see how it would have done them justice.
Elkhorn Lodge, home cooking, bar and rooms is For Sale for those of you who want a life style change. We’re moving on to our next destination, Boulder Junction.
Day 33 (05 Sep 09) Clam Lake to Boulder Junction 81 miles
Breakfast at the Elkhorn: Clam Lake Special for Jim and a short stack and an egg for Len. Dan shows up and as we leave, we run into him in the parking lot. He tells us about the wolf population in the area, about 700! Two of them walked off with a local lady’s “weener” dog last week. I thought of Doggie Diner J . We talk a little more about ATV’s and a bicycle club that gets together with the ATV club to do a wilderness ride. About the cyclists in relation to wolves he cracks, “meals on wheels.” The guy is a character in every sense of the word.
While waiting for me, Len strikes up a conversation with our hotel room neighbor. We found about a dozen ATVs in front of the motel when we went to breakfast. All belong to a 32 member ATV club from Rockport, IL. Our neighbor consumes 4 cigarettes while Len talks to him. Unfortunately, we don’t have an extra day to spend in Clam Lake. We had to miss the greased pig chasing contest to be held at the Bucksnort Inn. I kid you not! We both noticed it on our way into Clam Lake; a dilapidated, For Sale white building with pealing paint and broken-down snow mobiles decorating the grounds. Was it really a going concern? Guess while the guys are mixing it up with the bear hunters (more on that later), the wives and girl friends of the younger ATVers and anyone else who wants to catch a pig, dresses up in a tee-shirt and tries to tackle a pig. Sounds like quite a show - best attended fortified with plenty of beer. We would have stayed but were concerned about the effects of the second hand smoke on our delicate biking lungs.
Off we go! We’re on state highways for the first 26 miles - smooth sailing. Len sees muddy hoof prints on the road which we interpret as elk tracks. At 16 miles we arrive at Glidden, Black Bear Capital (didn’t say of what). Seems like everywhere around here is the capital of something or the home of something else. Len remembers that the chain-smoking ATV guy from Rockport says its bear season. Too bad for Glidden. Next is Buttercup, home of the Mighty Midgets! We didn’t see any midgets. Guess they were still in bed after a late night out with the leprechauns - like the ATV folks. We’ve got a couple of more capitals captured in the photos.
We eat lunch in Mercer at Johnny’s Bar and Café and talk to some local folks about our trip. After lunch we’re on the J, the W and the K. When we’re on the “dub-yuh” we take the opportunity to, well use your imagination, on “dub-yuh.” A little later we notice a street sign: “No Name Road.” Pretty original. At the moment the K is known as Last Resort Road - we didn’t know what to make of that and thought it best to move on quickly. I would have called it Frost Heave Haven Road - worst road we’ve been on the whole trip excluding the dirt roads.
We encounter another cyclist, local guy just out for a spin. He tells us that he once trained to be a trip leader for Adventure Cycling (we’re using their maps). Says he never lead a trip - always wanted to ride across the country. Unlike us, he’ll probably regret he never did it. We decline an invitation to stay at his cabin since we already had a reservation in Boulder Junction on a holiday weekend and needed to do laundry. Len is now the chief fiduciary for the laundry trust fund. Laundry done, we go for dinner - something other than hamburger, pizza, etc. Amazing the difference between Clam Lake and Boulder Junction. Boulder Junction has a bunch of restaurants, gift shops, an art gallery, coffee shops, a bakery and Clam Lake, well you should have the idea from the descriptions of the people.
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