A Season of Bikey Fun

Well, it would appear that the biking season is over.  The weather cut it short, just like it delayed its start.  Cold and wet weather made it it difficult to get out very often.  And cold and wet cut the season short, making it hard to get out very much.  As a result, I ended up riding fewer miles this year than either or the last two.  It was better than it looked for a while, though.  At one time I wasn't sure I was going to get over 200 miles.  But in the end I did 282 miles, compared to 445 in 2015 and 460 in 2016.  I noticed that my total miles, since starting riding again, is just under 1,200.  That was disappointing, I had really hoped to get over 1,200.  Ah, well.

Because of various construction projects going on around here, most of the riding I did this summer tended to be out of town.  I normally do most of my of riding in town but some of my favorite routes were closed.  But I still saw some pretty areas around here.

It occurred to me that I tend to do a lot of my riding on the trails, using the roads mostly to get to and from the trails since none of them run right by my house.

I like to take my camera with me, you never know when you'll see something interesting.

For the most part, it never really got real hot this summer.  That was also nice.  It did get windy, though.  I don't like riding when the wind gets much over 10 mph.  I'm a wimp, what can I say.  And don't like riding in the rain.  My big objection with rain is the effect it has on bicycle brakes.  That, and the stripe you get up your back when you ride on wet roads.  My bike doesn't have fenders, or splash guards. So, yeah.  I don't got out when its real wet or raining.

At the New Glarus trail head of the Sugar River State Trail

I did manage to meet pretty much all my biking goals this year, except one.  That was how many miles I got in during the season.  I had hoped to at least meet the same number of miles I made last year. 

The north entrance to the Stewart Tunnel

One of my goals this summer was to ride the Stewart Tunnel, near New Glarus, WI.  That tunnel is about 1,200 feet long with a curve at the middle so that you can't see the other end when you start out. 

The south entrance to the Stewart Tunnel

That tunnel is on the Badger State Trail.  I did manage to get there and ride through it.  That was a bit of work but also a lot of fun.  It was a fun day.

On the Badger State trail a little north of its intersection with the Sugar River trail

There were some interesting sights along the Badger State Trail.  And the ride back to New Glarus was on the Sugar River Trail, also an interesting ride.

The Tomorrow River State Trail

I also rode on the Tomorrow River State Trail. That's another beautiful trail. 

The Tomorrow River State Trail

The Tomorrow River trail runs for 29 miles between Portage and Waupaca counties, through some very nice terrain.  And for the most part, the trail is level.  Most places where there are hills are small and gentle.  My kind of riding.

The Tomorrow River State Trail

I like the places along any of the state trails I've been on where the foliage closes in close to the trail.  There was one ride where I left pretty late in the day and traveled part of the trail after dark.  Good thing I have a good light, made it trip much nicer.  The only downside of riding after dark is I can't see what gear I'm in.  But that's a minor thing.

One other things I've been wanting to do was ride to a certain train trestle.  I had ridden to where I thought it was last year but it turned out to be the wrong crossing.  This year I made it to the right crossing.

There really isn't anything special about this crossing, its just one that caught my attention.

And the fun thing about the trip there is just as I was putting things away, getting ready to head out, a train went by.  That was unexpected and serendipitous. I like trains so it's always fun to have one go by up close and personal. 

Riding out in the country gets away from the urban areas, away from the city streets and sights.  And it brings its own set of smells when riding around.  Fewer fireplace fires, fewer barbecue cook outs, and less burning leaves.  More of the pungent smells of various barnyards and farm fields.  Freshly plowed fields, freshly mowed hay fields.  I've always loved the smell of fresh cut hay, since I was a kid and we'd go help my grandfather harvest his hay crop.

Saw plenty of deer while out on my bike this year.  In fact, there is one area that every time I went through it there were a number of deer.

On the trails around this area there will often be sections of boardwalk, places where the path goes through a wetland area.  In those places they will build a boardwalk to keep you up out of the mud and water. 

Whether on boardwalks or not, I think my favorite time to ride the trails is in the fall when the leaves turn colors. 

The variety of trees is amazing.  Lots of maple trees, which have the best colors when they turn.  That's where all the reds, yellows, and oranges come from.

The oaks make rusty browns that linger longer than the other trees.  The oaks never really drop their leaves, they will stay on all winter so that sometimes people have to rake in the spring as well as the fall.

Anyway, I really like riding out in the trees on the trails.  Lots of interesting things to see. 

I will often see animals and birds but not be fast enough to get stopped and get my camera out for a picture.  I almost always take my camera with me when I ride.  Never know what you'll see on the trails.

Sunset through the trees

One thing I accomplished this summer was something I've been wanting to do for the last couple of years.  There is a parking garage in the area that has a number of different levels and a circular drive between the levels.  Like a spiral staircase for cars.  I've wanted to ride down that since I began riding my bike again.  This year I did it.  And what's fun is I was able to get it on camera.  The light kind of played with the video quality, going from light to dark to light to dark from the lights in the garage.  But it still turned out to be a fun video.  Went pretty fast, even though I had the brakes on nearly the whole way down.

So that was my biking summer. Except for not being able to get out as often as I would have liked, it was a good summer.  One thing I found was that the Stewart Tunnel is not the longest bike trail tunnel in the state.  I was pretty sure I read somewhere that it was but later I discovered that Tunnel No. 3 on the Elroy-Sparta trail is 3/4 a mile long, quite a bit farther than 1,200 feet.  So next year I have to get to that tunnel.  That will be one of next year's biking goals.  Let the good times roll!

Back in the Kitchen Again

A while back I celebrated my 35th anniversary of working for the same company.  The company gives anniversary gifts on each multiple of five and they get nicer and nicer the longer you're with the company.  So at 35 years I had a pretty nice selection, especially since you can also pick from any previous year's offerings.  So I had almost the full catalog.  I picked a Cuisinart food processor.  The other day I finally unpacked it and gave it a try, I made a cabbage dish and discovered that it made chopping cabbage super easy, I fell in love with it. 

So I've been wanting to try making coleslaw again every since discovering how easily it chops cabbage, which I like.  I have tried a few other cabbage dishes in the past, including coleslaw, but chopping the cabbage fine enough is such work that it takes all the fun out of it.  So the other day I went shopping and got all the stuff I needed for Southwestern Coleslaw and today I did it, I made it.

There aren't a lot of ingredients in coleslaw, I got them all out and got started.

I chopped the scallions the old fashion way, that's not hard.  I do it all the time for salad.

I also chopped the bell pepper by hand.  It has been my experience that some food turn to paste when run through a chopper and I didn't want that to happen with the peppers.

Then came the fun part, the cabbage.  It only took about five minutes to do the whole head of cabbage.  Quick and easy.

I also ran the carrots through the chopper, along with the jalapeno pepper. It didn't turn the pepper to paste. That was a good thing. Maybe I could have done the bell peppers.  Ah, well.

So I did all the vegetables and then made the "dressing" separately.  The recipe called for seven cups of cabbage but a whole head of cabbage makes about 11 cups so I increased the dressing about 1.5 times and it worked out pretty well.  Then it all went together, mixing it thoroughly.

Serving Suggestion

I thought it turned out very well. Coleslaw is a very versatile food, it goes well with a lot of other foods.  It goes with seafood; brats, burgers or hot dogs; fried chicken; or a variety of other foods. Its a good picnic food.  I had it for breakfast, with another of my favorite foods.  Yummy stuff.

If You Don't Believe in Angels ...

I enjoy music.  A quote I've often found humorous comes from the story of Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen, a comment made by Lady Catherine de Bourg, ''There are few people in England, I suppose, who have more true enjoyment of music than myself, or a better natural taste." I wouldn't say my taste in music is quite that refined but I do enjoy music.  So it was a real delight to me, as my children grew and developed their own talents, to learn that I had been blessed with four daughters who can sing quite well.  When they get together they like to sing together, and their voices blend together very well.  I really like to listen to them.  Since three of them play the piano its pretty easy for them to get started, someone will sit down at the piano and pretty soon they're all there singing.  Very nice.  

Two of them have joined community choirs where they live and in the last few weeks we have been able to go listen to their performances.  I really enjoy when we are able to do that.

Sometimes, it seems like its getting harder and harder to get them all together at the same time.  But when they do, it gives life to what I like to say, "If you don't believe in angels then you haven't heard my girls sing."

Another Excursion

The other day we were on our way to Iowa and decided to make a stop along the way.  Actually, we had several stops planned but we didn't make it to all of them.  I'll explain why in just a minute.  Anyway, the first stop was at the Falk Wells Sugar River Wildlife Area, just outside Paoli, Wisconsin.  This looks like a newer wildlife area the county is working on.  It is hard to visualize it as much of a wildlife area because its so surrounded by agriculture land, residences, and a business or two.  But the county is working on it.  Maybe its a restoration project.  At any rate, one little portion of it is accessible and pretty nice.  I figure its new and in development because as I was checking it out in advance I noticed the "street view" and the satellite view were different.  One showed a parking area, the other did not.

And neither view showed the little bridge we found when we stopped.  I had thought we were going to have to hike a short distance to get to the pond but it turned out it was right there off the parking area.

You could tell the bridge was fairly new.  The lumber still had the markings from construction on it.  It was a nice little bridge.

We had the mutt with us so we walked around a little bit, taking in the scenery.

Over the bridge there was a trail.  Hadn't seen that in the satellite images at all.  But then again, sometimes its difficult to see features like trails, especially in wooded areas.

I had hoped that, being farther south than Timms Hill, that we'd still be able to see some of the fall colors but that didn't happen so much.  Most of the leaves in this area were down and on the ground.

Still, here and there were remnants of the foliage and the beauty that had recently been all over the area.

What had looked like a pond turned out to actually be a wide spot in the river.  The Sugar River.

Still, it was a nice, quiet, peaceful place to visit.  Except for the bridge, trail, and parking area, it was pretty much undisturbed, what we could see, anyway.

And the mutt enjoyed stretching her legs and checking out the smells in the forest.  She doesn't get into wooded areas very much.

Then it was time to head back to the car.

When we pulled in there was a tractor and trailer so we had to stop and get a picture.  We have a couple of little grandbaby boys that would have loved to be in this picture.

The next stop wasn't too far down the road, in New Glarus.  We were getting hungry so we made our dinner stop a little earlier than originally planned.

It was a fun place to stop.  They were an ice cream place with a grill so of course they had a cow bench out front.

Inside it was like a 50's diner.  A small counter, the whole place was pretty small. 

But the food was good and we were hungry.

Dessert of course, was the best part.

By the time we'd finished eating and went back outside it was getting pretty dark.  Our side trip was in the hopes of seeing some more of the fall colors but it was already too dark to see anything more so we decided to cut it short and beat it on to Iowa.  I guess we should have known there wouldn't be much time for sight-seeing because the days are getting so much shorter.  We'll have to save the rest of the trip for another time.  So instead of traveling a winding trip west across the bottom of the state we cut back up to the highway and hurried on.  Still, it was a nice trip and we enjoyed it.