Seg#28 Looking at the Next Decade On the Old Abe Trail

Segment #28: Old Abe Trail Chippewa Falls to N of Cornell, WI   8/21/13

Start	Chippewa Falls, WI	44.91902,-91.38194	NS miles 18.3
End	N of Cornell WI	45.18141,-91.16169	Trllgth 26.1 Ride 28.5

Ride Hrs2.6

AVS 10.5

MXS 17.2 mph

DST 28.5

Temp 86

Kcal 2259

Don ready to ride the smoothest trail ever

As stated in the previous post, on the 20th of August, I celebrated my last year for me to say "I am in my sixties and going strong." Hopefully that will be the case as a septuagenarian :-)

After an eight hour power slumber at America’s Best Value Inn, we loaded up and drove to Chippewa Falls in search of the Old Abe Trail.  Somehow the coordinates I plugged into the GPS didn’t fit what I reviewed on the computer the night before. Luckily a fellow that knew the area peddled up and directed Don and me to a route that got us to the trail head. It helped tremendously to find the Chippewa Falls Visitors Center on our way to the trail. The center was full of information, including detailed city and county maps. The minute we started on the Old Abe trail, I knew this was going to be one the best surfaces I had ever ridden. Old Abe was as smooth as a  five blade razor shave. Many of the small towns on the trail were formed when logging and the railroads were going strong. By the mid-1900’s many of these small lumber towns were drying up. We stopped at a site where a lumber mill and town once stood with a population of three thousand. Nothing remains of this town today. We made it to Cornell, Wisconsin after lunch time  so as soon we got our bikes loaded, we headed to Dylan’s Dairy store. The store was a cheese and sandwich shop that

Connie buys out Dylan's after a super lunch

was established three years ago after the passing of Dylan Crabb, a local young man that fought leukemia until therapy, including bone marrow transplants, could not stop the disease. Dylan’s “Make a Wish” was to manage a herd of 33 dairy cows. He was able to do that before he left this planet. Today his mother and aunts are managing the herd and operate the diary store. I give the shop a ten for quaintness and good food. I would love to get back there someday. While we were eating, the friendly staff told of us about  the uniqueness of the Stacker. This 175 foot piece of equipment is the only such machine standing in the world. The design of the contraption was for stacking log sections into a huge pile of wood to use in the pulp mill that operated in Cornell from 1913 to 1972. The Stacker reminds 

The only standing Stacker in the world 

me of a metal version of the leaning tower of Pisa. Connie and I never got to Pisa or Mount Vesuvius but did spend time in Florence and Rome. Now we don’t need to go to Italy. We can say we saw the American version of Pisa while traveling Wisconsin on a bicycle-- no need to fly across the pond to Italy.

Back in the day, the Stacker could create 100
foot piles of log sections to then be processed
into pulp for producing paper.  

The population has grown 53 folks since publication

of 485. A smaller sign (upper left)identifies writer

Michael Perry as a citizen of New Auburn.

Another nice feature of riding to Cornell was that we were only thirty miles from New Auburn, Wisconsin. And what is the big deal about New Auburn you say? Why that is where one of my favorite authors is from. Michael Perry is a New Auburnite that can write about his living in northern Wisconsin in a most humorous way that I identify with well---Qwerty I guess. The Lincoln Journal Star described Michael’s style as “Part Bill Bryson, part Anne Lamott, with a skim of Larry the Cable Guy and Walt Whitman creeping around the edges” I have read three of his four books. Right now I am half way through Truck. His first book entitled Population 485-Meeting Your Neighbors One Siren at a Time got him on the map. It also messed-up the road signs that now state the population as 548. As you can see in the picture I took, the community pride has exploded now that Michael is famous. The fact that he continues to live nearby made it interesting to cruise around and relive his stories. I wonder if too many visitors will sour the town folks attitude about bringing notoriety to the community. We tried not to be too paparazzi-like, shooting but a few pictures of Main Street and the water tower. We decided not to try to find Michael’s farm home-creativity site, avoiding a disruption of genesis. 

Seg#27 Looking at the Next Decade on the Chippewa Trail

Segment #27: Chippewa River State Trail Durand to Eau Claire, WI 8/20/13

Start	Durand, WI	44.63452,-91.95663	NS miles 13.5
End	Eau Claire, WI	44.82893,-91.51429	Trllgth 30.3 Ride 32.2

Ride Hrs 3.0

AVS 10.6

MXS 22.5 mph

DST 32.2

Temp 86

Kcal 2635

 
This Wisconsin segment and the following one I am entitling, Looking at the Next Decade. August 2oth I clicked over my last year of the 6^th decade. It was a perfect birthday riding the Chippewa River Trail with Big Brother #6 (BB6), Don. 

Don and me at Durand prior to heading north.
Nice trail, nice day, nice ride.



The woodlands were lush as these ferns display
I forgot to take a picture of the wild cucumber!

The weather was great with a breeze at our back and the skies crystal blue. The dew point and temperature were heaven-like. What more could I ask for turning sixty-nine? It is a kick to ride with BB6 because he is a habitual cyclist, pumping sixteen or more miles every day, and, he is an accomplished naturalist.  Hearing the names of hundreds of plants, flowers and trees, some I had known but forgotten and others I never knew, made the ride fun and educational. One interesting plant which was new to me was the wild cucumber. This perennial vine was in full bloom on our ride. The star shaped flower gave a misty-like look to plant from afar. It is said another species of this plant found in the west can generate a hundred pound root, known as a man-root.  I guess I was intrigued by this plant because it spread out over trees and bushes somewhat like the ubiquitous kudzu plant that engulfs acres and acres of land in southeastern United States—150,000 additional acres each year.
Connie and Mary visited the Chippewa Valley Museum while Don and I peddled away. The trail was hard surface the whole way so I averaged nearly two miles per hour faster than my normal eight miles per hour. Even though we got a late start, we rode twenty eight miles quickly and, arrived in Eau Claire before five o’clock. While Don and I peddled our way up the trail, Connie and Mary visited the Chippewa Valley Museum.  Mary discovered that name Chippewa came from the white man’s mispronunciation of Ojibwe. This reminds me of Martinez, Georgia where the mispronunciation of Martinez (Mar-teen-ez) is spoken as Martin-ez.

After a shower and a Grinder (a sausage sandwich akin to a Philly) we all hit the hay early.

Over my sholder is the Chippewa River that runs clean and
clear to the Mississippi River. It is a beautiful body of water

Seg #26 Last Minnesota Segment with Chris

Seg #26: Douglas State Trail Pine Island to Rochester, MN 8/4-5/13

Start	Pine Island, MN	44.21077-92.64617	NS miles 18
End	Rochester, MN	43.95277,92.45817	Trllgth 23.9 Ride 27.8

Ride Hr2.5

AVS 9.5

MXS 22.5

DST ~27.8

Temp 81

Kcal 2898

The Douglas State Trail is apparently is named for the same Douglas person that the town associated with trail is named.  The trail occupies the railbed of the former Chicago Great Western Railway corridor between the cities of Rochester and Pine Island. The asphalt trail passes through some of the riches farmland in Minnesota.

We found the trailhead at the north end of Pine Island about five o’clock. We figured we could make pretty good time with the hard trail under the tires. Chris rode with me to the halfway point and turned around to get the car. There were several heavily treed areas that gave great shade and a wind break. I was surprised that I only averaged 9.5 mph. When I could not locate Chris in north Rochester, I decided to ride on to the Mayo Clinic as that would be a good meeting point. The clinic is a monstrosity with a silvery façade and a clean, tidy image. The appearance alone screams “first class” as my former Nebraska College of Dentistry colleague Sere Koka described it. Sere now works in oncology at the clinic, quite a change from dentistry and the specialty of prosthodontics. It was nice relax in the sculpture garden with the bonze likeness’s of papa W.W. Mayo and his two sons Dr. Will and Dr. Charlie who are credited with founding the first and largest integrated not-for-profit medical group practice in the world, employing more than 3,800 physicians and 50,900 allied health staff. Unfortunately I was so mesmerized by the clinic, that I “spaced-off” the fact that I needed to ride five more miles south to overlap segment #20 (The Great River Trail in Wisconsin). I hope I can make up this gap without having to ride south of Rochester.

Segment #25 St. Paul-Bloomington, MN.

Seg #25: Ft. Snelling/Crosby Farm/MN State Trl  8/4-5/13

Start	St.Paul, MN	44.94351-93.09251	NS miles 8.2
End	Bloomington, MN	44.84785,93.23011	Trllgth 18.1 Ride 22.6

 

Ride Hrs~3

AVS 9.0

MXS 24.5mph

DST ~25.5

Temp 75

Kcal 2008

 Trixie was able to get us to the start point of the Ft. Snelling trail somewhere along the Mississippi River around St. Paul. By the time we got organized and found the trail, it was late in the day. I asked several people the location of the trail. One guy had been running, a big bazooka of humanity. I don’t know how far he had walked but he was having  a hard time breathing, panting like a dog. I told him to catch his breath and stop talking to me. I was worried he would expire right then and there. Finally I told him to sit down because I was leaving. As I rode away and looked in my rearview mirror, I could see he didn’t sit down and was yakking with someone else. Go figure!  The northern section of the trail was beautiful with sandstone cliffs, wild flowers and petunia baskets hanging from the street lights and the Mississippi lumbering south. There are tons of trails in the Minneapolis so I was asking nearly everyone I could get to stop which way I should go. Cush’s Theorem fit just about everyone I asked. Out of the dozen or more people I asked directions, only one fellow gave me the straight poop. And directions from ladies---FORGET IT. They rarely get anything close to correct. Chris and I rode south on the trail toward Ft. Snelling and turned around after six plus miles. We got back to the car and drove to a hotel before it got dark, an important issue for me.   

Since we were having problems determining what trail was what, we drove to Ft. Snelling and rode back toward downtown St. Paul until we overlapped where we had ridden the day before. If was Monday so like most historical sites, Ft. Snelling visitor center was closed.

Ft. Snelling. Easy to spot hard to get to by car

The Fort is another pre-civil war military instillation not unlike Fort Scott in Kansas. This fort, built in 1805, served to “control” the Native Americans and the important rivers below its wall. Major American water highways, the Missouri and Mississippi river, merge down the sharp cliffs below Fort Snelling. Had the bike trail not have gone through this historical site, I would have missed a unique feature of the area. Not only was the fort sitting on the pinnacle of the surrounding territory it, was a picturesque scene with sandstone turrets penetrating the blue sky above emerald green trees. Near the fort is one of the country’s 131 Veterans Affairs national cemeteries. There are 180,000 military veterans interred here. The grave markers of those that gave their lives for this country go for miles. The largest is, Calverton National Cemetery in New York, larger than Arlington’s 300,000 interments. Seeing these markers gave me pause as I was inline to be drafted in 1966 when I dropped an inorganic chemistry class at University of Northern Iowa, falling into the infamous "part-time student" category. Thank goodness for a left knee torn meniscus from a football injury and terribly flat feet, the army decided to give me 4F status. Thank the Lord I never had to be shot at. I did serve in the Air Force during the Viet Nam War but I was fortunate to have a cushy job as a dental officer. There was talk of sending one of us from the Azores to Southeast Asia but none of dental folks from Lajes Field had to go there.  Maybe the fact that Kenny Hammel, died in Viet Nam has me especially moved by the sacrifice veterans give for our freedom. Kenny was two years ahead of me in dental school and worked on my ushering crew for entertainment events at the University of Iowa. When he graduated, I bought his high speed dental handpiece, a luxury at the time, and his operating stool. Perhaps that bonded us for ever. I have visited traveling replicas of The Wall and found his name and think fondly of him. I know another reason these cemeteries give me pause, is the sacrifice Connie’s dad made in World War II.  Not only was he traumatized by wounds and suffering, but the post war psychological effects were devastating.

 After eating lunch at a nice Italian restaurant, Chris and I headed south from Fort Snelling toward the highway 77 bridge. Again I became “discabobblated” and had to reroute myself several times. I question whether I found all the trails I had planned to ride, but I did make it to the most southern latitude needed for the cross country traverse I am attempting. Chris had ridden half way and then rode back to the car to then drive down highway 110 to pick me up and head toward the Douglas State Trail in Pine Island, Minnesota.

Seg #24 Maze Boy Bike Ride Two B (MBR2B) 8/4/13

Segment # 24 Prairie Sunrise/HardwoodCreek Trail Stacy to Hugo MN 8_4_13
 

Start	Stacy, MN	45.40563-92.98670	NS miles 14.7
End	Hugo, MN	45.17712-92.99410	Trllgth 17.3Ride 22.6

Ride Hrs 2:20

AVS 9.6

MXS 26

KCAL 1848

Temp 78

El 890-960

 
Anyone following this blog will remember that Maze Boy Ride #2 was scheduled for May (See an older Post for Segment #15) but that trip was short one rider---Christopher Glenn was recovering from a hernia operation resulting in a opt-out situation. So Geoff and I did Maze Boy Bike Ride Two A (MBR2A) in Kansas. When Chris was mended and was able to get a couple days off from his hemodyalis position at Mercy Hospital in Des Moines, he decided he could ride some trails with me in Minnesota. It seems appropriate to name these rides as Maze Boy Bike Ride Two B (MBR2B).

Three Maze Boys. Brother Flip the senior.
Chris the Junior and Me in-between 

Since we were going to pass within twenty miles of big brother George’s (better known as Flip) house, about seventy miles up Interstate 35, we diverted to Webster City, Iowa and dropped in on Flip and Carol. As you can see in the three Maze picture, George is doing well as the 85 year old captain of the Maze Team; in fact, better than sixteen years younger, littlest brother Glenn (that be me). After a nice chat and inspection of their Rutgers tomato patch, Chris and I headed up the interstate to Stacy, Minnesota. We found the trail head and had our picture taken by a passing bicyclist. Chris rode with me for half the trail and then rode back to the car as I kept going to Hugo, Minnesota. The ride was smooth asphalt so we averaged 9.6 mph, faster than normal for me. There were quite a few bikers, in-line skaters and cross country “no snow” skiers. Chris picked me up and we drove to St. Paul for segment # 25.