I woke up in Brookings Oregon to a clear cool morning. By 7 I was on the road through small farms. Very little traffic.

Passing through forests with venerable giants

Small communities redefining themselves

By 11 Am I had crossed the Oregon/California border.

It was just a beautiful ride into Crescent City , then you emerge onto the coast.

The season runs Feb,-Aug. Castle rock is the second largest in California and 3 rd largest in the lower 48

I rode along Oceanside drive that goes note to south. Reminded me of Santa Cruz. High up on a cliff with spectacular views of the Ocean.

I wanted to go to the historical society of Crescent City because I wanted to learn about the Tsunami of 1964

At midnight March 28 1964

The lady light house keeper woke up for some unknown reason ,the moon was very bright, she looked out and wondered where the water was because it was not time for low tide.

She didn’t know a 9,2 earthquake had occurred in Alaska . Then she and her husband watched as the 1st of four Tidal waves rolled past them ( Right to left in the 1st photo) over the next 2 hours to devastate Crescent city..

And what am I doing? Sleeping in motels just above the waterline.

I was wandering through the museum, because subconsciously I knew what awaited me.

Turned out to be two hours of climbing.

Taken by a young man who was following me down the backside of the hill I had climbed

Until tomorrow, sleeping with my fins on.

As he map promised at 7:45 I began a wing ding of a climb. I’m about a half hour into it when the navigation app says “Take Boomer Bend Rd” as I look to the highway I see nothing but asphalt climbing like a wall.

Ohh is this a new route going around the hill not over it?

As I gaze to the right I see

Does that mean the road or the area to the downhill of the sign

I look where the road goes and it’s steeper than greased glass descending into hell.

The navigation map shows a road that is different than my paper map.

Just then a van comes up the Boomer Bend Rd. I flag them down and explain my quandary .

Legs are screaming

“Go down”

The guys said Oh no you don’t want to go down it drops off like crazy and the dead ends.

Up we went SOO GLAD WE DIDN’T LISTEN TO LEGS.

The day was crystal clear and cool again.

These rock formations are Ga Ga,

Water erodes, creates fissures that eventually crack and cave in. Blow up the image and took at the area about 2 o’clock above the arch.

“All in good time my pretty”

While looking at this several of us enjoyed a ranging conversation.

There was a woman old enough to have kids in graduate school school, who was striking out on her own for a 5 week driving and camping adventure.

One of the guys was passing through after rock climbing in Yosemite.

One of the ones he did was “ Lost arrow spire”

They attached a rope to a tree on the cliff.

Then repelled to the valley floor, climbed up lost arrow spire.

Pulled the rope taut fixed it to the spire and shimmied across while gazing fondly 880 meters below. to the cliff where they started. It is called a Tyrolian Traverse

There used to be a Tradition of seeing how many people they could get on the spire at one time.

I think I’m busy that century.

Until then

I woke up in the middle of the night to the lullaby of quiet fog horns. A feeling of being cared for came over me.

I wonder if the first ones I heard were when I was born in San Francisco.

People built them to help each other out because they understood that groups, working together , allow us to live in prosperity and peace.

Of course there were a variety of driving factors,yet the end result is we are better off because of that cooperation.

I was one tired puppy yesterday evening.

It was a long day of relentless climbing. None of the climbs was more than 150 feet( 5 telephone poles) but there were tons of them.

As opposed to to previous days with climbs of 800 feet.(27 telephone poles)

It’s the little ones.

I always say, to the consternation of some, “Hills are our friends” I’m a rich mam

The day was crystal clear,warm in the sun ,cool in the shade.

There were whitecaps as far as you could see but the wind was mild on land.

Well off I go to see what today brings.

Pau

Today we had a day off before flying home tomorrow.

We decided to go to the Milwaukee Art Museum. Having been told y some of the bike group about the fantastic architecture

I’ll let the pictures speak.

The architects are EeroSaaripen , David Kahler, and Santiago caladrava

There was an excellent video as an introduction that brought home what a collaborative effort was undertaken by so many parties that resulted in in this magnificent structure and grounds.

They use this side aisle to teach perspective to their classes of children.

The pieces were collected, with permission, from the base of the White Cliffs of Dover

Concept,concept, concept

There was a large Dale Chihuly piece hanging in a glass enclosed corner facing Lake Michigan.

When I saw this piece I couldn’t believe who the subject is.

It was painted between 1630 and 1634.

I had never seen a depiction of Francis as dark as this.

I’ll give you it is suppose to be from his grave.

That aside it elicited a feeling of of something very dark and ominous within me.

I couldn’t figure out why someone would paint him like this.

Then I looked at the dates.

Smack dab in the middle of the Spanish Inquisition

Times don’t get much darker than the Spanish Inquisition, hence the mood of this painting.

Should you ever be in Milwaukee

Put this museum at the top of your list,

Well maybe after a bike ride.

Off to dinner and catching a flight in the AM

Quack and I wish you well

Paul

We started the day with a shuttle to the start of the glacial Drummond Trail..

One needs breakfast first, so there was a bakery cafe at the trail head, that served big portions of very good food. So much that the waitress asked if someone didn’t like their food because of what was left on the plate.

Sorry foodies, no photos.

He said , “ I loved it, just too much”.

So off we went on a tree shaded hard packed gravel path.

I’m not going to show pictures of everyone because I couldn’t figure out how to download them.

But Here are a couple of

In her late 60’s she rode across the US in 52 days

.

We are in the country where Aldo Leopold lived and wrote Sandhill County Almanac

30 miles later we had finished about 200 miles through Wisconsin

Quack sends best wishes

And just so you know

We’ll see what comes tomorrow

Because……

Paul

Today was the penultimate day of riding

We left about 9:30 from the hotel to ride to a town named after New Glarus. We started out riding the pathes that work their way through Madison

As we approached a school zone or zones, you would have thought we were in Amsterdam.

There were people on scooters rollerblades bikes and walking.

There were paths going every which way.

I found it refreshing to see the lack of cars approaching the school zone.

We then started riding rural paths for most of the rest of the morning 3.5 hours of riding without vehicles except when we crossed a road. Then they almost always stopped for us. A huge semi saw us coming from a hundred yards away, stopped until we all had passed

Everyone was completely impressed how courteous the drivers are

We cross numerous bridges each day from 10 feet to over 60 feet. Every one of them has one thing in common. Check out this bridge.

See the black stripe on the deck? what causes that?

Snow mobiles in the winter

Here is our trusty van and trailer

Here is where we ended our day in New Glarus

After the ride I took a walk to the state capital

After I walked down State St to a great card shop that had this in the window

Have a nice evening

Paul

Our day started with a quick tour in the van of the Epic campus outside of Madison

The CEO , Judith Faulkner has created a huge campus with an unbelievable array of renewable energy generating systems.

The various areas of the campus are themed from various stories, Star Wars, Alice in Wonderland, Wizard of Oz , Harry Potter.

Epic is privately owned by Judith Faulkner , who “ Doesn’t want to be beholden to the quartet “

28th richest billionaire in the country.

We then drove to Mt Hebro and started our 30 mile ride back to Madison.

This trail was even better than yesterday’s.

At a certain point we started on a paved trail that took us into town.

The trail undulated and curved gently.

Throughout the ride there are wetlands and greenery

As we got closer to the hotel we circled part way around Lake Menona.

A good part of the town is built on an isthmus between lake Menona and Mendota.

Found a great bike shop and escaped without spending any money

Later in the afternoon we were taken through part of the University of Wisconsin by Mike who had done undergraduate work and Med school there.

We were amazed at the number of young people.

Retuned to The Public Parking Bar with 5 others.

This time I had “My grandmother hates my tattoo “ cocktail. while other members of the group read poems to us.

Billy Collins “The Lanyard” and Robert Frost’s “ The Birches”

The drink and the poetry were quite good.

Until tomorrow

Paul

This morning, after a delicious breakfast, we took a half hour shuttle to the start of the Elroy Sparta Trail.

This is “The Mothership of rail trails. It is the first rail to trail conversion in the US in 1967.

It is a beautiful trail.

From here the concept spread throughout the US.

This is the innovation that makes America great.

The trail surface is hard packed gravel, so tires roll very well

There are three tunnels on this trail of varying lengths.

We guessed the length to be 3/4 mile.

Lots of water dripping. Even with lights we walked through it because the surface was damp and slippery as the sides tapered off.

The real beauty was no cross traffic. So the music came in the head phones and it was like a 40 mile spin class.

U just let the music dictate the pedal cadence and you are flying along.

Literally dancing on the pedals SO MUCH FUN!

After we got settled , I had laundry to do and next door was the great bar, good music, witty and welcoming bartenders It is called

Public Parking.

If your ever in Madison, it is worth a visit

So from the Capital of Wisconsin I’ll bid you a good night.

In the afternoon I was riding at the back of the group.

One of the guides always rides “sweep”.

To make sure no one is left behind. We’re talking and I ask where she is from. She says Paducah Kentucky.

I mention that I was just riding on a trip with a guy from Paducah Kentucky .

She says what’s his name ? I say Wendell Medford. She says I KNOW Wendell.

If you remember Wendell is one of the brothers I was riding with in Washington and Oregon

Wendell, Terri Moore says “Hi”

IT KEEPS GETTING SMALLER AND BETTER

Paul