(Long post alert – but a lot happened)

First the boring stuff.  I woke up about 4:15 this morning. Started to tear down camp as it got light and prepped to leave as soon as possible. It’s beautiful watching the sun come up over Lake Shawano. I got up that early because I wanted to take a quick trip (22 miles round trip) up to Keshena Falls to see that in the morning light. It’s a series of rapids and a waterfall that sits in the Menominee Indian Reservation.

Afterwards, I rode back to Shawano and had breakfast at a cool little restaurant. From there, I started heading south and then east to finish in New London. This was the fourth day of my ride and my legs were feeling strong. I arrived about 2:15 and checked into a motel. Today the pavement was smooth, no headwinds, and it wasn’t hot.  So from a riding perspective, it was kind of a perfect day.  Ok, that’s the “boring stuff”…

While on the Indian reservation, I rode past their beautiful Veterans Park. There was a young man standing there and just taking in the scenery. As I rolled up, he told me that this was his favorite place and he came every single day. It was nice to chat with him, as we both enjoyed the scenery. He was probably in his early 30’s and I am about twice that. We grew up with a different cultural background yet found commonality looking at the same beautiful creation. That was cool, he wished me well as I headed on down the road.

While at the restaurant for breakfast, a guy saw me walk in with my gear and started asking a lot of questions about cycling and touring. He was fascinated by what it was like to do such a tour. It was fun to chat with him and it made breakfast much more enjoyable as opposed to eating alone. This was my second breakfast.

As I started out of Shawano, I had to check my bike computer to make sure it had the correct map loaded. I pulled over by the trailhead of the Mountain Bay State Trail and I met Clifford. Clifford is part of the Menominee tribe and just became homeless due to some family disputes. He said his cousin was going to be able to help him for a little bit, but he wasn’t sure what to do going forward. As we chatted, he told me that he had done a lot of traveling as a young man going to several Indian reservations out west. So we compared some of our traveling stories for a bit.  He really just wanted somebody to talk to and to listen to some of the things going on in his life. He actually offered me some food after I told him I had 45 more miles to ride. It was a nice gesture, especially for someone who has such an uncertain future. I was able to pray with him asking that there would be a good resolution for the family matters that caused him to be homeless. He said he greatly appreciated the prayer.

After being on the road for a couple of hours, I saw a little old-fashioned gas station at a crossroads. I would’ve assumed that it wasn’t open as I approached from the backside, but there were a couple of cars and people going in and out. It looked like one of those classic places you would see from the 1940s. Inside I met Mary, who was at the counter, looked around and it was like a throwback to the past. There were even a couple of rocking chairs and a little table in between them with a checkerboard nearby. Think Norman Rockwell type scene. I got a muffin and some more water for the afternoon. I asked Mary, kind of jokingly, are those rocking chairs available for sitting? She said oh yeah, we have people in them all the time. Help yourself. So from there, she and I had a great conversation.

Turns out she’s a five time cancer survivor and works for her son who owns the store. She was a very upbeat, positive woman who had gone through some difficult things in her life. She even told me that the last time she got cancer she told the doctor, “Well, this can’t beat me because I haven’t gone tubing on the Wolf River yet”. She went tubing last year!  She told me that dealing with difficult circumstances in life is all about the right attitude and how you approach them. There’s a lot of truth in that statement!

After about 15 minutes, an older gentleman came in and dropped off some packages to Mary. Friendly guy, and he just sat down next to me in the other rocking chair and introduced himself as Jim.  We had a great conversation as he asked a bunch of questions about my bike and the trip I was on. I told him, yep, I was enjoying spending a little bit of time at the store because otherwise I was going to end up in New London before I could check in at the hotel. Without skipping a beat, he said, “Well I’ve got my trailer about a half mile down with a picnic table that overlooks the Wolf River. You should come down and sit for a bit by the river and relax.” Now normally, this would seem like sketchy behavior, but I just had a sense that I was not going to end up as a missing person. As he left, he said again, “Come on down. It’s just across that bridge.” After he left, Mary said, “You’ll enjoy your time with Jim. He’s a really sweet guy”. So that made up my mind.  Jim is a regular in one of the rocking chairs. 

Jim’s trailer was exactly a half mile down the road. I turned left after the bridge and there were a whole bunch of campers and motorhomes along the river. As I started into the campground, I saw Jim and he waved at me. Sure enough, he had a picnic table and a comfortable rocking chair and we sat right by the river and talked. I think I could’ve spent all day with him. Turns out, he’s 79 years old, a retired paper mill worker, likes to feed birds and makes cannons in his spare time. The cannons are used to start local races at Memorial Day services and such. He loves to fish, knows a lot about the local history and described the floods that hit the area a couple of months ago. It was like all of a sudden finding a grandpa. I noticed an interesting tattoo on his right arm. It memorialized his grandfather fighting at the battle of Vicksburg in 1863. He was very proud of his family history and in his words, “ I’m a proud Lutheran.” We laughed about that as we talked about faith too.  

It was great sitting there with him, watching the river flow by and just talking about all kinds of stuff that old guys do…. I must be in that club now….We even exchanged phone numbers because he said he might want to call me sometime.  He appreciated my visit and I appreciated him a lot.  

The best part of the day today was all the people. Add that to the awesome scenery and it was a blessing all around!

Oh yes, I need to add one more speed number to yesterday‘s post. Somewhere around 22 mph was my escape velocity from a big farm dog that came running after me. I wasn’t sure if he wanted to eat me or just say hi. I didn’t stick around to see what his choice was going to be. That was pretty good for a fully loaded touring bike. Turns out fear and adrenaline can be a pretty good engine.

The numbers:

65 miles

1,030’ elevation gain

2 breakfasts

1 large dog