Possibly the last long ride of the year???

Say it ain't so! We went about 187 miles today, ended up cruising around over by Green Lake and stopped in Rudolph to have lunch at the Galaxy Drive-in. The food was good, but the yellow jackets were terrible. They didn't bother us at all until the first food came, then they were everywhere. Eating outside is the only option, so there was no where to go to get away from them. I know that's the problem at the time of the year, but seriously??? At least, to my knowledge, no one got stung.

The ride was great. The sun was warm, there was a little wind, and the traffic wasn't heavy. We took some twisty, turny back roads, and while most of the trees are still green, there were a few that had turned and were almost bare. There was the slightest hint of yellowing in the green on the rest, but I think we have a little time before we get any colors here. There were no mass murders of critters this week, but there was a lot of road kill, and i mean A LOT of road kill. It was really scenic as we wound our way around and up and down. The corn has all pretty much turned that browny-yellow color so the contrast with the green was amazing. There were lots of smells today, some good, some not so good. There was fresh cut hay smell, fresh cut grass smell, skunk, dead animal, silage, compost, and some various other butt and fart like smells I couldn't identify. Not a lot of pine trees today, so I didn't get to smell the warm sun on the pine trees smell. We also rode through the Horicon Marsh on the way home. One of our dogs wasn't feeling well so we cut off and came straight home in case he was still getting sick while we were gone. He seems to have gotten it all out of his system now so that's good.

After all the miles we have shared this year (over 5,300) I finally gave my baby a really good hand washing. She looks almost brand new again. Before you get all in my face, yes, I have washed my bike, several times, before today, but not a good really thorough brush, scrubby sponge crack and crevice wash like today. Before it was more of a power wash off and dry. She looks so pretty, and I am going to have her parked in the garage for a while now so hopefully she'll stay that way!

The riding season is beginning to wind down I'm afraid :-(

We went all over the place today with our friends, eventually ending up in Coleman and another friend's cabin. We took back roads all the way up there, and ended up going through Shawano where we ate at the Home Run Cafe. The special was a hot beef sandwich with mashed potatoes. It all came on one plate totally covered in brown gravy. I thought it was ok, my beef was a little on the dry side and the mashed potatoes were a bit thick and chunky for me (trust me, I know my taters!) Ed had the same thing and he got a piece of dutch apple pie which I had some of, and it was pretty good. All together with tip and 2 lemon aids (that's what the menu said) it was $20.

After Shawano, we worked our way up through Keshena and the Menominee Indian reservation. It was in the mid 60's, so the sun felt warm on my back as we were riding, but it wasn't warm out. The neatest part was riding through the woods and feeling the cool of the shade but getting that warm sun on the evergreen needles smell. I love that smell! Today was also a very sad day for the butterfly population. At first we thought it was going to be the day of the Monarchs because they were EVERYWHERE! Most of them were able to get out of the way, but I did murder a few. After them, we had a stretch where the yellow butterflies were literally in swarms on the sides of the road. Between the 5 bikes, I'm sure we took out quite a few of them. I have pretty yellow smudges all over my windshield, chaps and bike.

The one thing I can't figure out from today is what the heck hit me in the leg. Something hit me really hard, almost felt like a frog or something, right below my right kneecap. It actually made my eyes water it hurt so bad. Took a while for the pain to go away too. All I could think of was the game Frogger (ok, I'm dating myself now) because if it was a frog, it would have been toast. We had nice weather, the breeze picked up a bit on the way home, but 250 miles later, here I sit typing this out. I'm hoping we have some more good riding yet this year, I've got over 5,000 miles on and counting :-)