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 :-)