Duluth -City of Trails

Tuesday August 31

Just before we left Washburn, our neighbor came over to visit.  When he heard we were headed to Duluth he was delighted to give us lots of suggestions on things to see and do as he had grown up and spent his life in the area.

We arrived at Duluth Indian Point Campground with plenty of time left for exploring one of the many bike trails around the area.  This one took us towards the downtown area.  Most of the trail was along city streets with dedicated bike lanes.  We eventually rode on the Cross City Trail and stopped at the Festival Park.  We may drive our bike there another day and continue on.  As it was we rode over 16 miles.

Madeline Island

Monday August 30

A ferry leaves the pier of Bayfield every half hour and carries cars, trucks, RV’s, walkers and bikers.  We took our bikes onto the island with the intention of riding from end to end but that did not happen.  Instead we rode out to the Big Bay State Park, looked briefly at the beach then turned around and rode to the other side of the park, ate lunch and headed back to La Pointe, the small village where the ferry docked.  And even that turned into a 25 mile bike ride.  I swear it was up hill both directions!

I was disappointed with our experience on the island.  Other than trees, and trees, and a beach, and trees there wasn’t a lot to see or to do.  Even the small town was pretty much closed since it was Monday, and everything around here closes on Monday.  But it was a beautiful day, not hot but sunny with a light breeze.

We have really enjoyed our campground with its lake front vista, visiting geese and seagulls, and very nice neighbors.  Our evenings have been spent around a campfire, listening to the waves lapping the shore and taking in the amazing starlit skies.  Time to move on. 

Exploring Bayfield County

Friday August 27

Even though we are staying in Washburn, we are still in Bayfield County and just a few short miles from Bayfield to the North and Ashland to the East.

One day we spent exploring the town of Bayfield, checking out restaurants, ferry schedules, souvineer shops and we found a Museum cataloguing the fishing industry on Lake Superior.  In Washburn is the Bayfield County Courthouse make from brownstone.  It’s quite an impressive building.

Another day we rode our bikes out in the county, making a big loop that encompassed the Chequamegon National Forest and Chequamegon Lake (pronounced: Chah-kaw-mah-gone).  Since the Ojibwa Native Americans inhabited this area, they use their Indian Names along with the English on all their signs.  We also hiked near the ski area and enjoyed the quiet forest before coming back to Washburn and buying fresh food at the Farmer’s Market.

We also hiked out from Meyer’s Beach up and on top of the Sea Caves.  Half of the hike was on a board walk then we climbed over roots and rocks to reach the top and look down into a 50 foot deep crevasse where the water rushed in.  From there we could look out on points of land and see the caves below us.  We ate lunch while enjoying the vista of The Bowl, a long point with sea caves its full length.

Apostle Islands

Wednesday August 24

The cruises around the 21 islands that make up the Apostle Islands National Seashore depart daily, several times a day and into the evenings from a pier in Bayfield.  But there are actually 22 islands.  Madeline Island is not part of the National Seashore since it was already inhabited when the National Park was created.  It was easier to leave it separate than to either move the inhabitants or buy them out.  In fact, some of the other islands had folks living on them so the park service bought those places and leased them back to the people.  When their lease expires the park will take over the properties.

Although the cruise supposedly passed near all 21 islands, we did not get close enough to most of them to distinguish one from another. Brownstone rock was harvested from several islands and used on the mainland to build sturdy structures such as the Bayfield County Courthouse. 

As we passed Hermit Island the captain pointed out a sea stack on the north end called Lookout Point.  Stockton Island is the largest in the National Park but Madeline Island is the largest of the 22 Apostles.  Eagle Island is the smallest.

The parks department refurbished an old fish camp located on Manitou Island.  No one lives there but park rangers will stay on the island to maintain it and wave at the boats that pass.  

We saw 3 of the 9 lighthouses located on the islands - Devils Island, Raspberry Island, and Michigan Island.

The most popular Island is Devil’s Island with its Ice Caves.  These indentations, arches, pillars and windows were created by wave action, wind and wintry ice eroding the soft sandstone.  The best ones are on Devil’s Island but some really good ones can be found on the mainland and on Sand Island.

Camping on Lake Superior

It was an six hour drive to Washburn, a small town on Lake Superior about 20 minutes from the Apostle Islands National Lake Shore.  We pulled into a first come, first served campground and lucked into a beautiful waterfront site on Sunday.  Monday we explored the town, then drove up to Bayfield to look around and book our boat tour of the Apostle Islands

We happened onto a small museum about the fishing trade on the lake and enjoyed visiting with the volunteer. 

Today it rained.  But during the afternoon, it cleared up enough for us to ride the bikes along some dirt paths and gravel roads.  

Sparta Trail Tunnels

Several people told us that we should ride the section of trail that has railroad tunnels, one that was about 1/2 mile long and another that was almost a mile long.  So we loaded the bikes onto the car and drove to Norwalk where we got on the Elroy-Sparta Trail and headed east to Tunnels #1 and #2.  

Tunnel #2 was about 1/2 mile long with signage that suggest we walk our bikes in the tunnel.  It was dark, wet, and muddy with a very rounded road bed.  At the end of this tunnel we found ourselves in Wilton and were ready to continue on to Tunnel #1 until we saw that the trail was closed due to flooding back in 2016.  Nice of them to tell us that!  A man and women came from the trail and we asked if it was difficult to travel and they indicated we should not try it.  We turned around!

Back in Norwalk we ate our picnic lunch and then decided to go the other direction and check out Tunnel #3 - the really long tunnel.  At the mouth of the tunnel we met several people coming out and they were wet from dripping water and they said it was very cold.  We could feel the cold at the entrance without going in.  One lady suggested that we could go in just a short way and turn around but we decided to not go through it at all. It was one of those moments where we said “Let’s say we did, then don’t!”

These tunnels were built circa 1873.  Flumes were constructed a few years later to divert flood waters away from the tunnels.  Some of the flumes are still visible.  An unusual feature of both tunnels were huge doors at both entrances.  Not sure why but a sign said that in the winter a man was posted at each end of the tunnel to open and close the doors to let the trains through, sometimes up to 50 times a day.  I think it had to do with snow.

We made a short stop in Sparta to photograph Ben Bikin’, the largest bicycle in the world.

Riding the Trails

We had determined early on in this trip that we wanted to find and ride bike trails.  Near La Crosse in the town of West Salem we found a campground right on the La Crosse River and a 101 mile long State Trail that consists of four named trails.  We rode on parts of three of the trails and on an extension that took us into town.

When we arrived on Wednesday it was early enough for us to take a short ride from the campground into West Salem, a quaint suburb of La Crosse.  Today we rode on the LaCrosse River Trail that connected to the Great River Trail with a connecting trail into La Crosse and down to the Mississippi Riverfront Park/greenway.  By the time we got back to our RV we had ridden 26 miles.

We celebrated our 49th wedding anniversary by dining our at a nice Italian restaurant.  I splurged and ate a bowl of spumoni all by myself!!  Yummy!!

Taliesin

This estate was inherited by Frank Lloyd Wright from his two aunts who started a school on the property. Frank, at the age of 20, designed the building for the school when it expanded and eventually located his school for architectural students in the building.  Some additions to the building were designed and built by his students, and a portion of the place did burn because of their inexperience.

The Wright house was built up the hill above the school and barn and overlooked the whole valley.  Taliesin (pronounced Tally-eh-sin) is a Welsh word meaning ‘shining-brow’ since it was built on the brow of the hill. It was completed in 1911.  In 1914 a disgruntled employee set fire to the living quarters and murdered Wright’s mistress and six others.  Another fire in1925 was the because of electrical problems.   Wright lived here until his death in1959.  He left the house and the 600 acre estate to the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation.  

The tour started at the Architectural school, then we rode up the hill past The Romeo and Juliet Windmill, across the small dam and past the Midway barns to the house.  In most of Wright’s homes, he designed all the furniture but his wife wanted more comfortable seating and she won out.  One piece that I found interesting was the wooden music stand that was created for a quartet of stringed instrumentalist.

House on the Rocks

Although we have been to the House on the Rocks at least twice before this it was fun going through and seeing everything again. We are camped in Spring Green Wisconsin so it was a short ride to this museum.

The house itself is built into and on top of natural rock formations and then encompasses that rock into the walls in features of the house. The outstanding feature of the house is called an infinity room and it’s built out over the valley, seeming to disappear at the end. 

The museum next to the house seems to go on forever as it took us close to five hours to walk through the whole thing. Some of the amazing features of the museum:  One room with a model of a full size whale battling a giant octopus; a fully reconstructed Victorian town with homes, stores and offices furnished for that era; Musical mechanical orchestras; a carousel with 269 animals (none are horses), 20,000 lights and weighs 36 tons;  two other doll carousels; circus and doll house exhibits and an organ room that has not just organs and pipes but numerous other pieces of “stuff”.   This man was a master collector!

A Day of Trucks

We had plans to meet some friends for lunch in Davenport but before we met them we drove about 20 miles into Iowa to the Largest Truck Stop in the World. They can park over 600 semi‘s in their parking lot, they have a truck wash, and a full food court indoors with at least eight fast food restaurants. They also have a small grocery where you can get sandwiches etc. as well as things for trucks and gifts for family.

Next door to the truck stop is a huge truck museum. It was fascinating to see all the old trucks right next to some modern trucks. They range in age from early 1900s to the mid to late 1990s. The trucks range from regular pick up trucks, semi trucks, flatbed trucks converted to cement trucks and a Model A truck that was made into a snowmobile.

We met our friends Fran and Lynne, formerly from Sedalia, for a nice lunch and a very long visit.  Lynne drives a Tesla which we got to ride in and learn all about. It’s an amazing car. It was really good to get together with these folks.

Hike, Bike and Tug

We took a 3 mile hike this morning through woods and around the hill and back again.  Then this afternoon we rode our bikes back up to Port Byron and learned a little bit about the Tug Fest that is held there every year.

Tomorrow afternoon teams of 20 strong men or 25 strong women from Illinois will tug a rope across the mighty Mississippi pulling against teams from Iowa.  The rope alone must weigh over 60 pounds, and then they have to pull across the river and against a current so they must be very strong. Around this tug of war there is lots of things going on in each small town. Port Byron has a small carnival,  a bag toss tournament and a arm wrestling tournament. The small town of Le Claire across the river has a carnival and other activities as well. Then later that night there will be a big fireworks display for both cities.

Biking on the Mississippi

We have biked each day, going a little further each time, and building up our leg muscles, stamina and endurance (enduring the saddle sores from those bike seats 😁).

Our first short ride took us by one of several John Deere manufacturing plants in East Moline (8 miles round trip).  

The next day we rode up river to Port Byron where the world famous Tug Fest will be held on Saturday.  This is a tug-of-war between Illinois and Iowa across the wide and mighty Mississippi River. It takes four teams of 20 strong men and one team of 25 strong women to compete. Of course, there are many other fun activities surrounding the event like carnival rides and arm wrestling and beer drinking. (15 miles round trip)

Today we did the mother of all rides - I may be exaggerating a bit - all the way down to Davenport and Rock Island thru Moline.  A ride of 28 miles!  The path took us thru some nice parks, industrial areas and across the River.  We saw more John Deere plants and visited the John Deere store but sadly the museum was closed for updating.  We had lunch in downtown Rock Island and then rode across an ancient iron bridge that at one time also accommodated a railroad track on its upper level and cars on the lower level.  The pedestrian lane was on the side. Not much to see in downtown Davenport so didn’t stay long.  We also visited Sullivan Island where steel mills once thrived but is now covered by nature.

The weather has been quite warm but a cloudy sky has kept it from being miserable. 

Finally on the Road

After a fun filled weekend in St. Charles with Pam’s mom and extended family we are finally able to travel for a few weeks.

Since our last blog Pam’s step dad passed away in April and shortly after that her mom was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer which has metastasized to the liver and brain. At 91 years of age she has opted to do immunotherapy with the hope of extending her life a few more months.  Pam’s brother and his children and grandchildren were in St. Charles and our children and grands joined them for the weekend.  It was fun filled and busy but mom enjoyed it all.

John and I left the Missouri heat and humidity and drove north hoping to escape the ‘oven’ but haven’t gone far enough.  We are camped in Illiniwek Forest Preserve, a county park near the Quad Cities on the Mississippi River.  We are also on the Great River Trail, a bike path that runs about 60 miles from Davenport/Rock Island northwards.