South Range, WI to Poplar, WI
11.7 miles
New Award: Least amount of miles ridden on a ridding day.
Our late night chat with Steve turned into an all morning bull session. Around 1pm when we were packed up to leave Steve's girlfriend, Kit, pulled into the drive for their planned day of kayaking. "So, tell me about your trip…" turned into an impromptu alfresco lunch we cobbled together from things on the bike and around the house: Venison stir fry with rice and tossed "everything but iceberg lettuce" salad.
Around 3pm we said goodbye to the kayakers and left for Amnicon Falls State Park where we lounged, wrote in our journals, jumped in the falls (Heather did, Dave knew better… it was cold), and talked extensively with Mike the Park Ranger.
Source: http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/land/parks/specific/amnicon/
Next came hunger pains and the nearest thing open on Sunday was the Riverside Bar at the corner of Rt. 2 and the turn for the state park. We sat outside ordering a bacon cheese burger pizza with pickles on the side. At the outdoor bar were four aged ladies we dubbed the "Magpies." They entertained us more than they'll ever know as they drank beer after beer. Early on one had invited us to sleep in her yard outside Poplar but we settled for the town ball park we'd heard about seeing as how many beers she consumed we weren't too sure she'd remember why a big gray tarp was set up in her front yard.
The park was quiet and the sun set as we were making up the bed for the night. We fell asleep to the stars warming up in the darkening sky.
