Reedsburg area

I began my day at Linda’s brother’s farm south of Loganville.  

Here is the view from the hill looking back. 

The ride to Reedsburg was only about 12 miles but there is a killer mile long hill just before you get there.  There is a wayside near the crest of the hill so that was a good place to catch the view.  Coasting down the other side is good!

 

One of the local businesses in Manitowoc is Lakeside Foods.  Here I was 180 miles from home (and Lake Michigan) and I find another part of the same company.

In Reedsburg, right near town, some kind person has a rest station in their backyard.  There is a bench, water, cups, a garbage can and some decorative yard art.  What a nice gesture!  

 

Also right at the trail off Main Street was a map indicating where local businesses were.

The trail outside of Reedsburg was a hard clay with little gravel.  I think that had there been recent rain it would have been slow but since conditions were dry, I was able to go at a good speed for a while.  (15 mph)

 

A few miles west of Reedsburg I noticed three cranes in the path – two adults and a young one.  As I approached, they stood their ground.  The little one scurried off into the tall grass and the larger of the two remaining started coming toward me.  So here I was playing chicken with a crane!  I stopped and so did he.  I was contemplating how many miles out of my way I would have to go by back tracking.  I thought that perhaps I could go back and then just go really fast toward them.  I also debated what I would do against an attack from a beak like that.  I started to inch slowly toward it, and then, the two adults slowly turned and ran away.  And if you have ever seen cranes run, it looks rather goofy!  When they got some momentum, they took off, squawking away and they circled back behind me.  It reminded me of the killdeer doing the broken wing act to steer people away from its nest.

I liked this stretch of trail as it wound through smaller towns like LaValle, Wonewoc, and Union Center.  There were signs indicating the local history.  The rest stop at Union Center was very nice.   Wonewoc was a nice area as well.  There was a free area where people could camp.

The trail leading into Elroy was bumpy as people with horses must have ridden on the trail when it was wet, leaving tons of small potholes to navigate.  Thanks.

Elroy itself is a quaint town.  There is another nice rest area, complete with showers.