Journal entry – 23 June 2015, Tues

Journal entries are just that – the digital copy of my hand-written entries in my journal. If you aren’t interested in the daily details of our adventure, feel free to skip on to the next “regular” post.

Woke to a pretty day – nice and sunny with big cotton-ball clouds in the sky. Good day for a motorcycle ride!

  
After breakfast and yoga* we get ready for our ride over to the Chippewa National Forest. Looking up from the atlas I see a little black bear out our window. Apparently the calm way that I said “there’s a bear” was humorous, as Ashley laughed about it all day long. It was small enough that we thought it might not be alone so we waited inside a bit before heading out to unload the bike.

   
       Off we venture, heading west and looking for the forest. There don’t seem to be any amazingly special areas so we’re just aiming to enter and find a pretty spot for lunch. After a wrong turn and 10 miles of backtracking we’re getting pretty close to my comfortable distance for a tank of gas. Fortunately we find a gas station (there’s at least 50 miles in there with nothing) and a sign indicating the forest is nearby.

  
We tour down a couple of roads that end in lodges or resorts before coming to a ranger/welcome station. They have a nice picnic spot overlooking a lake so we eat there. The water is clear, we can see down at least 8 feet to the bottom. You can follow the lily pad stems all the way down.

Forest visited we head back, topping off the tank at the same gas station.

  
About 10 miles from home I notice oncoming traffic has their headlights on and the occasional wiper blade going. Hopefully we can make it to the visitor’s center or gas station before the rain hits. No luck! It rains steadily for about 5 minutes – hard enough that we have to slow down. I have all the vents in my jacket open and the rain is cold!

It’s over and sunny again by the time we turn on the gravel road and get back to the RV. We load the motorcycle on the trailer and I get the grill ready.

We assemble beef kabobs and grill supper, along with some extra steaks for tomorrow’s tacos. After supper we read and crochet until bed.

* Doing a “sun salutation” routine is a great series of stretches to start off the day – makes a difference when I can’t make it to the chiropractor. Ashley has been attending yoga classes for at least a year now and missed those. She found an app for her phone with routines that she could download – and her mat fits just perfectly in the dining area hallway.