Oakdale Week 2

View from Observation Point, Wildcat Mountain State Park

Elroy-Sparta State Trail at Kendall, WI

We've made it through the rains and took some day trips since we last posted.  First up was a planned walk on the Elroy- Sparta State Trail from Kendall, WI up to one of the tunnels and back.  Downed trees cut that walk short, but we had a nice lunch at the Dorset Valley School Restaurant.

Next up was a visit to Wildcat Mountain State Park.  We originally went to the area for just a drive by the park.  Ended up staying awhile and walking a portion of the Old Settler's Trail.

Following that was a ride along the "400" State Trail from Elroy down past Wonewoc, WI and return.   Buggy ride, muddy in places, but we got our ride in.  As you can see in one of the pictures, below, water was high in the area from all the rains.  Walk-in camping became swim-in camping.

On another day trip, we drove west over to La Crosse, WI and walked along the Mississippi River and ate at the The Water Front Restaurant.  Good food and nice walking.  Though the pictures, below, show a cloudy day, we did get some sun in the afternoon which made for some pretty weather while walking along the river.

Walk-in camping...sure.

On Tuesday, we drove over to Sparta, WI to ride the La Crosse River State Trail, but rain was too close and moving east.  We took the better part of valor and passed on the bicycle ride & came back.  We ended up taking Tuesday & Wednesday off as rain days.

Today we went back to and completed that bicycle ride.  We rode about ten miles west from Sparta to the Bangor/West Salem area and returned.  Nice ride today as humidity was lower and we had nice temps for riding.

Sculptures along the Mississippi River at La Crosse, WI

We've still got a few days in the area.  Not sure what Donna's got planned.  Another bicycle ride or two, I'm sure.

If all goes well, we move down to Madison, WI on Monday.  It's a short trip - only an hour and a half over there.  Those drives are nice, but we do run into issues from time-to-time due to check-out/check-in times where you arrive too early at the new destination.  I don't think this upcoming trip will be

Mississippi River, La Crosse, WI

an issue.  We just gotta leave late enough - hard to do when you get up and just twittle your thumbs for a couple of hours waiting to leave.  We're getting better at it, but...

One new experience for me.  As this is our first diesel vehicle that uses diesel exhaust fluid (DEF), we'd been filling the DEF tank using two and a half gallon jugs of DEF.  (I won't go into how strange it is to put a corrosive, man-made liquid in a vehicle to clean the air.)   Anyway, this week we got to experience filling from a DEF pump.  Not real different from a normal refueling - just remembering to put the blue nozzle in the blue tank.  Doing it incorrectly runs you about $9,000 - $12,000 to fix, so there's some anxiety there.  Anyway, new for me.  Be old hat in a year or two.

So that's it from us.  Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying their summer.  Until next week, David