I had given up all hope of riding again this year. We had an early blast of Winter come through in mid October. It brought night time temps in the teens, day time highs in the low 30's and snow. We had a clear, dry day on the 19th of October. I figured it was now or never, so I added Sta-bil and non-ethanol premium to the bikes, pushed them out of the garage and let them run for a while. I drove the Corvette to town and topped off the tank. I came home and parked everything in their Winter parking spots in the garage, plugged all of them in to their Battery Tender Jr.'s and put them to bed for the year... I was certain that all the fun was over...
Well, Summer returned with one last shot of nice weather! For the last week it's been beautiful. I got all my last minute outdoor projects done. I put away the patio furniture, restacked a couple of wood piles, took down an oak tree that was damaged last year, and even managed to get it split and stacked!
This brief Summer return was not going to pass me by without getting a little ride and drive time. A couple of days ago, my buddy John and I managed to get in one last ride. He rode his Harley and I rode my Zx-14. We met in Clam Lake, WI and made a loop. We rode up to Mellen, down to Gliden, then back to Clam Lake, where we split up. I rode back to Cable and John, back to Hayward. A very nice last ride of about 90 miles.
My sister took advantage of the mild weather and drove up from Bloomington, MN to the family cabin outside of Hayward. On Sunday (11-09) we drove separately to Copper Falls State Park. Nancy was busy making apple pies, so she stayed home. My sister and I hiked the 1.7 mile "Doughboy Trail" around the falls. It was a perfect day for it. There were very few people in the park so it was easy to avoid other people. It was a nice way to put another 90 miles on the car that got so little use this Summer.
Pictures from Copper Falls State Park...
