July 14, Stomach wound and bumblebees

The bed must have been soft as we slept in this morning. The staff, especially the front desk at the Super 8 were friendly and helpful, both last night and this morning.

 We decided to go to the Fort Crawford Museum as it had been recommended to us and it was already closed when we went by it yesterday, and it was only a short way back. It also had a fun staff person describing the fort as well as other history that has happened in the area. It was active from a little after the War of 1812 until the Civil War. Some famous people who were stationed here: Zachary Taylor, future president; Jefferson Davis, future president of the Confederacy; and Dr. William Beaumont. He was an army surgeon who when he was stationed at Mackinac Island, treated a patient with a stomach wound from an accidental shooting. The patient survived, but the wound formed a fistula into the stomach and never healed over. So Dr. Beaumont did studies of digestion and GREATLY increased knowledge about it and how it worked. The exhibit also showed some of the ways medicine was practiced during this time and also had some exhibits of local history so it was a very good museum. We got started pedaling about noon and today we mainly followed the Wisconsin River which we discovered has a lot of islands. 

 We were thinking this would not be too hilly a course but the road did curve a ways away from the river for a while and one hill was a 5% grade and we climbed about 340 feet which is enough to get us both red in the face (It had a beautiful view at the top). As we pedaled along this low-use road, we saw a couple of people above us on the side of the hill in the woods with nets. We asked and found out they were researchers from the University of Wisconsin collecting bumblebees to check on pollinators in this savanna woodland. We stopped in Woodman which had an artesian well and watched gold finches, blue jays, robins and sparrows drink from the tiny stream flowing from the well. Sad note--the restrooms were locked (we did find a portapotty at a small campground as we left town). In Boscobel we got some very good ice cream from Udder Brother's Creamery. We are camped on the bank of the Wisconsin River in Muscoda tonight and it's amazing how wide it is.