July 24 Limbs on rail trail

  Our family bicycle trip involves 2 of our children and their spouses, and their children, our 7 grandsons, ranging in age from 4 to 12. So there are 13 of us all together.  We travel mainly on rail trails and other bicycle pathways with a variety of equipment--tandems, tag-alongs, single bikes and a double Weehoo trailer.  Twelve of us travel along the trail, going about 20-35 miles a day. The other one drives one van to the end, then rides the route the opposite way and meets the rest of us in the middle, often about lunchtime. They then  continue to the beginning and pick up the other van which is pulling a U-Haul trailer. That way we get vehicles and all our gear and paraphernalia moved along with us. We stay in hotels along the route, preferably with a pool.  Our daughter planned the route and where to stay and made reservations. 

  Saturday night was the time our other grandsons and their parents were arriving from Peoria.  A storm was moving in around 7 pm, with thunder and very dark skies--so dark, that the street lights came on and the fireflies were lighting up. Jim met them to pick up the U-Haul trailer and it poured while filling out paperwork, then just a very light drizzle when had to go outside to hook things up. Grandpa Jim got double supper, once with the Madison crew (tacos) and then with the Peoria outfit (Culvers). Another storm during the middle of the night bothered some people and pets trying to sleep.  One of the Madison grandsons had come down with a fever late on July 22, but the fever broke the next day and he tested negative for COVID two separate times. As a precaution we had the Peoria cousins stay at a motel so people would sleep better.  Before they came over Sunday morning, the rest of us participated in a virtual worhip service with the message on the last part of Ruth and how our Father in heaven was like Boaz and wants to redeem us.  

  We left Madison about noon so had lunch at the trail head in Dodgeville with kids excited and bouncy.  We heard a report about downed trees on the Military Ridge Rail Trail from the storms last night but decided to give it a try.  At about the 3 mile mark and then for the next couple of miles we were able with our large crew to break off and move branches and open up the trail. But then we came to some that were very difficult to get around, so backtracked 1/2 mile to get out on the road.  After a few miles, we got back on the trail again. We still had to portage over a few broken limbs/trees that we couldn't move off the path.  Amazingly, the boys were good about all this and thought this was the neatest thing.  When we arrived at a town, we took a break and had a snack in a park, and the kids enjoyed the playground.  We had good going for the next 5 to 8 miles, then met up with our van driver heading back to get the other van. We got filled in on more downed trees a few miles ahead, but lasting only for about a mile and a half and then much better conditions after that.  So we had some more tree portaging to do. We got quite good at passing bicycles from person to person to get them across downed trunks.  Estimated that we arrived at the hotel about 7:30 or so, much later than expected, but all were still in a good mood. Amazingly, the boys still had the energy to run around outside for a while. Made sure everyone showered well with soap as worried we may have been exposed to poison ivy while stepping into vegetation on the side of the trail to get through.  

  Today's distance was about 28 miles. Our biking configuration today:  One adult rode a tandem with either the 7-year old or 6-year old on the back, alternating with the other riding on a tag-along.  One adult pulled a Cannondale trailer with food and extra water. Jim & Kay rode a tandem pulling the  Weehoo with the 4- and 5-year olds. The twelve-, ten-, and nine-year olds all rode their own bikes. 

  The picture shows us pulling some limbs off the trail.