On the way north (the campground and trail are 2 hours away), we stopped at a historic photo studio museum (the H.H. Bennett Studio) in the Wi Dells. The old fashioned camera, one you could move and adjust to focus the upside image on the glass plate beneath the curtain, was the favorite exhibit.
Ephraim wanted his picture taken in the fancy chairs as soon as he walked into this portrait room, lit with huge skylights.
They used head-holders in the 1800's, to keep children's head in one position for the long amount of time it took to create a photo. It looks like a medieval torture instrument!
I tried for a nice group shot, but with Ephraim around, it is always going to be a bit loopy.
We continued on to camp. Mattias set up the bikes, Sylvia and I put up the tent, and Ephraim played in the river that runs by the site.
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| Bike-Master Mattias in action. |
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| We had the entire tent side of the campground to ourselves! |
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| The Kick-a-Poo River, behind our camp. |
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| Ephraim plus water = hours of entertainment. |
After the camp was set up, Sylvia went over to the river to take photos. She got some beautiful ones!
I love this close up shot of Ephraim she took...
You never know what she may come back with on the memory card after she takes the camera. We got a funny "selfie" this time:
It was time for dinner and s'mores, with a great campfire built by Mattias.
The next morning, Mattias got up at 6AM to leave for a 90 mile ride. He took the Elroy-Sparta trail west, then hooked up with the LaCrosse River State Trail. After 45 miles out, he reached a Culvers not far from the Mississippi, where he ate lunch, and then turned around to bike back to camp.
He took a couple pictures along the way...
The Elroy-Sprata bike trail is an old train track route that has been ripped up and converted to a gravel bike path. It's famous for the long stone tunnels you bike through.
In the first tunnel Mattias biked through, because of the early morning fog and dim daylight, he said you could barely see 5 feet ahead of you, even with the headlamp on.
Seven miles later, in the next tunnel he had to go through, it was pouring water down in drenching waterfalls from the roof. He was soaked by the time he had gone the entire 3/4 mile through it.
A couple hours later, I woke up with the kids, read leisurely in our tent, had breakfast, and then biked over to the trail. Our goal was much less ambitious, but still a challenge for Ephraim's first trail ride: 5 miles that only went through one tunnel.
To keep Ephraim engaged, I'd have him look for beautiful things along the trail. When he saw something he really liked, we'd stop and take a picture. It was a great way to appreciate the beauty along the journey. (Sylvia on the other hand, blasted at top speed ahead of us to the tunnel, then came back to us. She likes to go fast. Next year, I'll have her bike part way with Mattias.)
It was pitch black inside the tunnels, and you can't see anything that's not directly in front of your headlamp beam. You can only see the inside of the tunnel is these photos, because of the intense flash on the camera.
Ephraim is standing inside a nook/fake door that was used by railroad workers to duck into for safety if they were doing repairs inside the tunnel when a train came through. It was cool to press up against the cool stone, in the pitch black, and imagine a thundering train coming from one side, unseen.
It was also fun going through the tunnel with Ephraim chanting "chuga-chuga-chuga -CHOOO CHOOOoooooo" in different pitches, and hearing it bounce off the walls.
As we left the tunnel, another family was just entering it, and they decided to howl like wolves. The echo is amazing. I wonder what a real singer, or violin would sound like in there.
Ephraim took off his shoes and enjoyed playing in a small creek along the side of the trail. He caught water-skippers and beetles, and made them sandcastles. I don't think the beetles really appreciated the upgrading of their real estate.
Sylvia and I visited with other bikers coming through the tunnel. It was fun to meet people of all ages, grandparents and toddlers, on all sorts of bikes that were just happy to be out enjoying the beautiful day. We'd take group photos for them, and hear about different sections of the trail they'd been on. We even saw a really neat motorized biking contraption a man had built for his mom who only had one leg. It honestly looked like a bike-train with the headlight coming through the tunnel!
We biked back to camp, ate lunch, packed up, and went swimming at the community pool by the campground. The cold water felt good on our muscles. We did silly jumps off the diving board, and waited for Mattias to bike back into town. He showed up after we'd been swimming for an hour, and were getting chilly and ready to go. It was perfect timing!
It took Mattias almost 8 hours, with a long Culver's lunch break in the middle, to do the 90 mile ride. Since neither of us had cell reception in this hilly area, I was so grateful he didn't run into any problems. He handled the ride well, and felt he could've biked farther. Maybe next year we can work out a 100+ mile route for him.
A quick stop for ice cream, and we were on the road home.
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