Cowboys and Indians

RRT Rushford-Huston-Whalan: 55.38 miles
Tandem Pedal Time: 4 hours 29 minutes, average speed 12.3

Because the Root River Trail is still under construction between Whalan and Lanesboro, we drove to Rushford to begin our bike ride. The 25 miles to Houston and back to Rushford were very enjoyable. We stopped at the Houston Nature Center at the Trail’s 42-mile marker, also the end of the Root River Trail. While Dennis was visiting with the naturalist, he was offered a bright orange vest to wear as protection. The center offers these vests at no cost to cyclists during the hunting season. With our bright yellow jackets on, we are visible from quite a distance so we passed on the offer. It is rather haunting to think you are biking through enemy territory during shotgun season but the weather has been so wonderful that we can’t resist taking the chance.

After miles of gunshots and ducking cowboys on the trail, we stopped at Shawnee’s Bar and Grill in Rushford to enjoy the relaxed atmosphere amongst the Indians. The grub was good and the rest was rejuvenating.

A 25-mile ride for today was just not enough so we ventured towards Whalan knowing we could go no further because of the bridge work being done. We squeezed past the sign warning of construction ahead and biked out to inspect one of the new bridges. Very nice—the bridge has been widened and it looks like maybe the trail section will be upgraded soon.  Completion date is set for November 30, 2012 and everything looks to be on target.

We were back at the van by 4:00 p.m. and the sun was already going down over the hills of the Root River Trail—this is truly a beautiful time of year for biking!