Almost 100

Miles, that is, after last Sunday's ride along part of the Root River Trail here in southern Minnesota. It started out as a coolish-day.

Started in Preston and headed north and then east to end at Whalan for a great piece of pie before heading back to Preston. It would be another 31 miles. At first it wasn't a particularly unusual trip, although at the first bridge across a creek was a doe looking right at me.

And some fairly normal- but always stunning- flowers.

I got to Lanesboro- about 11 miles up the trail and stopped for a moment. Another cyclist asked me how the pictures were going. I said I had seen better days, but hey, I wasn't even half-way through yet.

That proved to be a promise. I headed on and came to one of the longer bridges and up there on a dead tree I saw the unmistakable sight I am always scanning for.....

I could get just close enough that with the telephoto lens and cropping in Paint Shop Pro, well, you can't get that close in the wild very often.



It was actually busy day- people and animal wise- on the trail. It was a really nice Sunday and lots of families were out. But so were the deer. Between that first doe and the end, I saw five. One was so "tame" that she just stood there eating while bikes pedaled by. She finally ran when a couple walking their dog came along.

And just before reaching the end I glanced through some creek-grass and there was doe and her fawn. I only managed one picture before some cyclists came around the bend and the deer ran.

All in all, not a bad day. At the end I was at 94 miles for the summer so far. Not sure what I will do tomorrow, but I do know that I have a friend coming to visit Monday - Wednesday who is also a cyclist. (And I am on vacation!) If the weather holds, it could be another 60 or more miles in the next week.

Did I tell you how much fun I am having doing this?