Motorbiking the back roads of Portage County and Waupaca County on our Yamaha Majesty 400. It features a nice queen seat for Wanda. It is so much more comfortable than our TW200 dirt bike.

A bolt of lightning struck a couple of feet in front of our living room window. The thunder crack shook whatever thicket of cobwebs that the drone of rain were spinning in my head. The electricity flicked off and on for the umpteenth time this morning, wreaking havoc with the computer and all of our digital clocks. We are home in central Wisconsin.

Prior to this storm, we had several more days of delicious weather. That meant motorbiking the back roads and ekayaking the Waupaca Chain O Lakes. The backroads east of Stevens Point are rolling beauties. Again, with the tree-canopied roads that I never tire of. The forests aren’t as dense or expansive as the forests are up north, but the roller-coaster green hills are still lush. Alternating oak woods and farm fields with mile-high corn are the norm. This summer was a great growing season - warm but not quite hot, humid, punctuated with timely precipitation. Our neighbor, Frank, has a garden to die for. Thank goodness he isn’t fond of cherry tomatoes, yet he planted tons. He has given us permission to pick what we need, however, he didn’t know how voracious our need is. We munch on them like candy. Thanks Frank.

The only negative are the mosquitos. After an entire miraculous summer of no bugs, they all seemed to hatch two days ago. That makes motorbiking all the more important. The mosquitos can’t keep up. Ha, take that you zombie blood suckers.

Scenes this week from several rides through rural central Wisconsin.

Crystal clear Sunset Lake near Amherst, Wisconsin. Sunset Lake has a terrific beach.

Lake Emily, near Amherst Junction, Wisconsin.

Lake Emily is flooded. This lake is not fed by a creek or river. The water level is controlled by ground water which is very high the past two years.

EKAYAKING THE WAUPACA CHAIN O LAKES. This body of water is actually 4 lakes. However, through the magic of labeling every bay, every channel with a little broadening in a spot, and every tiny attached pond as a lake, they came up with a total of 21 lakes. Unlike the lakes up north, which are virtually free of boat traffic, the Waupaca chain is crowded, especially on the weekends.

We launched our boats on a mini-chain of four lakes that feeds into the main chain via a very shallow creek. It is so shallow that we have to walk the boats through the creek.

The lakes are very clear with a jade hue and a nearly-white sand bottom.

The channels between the lakes in the mini-chain are tree-canopied and deep enough to run our motors.

At a public dock the local kids show off their flipping skills.

The famous Indian Crossing Casino isn’t really a casino and it has no affiliation with Indians. It is a giant wooden dance hall and bar left over from the 1920s. It straddles the main channel between two of the bigger lakes on the chain. Many bands have haunted this place including Glen Miller. I have had the honor of playing in the Casino twice.

Access to the Casino from the channel.

SEPTIC UPDATE: I know that everyone is on the edge of their seats regarding our septic system. Well, the designer came by and mapped out a new system. Since the current system didn’t go to “shit” just yet, he says we should wait until next spring to dig. He predicted that we’d get a better deal as the excavators are so booked up this fall that they’d appreciate the wait and reward us with a discount. OK by me.

Glossary of terms used for newcomers: 1) V-Jer. The name of our camper. 2) Saturn. The name of our Van. 3) Duende. Our mischievous gremlin that breaks things. 4) Tata. The good gremlin that helps us fix Duende’s dirty work. 5) The Black Hole. This is what we call Walmart because every time we go in for just a couple of items, we come out spending way more than we figured. 6) QT. Quaint Town. 7) Little Buddy. This is what we call our Dyson cordless stick vacuum. 8) “ing-ing”. All the activities that we enjoy that end in “ing” - hiking, ebiking, motor biking, camping, boating, swimming……

Dave and Wanda

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