For the last week, I've been pedaling my Terry touring bike in the northwestern corner of Wisconsin. It was a circle tour that started in Cable > Mellen > Washburn > Port Wing > Superior > Solon Springs and back to Cable. We pedaled through a good portion of the Chequamagon-Nicolet National Forest and near Lake Superior and I enjoyed the beautiful scenery and wide open spaces of northern Wisconsin!
This tour made the history books! It was cooler and windy. The morning we awoke in Mellen it was 38 degrees. The day we rode into Superior we had 25-30 mph head winds and rolling hills. They said it was the equivalent of riding 100 miles. I bonked heading into the lunch stop but felt invigorated after having lunch and a rest. Our last day it was 52 degrees with scattered rain showers. I know, you're all thinking I'm crazy for doing this but did I tell you about the 81 year old woman that rode about 15 miles each day?
The highlight of the tour came on the last night - The Talent Show. The night before a staff person announce that he had a banjo and the one-needed string to make it whole. He said that if someone could string it and tune it, they could use it in the show. How could a beginning banjo player turn down the offer?
So it was that I had my banjo debut in the BEAUTIFUL, native tamarack bandshell know as Lucius Woods, in Solon Springs. Musicians come from all over the US and Canada to play in a summer series. Had I know that this was the venue for the Talent Show, I may have passed, but there I was with an open backed Deering banjo on my lap, playing the 2 songs/licks I held in my memory to 400+ cyclists and townspeople!
When I ran my fingers over the strings to get ready to play, there was a roar and everyone clapped and cheered! I felt like a rock star and I hadn't even started to play. So it was Cumberland Gap and a favorite lick or two from Foggy Mt. Breakdown and I wowed them. Come back next year folks, I'll be even better!
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