Headed into Dighton, rode past where the foundation is in for an automatic milking barn. Had never heard of such a thing, until they started the foundation for this one. Supposedly, the cows come in and go in the barn when they want to be milked and are milked by machines. I think they wander in from the pasture and find their own way to automated milking stalls, where a computer will scan a microchip in the cows ear that holds the history of the cows milk production and any problems they might have. The robotic milking machines are based on assembly line production. The equipment gets the cow ready for milking by locating the cows udder, guided by ultra sound and lasers. The udders are sterilized before the milk is collected, instantly cooled, and stored. I think food is used to induce the cows into the barn, but if food is there, why would they ever leave? Perhaps there will be fans to blow the flies off too. It all sounds pretty sophisticated for our area, also impersonal for the cows. Most dairy farmers I talk to , know each one their cows by name and any odd little quirks they might have. You can bet folks in our area are talking about the addition of this barn to a local farm. I'll take more pictures as work progresses. I'm sure our local news will have a story on it when it's done.
Stopped at the church, where Tony took a layer off, I got Button a drink, and off we went. Headed to 20 mile Rd and went west. We needed to se some new territory. The hills on 20 mile road were fun, only one needed mountain drive. The sky was blue with white puffy clouds hurrying t along. Turned north on 160th, simply because it was a paved road, and a place we hadn't ridden before. Of course it was hilly, but the wind wasn't quite as bad when riding in that direction. Rode past a house that looked like a barn, had a sign on it that said "Tustin Hiils" I wondered if the house had been built to look like barn or if it was a barn that had been made into a house. It seemed a bit smaller than many barns I had seen, but barns come in many sizes, so who knows?
A bit further on we went by an restored 1926 truck for sale. Couldn't resist taking a picture. It looked ready to be in a 4th of july parade, with flags on each side of it.
Turned around just before the road turned into gravel. I think the building we turned around at was the HIghland Township Community Hall. There was no sign on it, just a pretty painting on the side.
Went back to 20 mile Rd, we were riding along just as nice as can be, when suddenly we couldn't go. I told Tony to "stoke." He said he was, but the trike was stuck or something. Knowing he had my coat, I asked him if perhaps a string from it, had got in the chain. He told me he thought he "lost" my coat. I looked in the rear view mirror and saw my coat directly behind us. Upon further investigation, I saw that my coat had fallen down and was wound around the chain and the deraileur. Tony told me he had put the coat behind his head, rather than on his lap. It had slipped down, and gotten tangled. We were at the top of a hill, we got off the road as much as we could and I began to try and get the coat out. It was very, very, stuck. I tried and tried to get it loose, but couldn't. The only solution I could see was to cut it out, in hopes that the smaller pieces could then be removed. The problem was, we had nothing to cut it with. A friend of ours lived about 1/4 mile away, so Tony tried to call him, but he wasn't home. Another good friend lived about 2 miles away, and upon getting Tony's call, said he would be right there. He arrived, with a scissors, exacto knife and pliers, and while I held the deraileur forward to make the chain slack, he cut the jacket away. Then he took the channel lock pliers, and pulled the pieces of the jacket out. After checking to make sure all was well, we were on our way again.
Guess I'll be making a trip to Goodwill, in hopes of finding a jacket before we ride in PALM. I won't be wearing this one, that's for sure. The white area is the area that was cut away. Still wearable, if I don't mind having a cold shoulder.
Continued on, to Tustin corners, which is a gas station about a half mile from the little town of Tustin. Good ice cream there, so of course we had to have some. After all what is a summer ride, without an ice cream cone?
Took the White Pine Trail for 2 miles and then headed East. 18 mile Rd is also very hilly. There is quite a bit of natural gas in our area, lots of gas wells, but the first oil well, went in about 4 or 5 weeks ago on 18 mile Rd. It seems out of place in our quiet country setting. Sometimes we can hear it at our house, especially when things are quiet. We are 5 miles away. Thank goodness it sounds quite far away, I can't help but feel sorry for folks that live closer than we do to it. So much for peace and quiet in the country.
Went past the golf course. Didn't see anyone on the course, maybe because it was so windy. I don't play golf, but I would think it would certainly be challenging to play when it is windy.
Stopped by Rose Lake County Park for a break. The park is on the East end of the lake.
We live on the west end, about 300 ft. off of the lake. That's not all bad, especially on the weekends when there is a lot of boat and jet ski traffic, we also don't pay the high taxes that lake front property owners do. We have a great view of the lake for about 7 months of the year. The leaves on the trees, cut down on our summertime view, but it is nice to have the lake so close by. Rose Lake is a spring fed, 370 acre lake, the largest in Osceola county. It was named Rose Lake, because at one time, it had many wild roses that grew along it's shores. It has a County Park, with a campground, there is a youth camp, and a small Bible camp too, plus many privately owned homes and cottages. It is busy on the weekends, but during the week it is often very quiet. That's our favorite time to go fishing, take a paddle boat or kayak tour of the lake. Sometimes on Wed. evenings there are catch and release bass tournaments on it. One Wed. evening, we were fishing, heard an air horn blast and saw many boats leaving from the county park. Soon we were surrounded by bass fisherman. Were they there because they saw us fishing, or because they has caught bass there before?. We did not catch any bass that night, but had great fun watching the boats and the fisherman. In the winter time the lake gets lots of use from snowmobiles and ice fisherman. We can often see several ice shanties as we sit at our kitchen table having a cup of coffee or hot chocolate. Great view in the winter.
By the time we got home, we had ridden 31 miles, 28 of them had been full of hills. We were tired, but it felt more like a tired from being out in the wind than a physical tired. Hope to do a long ride again tomorrow. A week from today, we'll be riding the "real thing."
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