Up North.

Woke up at the usual 6am time, and with nothing to do but not enough time before the funeral to hit trail, I remembered the XC ski trails behind the high school. Rode over there and made my way through the woods on overgrown grassy double track for an hour. On the way out, about 20 cross country runners were headed my way. What a great place to grow up.

After the funeral it was getting late in the day and I had the 3 1/2 hour drive to Eau Claire to go, so I detoured just 6 miles out of the way to yet another set of XC ski trails from my youth, the Anvil Trails in Nicolet National Forest. There was nothing technical about them, so I just flew. I took the expert trail that my sister and I used to "brave" (aka- walk half of) on our ski trips, and those hills were nothing to laugh at. I walked some. But the downhills... the one other guy on the entire traill system probably heard me shout, "WHEEEEE!"

In Eau Claire now. More trail adventures and more family bonding tomorrow.