A good nights sleep and on the road at 6:30 from the Eau Claire Sleep Inn heading east to Abbotsford, WI. Weather was cool and sunny with a slight tail wind. Early on the route took us to a bike path which ended up going through a grass field to gravel and back to asphalt. The route took us on another gravel road later too. But most importantly we went through the small town of Cadott where we found a bakery with great rolls and donuts. Most of the group stopped there prompting a reporter from the newspaper office across the street to come over, get our story and take some pictures.
The landscape continues to change and is more rolling. The crops are mostly corn and hay grown to feed dairy cattle although some cash corn crops are raised. There is an ethanol plant in Stanley where corn can be a sold. We also passed many Amish and Mennonite farms. We stopped at one that built and repaired buggies, wagons and carts. The owner. who was Mennonite showed us around and explained how they were made. He went on to say that the members of his church use tractors but they put steel wheels with steel cleats on them to discourage using for transportation on the roads. They do not have or drive cars but use horse and buggy, bicycles or walk. The farmer we talked to just returned with his family from visiting Glacier National Park. They took Amtrak to get there and back.
Most of our route for the day was on the Yellowstone trail. Developed in 1912 this road was planned to be a transcontinental auto trail from Plymouth Rock, MA to Puget Sound, WA at a time when most roads were poorly constructed, badly marked and few maps were available. The route was only partially completed
