Saturday, Dan Pfaff and I rode the
Bolton's 115K permanent. At the Fair Grove Kum & Go, we met an eastbound TransAmerica Bicycle
Trail rider. He had ridden the Western Express Bicycle Trail from San
Francisco and connected with the TransAmerica in Pueblo, CO. He
needed to be back in San Francisco by August 25 for a wedding, so he
is really going to have to ride some long days to make it to Yorktown,
VA. As we headed west, we were surprised that all the dogs we usually
encounter seemed to be on vacation. We were disappointed we did not
met any more TransAmerica riders.
The lack of dogs on Saturday was made
up on Sunday when we rode the Marshfield Mash 112K
permanent. It was sprinkling when I
left the house at 05:45, but it was just a local shower. We did not
experience any more rain. We had overcast skies the entire ride,
keeping the temperature down. We made good time to Marshfield via
Rogersville. The several dogs that chased us helped to speed us
along. We were a couple miles down KK Highway on the return from
Marshfield when I was surprised by a large dog charging across the
road. When the dog seemed to see Dan, who was behind me, it stopped
and head back right into the path of an on-coming car. There was a
loud whump, and the dog went flying about 20 yards into the ditch. The speed limit is 55 miles per hour, so I assume the car was doing close to that.
We stopped to give the driver our
telephone numbers in case he needed witnesses for his insurance
claim. The front of the car was pretty banged up. Suddenly, we
realized that the dog had lifted its head. We went to the house
across the road where the dog had charged from, but no one was home.
We started back across the road to check on the dog when it leaped up
on three legs and started to hobble away towards another house. He
definitely had only one rear leg, and he had not lost the other one in this
accident. Since the dog did not seem to want to have anything to do
with us, the driver said he would try to find the owner and we
departed. We will be back to Marshfield in a few weeks, and I would
like to think we will see the dog again. Maybe it will stay in its
yard next time.
Sorry about no pictures. The camera has
been dropped too many times and is not working.
