Glamping in the woods. This is our Base Camp at a pretty deserted campground in the upper east middle part of Washington The State. There is a lake very close to the campsite with loons and such. Only electric motors are allowed on boats that need motors so it is a quiet place when uncrowded. I pull my little trailer with a pickup. My bike goes in the pickup bed.
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The Demon Dog was ecstatic when I fastened the taser collar around her neck and got the bike out. The dog loves to run in the woods. The taser collar is mostly beeped now, and only when she does not return to a whistle. To the Demon, the taser collar means--RUNNING.
Our first ride went up a gravel road to an area that I know I worked in. The trouble is, that it was almost thirty years ago. I worked as a forester overseeing logging operations. The trees have filled back in, making me "think" maybe that was a unit. Hmmm, could this be one of the units?
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This road also was where I encountered a very large moose a couple years ago. The moose did not look happy after being chased out of the brush by the Demon Dog, and the Demon Dog looked scared when she caught sight of what she had chased so we bugged out with no picture being taken. This time, not even a hint of moose could be found. Only ……. cows. There was a handy dog cooling off spot alongside the road. Think of it as a Dog Bog. It was a bit muddy, but cooling, and smelled of.....cows, which probably made it more of a dog spa experience.
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I turned around when the mileage showed that it was maxed out for the Demon Dog. She is good for ten miles and then feet are likely to get sore. Unfortunately, I found out that that was also a limit for a few days. We returned to camp and saw a modern Rawhide episode as the campground host was on an ATV herding cows out of the campground. Cows are not allowed in campgrounds, but cowpies in the campground showed that this was not the first time they had invaded.
The next day, I rode with Demon Dog running alongside to a road in a different location. The last time I tried it with the Gazelle, it seemed too sandy on the first part so I had turned back. This time, I made it through the sand and up the hill. We passed a Red Bull--the bovine kind, along the way but since I was trying to get up a steepish bit of the road, and the bull did not look very happy about the Demon Dog, I kept going. He was gone when we came back down.
I figured the wrong way to go through a rough patch of the climb, so had to get off and push the Gazelle about 100 feet to where a side road was located. I could get going on the side road and then turn up the climb and continue on.
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Near the end of the road, I interrupted brunch. Mama and big baby Angus were together and baby was getting some milk. Neither looked happy but I stopped to turn around and got pictures of each. Range cows are pretty wild. They have to contend with coyotes, wolves, cougars, and ....humans and put weight on. They are out in the wilds from June to the end of September. Then they go home to an easier life of being fed hay, or to the auction.
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On the way back to camp, the Demon Dog started lagging behind. When we got back, I noticed she had sore feet so we returned home the next day where there is soft grass and smooth flooring to walk on. Poor girl. She loves to run.
These were the roughest roads I have had the Gazelle on. The bike did just fine. The made for pavement rear tire did spin out on a steep part of gravel, but I still managed to get it going and up the hill. I did not feel beat up after riding, like I do after the same ride on the Radmini. I find myself contemplating selling the Mini, since the Gazelle seems to handle rides in the woods well.
That's actually slow by my standards!
