Tuesday, SEPTEMBER 1, 2015
Can you believe it's September?  Did you miss us yesterday?  Jim needed to rest his back yesterday, so we opted to get some groceries, a heating pad, and just lazed around.  We did nothing of importance, so we didn't feel it worthy to write a blog.  Today we took our bikes into Rhode Island and found a bike trail (rails to trails) and loaded the geo-caches on it, and had a very interesting day.  We found 19 caches on a stretch of about 7 miles and it felt like 70!  We had about 1/2 mile of asphalt trail and the rest was sand, rocks and moguls!  Can you just imagine this Granny doing moguls?  I actually, got pretty good at it!  It seems that they are trying to develop the rails to trails path here, but the 'younger people' ride their motor bikes on it, and have ruined the trail for us elderly people!  It was awful! We did run into 'Jack' walking his dogs and had a good chat with him, and he did say the youth are not a good thing for the trail.  We were exhausted after doing the 7 miles, so we headed back to Putnam for dinner.  We found the Crossroads Restaurant and Brew Pub, and had a delicious meal there.  They are only two years into brewing beer, and they are housed in the old railroad depot in Putnam.    The food was delicious and the people were so friendly.  Everyone thinks Wisconsin is SO far away! 

This is Jack, Jim and Jack's dogs.  He was reluctant to approach us, at first, and later explained that both dogs were shelter or rescue dogs.  The white one was very skitzy and after we chatted for a bit, she settled down.  He was pleased about that, as he has been working hard to get them, and especially her, to be more calm.  We told him that we were geo-caching and asked if he wanted to go find this one with us.  He was amazed!  Jack is a professional musician, and he had 6 gigs this week.  He is a keyboard player and mostly plays by himself, at different establishments in the area.  We had a great time with Jack and his dogs.  He said he takes his dogs for a walk every day on the trail, and they are 'medicine for his mind'. 

This doesn't show the moguls very well, or all the thick sand that made this trail so difficult.  I'm sure we'll feel it in the morning!

This was the Crossroads Restaurant Brew Pub in Putnam, CT.  It was well worth our stop for dinner tonight, and beautifully restored.