Iron Horse Trail, Pt. 3: Bellis to Spedden

Let me put my bias up front. I did not want to run today. I didn't want to get out of bed, I didn't want to leave my coffee and my spot on the couch in front of the television, and I certainly didn't want to spend 6 hours in the heat plodding down a gravel trail. I went anyway. With Lost Souls around the corner I felt like I didn't have a choice. Besides, I usually find the necessary motivation once I'm running. Not today. All I could think about was being back on the couch. Keep that in mind when reading this trail report.

I arrived in Bellis around noon. The early morning rain clouds had moved east and temperatures were warming quickly.

I had the trail to myself with the exception of a coyote, this white-tailed deer, and more goldfinches than I ever remember seeing on the prairies. This deer is actually looking away from me despite me being upwind and making considerable noise on the gravel path. I was within 15 m by the time it turned to look at me. I wonder if there's a slingshot season for white-tail?

I arrived in Vilna in the early afternoon. Vilna is a member of the  "world's largest" club. This is a club that many small towns join so they can claim to be interesting, at least to someone. For Vilna, the claim is home of the "world's largest mushroom". They weren't really that big but I'm sure they are what they claim to be.

Vilna's wooden boardwalks and well-kept shop fronts on the main street gave the town a pleasant, old-timey feeling. There were also people wandering about and, apparently, enjoying the weather, which brought life to the town. Many of the smaller towns I've passed through appear deserted except for the manicured lawns.

Unlike previous sections of the Iron Horse, most of today's run, including the entire section from Vilna to Spedden, closely followed highway 28. Because it was a sunny weekend, the highway was choked with weekend warriors hauling boats and trailers to or from some over-crowded campground. Even though the trail was deserted the drone of traffic was continual, which did not help my motivation.

Unlike Vilna, Spedden did not give me any warm fuzzy feelings. I only knew I'd reached Spedden when I passed the sign on the far side of town that thanked me for visiting. I wondered if not first welcoming me was an oversight.

I needed supplies for the return trip so I walked into the only roadside building that I saw hoping that the open sign in the window meant it was a store. Turns out it was a store. It was also a meeting hall for the Secret Society of Something-or-Other and I was interrupting. The half-dozen people that were sitting around a table talking and laughing quickly dispersed. I grabbed salty items and water from the shelves while an older man wearing an apron, presumably the store owner, stared intently at me as if trying to cut me in two with his laser vision. Yikes! Maybe the lack of a welcome sign was not an oversight. I lay on a bench at the nearby ball diamond to refuel and have a short nap before starting the return trip to Bellis.

Words of wisdom on the trail. These need to be posted in avalanche country.