Well I got some riding in this weekend... My wife is a big mushroom hunter, & she got the chance to go picking Chantrells, with an instructor from one of the classes she attended... My 750 is in bad need of an oil change, & the exhaust canister rewrapped, & work & the lawn have kept me too busy to get the much needed maintenance done...so we took up the 300 Prairie, & my KLR 650 ( gravel road bike )... We met Tom in Sturgeon Lake, MN, & followed him to a day parking area, for the Soo Line ATV trail... I expected to spend most of our time in the woods, & less time riding, which is basically what we did... well the Chantrells were really slow, as it was really dry, but the Bolitus's ( spelling ), were popping up all over, & we could have easily picked several hundred pounds, if we didn't keep changing locations, looking for the elusive Chantrell... ( you need to understand, that I like eating mushrooms, & hunting / picking them is fun, but I'll let the wife, or better yet Tom, who is one of the states formost experts, do the identifying )... I found one, that was not like the others we were finding, so I called Tom over to identify it... turns out that one was an "angle of death"... NOT the kind to put in the bag... I was kind of keeping an eye out for deer sheds... & though I didn't find any of them, I did find a "cool" bear skull... the blue berries were ripe, & there was fresh deer & bear sign, all over in the woods... the deer were eating the Bolitus's & the bear were eating the blue berries...

The trail system is much better than what we have here in southern Minnesota, it was much like the riding we did, over by Spooner, Wisconsin, where the ATV's are allowed into town, to gas up, & stop at the restaurants... I have a renued respect ( or lack there of, concerning brains ), for the single track riders... the area is very sandy, & being as dry as it was, we often came upon areas that had 8" of loose dry sugar sand... at that point, I was really wishing that I had my quad, the bike was not even fun to ride in several of the looser areas... it was so soft, that I actually burried it trying to go up a little hill, to park... but there were several bikes out there... the Soo Line trail, is an old rail spur, & is like a super highway for ATV's, there are several side trails that go off it, but it is easy to ride fast, & you can go a long way's on it... I highly recommend going through the section that has the Kettle River bridge... the bridge was just rebuilt by the railroad, a few years before they pulled the track, & has been renovated to suite snowmobiles & ATV's... it is several football fields long, & probably over 100 ft above the river... the views are awesome from the bridge... ( any pictures you may have seen, will not do it justice )... we did a night ride on the Soo Line trail, & went into Moose Lake, to get some coffee & cheese cake, after dark... since the trail was gravel, it is pretty dusty, with this dry weather... they have been adding lots of baseball sized rock, which made high speed riding on my bike difficult... we decided to leave the bike at the motel, where my wife & I were staying, rather than slow us down, going back to Tom's cabin, & my rig, so Sally & I doubled up on the 300 for the ride back ( we never ride double )... it was kind of romantic, ( & a little warmer for her, since there was a cold front moving through, & the temps had dropped substancially )... still can't say enough good things about the little 300 Prairie, as it always does whats asked of it, & has required very litte maintenance, over the years that we've had it, & it still has the power to pull 2 middle aged fat folks down the trail at over 40 mph... I highly recommend hitting the Soo Line trail area... you can litterally ride from Mille Lacs lake, to Duluth, to leach lake, or on into cental Wisconsin, all on ATV trails...

 

Hey newbeatle---always good to read about someone elses adventures---Now that I understand the importance of yours and your wifes love of SHROOMS---I will pm you a price on the cast aluminum ones in my catalog asap

 

All this talk of shrooms gets me excited. But that is a very goooood point about the death cap. Never attempt to pick and eat mushrooms unless you have studied them well and know what to look for!!! Obviously new bettle you know this just lettin anyone else know. They can kill ya. Here in south texas we have a popular varity that arnt all that good to eat but sure are good time!!!
Late

 

MOSES... thanks, I'll look forward to it...

CKILL... That's a good point, & why I added the sentance about the "angel of death"... there are mushrooms out there that are deadly posion, that there are no antidotes for, & they may be growing at the same time & location as other edible mushrooms... but I'm personally comfortable with several of the "fool proof 5"... ( mushrooms that there are no toxic "look a likes" for )

TOM is on of the states formost experts, & he has a saying... " there are bold mushroom hunters, & there are old mushroom hunters, but there are no old, bold mushroom hunters"...LOL...

 

NewBeatle,

I was wondering how you did at the mud run that you was trying to get people to come to? Did you get the winch?

AlaskaBoy.

 

ALASKA... in most of the classes 1st thru 3rd places were seperated by only 10ths of a second... I can safely say that I dominated the class, as I was a full 2 seconds faster through the pit than the 2nd place quad, in the open class... I made myself & my wife ( to her dismay ), inelidgable to win the winch, since I talked High Lifter into donating it, & they sent it directly to me ( I just didn't think it would look good, if I won the winch )... a local grizzly owner won the winch...

 

NEWBEATLE, did you ever think about getting one of those kits so yo can grow portabellas mushrooms? i like mushrooms as well but i will stick with the store for mine, dont want to croak now.

try this receipe. take a large portabella mushroom and put olive oil on the under side. then put it on the grill top down for a minute or two. then flip, for a minute or two. then back over , where the under side is up again. sprinkle a little cheese on top, let it melt and dig in. now you would have to make a couple of these because they are goooooood
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02 650p
see pictures for mods

 

I've been on the soo line trail b4...actually we didnt get to far into the main drag tho...we stuck around the Mille Lacs area....there is some really good side trails around that area. Lots of mud too...the trail system is towards mille lacs is vary fast...mainly strieght aways...all gravel....I had the trailblazer wide open (speeds of like 50) and I didnt have ne probably keeping it under control...and I did not to this very often because I didnt want to **** of the local folk lol. but I would recomend it too

 

DEER... my wife has as many mushroom catalogs, as I have ATV catalogs...LOL... so of course she can get growing kits for nearly any kind of mushroom... I do product developement in the food ingredient industry, so cooking with out a recipe is like a hobby for me... I have a great sausage stuffed Portabella recipe, that I created several years ago, that freinds & neighbors all tell me is awesome... but your grilled Portabella recipe sounds great as well...

Friesen... if you ever get the chance to ride on the Soo Line trail, up by Moose Lake, it was dry & sandy... there was one side trail, that ran right along I-35, that was over 1 mile of whoops, with a flat trail beside it... I rode the whoops on the bike, but would have much rather had my quad for that type of riding... plus the Kettle River bridge is only a few miles out of Moose Lake, & it was awesome....

 

Here in Missouri it is the Morrel mushroom that drives the locals nuts! They take off of work in the spring because someone found a bunch of em somewhere. I am not a fungus fan but have tried these rolled in flower and fried and they are very good. They go excellent
with fried crappie which are caught during the same time period.


It is fun to have the (old lady) snuggle up to you as you putt along slowly and check out the scenery! As long as you keep the jumps to a minimum and the wheelies below vertical....LOL (as she smacks the crap out of you!) J/K


Chris