August 7, 2026
Baraboo, Wisconsin
Woke to alarm at 8:00am, but was not ready to get up yet, so
laid back down. Probably shouldn’t have.
Woke again at around 9:30am.
This was the time I was supposed to be leaving the room to go see some
stuff today.
Got up, showered and dressed.
Grabbed a few things I would need today and then the bike
gear at went out to the bike.
Uncovered and setup what I needed, then plotted the short
route to my first stop. (Probably could have done it without, but nice to have
reminder for turns).
Left the parking lot of the hotel out the back way as the
main road is divided and cannot just got across.
Went down 2 blocks to the main road I needed to use to leave
town and headed west.
Once past the big highway interchange and its two round
abouts, the highway narrowed into a small country back road rolling through the
hills.
It is a bit overcast today, but thankfully not raining,
though you can feel the humidity levels, probably going to be a bit uncomfortable
today with the gear on.
It took about 15 minutes to reach my first stop today.
I am visiting the Wisconsin Big Cat Rescue and Education
center.
This facility gives homes for large cats that are needed
someplace to go. Many of them come from
closed down zoos, animal photo operations, and private owners (legal or
otherwise). They also take cats in from
other rescues for various reasons.
They work on with the large cats, and have a fair-sized
complex of enclosures for the animals to use.
The place even has 2 good sized cabins you can rent and stay on the
property. (I wish I had known that before I booked my hotel, would have done that
instead!)
I parked the bike; put stuff I needed in pants pockets and
stuffed jacket in the panniers and left helmet on the bike. It is pretty remote here (though actually
right next to small town just on other side of trees surrounding place), so
should not have any issues with someone coming by and taking anything.
As is typical for me, I arrive at a place where there is no
one, and by time I get bike and gear sorted, two other cars have arrived and
gotten in front of me.
Waited my turn to pay my entry fee and then wandered into
the enclosure field.
About half of the enclosures are empty right now. From what I overheard one of the caretakers
discussing, they have lost 7 cats to disease or old age in the last year. All the white tigers and the black panther they
had have passed on now.
They still have several lions, tigers, a liger (not common),
few servals and a lynx.
The first occupied enclosure was a tiger, but she was having nothing to do with people and laying in the grass way in the back.
Next was the Liger, and this was where I caught up with the
caretaker who was kind of walking along trying to get the animals to engage
some (most of them do respond to their names and seem to come up if the caretakers
are present).
Gypsy was here name and she seems pretty tame, playing with
him through the fencing and rolling around in the dirt and just being a big
goofy cat.
Next up was a large male lion named Megatron. He was pretty chill, just laying there
watching, but not really moving or reacting much to anything.
Next was a male and female lion, younger. The male was just laying on top of the large cement
culvert inside they use for shade, watching us and the female. She was pacing back and forth along the front
of the enclosure, not really seeming to be bothered by caretaker or us, just restless,
I guess.
While I was talking and filming her, she started to roar quite
a bit, very deep and loud. Kind of cool,
and got much of it on film.
Next, we came to 3 enclosures that all contained African
Servals. The caretaker saw one go into the
shelter at the back of the enclosure and commented that she would likely not be
out again till dinner time.
The small girl in next spot, named Stella, was hiding in the grass, but
came to his call and walked a bit at the front of the enclosure, hissing a bit
when he would try to engage with her.
She is newest cat at the complex, and had been privately owned and lived
in house with other cats, so might be a bit strange being in more natural environment,
but she has adjusted pretty good in here time at the rescue.
The 3rd Serval was laying in the grass in a pen
built into the middle of his enclosure, but was well hidden, and also unlikely
to come out again.
At this point the caretaker and rest of the group I had been
walking with moved ahead since I had stayed behind to film a few of the
cats. They were not beyond ear shot, so
could not hear the conversations.
I stopped at the spot for the Canadian Lynx, but he was not
visible, and sign even said he rarely came out in the daytime hours.
I then rejoined the group in front of the next spot, which
housed a huge Bengal Tiger named Harley.
Harley was actually born in the rescue. His parents came in right around the
pandemic, and due to the restrictions, the vet was unable to get out there in
time to “fix” the animals and the female became pregnant.
While we were talking, Harley was being quite a feisty
cat. Turns out he is wilder than most of
the animals and they cannot handle him much; he is a bit of a bad kitty you
might say.
I find it interesting that a cat born in the rescue and with
human contact since birth would end up retaining more of the wild nature than
those that might have had other history, though that information was not always
available, and most had spent time with humans in some capacity.
I spent some time trying to get Harley to engage some, but
he mostly ignored me.
Next was a Siberian tiger named Lucy. She did respond when you called her name with
some chuffing, but mostly just paced the fence or wandered into the back
sections of the enclosure.
The final cat was Minocqua, who is the mother of Harley. A Bengal
tiger female. She also wandered up and
down the fence a bit, and then went back to lay in the grass near her shelter.
I went around the place twice, and the cats were getting
more sedentary, most were already laying in grass in back areas, or resting in
the shade or back inside the shelters at the back.
I stopped at the gift shop, and since I needed a clean shirt
to wear so I could do laundry later, I bought another t-shirt.
When I went up to the front to pay for it at the ticket
booth, she was actually closing it up and grabbed a bucket with some chicken in
it to feed to one of the cats. I was able
to infer from things said that the couple and child that were with her had
bought a “snack” for one of the tigers. Basically,
had paid extra to watch a feeding.
I tagged along, and I guess since I had bought the shirt, they
were okay with me watching as well.
The cat chosen was the Liger, who happily took the half chicken,
then wandered into center of enclosure and started to lick it and slowly
eat.
The caretaker finally had to tell her there was another and
show it, then the cat quickly finished eating and came up for the next
one. She grabbed it, shook it around
some and then again went to center to eat.
For some reason there were 3 chicken halves in the bucket,
so she asked the people if they were okay with giving that one to the next cat over,
the lion Megatron.
It was at this point that I headed back to the front so I
could leave. Was getting warm and humid,
very little breeze in the field, and was hungry, and needed to go eat before my
afternoon adventures.
Went back to bike, packed things up, geared up and left the
parking lot.
I rode back the way I had come till I reached a small county
highway and took it south to the small town of North Freedom.
I stopped here for lunch at a small train themed bar and
grill.
Had a good lunch, then rode a mile out of town to the west
to reach the Mid-Continent Railroad Museum.
Similar to the place I visited in Alberta, it was a large
yard with several locomotives and carriages of different types. Only here a good number were stored inside,
and many fully restored. Lots of stuff
parked outside as well.
Part of the mission of the group that runs the place is the
restoration of trains and cars, many back to the livery they carried when
operating in the Wisconsin area back in the day. (The actual car might not have been there, but
was the same model and type as cars that did).
The big draw to this place is also the operational railroad
they have. It is a short distance of
just a few miles using old tracks built for some mines in the area, all now
closed. The rail route was bought by
the organization and they have two operational locomotives, 4 passenger
carriages and a caboose that will run up and down the tracks a few times a day.
Access to the place is only $5, but you can also gain access
by buying a ride on the train instead.
Many do that, riding in the carriages while the staff give you a history
of the area. A bit extra allows you to
ride in the caboose if you want, or, you can do like I did and ride in the
locomotive with the engineer! (cost a bit more again).
I had booked my ride for the 3:00pm train, intending to
explore the site first.
However, when I arrived, it was just a few minutes before
1:00pm, and she asked if I wanted to ride that one instead. So, she rebooked me into that slot and I had
about 3 minutes to get my ticket punched and get aboard the train.
I went out to the locomotive, and they guy told me to first
see the station guy who was punching the ticket, so went over to him and then
back to the locomotive and climbed aboard.
We got going soon after, and then I was able to talk with
the engineer a bit, where he answered my questions, and provided additional
information along those same lines if I did not ask, but he figured I might
want to know.
The ride out took about 20 minutes, then we stopped,
decoupled from the cars, and using the 2nd set of tracks, moved to locomotive
to the back of the train for the return trip.
I was interesting to watch the exchange of actions between
the engineer and the trainman to move the loco past the track switches, then
the tracks were switched and train moved to the next switch and so on.
Took a good 20-25 minutes to reposition the locomotive.
While we were waiting, they also had a platform next to the
locomotive allowing those in the carriages to climb up and look inside and talk
with the engineer, spent a few minutes doing that prior to moving to the back.
Once we had the loco hooked back to the cars, and everything
was checked and validated as working, we headed back to the main station.
Once there, they again decoupled the locomotive and moved it
back to the front. Not sure if I was
supposed to stay on, but they did not say anything about me getting off and did
not seem to have a problem with me staying on for the action.
Once back at the front of the train, I did exit the
locomotive.
I then went and explored the other buildings and sites.
Most of the cars inside were nicely lit and restored,
however, you could not actually get inside any of them. A few platforms allowed you to look inside,
but only a few. Some signage for most,
but did not take time to read most of them as the history of carriages is
usually not that exciting.
I finished looking at the inside exhibits and then walked
some of the areas beside and behind the buildings.
Not sure if we were supposed to be back there, but no one
seemed to have an issue with it and several people did see me walking among the
older, unrestored cars.
I did not enter the restoration building where they restore
the carriages though. All the doors were
open and guys were working, and I did see a sign that looks like they do invite
the public inside, but that sign was also not displayed, was tucked inside a
doorway along the wall, so thinking it was not accessible today.
I then walked over by the main station and looked at the outside
trains there and a few small buildings.
Then we used the restroom, visited the gift shop just to see what they
had, then went back to the bike to prepare to leave.
Like the first time, I had left jacket in pannier and helmet
on the bike.
Not a very busy place, though more people than at the cat
place, but was fairly sure no one would bother the bike.
Once geared up, we headed back into town, then back up to
the highway.
We then returned into the main town.
I wanted to stop and get something to drink, so pulled into
the Aldi store that is 3 buildings down from the hotel.
Major disappointment.
Very little in the way of beverages.
Nearly everything was large packages, few things sold individually, and
none of it cold.
I did buy a gallon of water as I needed to refill my pack
and bottle, but would have to find drinks elsewhere.
I rode across the street and though about checking the Walgreens,
but decided to just visit the convenience store instead. Might cost more, but should have good selection
of individual items and they would be cold already.
Bought two Cokes and two cans of tea for tonight and
possibly take them to next hotel if I do not use them.
Rode back over to the hotel, unloaded everything and secured
and covered the bike.
I then worked on some video for the cat rescue I had taken
today while also doing my laundry.
They only charge $2 a wash and $2 a dry here, but only have 1
washer and 1 dryer. Thankfully no one
else was using them since it was only about 4:00pm.
Sadly, they were out of laundry soap in the dispenser they
sell from. I just did the washing
without soap, still cleans much of the dirt and odor.
After clothes were done, I had just completed the cat rescue
video, so decided to walk back over to the same restaurant again tonight for
dinner.
Had a pizza and some fried mushrooms tonight, but pizza was
too big (and that was the small). Ate
way too much and feeling it now.
Walked back to the room and worked on a few things, then
typed up this blog entry.
Will get it online and upload the video as well
tonight.
Then I need to plan for tomorrow. Have a few options. Can go see some other sites in places no more
than an hour away, though need to think about the place since the bike will be
fully loaded again, cannot leave all that gear unattended in a busy location.
I could find another hotel a bit farther south to stop at
after that as well.
Or I could forget all the stuff and just make my way toward
Chicago. That is a 4-hour ride, so can
also do maybe 1 thing and still head that way.
I need to decide, and also book a room yet depending on
where I decide to go.
I do need to reach Chicago by Sunday as I need to start the
Route 66 leg so I can complete it in time to reach AZ by the beginning of
September.
Will let you know what I decide tomorrow!
Catch ya down the road.
Todays Route
