A Free Shower or an Expensive One?

The Ice Age Trail Guidebook instructed me to start the City of Lodi segment by heading to Prospect Ave and Strangeway Avenue.  I looked for the blazes in the playlot and found those, but couldn't figure out where they led in to the woods.  Turns out the segment goes through the woods on the OTHER side of the road, something not made clear in the guidebook so I kept looking in the woods behind the playlot.  At the top of the road is the local golf course, and at the turnaround point I spotted a yellow blaze through the trees.

see the blaze?

I didn't see it until the second time I drove by, even in this closer up pic it's hard to see, the blue blaze was easy to see and that's why I was looking there for the trail at all.

No matter, I left the car in the turnaround and headed in to the woods.  A new wildflower awaited me, though I don't know what it's called so some help is appreciated!

who are you, my little yellow friend?

This section of the segment is an out and back that leaves the woods and emerges on a grassy hill behind the middle school and high school.  It has advanced quickly from early spring to early summer wildflowers here and a batch of Spiderwort was blooming, adding interest to all that lush green.

Spiderwort

The path was well mown and it eventually led to a fenceline where pink Dame's Rocket attracted a black swallowtail butterfly.

Just past the butterfly I spotted a side trail going in to the woods and couldn't resist a look.  It was a nice loop that meandered up and down for about a mile, bringing my out and back up to about 2 miles total.  Something to remember....

At the end of the section is a wooden bridge built from black locust trees behind the high school. I set up a shot and then started making my way back to my car.

I was soon exhausted for while the hike was short and relatively easy the temperatures were in the 80's and the air was saturated.  Back at the car I was alarmed to discover that my car key that I had tucked in to my lens case around my waist was missing.  Luckily I had my regular set in the car, a happy accident since I don't normally bring them but had thrown them in my purse out of habit.  The golf course clubhouse was right there and a quick phone call to the local dealership had someone coming to my rescue a mere five minutes later.

It turned out he didn't really know what he was doing.  He couldn't get the rod in the gap because he was supposed to tuck in an inflatable bag to get it up a little more.  Another call and his son showed up and demonstrated the proper technique.  Because "dad" didn't really know what he was doing I've got scratches all up and down the metal there, sonny didn't leave a mark.  My little hike ended up costing me $52.75 for their service.

After settling up I decided I had cooled down enough to try and find the key on the trail.  I headed back out...and of course the humidity finally broke when a downpour began.

Well, wet is wet and I kept on, scouring the grassy area, and then going in to the side trail too.  It was quickly flooding, rolling down the hills, puddles everywhere.  I had to swing my feet through each puddle to make sure my key wasn't hiding underwater, and swing my hiking stick through the undergrowth along the trail to make sure it wasn't hiding there.

Two more miles later, still no key, and I looked hard!  An easy out and back of 1 mile turned in to 4 miles and I can't decide whether the shower I ended up getting was free or really expensive!  My hat got really clean too, and at least I didn't lose this one.  I'm starting to get a little worried about all the stuff I'm losing every time I hike though...