Home Again, Our Wisconsin Bike Journey is Complete

"When you ride a bike and you get your heart rate up and you’re out, after 30 or 40 minutes your mind tends to expand; it tends to relax.” — [former] US President George W. Bush

Wisconsin bike trip summary

Miles ridden: 477.2

Elevation gain: 9,668

# of States: 1

# of flat tires: 0

# of times the chain fell off: 0 (but mine jumped slots several times)

# of bicycle light malfunctions: 0

# of diabetes monitoring device malfunctions: 0

# of dogs that came running after us: 2

# of people asking us about the tandem, taking our picture, yelling out positive comments: hundreds

We are relaxing now in Ohio, but Wisconsin truly is a wonderful state also. So much to love about the land and the people there. The views of Lake Michigan were amazing and the water was filled with beautifully blending shades of blue. The Wisconsin drivers were extra kind giving us plenty of space when passing. We were thrilled to experience Door County & Lambeau Field and we understand why Wisconsin loves the Packers. We loved our times spent with all of the people on our journey, especially appreciating the kindness of Clyde & Carol Verhoff with their assistance from start to end. I think even our bike felt at home in their garage (see below).

Our tandem dwarfed by the Verhoff's "bikes"

The Verhoff's have their own fleet of bikes - 5 motorcycles (2 from China) and several bicycles as well. 

A Super Saturday with the Verhoffs & Baumgartners

Joan's View

Chester eyeing Tony's breakfast wrap

We got to sleep in even though Carol & Clyde were up early. We could smell the bacon cooking. We were treated to another wonderful breakfast, Carol's tons of fresh fruit and Clyde's special wrap.

Borrowed bling for the farmer's market

Our return from the market

The Verhoff's frequent their nearby farmer's market so we got to go along this Saturday. I asked to borrow another one of Carol's cool hats from her collection. You can see I got to wear the one with bling today. 😁Lots of fresh fruit & veggies at the market although Carol's favorite kombucha vendor was absent today. We bought the very last fresh floral bouquet for the Verhoff's to make their home a little brighter during their upcoming stretch of home reconstruction. Chester, their dog, went along, and we walked back with their 92 year old neighbor, Clarice.

Tony had been working on the Verhoff's to only cut the one big dead limb from their pretty white birch tree in front of their house, so he convinced Clyde into going out for rope to cut it down themselves. Carol & I hung around in case we had to call 911. We also took pictures while the neighbors found their prime viewing seats. Tony held the rope while Clyde made the cuts. The rest is history for that huge section of the birch. You can hear the neighbors cheering in the video after the big crash. Clean up went fast as well. all because Carol & I hung around. We then found seats and took a little time to chill in their driveway.

The view of the Basilica 

from Clyde's parking spot

Our next adventure was mass at the Basilica of St. Josaphat in downtown Milwaukee where the Baumgartners met us. Clyde chose an extremely distant parking spot in the parking lot as a kindness to the little old ladies there. We definitely gave him a hard time about his spacious parking (this will pay off for him later) . Mass was the Verhoff's & Baumgartners first time meeting even though, by some great miracle, they are going to be neighbors in a month only three houses apart. We spent some time after mass in the back of the Basilica just all getting to know each other.

From there, we proceeded to Onesto, an Italian restaurant, which was a first for the Verhoff's eating there as well. Clyde got crazy lucky with a super close parking spot because someone pulled out just as he drove up. The Baumgartner's, unfortunately, had to drive around a while and park city blocks away. Carol claims that this is all part of Clyde's strategy for parking in the city (another laugh) because if he parks far away at church, he gets close spots in the city later. Dinner was lots of laughs and talking. 

We then proceeded across the street to Journeyman for some nightcaps at their trendy rooftop bar. Another first for the Verhoff's too, but especially cool for Carol since all of her brothers are journeymen. We got so lucky to get a comfy corner sofa with a firepit. Perfect weather for the rooftop. We did notice though that we may have been the oldest ones there.

Rooftop with the Baumgartners & Verhoffs

After some more talking by the group near Clyde's premium parking spot, we headed home, albeit a little late to get a blog written that night. Thus, the later blog update happened when we got home.

Just funny

HOLY HILL! WE MADE IT, OUR RIDE IS DONE

Holy Hill! We made it!

Joan's View

Where is the real entrance to Holy Hill?

Holy Hill - what an great ending to our ride and our day! We made it after 56 miles of major climb to Holy Hill, a beautiful Catholic shrine dedicated to Mary on a high spot outside of Milwaukee. Thank you Jeanne Fuller for the suggestion. OK, although we weren't really thanking you while huffing and puffing up the pitted hills, but it was super worth it. Clyde was even waiting for us at Holy Hill and he had CHERRIES!. We accidentally took a wrong turn on Holy Hill Dr and had to put in a few more hills before we found the real entrance, and Clyde.

Downtown Milwaukee in the background 

Steeple view from another steeple

Clyde and Carol had been there before so Clyde gave us some direction on where to go. We spent some time in the chapels to say our thanks to God. Clyde took us up lots of steps to get to the steeple where we did more steps. Thanks Clyde for all of the steps after the hills that we just climbed. 😕Again, it was all worth it though. He said we could see more today than the last time they were there.

Thanks Clyde for the 178 steps

Carol stayed back at their place to work on what turned out to be another awesome meal. Thank you Carol for sharing your culinary talents with us.

Tony & Clyde looking down from above

Now, I'll back track a little. We left Sheboygan this morning riding a large portion of the way on the same route that we took to get there last week. A big portion of the ride was on the smooth bike trail. We remembered lots of sights that we talked about on the way there, like the freshly painted barns, the perennial garden that I loved, and the bridge in Cedarberg. We made our usual potty breaks (one was in what seemed like a secret garden) and stopped in Cedarberg for lunch followed by ice cream for Tony.

The chairs were even ice cream cones

We had to keep texting the Verhoff's because our ETA kept getting moved back. We made a few more stops, but also we were riding into the wind and up some muscle defining hills. We also rode on some roads where the shoulder was non-existent, and on a curve that can be scary.

Clyde showing off his torpedo throw

We enjoyed a gourmet meal outside on the Verhoff's patio followed by a game of bean bag - Verhoff rules. Carol & I let the guys win.

Tony's View

All I could say was HOLY hill and HOLY wind. They both made me exhausted. I know how it got its name. The original people were going up there saying holy hill while breathing heavily. Clyde said he was surprised when we came up the hill. He thought for sure we would be pushing the bike, not riding it up the hill. It was a great way to end our bicycle trip with the last being the hardest of the week. I already have the hotels and plane tickets set up for the next one. We will be going from New Orleans to The Villages FL next February 2019. I will start working at our Europe tour down the Danube River for September 2019. One thing we talked about this trip was the opportunities to cut weight and increase conveniences for those next bicycle trips.

BACK TRACKING BUT SEEING IT DIFFERENTLY

Tony's View 

We started out later today, knowing that we only had 40 miles to get to the next stop. We pulled out of the hotel/campground parking lot onto our favorite bicycle trail. This trail runs right along Lake Michigan and shows off the many colors of blue Lake Michigan shimmers. We followed many of the same roads that we did on the way up north. It is still amazing to us that we saw different things than what we saw last week. The picture to the left was a place we stopped to take a break and talked to many people parking here and walking to the lake.

The picture to the right is another place we stopped for a break which was about noon. Many employees were leaving for lunch. This is the location where Kohler makes their generators. The signs says "he who toils here hath set his mark". There were too many cars going by for me to leave my mark. My mark would of been similar to what dogs do. 😆
We went on from here and got into Sheboygan.  I made sure the route was detoured this time so we could go to DeLand Park. You see our good friends and neighbors across the street are the DeLands.
I have to say those nice things about Bud and Theresa Deland because they take care of our house when we are gone and they let us visit them in Florida in the winter. It was a cool park and it's claimed to be the best beach in Wisconsin.

 We took our picture by two of the bigger Deland Park signs. Notice the potential rip current. We had the guy taking our picture to take it at the right time.




In the picture to the right, I was looking over DeLand Park beach while standing by our bicycle. Joan decided to take a walk to the beach to check it out. She took off her cycling shoes and socks, and walked out there. The picture below shows her walking out to the beach. Once she gets back, she used my towel to clean off her feet. Yes, my towel.

To the left is the remains of a three masted schooner named The Lottie Cooper, a recovered wood ship. It was wrecked on April 9, 1894 and 6 men died. There was several plaques explaining the entire situation. After we left there, we went to a restaurant that was farm fresh healthy food. A lot of cool food, but I walked out still hungry and it was expensive. From there we went to the hotel. The hotel has a fancy pool with slides, a hot tub and several other things. We got to witness a 7 month old boy get to go swimming with his Mom and Grandma. They were so excited that they called in the Great Grandma and Grandpa. Tomorrow we are going to Holy Hill which will be a 55 mile ride. We adjusted our route to Holy Hill National Shrine of Mary, Help of Christians. Clyde and Carol are going to pick us up there with our truck.

Joan's Side Note

Smiles at DeLand park:

Lunch & keeping an eye on our transport

1. There was a chance of rain today, but we had all clear skies.  I kept my jacket on because it the high was only in the low 70s. After checking out DeLand beach, I walked up to use the foot wash and pressed the button. Oops, the shower hosed me... wrong button. Good thing I was prepared for rain.

2. While Tony was waiting for me on DeLand beach, some young guy asked him if he was playing Pokemon Go.

LOTS OF AMERICA'S DAIRYLAND, SHORT ON WATER

Joan's View

This morning we ate breakfast at the hotel amongst shareholders of the Green Bay Packers. They are flooding in for their big shareholders meeting today that culminates at Lambeau Field. Go Pack Go!

It's a straight shot

They asked to be on the blog

Back on the tandem, we experienced up close why Wisconsin is America's Dairyland. We rode the first 10 miles leaving beloved Green Bay on a bike path (that turned to gravel). Tony ran over a snake on the path. Then back on the roads, we smelled America's Dairyland for miles and miles and miles. In addition to that smell, was 35 miles of scenic farms, wetlands and animals. We stopped along the road under a tree only a few times. The last stop Tony attracted lots of adoring bugs with his sweet sweat so we were back on the road quickly. It was pretty warm today and with so much of our trip on country roads, we were running low on water. Tony had gone through his 3 bottles and I had about 1/4 left in mine. We were on the look out for water. We noticed a water bin that some cows were using, but decided to pedal on. Luckily, we came upon the small town of Francis Creek. Our route really had us turn before Francis Creek, but we went in and found... water! We ate at a new diner there that was formerly a bank, and the kind server refilled all of our water bottles.

Tony swatting while snacking

Feeling refreshed, we rode the remainder of our 54 miles easily. We saw Lake Michigan again in Manitowoc and picked up the beautiful bike trail along the water to our hotel.

After a cooling dip in the hotel pool followed by showers, we checked out the attached campground and played a round of putt putt. Yes, Tony won, but I got a hole in one and won a free game. 😁

Dinner is delivery because rain is moving in for the evening.

Tony's Extra

As you can see from the picture to the right, we saw this great roundabout that Craig was driving his family nuts about yesterday. Each leg took you to a different city. Joan thought the landscape in the middle was well done. I still think they are overrated by traffic engineers. We went through another one late in the day and I asked Joan if she wanted to get a picture, and she said no. I think she was thinking like Ryan and was tired of them. It was a good ride today and the sad news is that we only have 2 days of riding left on this trip. We are sitting out on a picnic table overlooking the calm Lake Michigan waters. It is very peaceful out here. I am starving and waiting patiently for our food to show up. By the way, I crushed Joan in putt putt. It wasn't even close. Had to say that, so our kids can celebrate too.

MARY APPARITION SITE TO TITLETOWN

 Tony's View

 I woke up early this morning to catch the sunrise. Google said sunrise was at 5:30am, so I set my alarm at 5:20am. I woke up at 4:45am and it was light outside already. I thought I had already missed it. I decided to go down to Lake Michigan out our back door and see if it was still coming. I got this picture about 5:35am. I guess  Google was right this time. It was beautiful. We went to breakfast at 8:00am and owners of the bed and breakfast fed us blueberry stuffed french toast and sausage. It was good but didn't sit well when I started cycling. We ran into some hills today, which gave me an opportunity to work off the breakfast.

We headed straight to The Shrine of Our Lady of Good Hope. It is a Catholic approved Apparition site of the Virgin Mary to Sr. Adele Joseph Brise. It was about halfway to Green Bay or Titletown as it's called in Wisconsin. We got to the Shrine just in time to say the rosary in the chapel with the parishioners and then got to participate in Mass.

At the Shrine the flowers were provided by Schroeder's Flowers. How awesome is that? The picture to the right is the Shrine of the Apparition in 1859. It is a real interesting story and was approved by the Catholic Church in 2009.
It was a beautiful place to pray and reflect.

 The next stop was in Green Bay. Just down the road from our hotel, we ran into this big Nut that we had to get our picture with. I was going to get into the middle of the nut, since I am the biggest nut. When we were approaching it, a nice older gentleman worker in the company was coming out of the shop. I thought he was going to say we couldn't do it. He came out and said I can take a picture of the two of you. People are so friendly. We headed to our hotel which is next door to Lambeau field. We had a tour of Lambeau field already scheduled. What a break. We got to tour Lambeau field with Ryan, Penny and Craig Eley. Even though, Craig would ruin every picture.😂They had a big Lombardi Trophy in the stadium that we got our picture by. The tour was great and we got to see alot and hear many stories. The tour was 1 hour and 1/2 long. I included many pictures.

 Going though the tunnel was an awesome experience. It brought goose bumps. They even turned on the same music and introduction that the Packers players hear when they enter the field. One of the tours was lead by Antonio Freeman. How cool is that? They were really proud of their team. They have had sellouts since 1960. They have 140,000 people on the waiting list for season tickets. Actually, they have their shareholders meeting in the stadium tomorrow. They have 364,000 owners. The city of Green Bay population is only 102,000.

I almost got a cheesehead, but decided against it. Ryan decided to get one and he looked much better in it than me.

We got to go down to their new field and check it out as long as we didn't touch the new grass. We get down there and what Craig does? He reached down and touched the grass. He got chewed out too. Traffic Engineers have a tough time following the rules. 

We went to Titletown Brewery after the tour with the Eley's and had a great time. It was nice to travel by their luxury truck. Craig and I had to get a picture before entering the brewery. We really had a great time with Ryan, Penny and Craig tonight. But I have to say, one of the funniest parts of today was listening to Ryan rant about Craig getting super excited about all the roundabouts they went through. Penny was even telling us about what makes one better than the other. Ryan was too funny talking about Craig and the roundabouts. Craig had to admit how cool it was. They even had the number of how many they went through this morning. 

Traffic could be interesting tomorrow with all the shareholders of the Packers coming into town tomorrow.

Joan's Extra

I am impressed at how much Tony wrote considering we got in later tonight and he is usually in bed by 8:00. One more thing to share: As we rode closer to Green Bay, we needed to cross a 4 lane highway, but the sign just across the highway, the sign read, "Road Closed Bridge Out." We crossed the road and Tony seriously considered crossing the construction, but since it was a bridge out, we did not go thru this time! We had to ride on the highway for a stretch instead until we found another side road. 

It's much clearer why Packers fans are such loyal fans. Heck, if I lived in Wisconsin, I'd be a cheesehead too! 

It was the warmest day for us so far in Wisconsin.☀☀☀

Cheerful People & Cherries to Top off the Day

Joan's View

Yum Yum

We are loving the journey and today was another great day. We rode 56 miles today so we made several stops. The first stop was in Egg Harbor at the Chocolate Chicken for some coffee. We laughed and talked with Nancy & Sarah, sisters who were vacationing there and sitting outside the cafe. They told us how their extended family of 77 people met there to do fun activities and reconnect. They meet every 4 years at different places in the country. It sounds like a great idea for the Schroeder family in the future.

Nancy & Sarah outside the Chocolate Chicken

Panoramic marina break

The Hitchhiker

We continued on where I picked up a hitchhiker on my fairing, and it rode for about 6 miles with us. Our next stop worked out great because I was in need of a potty break and we came upon a fishing marina with a restroom. We sat in the picnic shelter and devoured some more cherries. We watched a little girl get super excited about catching a pretty good size fish. We know Bud Deland would love it here.

Tony took us on a little different route back to Sturgeon Bay, but we still got to check out the unique houses along the water. In Sturgeon Bay, we saw a huge ship building yard and since the drawbridge was up, we took another break at a park where a musician was playing. It's so nice that the drawbridges here are concrete instead of the grates that can get bike tires stuck in them.

Continuing on, we made another pit stop... wait for it... for CHERRIES! This time it was a U-pick at the Robertson farm. We love U-picks because of the tradition our family has from our RVing days. We've picked cherries (& peaches) in many states. We picked cherries with the Winslows & Fairbanks in the Finger Lakes. We've picked in Michigan many times and have made it a destination because of that fact. We've even picked in Seattle among the list of places. Tony found after talking to a guy at breakfast  this morning that the cherries here are 2 weeks later than usual because of the snow they received in April. How fortunate for us!

Back on the road as we got closer to Algoma, we started to recognize buildings and landmarks, like Bear Creek, because we had been on the same road a few days earlier. We stopped for lunch at this great Cafe and sat outside to keep an eye on our bike. We had a few more conversations there with people asking about our bike and a guy with his rescue dog came to lick us (the dog, that is😛).

One more stop at Piggly Wiggly for some food to take to our bed and breakfast, and just a few miles further, and we are at our bed and breakfast.

We have a door to a patio that overlooks the water of Lake Michigan. It's so peaceful & relaxing!

One more thing - Mondays are are my day with my Grandsons, Luke & Todd. We found a great Mr Todd sign today so I thought it appropriate to also add a picture of Luke & Todd.

My Monday fun

 Tony's View
We had some great routes today. To the right is one of the many neat routes we were on. No whoops today, yea! When we were at the Chocolate Chicken, I ran into some people looking at our bicycle. I went over to talk to them only to find out that they were from Cincinnati. They actually were staying at the same hotel as we did in Two Rivers, The Lighthouse Inn. They were into bicycles and we talked for quite a while. The little girl was just like my daughter Marla. She tolerated all the bicycle talk but you could tell she was patiently putting up with us. In the picture with them, he was typing in our blog address and so I have to make sure I am nice.

When we were talking to Nancy and Sarah, Sarah told us she has never been in a blog before. She can't say that anymore. Funny thing is when we were on the bay side, the street we were on was Bayview and on lake side it was Lakeview. Pretty creative. The beer I got from the local place was brewed in Algoma, where we are staying. As you can see from the picture, it is fermented in small batches. The story on the bottle is interesting. The brewery started in 1868 and went out in 1886 during the civil war, then restarted the company again in 2013.

Looking forward to stopping at The National Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help on our way to Green Bay. We are meeting up with Ryan, Penny and Craig Eley tomorrow.