Knowing it was going to be in the 80s again with a bit higher dew point, I planned to head towards Lake Michigan for today’s ride and posted it to the riding group FB page. The dew points were even higher yesterday, so I opted for a pool day then even though I had hoped to ride both days over the weekend; this day was certainly more preferable.
I only had one taker from the group, Brad; and I told him to meet me at my place around 10. While he and I were getting ready to head out another bike started to pull up, and low and behold, here it was Kevin. I was super surprised as he had been on a motorcycle adventure into Canada and the northeastern United States for over the past week and wasn’t supposed to be back until later in the day. I was actually also surprised he’d even want to ride some more right after getting back, but then again, not too terribly surprised.
We headed east through St. Peter and Mt. Calvary and around the west and north side of Elkhart Lake taking some back roads, Lime Kiln Road, which I have never been on before and then eventually hooking up on Lakeshore Drive in front of Whistling Straights. By the time we crossed Hwy 32 we could feel a significant dip in temperatures, and by the time we got to Lakeshore it was incredibly noticeable and also very breezy. There were times I had goose bumps, but yet, it still felt refreshing!
I had intended to stop in Cleveland at Hika Bay, my favorite spot to skip rocks because it has really nice flat ones there; perfect for doing just that. However, when we arrived the parking lot was packed with some type of ceremony or Latin service. So, we just stopped to use the bathrooms and back onto Lakeshore to Manitowoc.
I planned for us to stop for lunch at The Wharf along the river by the lake and it wasn’t busy at all when we got there just before noon. Also, when we arrived the SS Badger ferry was backing into dock and while we were waiting for our food we noticed the Hwy 42 bridge downtown go up for a ship heading out to the lake. It looked like some type of dredging ship. By the time we left The Wharf, it was starting to get packed. Good timing!
Since it was significantly cooler along the lake, I almost decided to forego taking Hwy 42 to Two Rivers, but the guys agreed we should and we did. From there I started to make our descent, heehee, back towards home and ended up into the west side of Manitowoc again. Then eventually onto Cty JJ & J for a while with a couple of odd back roads before connecting with Hwy 151.
Since Kevin was getting pretty tired and with the temps getting much warmer rather quickly after heading away from the lake, the only stop we made was for me to gas up in Chilton. Not even a stop for ice-cream.
It was still a long enough and nice enough ride for the day!
