Since it is June, that means Dairy Month in Wisconsin and Breakfast on the Farms throughout the state. I chose for Kevin and I to go to one in Manitowoc County today and Manitowoc County ones are usually the best! This one was outside of Valders in the Township of Newton and on Newton Road.
I called Kevin around 8:30 from my storage unit and we were supposed to meet at the Mill Pond in Glenbeulah, but since I knew I would have to use the restroom right away, we decided to meet at the gas station there instead.
I intentionally avoided going right past RA since the Indy races are this weekend and scooched across 67 and around the south side of Quic Qui Oc Golf Course and around Crystal Lake. Good timing as there were loose gravel signs and centerline flaps on those roads, but they must be doing them tomorrow because there wasn’t any gravel. Ah, yes, that time of year for good ole Wisconsin road resurfacing with tar and gravel. Yuck!
I arrived around 15 minutes before Kevin and purchased some Kleenex after using the restroom because I’ve acquired allergies since December and my eyes will not stop watering. Not even with taking an allergy pill and eye drops. Well, at least not if there is a breeze and today was pretty breezy. Even in the helmet!
We took the route I had sent Kevin the night before to get there, only to find out that we had to turn around and get bussed in from the Dairyland Center along Hwy 43; due to how wet their fields were and probably most recently from the two bands of rain/storms that came through our area last night. It was so packed with no place to park in the lot, that I convinced Kevin to find some place else to eat since it would really cut out a lot of riding time. They were also pulling old school busses, minus their engines, with farm tractors. He agreed and we headed across Hwy 43 to the gas station for me to use their restroom and low and behold, they were also using the lumber yard business over there for bussing people with a huge line. Ugh! Good decision on our part to pass on it since the morning was also the nicest part of today. He found a diner, Late’s Cafe, on the south side of Manitowoc close to Lake Michigan, and it wasn’t even really cooler by the Lake because the winds were coming out of the northwest. Breakfast there was super good!
From there we wondered over to a park along the Lake nearby and then headed north towards Two Rivers with a stop along the Lake by the USS Badger dock and north of Manitowoc. The Badger wasn’t at dock, but I noticed a larger ship off in the distance on the Lake and the more we drove, we noticed it was the Badger coming back to port. Kind of an odd time of day for that, around 10:30-11ish.
From there we headed even further north out of Two Rivers and then finally west on Cty V, and a whole bunch of back roads to get us back to our intended route from the farm on Newton Rd. It was around 12:20 when we passed it and it only ran until noon; however, there were still a considerable amount of people there and we got behind the ambulance leaving.
We had thoughts of stopping some place for ice cream, but my route didn’t take us through any towns and I was really getting stiff near the end of the route I sent Kevin, and wanted to stop for a stretch. I tried to at a couple of stop signs, but a Harley rider kept creeping up on us. We could have waived him past, but the winds were also starting to get pretty strong and with more clouds. So, I opted to head home from there. Just a little ways northeast of Wolf Lake.
I eventually ended up onto Cty J and took it through Elkhart Lake and back onto Garton Road to get to Grove and my storage unit.
I am sure glad we left as early as we did, since the morning really was the nicest part of the day and besides being a bit stiff, my eyes were really bothering me. Funny, on my way home on Garton Road they hardly watered at all because the wind was finally at my back.
I didn’t track any of my solo route, but I know based on my speed-o, I rode for roughly 150 miles. Red below is our trip together. Not bad for only around half a day of riding!
