I had planned on doing a fall ride last Saturday to go through the Kettles with some of my pals from Fondy, only to realize the bingo for bow wow’s I signed up for with my friend Suzie was during the day and so I had to scrap the ride. However, this weekend was supposed to be even better weather-wise and near perfect: sunny, in the 70s and a lot of our area is close to prime for fall foliage. So, I planned a ride and posted it to the FB group to meet in Fondy, lunch at the Field House near Lomira, then head for some roads around Holy Hill (HH) and back north through the Kettle Moraine. Given the fact all of the conditions were so good for today and being a weekend, I was not going to plan going into HH with all of the stop-n-go traffic and congestion, including I was told the observation steeple was closed. Even on a weekday this time of year on a gorgeous day it is insane in there and the roads close by.
I only knew of two other bikes for sure, Brad, Brian & Ali. I left Grove around 9:30 and was sure glad I decided to wear my balaclava since it was only in the low 50s. I arrived 15 minutes early at the Walgreens on South Main and decided to call Kevin, and apparently he was going to join us and was just heading out. I ran into Walgreens for the restroom and some anti-shine nose powder. Haha! When I got back to my bike, Kevin was there and the rest arrived within minutes. The only one I wasn’t sure of was Keith, but we waited until 10:40 and he knew where we were heading for lunch.
We were the first patrons to show up at the Field House (former Rock The House) and realized I was going to miss yet again, another Badgers game, but hey… I’d miss the Packers too when its this nice out! The food was pretty good and we headed out from there on Hwy 175 south to Hwy 164 south. After crossing Hwy 167, which was a steady stream of traffic heading towards Holy Hill, we took Hubertus Road west to Hogsback, St. Augustine, Emerald and to Shamrock where we stopped for our first photos of Holy Hill and I was so glad I had my really good camera for the zoom!
From there we took Cty K south to O’Connel which connects to Dublin Road, where I made my most favorite stop for photo of Holy Hill at Hwy 167, and luckily for me, the farmer had already harvested his corn in the field there, as I have to get into the field a bit to enable capturing HH from there.
From there we took Hwy 83 north to Drumlin Road and eventually connected on Cty K north into Hartford where we crossed Hwy 60 to Hillcrest Rd east into Slinger, and then Hwy 144 north crossing Hwy 33 on Glacier, and from there pretty much followed the green Scenic Drive signs, until Brian mentioned he was thirsty and needed gas. Funny because Kevin and I were just discussing how thirsty we were too and I had actually stopped at that point to put on some chapstick. The next intersection was Hwy 28 and we headed west into Kewaskum for bike and human re-fuel.
After chatting a bit there and everyone deciding where they wanted to break off. None of them wanted to follow the scenic route through the Kettles as far as I thought they would (Greenbush). From there we took Hwy 28 back to the scenic route and I ended up taking a really cool road by mistake just outside of New Fane, which eventually got us to Hwy 67 where I headed north and they headed west. Since I was on my own now I took Scout Camp Road off of Hwy 67/Cty G on the north end of Long Lake just to check it out as I have wondered where it went and found a large area of Tamarack trees which turn yellow in the fall. So, I stopped to take photos only to be greeted by 100s of red-winged black birds and it was pretty loud in there!
Then I took my usual, Cty G north to Cty T east and then decided to get onto Hwy 23 to take Cty S north into the south side of Glenbeulah where I also decided to stop at the Mill Pond, only to find lots of people there and as I was by the pond taking photos, someone’s drone flew right in front of me just hovering in front of me. I did not care for that at all and proceeded back to my bike, only to find the dude with the drone controls by his truck near my bike… Jerk-wad!
From there I took Cty C into Elkhart and then continued around Cedar Lake to Cty J with a few more stops for photos and eventually onto Cty E north to Garton Road east with a fuel stop when I got back to Grove.
We seen a lot of turkeys today, including having to stop for them as well around Holy Hill and also a couple of deer crossing the road in front of us, near Holy Hill too.
It was a spectacular day and the fall foliage was breathtaking! Based on Kevin’s map and my odometer, I put in around 170 miles today.
