Since I still had around a week of vacation to use up before the end of the year, I decided to take an extended weekend with hopes of riding while the weather was warm, but not able to do a weekend trip this time due to a wedding on Saturday. So, I sent a message to my retired friends to see if they might be interested in Friday or Monday, and I had one taker for Friday, Denise. Yippee, as I haven’t ridden with her yet this year because she’s gone most weekends doing the car show thing. She also suggested going to Door County, which I really was intrigued by because I have been thinking about getting there this year, but knew we probably wouldn’t have enough time to take in a whole loop around the peninsula. So, my thought was just getting to Cave Point Park near Jascksonport with a stop for lunch after that and then heading back. Good thing I was re-acclimating myself to the roads around there on iMaps or I never would have known a chunk of Hwy 57 was closed.
After watching the weather forecast because of chances of rain and messaging back and forth, we finally decided to meet in Greenbush around 10 a.m.
From there we went north around Elkhart to the west then taking Cty J to MM, and then to Lakeshore. Since I knew we’d be fighting daylight, I did not opt for taking any of the scenic roads tight along Lake Michigan to get there, except Lakeshore into Manitowoc. Then it was pretty much Hwy 42 all the way except taking O north out of Trivers and S north out of Algoma to get to Hwy 57/42 into Sturgeon Bay. From there we took Cty T east towards the lake and then Glidden Road which is extremely curvy and pretty close to the lake, with lots of nice houses. Then we eventually made it to Clark Lake Road to N Cave Point Drive into the Park.
We walked around there and enjoyed the beautiful views and sounds of the water crashing into the rocky shoreline before making our way into Jacksonport to find a place to eat. Just before we got onto Hwy 57 I wasn’t even sure it was 57 and which way to turn, so I checked my maps to verify it was a right turn and as I started pulling out, I noticed a truck and car were coming over the blind hill to the left and knew I wouldn’t make it without getting clobbered, so I had to make a quick pull over. And, luckily Denise was paying good attention, as not to pull out with me or she would probably have taken me out. Whew!
We ended up pulling into the first of two options, Mike’s Pub. There were only three other ladies in there at the bar and it was around 2ish. We both ordered brats of one kind or another, which were pretty good.
Then it was time to venture back as it was now around 3 p.m. I knew we could take Hwy 57 south for a ways before having to take the detour which I think was on Cty P west to get to Hwy 42. From there we stayed on 42 until south of Sturgeon Bay where I opted to take S south back to Algoma because it is more of a straight shot, and then back onto 42 into Trivers, where we stopped one last time for gas, something to drink and the restroom. I told Denise that although we would be heading into Grove, that I would stick with her back to Glenbeulah.
Shortly after Manitowoc I decided to deviate from Lakeshore and started heading west on Cty X, to Hwy 42 south, then MM west, to M south and then A into Elkhart Lake. As we were heading into Elkhart, I noticed Denise wasn’t in my rear view anymore and that she had crept up on me to let me know she knew the rest of the way home. So I dropped south just before 67 as shortcut to get to it and after I got onto it, there was Denise behind me again. Hah! I wasn’t certain if she would go that way or not as I was thinking of taking J to JP and A to Glenbeulah, but there she was! So, I waved her off when I turned onto Garton to head back to Grove.
This was a bit of a long day for me and the most miles I put on in quite a while: 256. I didn’t use my tracker but PhotoShopped the route below. It truly was a glorious day and I was so thrilled to have shared it with Denise, especially since she hadn’t ever been to Cave Point Park before.
