Lucky for me Kevin said he was available to ride both days this weekend. For today I planned what I thought was a smaller route, so Kevin added a little more to it, to pick up a tag from his riding group, after our planned stop for lunch in Neosho.
Fall is really starting to set in here with Maples already turning redish/orange and other signs. Such as the sun really dropping with taller shadows, etc.
We met at former Baker’s Cheese around 10ish and headed south through Dundee and the Northern Kettles and then taking all kinds of country and some alphabet roads before connecting on 67 south of Iron Ridge and into Neosho where we stopped for lunch at On the Rocks. Which is ironic since it isn’t even close to any water because the damn there failed several years ago, but the food was really good!
After grabbing the tag from Kevin’s group we eventually got back on track with a lot of back roads zig-zagging northeast and then eventually into West Bend and Kewaskum with a planned stop for cream at a new place, Fizzy Pop’s which is right next to the 911 Memorial in Kewaskum. So, that was a prime spot to sit outside and enjoy our Cedar Crest. Still tugs at my heart-strings and I had to touch the section of I-beam from the 2nd Tower on display.
Oh and we also took Wallace Lake Road into Bend, and when we went past Alan’s, he was outside loading up his vehicle. So we beeped as we passed, but he looked a bit perplexed as if he didn’t know who it was. And another oh, shortly after that a Bald Eagle flew right above us, and very low. Kevin was a bit too far ahead to witness it, but it was spectacular!
From Kewaskum we took 45 north and I broke off from Kevin on Cty W and then Cty B. Shortly after I got onto Cty B, I felt something ping my neck and within a little while felt a burning/stinging sensation on my chest. I kept trying to get whatever it was out of my shirt and/or jacket to no avail, as it kept moving around and stinging me some more. After I made it through the stretch of the Kettles between 67 and Greenbush, I stopped to get off the bike in Greenbush to take my jacket off in an attempt to locate whatever it was (a bee I suspected), but I couldn’t find anything. Then as I was approaching Glenbeulah, it started to rain. I was kind of in a hurry in Kewaskum as Kevin was still checking out the Memorial because I knew there was a chance of this near where I live later in the afternoon. It, however, didn’t last long and I was able to just beat the larger downpours just north of me all the while I was on Garton road back home. Within 15 minutes after getting inside, it down-poured.
Although, I thought today’s ride was going to be a bit shorter than normal, as I planned it that way with thoughts of a much longer one tomorrow, I still put in 183 miles.
And, even though it was a bit cool at times, and with my follies after breaking off from Kevin, it still was a great day of riding, as every day riding usually is!
