July 1, 2021
Caledonia,WI - Whitehall, MI
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We are unfortunately touring alone again this summer. COVID is not quite a thing of the past for our touring friends.
Jim Fitch once again did most of the legwork on the routing, only to sit out the tour. We appreciate his hard work!
This is our first trip riding east of the Mississippi. The area came up during forum discussion of a potential cross country route. I said I wanted to pedal every mile and not take the ferry. I received many messages saying that the ferry (especially the coal powered Badger ferry), was an experience not to be missed. Pasties (a hand held meat pie), also had many bicycle riding fans.
There was such raving about Michigan and Wisconsin in general, that we decided the area was good for a tour on its own.
Jim put the route together, I found the lodging. Yes, we are of the age where we appreciate a real bed at night and a bathroom a barefoot walk away.
I had a great deal of trouble with lodging. First I chose a town 50 miles away and looked for lodging. I started routing this tourist area tour in January. Some places were closed because it was winter. Others were permanently closed. Some required multi night stays.
50 miles a day was not always an obtainable goal. We are riding a variety of distances. The pricing showed we were traveling in a tourist area. Jacinto asked if I wanted to abandon the tour because the lodging was so expensive. No, I invested too much time to give up now.
I retired in March and have had plenty of riding time. Jacinto drove school bus until the end of June, a COVID related schedule. We are both ready to tour!
I spent a good deal of time with online questions to old friends and new about tips for the area. My takeaway is that we have a good route. We are hoping the wind and rain are friendly. Humidity was my initial concern, but I’ve recently learned that when it rains, it pours! Rain is my newest big concern.
A mudslide near home covered the interstate. Detouring around would take an extra two hours. We delayed the start of our route, hoping it would open. Two hours later, we admitted defeat and headed north.
The original plan was driving three days of six hours each. Even though we felt we were frugal with stops, each driving days was much longer than planned.
We spent two of those nights staying with friends along the way and stopped to see a movie theatre friend in Sidney, NE. The Fox Theatre is an old theatre that has been lovingly cared for. The projection room even has carpet - a first for me to see!
Our next stop was with Phil and Ruth in Osceola, Iowa. Ruth's dream had always been to own a Victorian house with all of the trim. Ruth found one in Iowa for a reasonable price. They purchased the house sight unseen and left Colorado! They have been busy with projects since moving. Their kitchen has been torn out for three months. Luckily, they have a carriage house with another kitchen.
We arrived in Caledonia (suburb of Milwaukee) at Irma’s house just in time for dinner. It was difficult to leave the table after her home cooked BBQ meal. We were in desperate need of assessing our gear and packing up.
Jacinto had given me one pannier to fill. I scared him when I asked if there was a pound limit! I filled that bag with breakfast fixings, Spiz meal replacement, and other food. I do this every time! You would think we were riding a back country route! All four of his panniers are stuffed. Jacinto says he’s joined the 10 mph club. He says he feels as if he’s climbing all the time with that weight.
Our first day schedule was to ride 20 miles to the ferry (be there at 11:45 for a 12:30 departure), and ride 20 more miles to our cottage in Whitehall.
Recumbent guru, AD Carson, lives in greater Milwaukee and helped with several days of routing.
A specific question I had was why ridewithgps, Komoot, and Strava all route us on roads on the west side of the airport instead of along the lakeside bike path. Most replies asked with puzzlement why we were taking the fast ferry instead of the beloved Badger.
The answer is that we like to ride our bikes. We are terrible tourists. Unless something is directly in our path, we seldom visit. Let that be a warning-if you are familiar with the area, it is most likely we aren’t stopping at your favorite spot. You have been warned!
Second reason is that I get seasick easily. Boats are not my thing.
I had AD’s route downloaded on my phone. We were only 20 minutes late out the door. That is good by Jacinto’s standards. Irma prepared spinach and scrambled eggs for breakfast. We were well fueled for the ride.
I use ridewithgps. I call it Bertha. That makes me think of a no nonsense German woman. I am the worst (or perhaps it’s the best) at getting lost. The live voice cues are essential.
We rode a mere 3.2 miles before getting on our first bike path. I love bike paths riding. There are many paths on this trip. I have included a number of the paved ones.
Our ride to the ferry went smoothly. I watched the time, but we had allowed extra and had no worries beyond finding a bathroom. There is no ducking into the bushes here. There is solid greenery of grasses, bushes, and trees where the land isn’t cleared. I would need a machete to clear a path to a discreet bathroom spot!
We passed several playgrounds. There was not a potty in sight.
A passing cyclist greeted us. Pat had ridden across the country multiple times and rode 60 miles daily at home. He already has 8,000 miles this year.
While we were speaking with Pat, I noticed a trail into the woods. I debated making a bush stop, but hated to scandalize our new friend.
Shortly down the road, I saw a potty. In anticipation of using it, I felt as if I had to go RIGHT NOW. The door was locked! Now, finding a bathroom has to be a priority. I asked some ladies at a playground if they knew where I could find a bathroom. At the end of the building. ??? No. Jacinto asked a maintenance man. Inside of the same building. Relief!
We had a mere three miles to the ferry and plenty of time. We stayed on busy Lakeshore Drive path, the better to see the lake.
Success! We arrived at the ferry 15 minutes early. We had made reservations, but had to go inside for tickets. With masks. Ah, yes, masks. In our entire trip, I saw only one father/daughter duo at a convenience store with masks.
We were instructed to bring our bikes in with us to get tickets. Inside, we met two cyclists. They were a retired couple from Berkley who had driven cross country and started their tour in Madison, with a goal of Washington DC. They were traveling without sleeping bags or reservations. They both had smart phones, but m asked me to show them on their paper map where were headed.
An announcement came on saying that five foot waves were expected and that motion sickness pills were available for free at the counter. Jacinto and I both took some.
I had asked the ticket lady for the procedure as we’d never ridden the ferry before. She said not to worry, everyone gets on board, just follow directions. I would have to wait for the details.
We sat outside so we wouldn’t have to wear masks. We were out of the habit. Plus, the AC was cold inside!
Soon enough an employee came by and told us bicycles could load first.
The deck hand told us to park one bike at each indentation on the side of the deck and use their tie downs to secure the bikes. I used two on mine. It’s long and they said the ride would be rough.
We had save almost $50. By not getting the premier class tickets. We had seats at a table. Premier gets wi-fi, movies, and bigger seats.
I’ve been typing this on my phone. The AC is freezing and I don’t have a blanket. My neighbor lady must be an experienced ferry rider. She has a blanket wrapped around her shoulders.
The ride is quite tilt-y. We were advised to stay seated. The people who are moving around are grabbing seat backs as they go. There’s the occasional oooh and aaah at an extra big roll. A worker advised a man near me to go outside. He looked very ill. I’m happy I took the medicine. Jacinto went outside from boredom. I hope they all hold on to the railing.
My stomach was just fine on the trip. Thankfully. My seat mates were complaining of being sick and a woman a few rows over was sick. I wonder if the worker advised the man to go outside so he would have one less mess to clean up?
We chatted more with the other cyclists, Mark and Jolie. They were estimating 20 days to Washington DC. Jolie said she had ridden across Canada in 2014, but hadn't done any touring since then. I invited them on the Fall Colors Tour, but climbing in Colorado is a no go.
Bicycles had loaded first, but were last to get off. It was 5 PM Muskegon time. Dinner time, by our cycling standards! We still had 20 miles to ride. North. Into a too strong headwind.
Bertha was not on the job. She should have given far more cues. At a major intersection, the instructions were to go right. I went right, and left, and stared at the phone, deciding we should go back to a spur just behind us. A Bike E recumbent rider came down the path and we exchanged mutual admiration in choosing recumbents. The man had on a well used Muskegon shirt, so I took him to be a local. I asked how we got to Whitehall, but he couldn't give us an answer. Jacinto had enough of my hesitant directing and pulled up Komoot on his phone. I was more than happy to be the caboose, although I was worried why ridewithgps wasn't working properly. I had been routed for a short section of road before getting on the bike path. Jacinto's route took us on the bike path almost all the way to Whitehall. Today we ended up with 40 miles. I would estimate that less than 5 miles was on the road.
It was 7:30 by the time we arrived at the motel. Happily, it was still daylight. I am a get up in the morning and get going kind of rider. I would be pushed to tell you the last time I arrived this late in town. I'm sure the story would involve thousands of feet of elevation gain.
The bike path to Whitehall was heavily surrounded by ferns, bushes, and trees. They provided shade ~80% of the time. I think that is going to be typical of the trip. We were away from the water, so lack of views wasn't too disappointing.
I was hungry. It was past dinnertime. I ate an apple. We finished off the little bag of jerky I carried. I decided that could hold me the eight miles to town. We arrived at Whitehill Cottages. The outside looked rough, with weeds growing in the parking lot cracks. It wasn't cottages, but an old 50's style motel. We had contactless check in. I had prepaid and they sent me a code to get in the door. The inside was refurbished and roomy. There's Netflix on the TV. A King size memory foam bed.
Today was the first day of the tour. We had packed in somewhat of a hurry. What we needed was in there - somewhere. I had a momentary scare when I thought I didn't have an extra bra. Jacinto thought he had forgotten his flip flops in the garage. Luckily, we had both items with us.
I was digging around, trying to find more beef jerky and having a two year old style melt down over it. Jacinto had the voice of reason and told me to get in the shower so we could go eat. He would look for the jerky. Excellent idea.
We walked downtown, looking for the place Scott and Rachael had eaten by the water. The only place we saw by the water was a pizza place. We back tracked to a brewery. They didn't serve food. The poor man had answered that question too many times. He had a resigned look on his face as he told me the places to eat. One of which was the place the Andersons' had eaten!
We went with the special, a fried perch basket each, and a big salad to share. I know better - that was far too much fried food and not enough green to cut the grease.
I asked Jacinto if he wanted to stop back by the brewery for a beer. I think he would have if I had really wanted to. But I wanted to get back and finish this. We passed by a busy ice cream store with a line down the sidewalk. They served hard ice cream that looked excellent. Jacinto said we hadn't worked hard enough to deserve an ice cream. According to Strava, we only climbed 730 feet all day!
We are now back in the room. We stopped at the convenience store for milk and sugar to go in Jacinto's all important coffee. He has his percolator and favorite coffee (Cafe Du Monde) with him. But Jacinto does not have real cream or honey . . . there are real trials to bicycle travel!
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3 years ago
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3 years ago
Today's ride: 40 miles (64 km)
Total: 40 miles (64 km)
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| Comment on this entry | Comment | 4 |
Buddy Hall
3 years ago
I hope the trip goes well. Apparently the rain ended just in time.
3 years ago
3 years ago
3 years ago