Cleveland - Grafton, WI - The Only Thing Fast On This Tour Is The Ferry

Cleveland - Grafton, WI

Heart

Comment

A fatal room design flaw is installing the cooler directly next to the bed. We loved our nice suite at the Highland Lodge - but they have the cooler only inches from one side of the bed. My side! Jacinto turned the living room cooler on, hoping that it would filter to the bedroom. It didn't. at 4 AM, I gave up and turned on the bedroom cooler. I slept fitfully after that and was awake in plenty of time for the 7 AM breakfast. Cold items only, but that included V-8, I took a couple of cans.

I told AD I could be ready much earlier if he wanted to leave. He did! We were out the door at 8:30. AD was a gentleman and brought my bike over from the garage. He also gathered up my shoes and seat pad and delivered those.

The first half of our day we were on country roads. Finally we've discovered some roads that are less than perfect. That almost makes me feel good, to have ordinary roads. There have been so many roads with near new pavement that no one thinks we are telling the truth. Now we can say we had pavement with cracks and holes. One half day's worth.

Just to keep things fun, we came to another road closed sign. What the heck, let's go and and see what it's about. The pavement was torn up in an intersection and we had to traverse gravel. That was easy.

I had told AD in the morning that I would eat a breakfast good for 25 miles. Then I would be ready for second breakfast. He knew a good place to eat in Oostburg, Judi's Place. It was good! Reasonably priced also, compared to most of our trip. I ate half of my omelet and took the other half to go. We saw another touring couple there and chatted with them before leaving.

As much as I like the first half of the day and enjoyed eating, I wasn't looking forward to riding after. I warned AD that I'm even slower after I eat. This was the perfect logistical situation. We ate, and then got on a flat bike path. I can do this on a full stomach!

We rode the bike path all the way to Grafton. AD says the path goes clear to the ferry in Milwaukee. From the ferry, we will retrace our steps to Irma's house where our van is parked.

I used points to stay at the Comfort Inn today. It's located in a busy area near the interstate and a hospital. AD decided that 51 cruising miles weren't enough - instead of calling his wife to pick him up, he would ride home. He ended up with 69 miles for the day! AD sat down in the lobby of the motel and had a cold drink and chatted a bit and then took off for home. He and his wife, Helen, are coming back tonight, and we are going to dinner together.

Jacinto has arrived. He had a good day and enjoyed the bike path. I've given him the pep talk about how AD is going to ride with me to the ferry and we need to connect by then to ride together the last 20 miles. Which means AD and I need to leave a little late, or Jacinto needs to leave a little early. It was warmer today, into the low 80's. I could feel the humidity. My neck and collarbones were covered in sweat and melted sunscreen that had puddled in the wrinkles of my neck. It was fascinating in a gross way, to look at myself in my rearview mirror and see how shiny my face was with sweat. I wasn't working hard, but I certainly looked like it.

Highland Lodge was one of our favorite stays of the trip.

We’ve passed many small cemeteries this trip. This one was more ornate.

I didn’t try for the special effect with the sun. I was trying to show all of the vines on the abandoned church. It was a nice building to be abandoned.

I think there was a very good lightning rod salesman during a certain era. The rods seem to be only on a particular vintage of barns. Not the newer barns.

I haven’t had an old truck for a day or two. Note the red truck in the background!

Two Salsa Vaya touring bikes at Judi’s Place. They were riding a little loop incorporating both ferries.

Today's ride: 51 miles (82 km)
Total: 1,568 miles (2,523 km)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	3
Comment on this entry	Comment	0