July 30, 2021
Green Bay - Sturgeon Bay, WI
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Quality Inn redeemed itself somewhat with a hot breakfast - scrambled eggs and sausage for hot food. I was sad there wasn't any fruit at all. I was counting on an apple or banana to eat later in the day. Jacinto had announced last night he guessed he would have to leave early with me. ??? I guess my disappointment about not being escorted into town was taken to heart. We are across the river, and traffic is light. I wasn't anticipating any problems.
Speaking of the traffic. We walked last night to Taco Burrito Mexico restaurant to eat. No traffic, four empty lanes. I asked a semi local friend if COVID were an issue. Although we didn't think that was the answer, because we aren't seeing masks, etc. Dorthy's opinion is that we hit the sweet spot when the local university is on break and everyone leaves town. She said the university and the Packers is what makes Green Bay.
It was 10:30 as we rolled away. It had certainly been sweet, bicycling south, and having the wind push us. Now we are heading north into the wind again. Navigating out of town was just as easy as getting in. We were soon on country roads.
Jacinto had warned me this morning not to drink so much water, I would have to pee. Of course, that was all I could think about since he brought it up. That and the fact that I had no fruit to eat and I was down to just one granola bar. Jacinto's approach is to eat a huge breakfast and then ride all day. He doesn't snack at all. I can't eat THAT much food in the morning. I look forward to my mid ride apple each day. It's a reward, and then I am mentally on the downhill half of the day.
At mile 10 there was a convenience store. I stopped for the bathroom and to buy snacks. I was so desperate to use the bathroom that I went in the men's room (one stall) and had completely finished before I looked around enough to see that there was a urinal! It's a good thing it wasn't a multi seat bathroom. I might have been really embarrassed then!
We bought a couple of drinks and some bars. I told Jacinto we had to finish off one drink and I would carry the other one. We shared a Payday candy bar (salt, protein, and sugar). I noticed that the candy bar was $1.00 cheaper than the Cliff bar I bought . . . Jacinto said he would have rather had Jerry Harp's favorite, a Snickers.
We had a section coming up I wasn't so sure about. I couldn't get a good look at it with the google guy. We go into a park, take a bike path the skirts a camping area, and then it looked like it might be a half mile of dirt before it comes back out on the other side. Jacinto took the lead through here. It ended up being paved the entire distance and then spit us out on a country road. This was directly adjacent to the main highway going to Sturgeon Bay. Four busy lanes. The shoulder looked more than adequate, but I'm glad we decided on the country route.
I told Jacinto after we got past the campground, he could take off. He didn't ask, but I knew I was holding him back. Today had more climbing than yesterday, but was still flat overall. I kept with him until mile 24, and then he slowly disappeared into the distance.
Jacinto's been spending the evenings checking out all sorts of bicycle riding apps. Today his new approach was to have me send him a ridewithgps route for the day. We are following exactly the same route with no need to double check waypoints along the way. It is so much easier than basically recreating the same route each day! Jacinto has refused to use ridewithgps ever since it sent him the wrong way in Yaak, MT on a very wet, cold morning. Today was successful.
I saw a Timberline Adventures van and trailer pass us. Is this the same as Timberline Tours, based in Colorado? I just took time to google. Yes, it is. I can't include the link here, but that particular trip is $3,000. a person for a seven night tour (double occupancy), includes breakfast and dinner each day. We saw ~15 riders? I used to know a man who was a tour guide for them. He liked the company.
Almost to Sturgeon Bay, a road bike rider passed me and asked if he were on the correct road. Yes, Road C goes all the way into town. Not much further, he was stopped and looking at his bike. I stopped also. His chain had come off. The man said he was riding to SB and then hoping the wind would change and push him home. If not, he would call his very nice wife to come and pick him up. Because every wife has two extra hours each day to go retrieve her bike riding husband? That's one hour each way . . . I have a now divorced friend who used to do that all the time. His wife was a nurse and worked long shifts. Poor woman was always sleep deprived. Mike would take long tailwind rides and then call her to come and pick him up. He would go as far as 100 miles and call for a ride home. Yep - now divorced . . .
My phone rang as I got close to town. Jacinto was at the gas station, would I like anything. Fruit. Gas station, he says. How about a V-8? OK. I happened to stop to take this call in the shade next to a four way stop. I didn't realize what a busy corner it was. I had a man (politely) yell at me that I was stopped in the turn lane. Oooops. I moved on.
I stopped to take another call. I was supposed to be catching up to Jacinto and instead I was falling behind. Jacinto called to see where was I, did I want escorted across the bridge. Look at this service! Sure, I could be escorted across the bridge. I got closer, and where was he? I got turned around here on the bike path. Why are bike paths never marked well? I figured it out and went across the bridge. All of the big bridges we have crossed this trip have had excellent bicycle/pedestrian access. For some reason I thought as soon as I crossed over, our motel would be there, but it was a couple more miles. This weekend was the county fair. I passed the venue site. That's why we ended up at the Best Western. They would take a one night reservation when the other lodging spots wouldn't I had great hopes for our overnight here. We had a king size bed and a hot breakfast. I hoped. Usually BW has large rooms also. It was a more expensive spot than we've had for a few nights - we were loving those $85. apartments in the north woods. But amenities are nice. Fast wi-fi would be good. I know, look at me, living the cushy life. It's true - the older I get, the more I like little luxuries. Four pillows, anyone?
Most of my desires were realized. There is not a hot breakfast - just a bag breakfast.
Now we have to decide between Mexican and Chinese for dinner. There is a Walmart within sight distance, I can get some fruit and Cliff bars for the rest of the trip.
Tomorrow we are in Sister Bay. The forecast says sudden, heavy thunderstorms with high winds. We've been seeing the results of those high winds. They aren't joking! I have a longer route picked out. But if the morning forecast says the same, I will probably just head right down the road.
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Today's ride: 49 miles (79 km)
Total: 1,360 miles (2,189 km)
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3 years ago
I’m going to have a rest day. That will be 11 cycling days. It sounds like Jacinto is going to ride a loop. That will give him 16 days without a day off.
If we could have gotten something up where you did, I would have been happy.
3 years ago
3 years ago