June 23, 2022
Lake Michigan Tour Day 5: Sturgeon Bay to Green Bay, WI
Happy birthday to me! It promised to be a touch cooler than yesterday. There was a good climb to get out of Sturgeon Bay – almost making me wish I hadn’t had the skillet breakfast at a local diner. Almost…
Unfortunately, most of the route to Green Bay was along Hwy 57 – the busiest highway in the area. Add construction, and it wasn’t a great route. I looked at the map and all the side roads ended at the lake, so there really wasn’t another good option. The construction ended and the shoulder got better, but the never-ending traffic flying by at 70 was a bummer. I put my headphones in and tried to ignore it.
One thing this made me realize is that the number of people hauling stuff around (at least in this part of the world) is enormous! Trucks hauling boats, trucks hauling a trailer of motorcycles, trucks hauling camper trailers, camper buses hauling an SUV. I even saw a truck hauling a 5th wheel, and a boat behind that. I’m not counting delivery trucks or semis hauling fuel or freight. Do we all need to take this much stuff everywhere? When I was a kid and the whole family of 5 went on vacation, it all fit into a station-wagon. Tent, sleeping bags, clothes, food. I didn’t grow up hauling stuff everywhere, so maybe that’s why I find it jarring, but I also can’t help thinking about how much fuel this is using.
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Almost all the farmland in this part of Wisconsin looks like this:
Or like this: Tidy farmhouses or working farms surrounded by green fields. I did see collapsing barns, but fewer than in Nebraska last summer. There just seems to be a bit more pride of ownership here. Or maybe the economy of this area is working better for farmers...
After about 20 miles of Hwy 57, my route took me off, so my view went from an ugly highway to this: Another section of the Ahanapee trail I had followed three days ago into Algoma.
This was not long-lived, as the route soon dumped me back out onto 57 again with the trucks. It was a “why bother” moment.
Eventually, I left 57 for good and was on a quieter side road with glimpses of Green Bay (the bay, not the city) to my right between houses.
I reached Green Bay not long after 1pm, and diverted to a local bicycle shop to pick up some gloves. For some reason I have lost 2 gloves, and they were both left. I could make a pair if I’d lost one right and one left, but fate dictated otherwise.
My hotel was intentionally near where I wanted to be for the afternoon: Lambeau Field, home of the Green Bay Packers. I’ve been a fan ever since marrying a young lady from just outside Milwaukee. Her dad had season tickets, and I have good memories of being taken to a couple of games while dating her. So I had booked a tour of the stadium as a birthday present to myself.
I checked in a bit early, showered, and walked about 15 minutes to the stadium for my tour.
It’s impressive! They have a 50′ replica of the Lombardi Trophy, and seem to feel that since Vince Lombardi was THEIR coach, it’s more special to the Packers than other teams. I can’t argue with that.
The tour took us all over different parts of the stadium, some of which had good views of the surrounding area.
The field had no paint, so it looked pretty different from football games. They were expecting an exhibition between British and German soccer clubs in July, so were getting ready for that. The goalposts were removed and being refurbished.
They did take us down to the field level, although we were not allowed to walk on the turf.
Also to the visiting team locker room. This shot looks like I’m in the actual Packer locker room, but it was taken in front of a large photo.
It was a lot of fun, and I learned a bunch of trivia and history that I hadn’t known before. If you come through this area, the tour is reasonably priced and well worth it.
I finished my birthday with a meal at the restaurant attached to the stadium – the salmon was really good!
Stats: 46.2 Miles, 1048 vertical feet, and average speed of 12.4 (there was a headwind all day).
Tomorrow takes me up the western side of Green Bay to Marinette – my last stop in Wisconsin until I hit Milwaukee again coming up from Illinois.
Today's ride: 46 miles (74 km)
Total: 348 miles (560 km)
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