The third day's trip Larry had planned will take us up into Michigan. We will drive up towards Land O'Lakes and then begin the route.
As we neared the point he thought we could leave the trucks we found there was a store there and a parking lot and quite a few people with bikes and a "welcome Leinies" sign. It seemed there was an organized event , so we went to the check in tent to get info.
The Wilderness Bicycle Route was having a fund raising ride and the route they were taking was not too different than Larry had mapped. In fact it was better, because Larry learned that some of the trails he had incorporated into the route were ATV trails and would be too rough to ride.
So, we signed up and planned to ride with the first group - leaving in about 20 minutes. What a deal!
We turned onto Thousand Island Lake Road a few miles down County B and road that for miles. It is really a beautiful ride and you enter Michigan not too long after your begin the route.
After some time we skirted the Sylvania Wilderness Area which was a designated bathroom site - so we took advantage of that and also stopped into the welcome center and visited with the ranger. No wheels or motors allowed in the park; you can hike and camp. He said there are trees down in the park that are several hundred years old. We thought it would be a neat area to return to and visit.
By this time we are the last riders in this group, but that is okay.
We rode into Watersmeet - a designated water stop and filled up our bottles. Then we went on Hwy 45 for a short distance and then peeled off onto Duck Lake Road. It was quite cloudy and looked like heavy rain in front of us. We were wondering if we were just slow enough to miss the rain - but figured the rest of the group were probably getting wet.
This was a very pretty ride as well. The roads were wet and steaming in some places. This road had a section that was gravel - 4 or 5 miles and then the blacktop took us in to Land O'Lakes.
There was a stream of riders now - we had linked up with those doing the shorter route. Not too far out of town we turned off the road onto the bike trail.
At one point we were able to pick raspberries along the trail.
We got back to the store and loaded up our bikes and headed over for the brat lunch and Leinies beer. This vehicle was used to escort the short trip riders through town.
There were a lot of people enjoying the brat lunch. The sun had come back out and it was steaming hot.
We snagged a seat under the umbrella to enjoy our lunch and beer- it tasted mighty good!
The entry fee included the lunch and beer but also some raffle tickets to win a Leinies canoe and various other items, so we drank more beer while we waited for the raffle drawing.
We met another couple from the Appleton area who were up visiting friends and took the ride.
We also met Chris who formerly lived in Appleton and even worked at AAL. We had fun chatting. Chris was doubly lucky and won two raffle prizes.
We did not win the Leinies canoe, but Deb won a Leinies paddle - how cool is that! Dick Leinenkugel was present and did the ride and he even autographed the paddle for me.
This was a cool way to wrap up or 3 days of cycling. Today we rode 38 miles. If you are ever up near Land O'Lakes check out this cycle route - it really was a beautiful ride with a good number of hills thrown in.
As we neared the point he thought we could leave the trucks we found there was a store there and a parking lot and quite a few people with bikes and a "welcome Leinies" sign. It seemed there was an organized event , so we went to the check in tent to get info.
The Wilderness Bicycle Route was having a fund raising ride and the route they were taking was not too different than Larry had mapped. In fact it was better, because Larry learned that some of the trails he had incorporated into the route were ATV trails and would be too rough to ride.
We turned onto Thousand Island Lake Road a few miles down County B and road that for miles. It is really a beautiful ride and you enter Michigan not too long after your begin the route.
After some time we skirted the Sylvania Wilderness Area which was a designated bathroom site - so we took advantage of that and also stopped into the welcome center and visited with the ranger. No wheels or motors allowed in the park; you can hike and camp. He said there are trees down in the park that are several hundred years old. We thought it would be a neat area to return to and visit.
By this time we are the last riders in this group, but that is okay.
We rode into Watersmeet - a designated water stop and filled up our bottles. Then we went on Hwy 45 for a short distance and then peeled off onto Duck Lake Road. It was quite cloudy and looked like heavy rain in front of us. We were wondering if we were just slow enough to miss the rain - but figured the rest of the group were probably getting wet.
This was a very pretty ride as well. The roads were wet and steaming in some places. This road had a section that was gravel - 4 or 5 miles and then the blacktop took us in to Land O'Lakes.
There was a stream of riders now - we had linked up with those doing the shorter route. Not too far out of town we turned off the road onto the bike trail.
At one point we were able to pick raspberries along the trail.
We got back to the store and loaded up our bikes and headed over for the brat lunch and Leinies beer. This vehicle was used to escort the short trip riders through town.
There were a lot of people enjoying the brat lunch. The sun had come back out and it was steaming hot.
We snagged a seat under the umbrella to enjoy our lunch and beer- it tasted mighty good!
The entry fee included the lunch and beer but also some raffle tickets to win a Leinies canoe and various other items, so we drank more beer while we waited for the raffle drawing.
We met another couple from the Appleton area who were up visiting friends and took the ride.
We also met Chris who formerly lived in Appleton and even worked at AAL. We had fun chatting. Chris was doubly lucky and won two raffle prizes.
We did not win the Leinies canoe, but Deb won a Leinies paddle - how cool is that! Dick Leinenkugel was present and did the ride and he even autographed the paddle for me.
This was a cool way to wrap up or 3 days of cycling. Today we rode 38 miles. If you are ever up near Land O'Lakes check out this cycle route - it really was a beautiful ride with a good number of hills thrown in.
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