Paul's Touring Blog

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No rain last night, so we got a nice dry start. Today’s ride was to be just 35-38 miles, so we weren’t rushed and had a leisurely breakfast and futzed around blogging, etc.; something we came to regret later. 

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Nothing better than a good night’s sleep. Except to wake up a hotel that has hot coffee and the breakfast waiting for you down the hall. I guess room service would be better, but we take what we can get and this was a pretty nice breakfast. Strawberry waffles, cereal, bagels, wheat bread, yogurt and more. 

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We had a small shower at around 2:00 a.m. but the wind had stopped and it was a pretty light rain. Got up and started the day like we ended last night at McDonald’s! It was just too convenient to get a large coffee and some breakfast without having to pack and clean, etc. etc. It also gave us a chance to route to Green Bay and check for lodging there.

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Another fine, dry morning. Can’t say the weather has been perfect, but we’ll take “Mostly Cloudy” any day over ” Severe Storm Warning” or even “Occasional Downpours.” And it’s not been too hot and pleasantly warm overnight. Coffee and some breakfast and a quick pack-up and we were ready for the road to Two Rivers. 

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While we have much less work to do than when camping, we seem to luxuriate at motels longer than we really need to. On the road at 9:40, we set our sights on Harrington Beach State Park, with a stop in Milwaukee for lunch.

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We awoke to the sound of NOTHING. No rain, no thunder claps, no 2 am rousings. Just a good night’s sleep. And a dry tent. A good morning from Abe and “would you like some freshly made donuts?” was the real hit of the morning tho. They were delicious and were a great “dessert” for our breakfast of peanut butter on bagels. Abe and Jennifer were both leaving for the morning and we said our good-byes even though we weren’t sure if we would try to stay another night. It was a very nice campground and only a couple hundred yards to the water. However, weather would be the driving factor.

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Camping has its positives, but a nice bed feels really good. Our target today was either Cliffside Park north of Racine, or another hotel in Racine if the weather doesn’t cooperate. But first, we headed up the Lakefront Trail to Evanston, IL for a short visit with Charlie Madigan, Mary’s brother.

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Last night’s storms woke us up multiple times with some of the lightning strikes too close for comfort. There were a few drips from the roof of the tent, but nothing major and while some things at our feet got wet, we woke up mostly dry. We made coffee and packed up, after cleaning sand off the tent and trying (in vain) to dry a few things out. The bikes were covered and made it through the storms pretty well. We headed out to the main office and dropped our rain jackets and donned sunscreen before we headed out. 

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And we’re off…

We got up early in the morning to see Curtis and Sarah off and say goodbye for the 3 to 4 weeks will be gone. It was raining when we got up so we finished cleaning out the car and leaving behind things we didn’t need on the tour and loading and lubing the bikes.

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Summer – time to ride again

Our summer tour this year will entail circumnavigating Lake Michigan and visiting the Upper Peninsula which we missed last year. We drove to Goshen, IN to visit with Sarah, Curtis, and Elam again (we stopped here on Day 60 of our 2025 Dakota tour). They’re graciously allowing us to park our car for the 3-4 weeks the tour will take.