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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.
After a quick lube of chains we took off visit Lambeau Field and snapped some pics for some Green Bay Packers fans that we know. After that it was off to Badger Park campground in Peshtigo (we’d never heard of it either, but see note about it’s claim to fame below the pics). We stopped for lunch in Oconto Wisconsin. Dana saw a couple of touring cyclists who were staying in our hotel last night. I was in a convenience store getting a soft drink and ice and a bratwurst. The clerk directed us to this nice little park down the street which also had a fountain and benches for our lunch break.
Today we’ve been riding mostly on county roads that are in great shape. Also have very little traffic. The most amazing thing about this particular tour is how little climbing we have done. No climbs at all on our GPS devices. Had some inclines, but nothing we would call a mountain. We’ve been making such good time that we’re going to have to slow down some to stretch out the ride to our original 3 to 4 week plan.
We had two routes planned today. In case we didn’t like the first campground we got to, we’d have a second option 10 mi away. Badger Park in Peshtigo is our first choice. Our second choice was Riverview Park in Menominee, Michigan.
No need for the second choice though. When we got into badger Park campground, we found the manager Lori, who Dana had already talked with and she set us up with a powered site close to the trees, and the best part was she didn’t charge us. We set up camp, showered, changed into our civvies and and rode into town for groceries and ended up at the Peshtigo Pub & Grill.
There we met a nice woman named Judy who was 83 and the booker for the bands at the bar. It had a great little outdoor stage and seating area. The bartender was Lucy and she made Dana an old fashioned in a pint beer glass. I had a local Amber ale, Little something (I can’t remember ;).
On our other side. Robin and Huck, two motorcycles in full Harley gear. We started talking with them about our our destinations and where we had been and talk to them for a full 15 or 20 minutes about how long it takes to get here and how long it takes to get there from there before Robin finally said you mean you are on f****** pedal bikes? !
Robin bought a round of shots. I declined, since I knew I’d probably be walking both bikes back to the camp at this rate. Lucy poured one for herself to. I guess that’s what you can do when there’s a hands-off owner as Judy had told us.
Another round went round before we said our goodbyes and headed back to camp. Fortunately Dana was fine and rode her our own bike back. We made our dinner of rice and beans, tuna and salad, watched the darkening sky. Rain was expected so we battened down the hatches and crawled into the tent and fell off to sleep
The Peshtigo fire was a deadly forest fire in Wisconsin and Michigan in 1871, caused by slash-and-burn agriculture and high winds. It burned 1.2 million acres, killed 1,500-2,500 people, and was one of three major fires on the same day as the Great Chicago Fire. — Wikipedia
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