From: urkastig@uxa.ecn.bgu.edu (Robert Kastigar)
Subject: Ride Report: Chicago-Southeastern Wisconsin
Keywords: Chicago, Wisconsin, Tour, Bicycle
Organization: Educational Computing Network
Distribution: usa
Date: Sun, 8 Nov 1992 21:26:59 GMT

Bike Trip Summary: from Chicago, north along the lakefront to
Sheboygan, Wisconsin.  Then west through the middle of Wisconsin to
roughly Wisconsin Dells, then southeast through Wisconsin and
Illinois to return to Chicago.

In August of 1992 I had two weeks vacation, and a son living near
Wisconsin Dells.  I had made this trip from Chicago several times,
at least once a year for the last ten years.  I had made the trip
in two days travel, but find it more enjoyable to extend the trip
into three days, and taking time to explore the more scenic routes,
even though this may make the actual mileage longer.  This year I
intended to go straight north, along the lakefront to Sheboygan,
Wisconsin where another friend was staying for the summer.  From
there I would travel directly west to where my son was staying.

My bicycle is quite ordinary; a 10-speed Schwinn lightweight, a
World Sport model.  I placed the empty bike's read wheel on a
bathroom scale and it indicated twenty pounds.  I then added two
rear pannier bags, plus a sleeping back on the rear.  When I again
place the read wheel on the scale it now indicated sixty pounds. 
Although I didn't intend to camp out with the sleeping bag, I
always take it with me - just in case.  This adds to the overall
weight by a couple of pounds.

I started out reasonably early, 6 AM, on the first day.  Starting
on the northwest side of the City of Chicago is a Cook County
Forest Preserve trail.  This trail is paved, runs roughly along the
North Branch of the Chicago River, and extends to the Cook County
line, a distance of about 20 miles.  Of course, this avoids all of
the urban traffic.  

At the county line is the Chicago Botanical Garden, a very large
nature area.  From this point I travelled east about a mile on Cook
County Road, and intersected with the Green Bay Trail.  This trail
is fine crushed gravel, perhaps not as good as a paved surface, but
certainly adequate and once again this avoids the suburban traffic.

This trail ends at Highland Park, and from here it's necessary to
take Sheridan Road north.  Although a main route, the traffic isn't
that fast, nor heavy.  After several miles, you'll find another
paved bike train that continues north for several miles and again
avoids the traffic.  This trail eventually ends, and once again
you're back on Sheridan Road.  This continues north until you reach
Waukegan.  Beginning in Waukegan (or perhaps somewhat south of
Waukegan) is another trail that goes all the way into Wisconsin.  

This Illinois-Wisconsin trail is another example of what can be
done with an abandoned railroad right-of-way.  The trail is finely
crushed gravel and perfectly suitable for bicycle riding.  The
trail continues to Kenosha, Wisconsin and it continues from south
to north via city streets in Kenosha until I picked up another
trail that continue to Racine.  

From Racine I continued north roughly following Route 32, although
I avoided riding on Route 32 itself wherever possible.  Approaching
the south end of the Milwaukee urban area, another paved bicycle
path, along the lakefront itself, continues north.  
From Chicago to the start of the Milwaukee path was a distance of
88 miles.  I estimated that all but 10 miles of this was off-road
bicycle path of some sort. 

The Milwaukee path continues until near the downtown area.  Unlike
Chicago, the downtown portion of the lakefront is mostly industrial
area.  The river meets the lake at this point.  It's necessary to
leave the lakefront, travel slightly west into the city itself and
again find Route 32.  At this point, Route 32 is like any other
urban street and continues right through the downtown Milwaukee
area to the north side of the downtown urban area.  Again, there
are areas of parks with paved paths that continue up through the
Milwaukee urban and suburban areas.  

I followed this lakefront route until Route 32 takes a sharp
westward bend and I followed Route 32 until it met with Port
Washington Road.  At this intersection I had travelled about 110
miles and decided to find a motel.  Unfortunately, I had to take
Port Washington Road back south about 5 miles to find a motel.  Had
I know this I could have travelled west earlier and avoided the
backtrack.  

The summary of Day 1: From 6:00 AM until 7:30 PM, I travelled a
total distance of 113 miles.  Although I was on the road 13-1/2
hours, the actual pedalling time registered only 9-1/2 hours.  My
average speed was 11.8 MPH. 

On the second day, I travelled north following Port Washington
Road.  Any detailed map will show several county roads between Port
Washington Road and the lakefront.  My intermediate destination was
the City of Port Washington, where there is an excellent
restaurant, "Smitty's" that specialized in seafood.  Unfortunately,
I arrived to early; the restaurant didn't open until 11 AM and I
was in Port Washington at about 9 AM!  Also, Port Washington is in
a basin, and the downhill ride was enjoyable, it was necessary to
ride uphill continuing north.  Port Washington is located where the
another river meets Lake Michigan.  

Although Port Washington Road is certainly suitable for bicycle
travel, it's possible to find alternate routes continuing north to
Sheboygan - my goal for the second day, where I was staying with a
friend.  I stopped at the Koehler National Park along the lakefront
and went swimming.  Lake Michigan, even for late August, was quite
cold!  I arrived at my friends house at about 1 PM.  

The summary of Day 2: I left at 7:00 AM and arrived at 1:30 PM, 6-
1/2 hours.  The actual pedalling time was 4-1/2 hours and the
distance covered was only 51 miles, for an average speed of 11.5
MPH.

On the morning of the third day, I again started out early and
following the advice of the 'locals' I went north through Sheboygan
to the intersection of Route 23.  

Between Sheboygan and Wisconsin Dells, route 23 is the main, and
only, automotive route.  However, this route isn't always suitable
for a bicycle and in places is downright hostile to a bicycle.  It
becomes a narrow road with no shoulder at all.  

From Sheboygan and continuing west is another paved bicycle trail
that parallels Route 23 and goes roughly 10 miles, to the city of
Plymouth.  From this point, I travelled various country roads,
always paralleling route 23 but rarely if ever travelling on Route
23 itself.  This area is near the North Kettle Morraine area, and
has several 'killer hills' which I found it necessary to walk up. 
To make matters worse, on this third day I was travelling into a
fairly strong headwind.  However, the temperature had dropped into
the high 70's and the temperature was nearly ideal.  

In the early afternoon, I found myself in Fond DuLac, Wisconsin. 
I travelled through the south end of the city, and came across a
public swimming pool.  I took an afternoon shower and found
someplace to eat.  I continued west along a county highway that
again paralleled route 23 until I came to Ripon, where I stayed
that night.  

The summary of Day 3: I travelled from 6:00 AM until 7:00 PM, but
the actual pedalling time was only 8-1/2 hours, a distance of 85
miles and an average speed of 10.1 MPH.

On the morning of the fourth day, it was raining.  Staying a day in
Ripon wasn't appealing so at about 9 AM I decided to ride out in
spite of the rain.  I carefully packed the bags so that everything
would stay dry.  I wore clothing that I knew would get wet, and put
on canvas deck shoes which could get wet but then dry out without
harm.  Travelling in the intermittent rain isn't the most
enjoyable, but it isn't as bad as it sounds.  It certainly was more
enjoyable than spending a day in a motel room or tent!

My final destination was near Oxford, Wisconsin - about 10 miles
north of Wisconsin Dells.  However, on Day 4 the rain interfered
with the cyclometer and I estimated that I travelled a total of 60
miles.  I started out at 9:30 AM (because of the rain) and arrived
at this final destination at around 5:00 PM.  

The original plan was for my daughter to have driven up from
Chicago for the weekend, and then driven the bicycle and me back
home.  However, she ran into difficulty getting away, I had another
week of vacation, the weather report was promising - so I decided
to make a round-trip out of it.  

I stayed in Wisconsin about 4 day, and left early in the morning on
Thursday.  

I travelled to Portage, Wisconsin by various county highways, and
then continued south, again roughly following or paralleling Route
16.  There is a County Highway C that goes from roughly Rio all the
way south to Madison.  Along this highway is the town of Cottage
Grove - the western end of the Wisconsin Glacial Drumlin Bike Path. 
This is another abandoned railroad right of way that extends almost
all the way to Milwaukee.  The route is very level, and crushed
gravel quite suitable for a bicycle.  I took this trail to Lake
Mills, Wisconsin and found a motel on the north end of town
isolated from the main highways.  Lake Mills is a small town, has
a couple of excellent restaurants, is about in the middle of the
Glacial Drumlin Trail.  The motel was on the north side of town,
off of the main highway and nestled in the woods on a side road.  

By this time I had abandoned my careful measurements of the trip. 
I arrived in Lake Mills sometime in the evening and left reasonably
early the next morning.  I intended to find a suitable north-south
highway and either take it or another roughly parallel route.  I
missed my intended turning point and drive east quite a ways;
however, this wasn't necessarily out of my way as I had to travel
south and east anyway.  

My goad was to intersect route 83, and then either take it or find
a route parallel to it.  However, I realized that I needed to make
a decision: to take one day back home, or two.  Inasmuch as I was
enjoying the trip, I decided to take two full days, to find a
scenic route, and to enjoy the trip - staying the night someplace
in Wisconsin, near the border, so that the trip back to Chicago
would be an easy one-day affair.  I travelled through parts of the
Kettle Morraine Forest, the southern branch.  This is not as hilly
as the name might suggest.  I stopped in Burlington, Wisconsin to
eat, and found another stream with a beach area where I again went
swimming and cooled off.

I reached route 50, an east-west route.  As I was heading east on
this route I came across a plain wooden sign that said "Silver Lake
Motel."  Feeling adventurous, and as it was getting late in the
afternoon I decided to pursue this.  I turned down the side road
that the sign indicated, and followed this south.  There were no
further road signs, and I began to get worried.  

However, within a couple of miles I came across a small motel on
the shores of a small lake, no more than a mile in diameter.  There
was a country bar, the motel itself, and not much else for miles
around.  It was mid-week, and the motel was empty.  I got a room
without a problem, and it was thirty steps from my motel room to
the beach.  I went swimming on this, my last night on the road and
had a shot of Jack Daniels for supper.  Since there was little else
to do, I was in bed by 8:30 PM.

The last day of the ride was uneventful.  I came south, again
following side road, the compass, and the sun.  I came into the
Chain 'O Lakes area in Illinois, and spent some time in the Chain
O' Lakes State park.  From this area, I found Old McHenry Road and
proceeded to Long Grove Village - a scenic village famous for it's
shops.  I had two taffy apples there, and followed Route 83 to Lake
Cook Road.  From this point on the far northwest side of Illinois,
there is very little bicycle riding, except for the main suburban
roads themselves.  I took the Lake Cook Road directly east, back to
the Chicago Botanical Gardens where my trip began.  I returned home
following the last twenty miles that I began the journey - the Cook
Country Forest Preserve Bicycle Route.  

The total distance I put on the bicycle during this vacation was
slightly over 700 miles.  However, the trip was broken up into 4
days for the first part, followed by 4 days staying with my family
in Wisconsin, followed by a 3 day trip back to Chicago.  I had no
mechanical difficulties, and no flat tires!  

I'm fat, fifty, and I smoke.  I hate to exercise.  I probably have
no business taking a trip like this.  I wouldn't do it unless it
was fun.  It certainly was, and I'm looking forward to next year.


Bob Kastigar, (urkastig@uxa.ecn.bgu.edu)
Chicago, Illinois
From: jbrandt@hplredHPL.HP.COM (Jobst Brandt)
Date: Sat, 7 Nov 1992 02:07:20 GMT
Subject: Tour of the Alps '92
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, Palo Alto, CA