It has been at least a couple of years since I made a trip through the Menomonee Reservation north of Keshena, and yesterday Kevin and I agreed to make it there today with finding a place to meet up. Which we chose New Holstein (NH) and we left a little earlier than usual since it would be quite a hike. Also, since it would potentially require a wardrobe change (hah!), I put the panniers on the bike with a t-shirt in one, as I wore a long-sleeve thermal when I headed out with the non-airflow jacket because it was only in the 50s in the morning.
I believe it was close to 9:30 when we met up in NH at the BP on the north side and I had planned almost all highways, with a couple of alphabet roads to get to Shawano where we planned to stop for breakfast at the Inn on the Farm. We luckily beat some of the large church’s services from letting out, but they were still really busy. Not a bad wait though; only 10-15 minutes. However, with the drive up heading into the northern winds and cooler temps, the A/C they had cranking in there was almost unbearable.
From there we headed up on 47/22 to Keshena with a stop along the falls near the entrance to 55 through the Reservation for some photos and enjoyment of the beauty all around there.
We were mostly lucky with only a couple of hold-ups with slower vehicles and of course, they would not abide by using the pull-outs to allow the faster traffic (us) to get by, so we had to pass them. We ended up taking WW/W east into the Mountain area and couldn’t take one of the roads off of W because it was being resurfaced and completely construction gravel. So, we had to take 32 south and decided to stay on it longer than planned with bypassing some of the back roads I had picked, in order to save some time.
We had talked about hitting Scoops in Chilton for cream since Kevin planned on staying with me until then to take 151 home, but since it was getting late and he needed to mow his lawn, etc., we opted to skip that. When we were approaching Chilton, I noticed what looked like some huge kites being flown west of town and since Kevin was going that way, he stopped to take some photos of them and sent them to me after he got home.
From Chilton I took 32 through NH and Kiel, but I goofed when leaving Kiel by taking 67 south thinking it was 32/57. However, it was a great mistake with all of the really nice twisties through that stretch, and then I took Cty A east out of Elkhart to get home.
I was pooped! 265 miles and we only stopped twice after Keshena. Once for me to gas up along Hwy 32 and at a Kwik Trip in Kaukauna for a stretch, water and the bathroom.
It was great to get up through the Reservation, but the road is really getting bad and you had to be really careful with the lines you took due to that. I also found out that I can now fit my bike with the panniers on and my vehicle, now that my former ride is gone.
Oh, and it never got warm enough to warrant me to want to change into that t-shirt. Even with the wind on our backs on the way home, there were some significant cloud coverage as well.
Still and awesome day of riding!
