Kevin and I planned to ride today and last night I sent him a route we initially were going to do in June, but didn’t due to weather or something. It was to hit Sally B’s in Wayside for lunch and then ending up back in Elkhart for cream. However, this morning I was really feeling the pain in my right leg due to some tightened muscles and sciatic nerve issues, but I really did want to go and it never bothers me while I am on the bike. So, it didn’t take Kevin much to talk me into still going.
We met at the Mill Pond in Glenbeulah and walked around since we had plenty of time to get to Sally B’s for when they opened at 11. I was looking for crawfish, but could only find a dead one. However, met some kind of snake there, which I thought was a water moccasin, but they’re apparently not in Wisconsin.
From there we headed north and west with a stop along Lime Kiln Road so that I could show Kevin the kilns. Then north to Wayside through New Holstein and Brillion and we arrived at Sally B’s shortly after they opened. It actually was quite a bit smaller than it appeared on the GPS view, but only a couple of guys at the bar and while we were there two other couples showed up. Kevin was so impressed with his burger, he made sure to tell them twice. I had a ham and cheese, and we shared some extra crispy tater tots.
From there we headed north and Kevin seemed a bit disappointed the route wasn’t very long, so I told him we should try hitting the Maribel Caves since I was also quite certain the really old deteriorating plantation we went by last year was near there too or maybe part of it.
And sure enough, it was right near the entrance of the trails to the cave, but it wasn’t part of the park and on private property. So we couldn’t get up close to it. Pretty darn cool looking, though! By this time it was getting quite muggy and warm, but we wanted to check out the caves and once we hit the trails, there was some nice shade provided by the canopy of trees. The majority of the caves were too small without crawling to get deeper into them. However, we were able to get some really good glimpses of them and enter to a certain point. This is also part of the Niagara Escarpment, which I plan to take a trip in October to the Niagara Falls, also part of the Escarpment. So, today was a really nice prelude to my trip!
From there we zig-zagged back to Elkhart Lake for cream at Gessert’s, and after that we split up as he planned to take Cty J north out of Elkhart and I scooted past the Osthoff and Quic Qui Oc Golf Course to Garton road all the way back to Grove.
Although not as many miles as usual today, and probably more for Kevin this time, I still put in 151 which was plenty for me with how sticky warm it was getting, including we were both somewhat tired. I also really enjoyed all of the nature we discovered today! And my leg/knee never bothered me once!!
