It was supposed to be in the low 60s today and mostly sunny, so I planned a ride with some folks to meet up at 11:30 at Jug’s Hitching Post for lunch and the suggestion of making it to the Holy Hill area. Usually I wait until the fall colors are closer to peak before heading there, but you never know what Mother Nature will hand us by then and it sounded like a better option for everyone as not to make it too much of a haul since we were all coming from different directions, including me!
Kevin planned on joining us for a bit with intentions of getting into the woods later in the afternoon for bow hunting and knowing how much he doesn’t mind leaving early when it would be pretty cool, since he has all the heated gear and equipment on his bike, I suggested he meet me here at my place to join me to meet Jody at Three Guy’s in the She Marsh at 10:30. Which he did and she was already there waiting for us.
From there I did not plan much of the Kettle’s because we had only an hour to get to Jug’s and I also figured Jody and I could take the Scenic Route on our way back. We arrived at Jug’s right around 11:30 and we beat everyone else. I wasn’t sure if Erica would join Kari, but she did not and she was the next one to arrive with Brad showing up almost right after her. There were two other Harley trikes that pulled in shortly after we got there and one of the riders mentioned how cold it was. Yeah, I at least was more prepared today by wearing my non-airflow jacket, including a long sleeve thermal with long sleeved hoodie, and my gauntlet gloves. That really helped and I even mentioned to Kevin on the way there, that it is almost balaclava weather.
We were pleasantly surprised that Jug’s wasn't busy with the Packer’s game starting at noon and were able to sit right away.
From there I planned a more direct route to the Holy Hill (HH) area by taking 175 all the way to Richfield before I planned to take Hubertus onto Hogsback and a bunch of other roads around the HH area. And on our way there when we were passing through Slinger, we noticed that they moved the skeleton display that used to be on 167 east of HH to the Sippie Hippie there. Just as we were turning onto Hubertus, Kevin mentioned that Brad was nowhere in sight behind him. So us gals pulled into a parking lot while he went back to find him. He called me and said that Brad had a pretty good oil leak and he was going to stay with him, and for us gals to continue on. There was a bit of a question if we should stay too, but I knew Kevin would be able to get him back home if needed and there wasn’t anything we could do but to sit there too. So, off we went.
I thought I knew the route almost like the back of my hand, but missed the turn onto Hogsback thinking it wasn’t so much of a turn off of Hubertus, but just a continuation. It didn’t take me long to realize it but then I needed to find a spot for us to pull over with the other traffic around. We got turned around in a subdivision and by the time we made it back to the turn off onto Hogsback, there was Gazoo a/k/a Kevin coming from the other direction turning onto it in front of us. Good thing I never turned off the mesh on my Sena, because we connected right away and I asked what about Brad? He said that Brad was going to gimp it home and stop somewhere to get some oil to top it off on his way back to Fondy.
Since it was a bit chilly, the Packer’s were playing and the colors not near peak, we did not have to deal with much traffic around HH which was good so we could stop on Shamrock to take some photos of it on the sunny side. Also, since we were kind of running a little late, I told Kevin I opted not to stop to take photos by Dublin and Hwy 167 which was good because I wouldn’t have been able to walk out into the field to do so, because they had not harvested the corn there yet.
We stopped at the BP near there on Hwy 83 for fuel and to see who would stick with Jody and I to Slinger. I was planning on stopping for cream there at Little Sweetz, but I wasn’t sure if Kari would just want to head back towards Fondy with Kevin or if he would even follow us to Slinger. She said she was good to stay with us and when we turned off of Kettle Moraine Road towards Slinger, Kevin kept on heading north towards home.
Lucky for us Little Sweetz was still open as most seasonal cream spots have closed already for the season, and we enjoyed a nice visit and our cream outside in the sun.
From there Kari headed back to Hwy 175 to head home and Jody and I continued on Hwy 144 north to Glacier Rd before hooking up on the marked Scenic Route through the northern Kettle’s, all the way to Glenbeulah, with a stop at the Mill Pond to chat before we would split up near Elkhart.
It was such an enjoyable day, and it had been a year since Jody and I rode together, so I was very happy she could join us! The only bummer was that Brad had issues and couldn’t make it with us around HH. When I got home I did notice a missed call from him saying that although he stopped in Slinger for oil, it was still leaking out pretty good and he called his brother to come pick him up.
Also, although there weren’t much for vibrant colors on HH, there certainly were some really good pockets of it everywhere we went today. Especially closer to home.
