SAGBRAW Day 3 Plymouth to Waupun.....

I have been going about the business of trying to make a new route to find the regular route all wrong. I've been getting on the computer, locating the route on a map, creating a new map to an intercepting point, then uploading the new map to my GPS.

All I have to do is turn on the GPS and tell it to navigate the REGULAR route, and it will tell me which way to go to find the "pink line." Duh. (Bicycle GPS units don't have spoken commands. At least mine doesn't.)

Now that we have THAT out of the way.

It was no problem to get to the route from our campground this morning. It was about a 3-mile ride on what could have been a busy highway, but it was early. Besides, most of the roads here have nice shoulders that are plenty wide for riding a bicycle.

The downside of this town is that the nearest campground (supposedly) was 11 miles BEYOND the school where the route ended. The next one was 18 miles. I wasn't looking forward to riding 64 miles and then tacking on an additional 11, but I was resigned to having to do it.

Then Hubby called me in the middle of my ride. He said the campground sucked, and even the proprietress suggested he might want to look somewhere else. (Her "campground" is mostly for "old folks" [her words] and fishermen.) Hubby showed her the map of where we were going to be and the list of suggested campgrounds provided by the ride organizers. He showed her the one that was 18 miles away, and she said, "Oh no, you don't want to stay THERE. It's worse than THIS one."

Then she looked at the map and said there was a campground just 2 miles from the school. I was a little dubious when Hubby told me, because SURELY the ride organizers would have included one that was a mere 2 miles from the school when they were creating a list of nearby campgrounds. Wouldn't they?

Ahem.

Hubby picked me up at the school (thank all that is holy for THAT), and we did indeed find the campground. It is indeed 2 miles from the school. And we were the only campers. (Some more have since moved in.) Better yet, there is a golf course right across the road. Hubby already has a tee time for 8:30 tomorrow morning with one of the club members. How cool is that? Because tomorrow is the loop ride, we will be camping here two nights. It is a very, very nice campground.

A rather silly shadow shot of me riding along. I wonder if people think I'm nuts when I take photos while I'm riding.

There was a photo op at the top of Parnell Tower, somewhere around 11 miles on today's route. A lot of us made the trek through the woods and then climbed the 96 steps (according to a girl who was already there) to the top. It was well worth the effort. I realize the sun is interfering, but that's Lake Michigan way off in the distance.

The views from the tower were breath-taking.

Or maybe THIS one is Lake Michigan. How soon we forget.

Breath-taking. Heart-stopping. Jaw-dropping.

When I left the tower, the route took us past this little farm. Sure enough, when I turned around to look, the tower was barely visible above the tops of the trees.

I know, I know, I've seen farms before. But I can't stop taking pictures of them.

I didn't really stop here. Just paused to take the picture.

I was almost past this one before I got the shot off. I was intrigued by the "Ice Age Visitor Center."

This one was worth getting off the bike for. It's hard to see clearly, but the walls of the church are covered in ivy. Just gorgeous.

We had a rest stop in a pavilion in the small town of Campbellsport. I love that name.

I wanted to see what the quarry looked like. Or maybe I just had to go up to the fence because there was a sign warning against trespassing.

I have discovered some things about myself regarding taking photographs on bike rides. I start off the week trying to document every pedal stroke, every scenic view, every cool thing I see. Then by the end of the week everything starts to look similar and the number of photos drops off considerably. I'm also more likely to take photos early in the day. (That's also the time when I'm more likely to pass another rider and say pleasantly, "Good morning!" Not so much later in the day when it's hot and I'm tired.)

Most of the pictures I take are snapped from my bicycle while I'm riding. It's always a crap shoot whether I will actually get what I meant to take a picture of. Some are worthy of stopping my bike to get a good shot. And some are worthy of turning around and going BACK to get the shot, like the ivy-covered church above.

I'm so glad I came on this ride. I may never get back to Wisconsin, and I'm enjoying every minute. Except for some of the steep uphills maybe.

SAGBRAW Day 2 Manitowoc to Plymouth.....

The first 15-20 miles of the ride were along the shore of Lake Michigan this morning. I was surprised there wasn't more development along the shore. There were occasional houses and little farms, so it doesn't appear that building there is banned. And the houses didn't look like you had to have a bajillion dollars to build there. Just something that made me go hmmmmm....

Today was a little hillier, a little hotter, and a little farther than yesterday's route, so I was a little slower. I had to ride the additional 6 miles this morning that I cut off yesterday, plus about 3 to get to tonight's campground. That made my total mileage for today 72 miles. I had a little moment of panic when I got to the last town and started trying to navigate to where Hubby was camped. I had put it in my bike GPS, but I should have started following it sooner. I could have cut off a couple of miles, but whatever. It will be a little worse tomorrow. I have to get back to the route, then tomorrow night's campground is 11 miles beyond the stopping point. So my ride tomorrow might be closer to 80 miles. Yikes. My friend Larry has a rule that if you ride 80 miles, you have to ride 100. Good thing Larry isn't here, and he's not the boss of me anyway.

This campground is marvelous, but dang if they don't have a bunch of rules. I made a joke on FB about breaking some of them, but I'm too tired. I'm a rule follower anyway. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. They had two typed pages of rules. Here's just a small sample:

• Bikes are not to be ridden after dark. Bikes out after dark must be walked, even if they have lights.
• Walking or biking through campsites is prohibited.
• Rottweilers or Pit Bull's [sic] are not permitted in the park at any time. Proof of vaccinations must be provided upon request. No more than two dogs are allowed on a site. Excessive barking is prohibited.
• All non-seasonal golf carts must be registered in the office and will incur a $20 or $50 (plus tax) registration fee. The office must have proof of $100,000 liability insurance naming the cart on your golf cart prior to check in. [Huh?] They also must be inspected and approved by the General Manager.
• All vehicles in the park must have a valid pass at all times. Park speed limit is 10 MPH. Speeding is prohibited. Motorcycles may only be driven from the park office to your site. [How you get out of the park is your problem.]
• Visitors must leave by 9 pm unless registered as an overnight guest. Visitors arriving after 7 pm must be registered as an overnight guest. Fees will be adjusted to a day fee if departure is before 9 pm. [Huh?] All visitors four years of age and older must purchase a guest pass. 

I'm not implying that any of their rules are unreasonable - even the ones I can't understand. I just think it's funny that there are so many of them. To go with their rules, however, they have a lake, a restaurant (open on weekends only - drat), three pools, an activity center, a dance hall, an amphitheater, paved roads, cable television, and holy moly a bunch of campsites. We are number 425, and we aren't even at the end.

My Internet is very wonky tonight. Slow as molasses, and I'm having trouble with captions for the photos. So you'll just have to use your imagination.