Day 35 Butte Des Morts to Manitowoc

 LAKE MICHIGAN 

I had a wonderful 2 day layover with Ann & Gus in Butte Des Morts. It rained hard on day 1; being in a warm dry house was great! Vai left in the morning and had a wet but good ride to Green Bay, mostly on paved bike trails. Day 2 was bike maintenance and eventually sunshine and a boat ride on Lake Butte Des Morts to a restaurant for dinner.

I left this morning about 8:30 and had generally a pleasant ride mostly on - you guessed it - empty, straight, lonely roads, combined with a bit of a busy state route and a wonderful hard packed gravel bike path. There was one errant border collie by a dairy farm that came after me. Fortunately my foot found him rather than his teeth finding me.  His owner called him off moments later.

The route took me around Lake Winnebago, through Appleton and then Brillon for lunch.  Not sure what is about lunch and winds; no wind in the morning headwind all afternoon, not the first time this has happened. Can it be the afternoon sea breeze in this neighborhood?  Fortunately I did not have far to go after lunch.  Eventually I arrived at the shores of Lake Michigan! Other than the headwind, which wasn’t too bad, sunshine and 70s.

Scenery today, corn, soybeans and dairy farms. I rode through a few neighborhoods in Appleton, Brillion and Manitowoc, they were well kept, orderly, and with many white picket fences. For me, there is a much different feel than Seattle neighborhoods; not better or worse just different.

Tomorrow no riding but I will take the SS Badger across Lake Michigan in the afternoon from here, Manitowoc, to Ludington, Michigan.

Some pics for the day:

By the numbers:
Dist 67.8 miles
Elev Gain 1,572 ft
Elev Loss 1,742 ft
Moving time: 5:57

Total to date
Dist 2,350.6 miles
Elev gain 64,087
Elev Loss 62,309
Moving time 185 hrs 57 min

Note: Manitowoc is not at 1,700 ft.  Elev gain/loss will need further review.