Daily Archives: September 14, 2013

Bicycling, Uncategorized

Tour 2013 – Day 16: Oconto, Wisconsin

DSCF0710

Today we are scheduled to be picked up by our son, Matt, who is on-call for work this weekend and pulled an all-nighter on Friday night, so we don’t expect him until after 6:00pm.  We are “camped out” in the lobby of the Riverview Inn, where we stayed last night.

DSCF0689

This morning, we took the opportunity of a “no-ride” day to ride about 8 miles, touring the city of Oconto (Population 4300) to get another look at the historic old Victorian houses and other prominent buildings, plus the old downtown main street we missed when we came in yesterday. Even at the slow pace of bicycle travel, sometimes it takes a bit more time and side paths to actually see the small towns we pass through.

DSCF0688

We noticed a prominent building at the “Y” between Main and Chicago at the west end of downtown: overnight, we found it was the first ever Christian Science church, so we needed a photo and closer look.  We also went back an circled by Beyer House, now a museum, and discovered that, in addition to a guest house we saw yesterday, there is a carriage house, large gazebo, and a World War II battle tank at the back of the two square-block property.

DSCF0699 DSCF0700 DSCF0701

 

We also checked out the Catholic Church, Oconto County Court House, and a few other prominent houses on Main before heading to the municipal airport west of town to check out the fly-in, tractor, and custom car show to be held later in the day.  We returned to our hotel via a short bike trail along the freeway and along the river.

DSCF0695 DSCF0707

We packed up for car travel, checked out, and sat in the lobby to await pickup at the end of the day–had we known we would be waiting all day, we might have spent the day at the fly-in, but it was nice to be indoors most of the day, after two weeks out in the sun and wind and rain.

DSCF0715 DSCF0720 DSCF0721 DSCF0724

The morning’s excursion puts our total mileage at just about 390 miles. Despite coming up short on our goal, this has been the longest bike tour we have ever taken, exceeding the 1987 Seattle-to-Portland (200 miles in two days), 1988 Glacier N.P. and Canadian Parks tour (310 miles in two segments, 40 and 270, respectively), and 2011 Florida Keys tour (160 tandem + 76 single), as well as many other two-day 100-150 mile weekend tours in the mid 1980s and mid 2000s and the 2007 Skagit/Klamath Falls/Rogue River segmented tour, approximately 225 miles total over two weeks.

Bicycling

Tour 2013 – Day 15: Peshtigo – Oconto

DSCF0680
What we planned as a “rest day”–actually, a short 17-mile day–turned out quite differently. We headed out into a crisp, clear almost-fall morning on quiet County Road Y, which turned straight south until it reached the lake, where we stopped at a county park boat-launch and campground.
20130913_090743
Now completely at the mercy of Google Maps bicycle mode, we left the main road onto a narrow country lane, chip-sealed, but not rough like the roads back home in Washington.  After a mile, we came to a “T” and turned south again on a “rustic” lane, barely wide enough for a car to pass a bicycle (one did), such that the tree canopies touched overhead in places.
DSCF0685
The lane ended at the edge of the city of Oconto, where we joined the main “back road” into town, passing by newer homes and the hospital/medical complex before entering the historic downtown area, with huge Victorian homes and churches lining the streets.
DSCF0686
Our route jogged past a school and ended at the 110-year-old Farnsworth Public Library, where we stopped for the morning to catch up on Internet duties.  Leaving the library, we headed west toward the highway business bypass, where we had late breakfast at Wayne’s, a venerable old “comfort food” and pie establishment where many of the regulars no longer fit in the booths.

We decided to opt for the Riverview Inn nearby, formerly a Ramada Inn, which was more expensive than the mom-and-pop on the edge of town, but close to shopping.  Checking in, we discovered that this weekend is a Green Bay Packers home game, so we were unlikely to find any lodging in Green Bay, 37 miles further on, and at inflated prices if we could, with a two-night minimum for the weekend.  A quick check on-line showed no availability within the maximum distance we could ride in a day.

So, we decided that, instead of shortening our trip to end at Oshkosh on Tuesday, as we had decided after realizing we needed a really short day to recover from 11 straight riding days, we would need to see if Matthew could pick us up Saturday, four days early.  Thus, our continuous tour ends at 382 miles (615Km).  We plan to ride some on Saturday before being picked up in the afternoon and will ride around Oregon next week, maybe even one more long (70Km) run to catch the train to Seattle next Friday.  Stay tuned.

The main goals on a bicycle tour are:

1) to not die.  This means selecting low-traffic routes if possible, being vigilant and cautious, dressing appropriately, and keeping hydrated and fueled sufficiently.

2) to reach the day’s goal with enough reserve to ride a bit more if necessary, and fit enough to ride the next day.  This means selecting a reasonable goal attainable with moderate effort, and allowing time for repairing minor breakdowns.  This was part of the reason for some of the short days–the next town or available lodging beyond the nearer one was too far.

3) to have fun: this means picking a scenic route, taking the opportunity to meet interesting people along the way, and to not push too hard, even if it means pushing the bike from time to time.

4) to realize it isn’t about the bike: if it isn’t feasible to ride (i.e., you can’t satisfy one or more of the three rules above), alter your plans.  Hitchhike, ask a stranger for help, take a bus, or rent a car.  It is never required to finish the ride on your wheels, but it is necessary to end the journey when and where you need to, one way or another.