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A Day Trip To "Newport" And The Antique Boat Show - emptysea - 09-29-2014

Some 20,000 years ago, glacial action in southern Wisconsin carved the land, flattening it mostly into gently rolling hills. Every so often, though, it created "kettles". Most of these are small; not much more than 100 or 200 yards across and 10 or 20 feet deep. There was one kettle, though, that was much larger and much deeper and, as happenstance would have it, it was located at the southern tip of the Troy Valley glacial lobe which was melting. The lobe melted and the water flowed in small streams at first and in rushing rivers later into the seven mile long, one hundred foot deep scar in the ground which is now named Geneva Lake.

If it took ice to create this beautiful lake, it took fire to bring the beautiful people to the beautiful lake. In 1871, The Great Chicago Fire burned most of a small town down and from its ashes rose a great international city. The rebuilding brought great wealth to many Chicagoans, particularly business men and builders. Geneva Lake was the perfect place for their summer cottages. Names like Swift and Wrigley, McCormick and Field, Sears and Pinkerton built homes named "The Oaks", "Younglands", "Villa Hortensia", and "Maple Lawn". When your summer cottage is large enough to have its own name, you have made it.

Lake Geneva, which is the name of the town, not the lake, was given the nickname "The Newport of the West" because of the wealth, the cottages (mansions), and the quaint "eastern seaboard" feel of the place; and because of the boats. If you live on a lake, you probably own a boat. If you are wealthy and live on a lake, you probably own an expensive boat. The annual Geneva Lake Antique and Classic Boat Show puts on display some of the most beautiful vessels ever built and I decided it was a perfect destination for a motorcycle ride with friends.

Most of my usual riding companions were unavailable, but my wife and our dear friend Laura were up for a ride, especially since our riding days are numbered in this part of the country. It was just going to be the three of us--me and two beautiful women. On motorcycles. on arguably the best weather day of the entire year. Nice work, if you can get it I say.

Gearing Up
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Meet up was at 9:00. Laura was punctual as usual and we were on our way by about 9:15. About 70 degrees at departure time, the thermometer would climb into the lower 80s by early afternoon, before cooling down nicely on our return trip. Wispy white clouds broke up the expanse of azure, but only barely filtering out the bright autumn sun. It was an amazingly beautiful day.

A great view in the mirror.
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And pretty nice views out front, too.
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Google Maps says that the direct round-trip would be 165 miles and take 3 hours 15 minutes. We would travel 180 miles and take nearly 5 hours to get to and from. My route was designed not to touch an interstate and to keep time on any 4-lane highway to the bare minimum. We were in no hurry and wanted to enjoy the beginnings of the fall color change. We headed out.

There's a little fast-food stand in Delavan, which I love and which is close enough to Geneva Lake to make it my choice for lunch before the show. It's called Lopez's Anchor In and I particularly love their tacos and homemade guacamole. Anchor In and their food trailer play a reasonably significant role in my family's history, but I'll post that in my Ride To Eat thread sometime (heh). However, I found out a few days before the ride (via Facebook for all you nay-sayers) that Anchor In was closing Friday for the season. Since our trip was Saturday, I posted on their page my disappointment at this news and was promptly informed that, while the main store was closed, they would have their food trailer our at an apple fest event at The Apple Barn Orchard and that it was just a few miles up the road in Elkhorn and that I should stop by and get some tacos, maybe some apples, and enjoy the live music. Done and done. I just changed my route a little and we'd head to Elkhorn and this orchard for lunch then turn south to Geneva Lake for the show.

I prefer to write out my turn-by-turn directions longhand. I have found that it helps me reinforce the route in my mind, plus I can write nice and big which helps my aging eyes. I now keep a spiral notebook in the map slot of my tank bag for this purpose and for writing notes about the ride (such as the rough draft for this report). My written route was flawless unless you count 3 miles on "rough grooved surface" as a flaw, but really? Who knew? I was very detailed in my planning, even to the point of using Street View on Google to determine that there was a paved driveway and parking area at the orchard.

I had to stop to turn the page in my notebook. Not sure if there was a prettier place to do this on the entire ride.
(Laura on her F6B)
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(Cheryl on her CTX. Oh and me)
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(Obligatory CB1100 picture)
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Apple Barn Orchard is just a few miles outside of Elkhorn,which is to say, it's in the middle of nowhere, but the giant apple and the traffic cops were subtle clues that I had followed my directions without a wrong turn or a stop to check Google Maps -- a proud moment for me, frankly.

Upon arriving at the orchard, I realized that the paved driveway and parking area was covered with food trailers, picnic tables, and clog dancers. The traffic cops were directing us to a gravel drive that I never saw on Street View. I asked the cop if there was paved parking for our bikes. I honestly believe he was trying to be helpful when he replied "Oh, don't worry. The gravel ends real quick and then you just ride up the hill on the grass. Should be a flat spot up there someplace".

No one likes to ride their street bike on gravel, but Laura really hates it. I think riding on gravel is a little like hitting sand shots in golf: you have to do it over and over again to get the hang of it and then once you do, it still kind of sucks. None of us really have a lot of confidence with it, but we were all trained on what to do.

Gravel then up a grassy and bumpy hill, not to mention the grassy and more bumpy downhill part upon our exit. It was time to test our slow-speed and off-road skills. In and out again. No drops, nothing soiled, and new confidence built in all three of us. Easy-peasy Lemon Squeezy!

Success!!
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The Apple Barn was crazy-crowded, but I managed to get me 3 taco, soft, no sour cream fix in. We enjoyed a few minutes of a clog dancing performance, had lunch, decided not to wait in line to check out the little gift shop, and headed to Abbey Resort & Marina in Fontana, WI to check out some boats.

This guy chugged that entire jug of cider except for that little bit at the bottom. I'm not sure if he noticed how long the line was for the rest room before he did that.
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Selfie in front of my favorite food trailer.
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Paved parking and a short walk were welcome greetings upon our arrival at the show. The boats were stunning. Being raised around small boats, some of the antiques were boats I had actually seen on the water when they were practically, if not actually, new. Most of them, though, were a little older, and worth far more, than I am.

Learned to water ski behind a boat very similar to this one, just a few years newer.
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In the 60's, there was a marina at the other end of the lake that would have looked just like this every weekend.
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Fins were in style for cars AND boats.
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Bob Switzer built racing boats. This is one of them (it's wood, by the way)
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Correct Craft made (and makes) great ski boats. We had a 1978 Ski Tique. I wish we still had it and I wish I was....
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Chris Craft.
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Ordinarily, the trip back to Chicago from Geneva Lake can be tedious. The main routes from Fontana are US14 or US12 and both travel through several decent-sized towns with lots of stop lights. It can be pretty brutal. In planning a route to avoid the 4-lanes, I noticed this little road that runs roughly parallel to and in between US12 and US14. What a gem of a road, although not because it was curvy because it isn't. It was pretty straight with farms on either side for most of it, but there were hardly any vehicles on it, very view stop signs, only the tiniest of towns, and it kept us out of suburban sprawl for as long as possible. When we did finally get close to home, I took us along the tree-lined and winding roads around affluent Barrington and Long Grove. I always enjoy seeing how the other 1% live.

We stopped for an ice cream sundae at Buffalo Restaurant and Ice Cream Parlor in Buffalo Grove. Home by about 5:00, I enjoyed a cigar and the remainder of this amazing day from the comfort of my patio.



For Cormanus...Here are my route notes. LOL

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RE: A Day Trip To "Newport" And The Antique Boat Show - Cormanus - 09-29-2014

Great report, EmptySea. What a great way to spend a day: bikes, women and boats. Couldn't be better.

I don't think I'm up to another map this week! But it's there as a challenge for a rainy day. Tongue

RE: A Day Trip To "Newport" And The Antique Boat Show - Pterodactyl_imp - 09-29-2014

ES, great ride report.

The countryside looks beautiful. The villas you describe sound as though they come straight out of The Great Gatsby. How about, next time, you hone your paparazzi skills and give us some over the front security fence photos. Wow! Those wooden deck antique speedies are stunning. Makes me think that greed is good. Very good. If a boat has to have a motor then it's got to look like those.

Mate, sorry, but I have to say this. The Cheryl, CTX and you photo. Cheryl - lovely. The CTX - well it's a good bike. But you! Mate, you look as though you are ready for a bank job. Scary. Smile

Cheers, and keep those reports coming. A good read.

RE: A Day Trip To "Newport" And The Antique Boat Show - the Ferret - 09-29-2014

Hello Hi Laura and Cheryl

Nice pics and report ES. I was never into water...or boats,( motorcycles and mountains are my thing) but those are pretty cool looking boats.artistry and craftsmanship are usually beautiful no matter the subject. Looks like it was a great day!

RE: A Day Trip To "Newport" And The Antique Boat Show - redbirds_imp - 09-30-2014

Love those beautiful wood boats. Thanks for the great pics and story.

RE: A Day Trip To "Newport" And The Antique Boat Show - Delphisa - 09-30-2014

I enjoy old boats shows, when I saw "antique" in this post title, I had to have a look !

Recently I watched a new antique boat revival : Sunday, 7 September 2014, L'Hermione left Rochefort for the first time and sailed away downstream on the Charente river for the open ocean and a series of sea trials. I was on holidays near by Rochefort, so I went and see that, it was a great event for the whole Charente area.

I took a lot of pictures! See a few of them hereunder, and some more in higher resolution, in this picasaweb album :
https://picasaweb.google.com/jp.sembely/2014_09_07LHermione?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCPeQi83YtMqY6AE&feat=directlink

For more information about l'Hermione, visit the project website http://www.hermione.com/en/home/
This project started about 17 years ago... Now nearly completed !

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Hope you will enjoy
Jean-Pierre

RE: A Day Trip To "Newport" And The Antique Boat Show - emptysea - 09-30-2014

Awesome, Jean-Pierre. Thanks!

RE: A Day Trip To "Newport" And The Antique Boat Show - MFGUSA_imp - 09-30-2014

Interesting lead in with that glacial geography MTC. You should write for National Geographic.

Boats are cool. If you like Bikes and Cars, then boats may be the next progression, especially if you like water and live near the Great Lakes. Boat loads (sorry) of them are here in Peshtigo Wisconsin, which also had a fire in October of 1871 (same day as the Chicago fire) but killing @2500 people). Peshtigo was the home of Thompson Boats. They made wooden pleasure craft (inboard and outboard) from 1918 to about 1960 and you see quite a few of them in the Marinette area still. I'd be surprised if there weren't any at the Geneva show. Carver and Cruisers are also manufactured nearby as well as the big Littoral Combat Ships at Marinette Marine corp. Lots of builders still in Wisconsin.

RE: A Day Trip To "Newport" And The Antique Boat Show - the Ferret - 09-30-2014

My goodness that's a lot of ropes Jean-Pierre

RE: A Day Trip To "Newport" And The Antique Boat Show - emptysea - 09-30-2014

(09-30-2014, 09:48 AM)MFGUSA_imp Wrote: Interesting lead in with that glacial geography MTC. You should write for National Geographic.

Boats are cool. If you like Bikes and Cars, then boats may be the next progression, especially if you like water and live near the Great Lakes. Boat loads (sorry) of them are here in Peshtigo Wisconsin, which also had a fire in October of 1871 (same day as the Chicago fire) but killing @2500 people). Peshtigo was the home of Thompson Boats. They made wooden pleasure craft (inboard and outboard) from 1918 to about 1960 and you see quite a few of them in the Marinette area still. I'd be surprised if there weren't any at the Geneva show. Carver and Cruisers are also manufactured nearby as well as the big Littoral Combat Ships at Marinette Marine corp. Lots of builders still in Wisconsin.

There were quite a number of Thompsons at the show, their white lapstrake hulls shining in stark contrast to the smooth dark mahogany finishes on the Chris-Crafts and Hacker-Crafts.
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