A Brighton Sunny Saturday

[emptysea]

Part I: Of Breakfast, Bogs, and Back Roads

Cheryl makes the best apple pie in the world. Yes, you heard it here first. Oh, I know that you think that your wife, or mom, or grandma, or the little old lady who lived down the street from you when you were a kid has the best apple pie, but you'd be wrong. I'm sure they're all delicious, but my wife's is the best.

Mind you, part of the deliciousness of her apple pie is likely attributed to its scarcity. Bock beer, Beaujolais Nouveau wine, and Shamrock Shakes probably all taste just a bit better because of their typically limited availability. So it may be with Cheryl's apple pie. However, like residents of Capistrano, I eagerly await its (not much more than) annual return.

I checked the 7 day forecast on Monday and Saturday was looking really good, especially for late October in Illinois. High temperatures near 70 and, more important than that, low temps in the mid-50s. I had learned just the day before how important the "kickstands up" temperature can be. Saturday was looking as perfect as could be, so I sent out an email to my friends to see if they would like to join us on our (my) quest for apple pie.

Brightonwoods Orchard is in southern Wisconsin, just across from the oft-mentioned by me Bong Recreational Area. Brightonwoods was established in 1950 and has an emphasis on preserving existing heirloom varieties of apples and pears along with newer varieties. 15 acres of land is home to over 200 varieties of fruit on 3,000 semi-dwarf trees. It's located on a small county, mostly tree-lined, road. The gravel driveway and grass parking area make this a 9.5 out of 10 on the "Great Places to Stop on Your Motorcycle" scale.

Sharing the parking area with the Orchard is AEppelTreow Winery & Distillery which produces some very interesting "hard" cider, perry, fortified wines, and spirits, all made with locally-sourced fruits and berries. They have free tastings with samples so small that participating in one, if you do it before exploring the orchard and the store, will not impair riding ability one iota. Do not opt for full-pay flight, though. I think that might have you sleeping it off under the giant oak tree in the middle of the parking area.

I guess everyone else was checking Saturday's weather, too, because I got several "I'm in" replies. Marty, Scott, both Mikes, and Kelly with her riding buddy Bill would be joining Cheryl and me. Eight riders in all. I was a little disappointed that our two frequent passengers, Jennifer and Judy, were not available because this ride was going to be perfect for 2-up riding. Kelly's "I am so there!!" reply, though, did make me smile--I just loved the enthusiasm.

Kelly and Bill both live north of the rest of us and much closer to the Wisconsin state line. It made the most sense to pick them up on our way north. I found out later in the day that Kelly doesn't like going south anyway, so picking a second meet-up spot closer to her was a good choice for all.

Over the last couple of riding seasons, our group (at least the ones who live near each other) would typically meet at one of our houses before heading out. Often, we would immediately ride to a local breakfast joint. I have come to the conclusion that while, it's nice to meet and great everyone at our house, it usually takes 15 minutes to 1/2 hour to greet one another (helmets off, hugs, talking about the ride, helmets back on, etc.) and then mount up. For this ride, I had the idea that we would meet at the local breakfast joint to begin with. Plenty of time for hugs and conversation while we waited for a table. If anyone wanted to skip breakfast, they could just meet at the restaurant a little later.

The initial meet-up spot would be Katie's Kitchen, a local restaurant with good food and a big parking lot. Mike A. accurately pointed out that it "looks a little too nice for us", but the food is great, the staff is friendly and it's easy to park.

Katie's Kitchen
[url=http://s1318.photobucket.com/user/emptysea43/media/Brighton%20Your%20Day/128cf2557fd17adb3216eb14a18b54b6_zpsb0f8a05f.jpg.html]

Meet up time was 8:00 for breakfast and 9:00 otherwise. Everyone, except Kelly and Bill of course, opted to eat. Marty was a little late, for which Cheryl good-naturedly gave him a rash of sh*t as this was the second ride for which he was ummm delayed. I haven't told him yet, but I'm thinking that his new nickname within our group is TM (short for Tardy Marty). Marty is a very experienced and excellent rider, a lot of fun to be around, and I'm very happy that he has been able to join us on a couple of rides this season. Meeting at the first stopping point, the restaurant in this case, worked out perfectly and will now be part of most of the rides I organize in the future.

This ride was to be filled with fall scenery so I opted out of meeting Kelly at a gas station or our previous meeting spot in a mall parking lot. Finding a pretty route out of the Chicago suburbs can be tough, but I think I had found one. There had to be a more aesthetically pleasing place to stop than a mall.

In other reports, I have tried to describe the topography of southern Wisconsin, especially the geological pockmarks that give Kettle Moraine its name. The glacier that receded leaving the kettles behind also left kettle lakes. Some of these, usually deep, lakes had high banks and poor drainage and this allowed vegetation to grow, turning them into marshes and bogs. 6,000 years ago, vegetation started to grow along the edges of a 50 acre lake located about 40 miles northwest of what is now O'Hare Airport. As the vegetation died and re-grew, peat began to form allowing more vegetation and eventually Volo Bog was formed. This seemed to be the perfect place to pick up Kelly and Bill.

Volo Bog is beautiful, maybe especially so in fall, although I had never visited it before. Kelly and Bill had not yet arrived, so Cheryl grabbed a visitor's guide and lead us on a short walk on the floating walkway over the bog. What a great start to our day!

[url=http://s1318.photobucket.com/user/emptysea43/media/Brighton%20Your%20Day/a1dfbd9cb60d04c43c8992fa06cb8057_zps2adff1ce.jpg.html]

L to R Mike G, Cheryl, Mike A, Scott, TM (Marty)
[url=http://s1318.photobucket.com/user/emptysea43/media/Brighton%20Your%20Day/914c2498c4d0437b6dd944d2915caad6_zps6704339d.jpg.html]

Kelly and her Kawasaki Ninja 650
[url=http://s1318.photobucket.com/user/emptysea43/media/Brighton%20Your%20Day/8a82e9b642c47aef383c3fe9035b3fd9_zpsc0febfc9.jpg.html]

Mike G in a reflective mood, perhaps? The golden trees in the background are Tamarack
[url=http://s1318.photobucket.com/user/emptysea43/media/Brighton%20Your%20Day/7c771c27b97e81ad6488d60c817a7126_zps79172b20.jpg.html]

Cheryl, looking a little bogged down
[url=http://s1318.photobucket.com/user/emptysea43/media/Brighton%20Your%20Day/6f4b8b878b3395025be1a8d606fcd639_zpsd5c2cef6.jpg.html]

No caption needed
[url=http://s1318.photobucket.com/user/emptysea43/media/Brighton%20Your%20Day/IMG_0240_zps2533e889.jpg.html]

Green Kawi ZRX with Kelly and Bill in the background
[url=http://s1318.photobucket.com/user/emptysea43/media/Brighton%20Your%20Day/69adbe43c16d038467efe39e45a982f1_zps1d05d18d.jpg.html]

I think we pulled out of Volo Bog at about 11:00 --as on time as we needed to be. Now that we had our group in tact, I had no more need to worry about time or making time. I could focus on enjoying the ride.

We crossed the border in fairly short order and then began our zigzaging and roundabout cruise to...well, to a gas station. I figured that we could all get out and back home with just one gas stop. In keeping with my concentration on aesthetics, I had even managed our gas stop to be at a, relatively speaking, attractive deli-with-a-gas-station-attached -- Shaver's General Store in Spring Prairie.

Getting to Shaver's would take us on a series of small roads, most of them with small names. We were on Back Road, South Road, and Short Road (which really is short, by the way) among others. Back Road is particularly interesting because it clearly was laid out along existing property lines. It has five 90 degree turns in the space of about 3 miles and only the last one intersects with another road. All of these roads, except for a very short jaunt on Hwy50, brought us close to harvested fields and colorful trees. The sun shining brightly and warming our backs as we soaked up what none of us hoped, but most of us felt, could be the last motorcycle trip of the season.

Back Road a little before the first 90 degree left
[url=http://s1318.photobucket.com/user/emptysea43/media/Brighton%20Your%20Day/d1672731906601e967ffb80b1c7d18ec_zpsab333d6a.jpg.html]

We arrived at Shaver's at almost the same time as a small group of bikers and a (way too cute) couple on scooters. One of the bikers approached my bike and said "Man, that is a clean one". Assuming that he didn't fully understand, I replied "Well, it's a 2013, sooo...." He came into understanding at that point. He talked to Bill about his closer-to-vintage bike and we chatted with one of his co-riders, a nice women on a Buell.

Shaver's has food and beverages and gas. It's a pleasant place to stop if you're in the area.
[url=http://s1318.photobucket.com/user/emptysea43/media/Brighton%20Your%20Day/84bdb105927ab2e219ab3167af0a4bb3_zps528e0dca.jpg.html]

It didn't occur to me until after the ride, that each of the three rides I lead that included Kelly took us down the same stretch of Bowers Road. It's not much of a road except for about 2 miles of it or so. From the south, this section starts with a downhill into a semi-blind right turn, then a left over a small creek and then downhill again curving past a farm with the barn almost on the road. I think it's just a beautiful little stretch.

Kelly is a relatively new rider. I she doesn't object to me saying that. The first time we took the downhill right turn on Bowers, I could see in my mirror that she had a little trouble. Nothing too scary, but I did notice it at the time. She must have been really working on her skills over the last year, because I watched her round it like a champ this time. I was impressed and told her so. I work hard on improving my riding technique and it is apparent that she does, too.

Bowers Road - I call this "Kelly's Corner" now. It's not the most technical turn, but you'd better have your entry speed right.


Bowers Road - Farm
[url=http://s1318.photobucket.com/user/emptysea43/media/Brighton%20Your%20Day/5e34d119139a0f27755e70cd4f154731_zpsf9a7d2cb.jpg.html]

[url=http://s1318.photobucket.com/user/emptysea43/media/Brighton%20Your%20Day/4a4a4b263a72212659450874b4373f72_zpsf4071512.jpg.html]

After Bowers Road, we worked our way back east and a little south, past Alpine Valley Resort, through the town of Rochester which I did not know existed until that day, and on to Brightonwoods Orchard. The road leading there was closed due to an accident and we had the extreme good fortune to be detoured onto Mt. Tom Road. I think I may have ridden this once before, but it's a thin, twisted snake of a road with no center line and virtually no traffic. Try it. You'll like it.

We arrived at our destination a little later than I had planned, but who cares? It was sunny and warm and aside from the wet gravel and wetter grass, we were at perfect place to be in the fall.

Our visit to the orchard/distillery and our return trip will be chronicled in Part II

[the Ferret]

Awesome! Can't wait for part 2.

[redbirds_imp]

A ride in the country with good friends...doesn't get much better.

[Damfino_imp]

I see 'Katies Kitchen' is located right across from the pizza joint I was weened on. I grew up eating 'Little Villa Pizza' from the time they opened in 1974, having lived in Des Plaines and Mt. Prospect both. Even as I type this, I have one of their large cheese pizza's in my freezer downstairs. Any time I'm in the area, I stop and buy about 8 frozen pizza's, even when I was living in Indiana.

Ride looks awesome, can't wait to hear more!

[Rocky_imp]

Great narrative and pictures

[emptysea]

Part II - Distill My Heart

A giant oak tree greeted us as we single-filed our way down the circular driveway in search of a parking spot. He stands along one side of the circle, silently surveying the activity beneath his branches. The ground at his feet was adorned with pumpkins in keeping with the Halloween spirit.



I usually try to find a spot where we can all park together (mainly for the photo-op), but that was not happening today. There were too many vehicles already parked to allow me to find a group parking spot. Adding to the complications was that it had rained the day before and the grassy bowl in the center of the driveway was vaguely reminiscent of Volo Bog we had just visited. It didn't look like a great place to park, but some of us gave it a shot. When I saw Kelly "enduroing" across the grass and up and over the lip onto the relatively flat driveway, I followed suit. I wound up with a nice flat spot just outside the front door, popped it on to the center stand, and took a look around the place.

CB1100 Parked


The working buildings of this orchard and distillery border the circular drive. This is not a hay ride and jump house type of orchard. The tractor that rolled past us carried workers and equipment, showing that work does not stop here on weekends. They don't have much in scheduled activity, but there is a walking path along the back of the property and visitors are also welcome to walk the orchard. Some of us went immediately to the apple barn to sample apples and fresh (not fermented) unfiltered cider. Their fresh cider is probably the best I have ever tasted. The rest of us checked out the distillery first and took advantage of AeppelTreow's free tasting.

They had a wide variety of wines, ciders, and spirits available, including perry. Perry, as I came to find out is pear cider. AeppelTreow produces a sparkling version of perry which they call Perry Champagne. My comment "Perry Champagne was my stage name when I was a male stripper in college", got a laugh from the young man conducting the tasting session to our right, but not from the woman conducting our session. Hrumph.

Friends of "Perry Champagne"


After the tasting, grounds were wandered, hooch was purchased, and apples were carefully selected. Bikes were mounted and we headed out.

TM and Cheryl


Scott: "Hmmm...do I want the 80 proof Brown Dog Whiskey or the 104 proof Brown Dog Whiskey?"
[url=http://s1318.photobucket.com/user/emptysea43/media/Brighton%20Your%20Day/1785803c6919ebd3a1967917a932b083_zps810f0cde.jpg.html]

There were a few cool vehicles besides my CB at the orchard:

Victory with sidecar (I should have asked them to pose for a photo)
[url=http://s1318.photobucket.com/user/emptysea43/media/Brighton%20Your%20Day/aaad1881-c52f-4254-bc43-5b80e83e5d07_zps2b612276.jpg.html]

A very cool vehicle...this is all you should need to see to know what it was:
[url=http://s1318.photobucket.com/user/emptysea43/media/Brighton%20Your%20Day/eda96d8bf97c6e8e1c252f456fb4768b_zps95439e7b.jpg.html]

Before leaving, we debated on heading into Burlington for lunch. There's a bar & grill named Fred's which is great. In fact it says right up there on their sign that they have the world's best burger. It's a bit of a pain to park, though, so I thought we'd save that for another trip. We opted for Bristol 45 diner which coincidentally is in Bristol on US45 and is a diner.

We went east on Hwy 142 for a bit with Bong Recreational Area to our right. Bong's prairie (some call it weed field for some reason) was changing from green to brown with some orange, yellow, and red tossed in. I thought of another "west to go east" route to get us to our lunch spot and took our group south and west on Camp Lake Road past Silver Lake Park and then back east on Hwy AH which is a surprisingly fun stretch of road with quite a few hills and turns. Just watch out for driveways and cross streets.

We enjoyed a nice lunch with good conversation and more than a few laughs. We gathered in the parking lot for a photo. Mike A. is an excellent photographer and has his camera, timer, and tripod ready at a moment's (or sometimes a few moments') notice.

Bristol 45 Diner
[url=http://s1318.photobucket.com/user/emptysea43/media/Brighton%20Your%20Day/Bristol45_zps942418e1.jpg.html]
Group Shot


We exchanged our goodbyes and those that would be peeling off from the group at various points let us know where those points were and then we headed toward home.

Many years ago, Cheryl and I drove past this little white church and she said that she thought it would be a cute place for a wedding. I don't have a romantic story about how we actually were married here or anything, but it seems to me that her comment was the first time we ever even remotely discussed marriage. Every time I see it, I think about what a lucky guy I am. [It's one of the reasons that I take our group up Hunt Club Road whenever possible, but sshhh, don't tell them]

Little White Church


Marty had showed us on a previous ride this really neat way to get south from IL132 to IL68 without hitting I-94. We took his "St. Mary's Route" home from there. I think we got home about 4:00-4:30, but I had stopped keeping tabs on time many hours before, so I'm not sure. We had traveled less than 200 miles, but we sure compressed a lot of fun into them.

My friends are very nice people and almost always send a text or email thanking me for putting a ride together. I view those messages as a sort of reward for putting together a good day for them. This time, though, my true reward didn't come until Sunday evening....

My reward!
[url=http://s1318.photobucket.com/user/emptysea43/media/Brighton%20Your%20Day/57f7973d99c700562b2420a071fcfa7e_zps440dbb02.jpg.html]

And who says that grocery shopping is boring?!?

____________________
____________________

If You Go:

[li]Volo Bog [url=http://dnr.state.il.us/lands/landmgt/PARKS/R2/Volobog.htm]http://dnr.state.il.us/lands/landmgt/PARKS/R2/Volobog.htm[/li] [li]Wisconsin Rustic Roads. Try to work one or two of these roads into your next Wisconsin ride. http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/travel/scenic/maps.htm[/li] [li]Shaver's Country Store (Deli and Gas). Intersection of Hwy 120 and Hwy 11. Great gas and snack stop.[/li] [li]AeppelTreow http://aeppeltreow.com/[/li] [li]Brightonwoods Orchard http://www.brightonwoodsorchard.com/[/li] [li]Fred's World's Best Burgers. Park in the back. Cash Only (I think). Great Burgers. You can ride or walk (it's a few blocks) to Adrian's Frozen Custard for dessert.[/li] [li]Silver Lake Park. No fee to stop in the picnic area. Great little park and a perfect place to take a break and enjoy the outdoors. When I ride solo in the area, I often stop here and have a cigar.[/li] [li]Bong Recreation Area. This is a fee area, but it is very pretty and you can get a free "ride through" permit if you just want to kill a little time. Just don't get off your bike. http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/parks/name/richardbong/
[/li]

[the Ferret]

You know what, I guess the best thing I can say about your report, is it just brought a big smile to my face. Really enjoyed it. Narrative, pictures and titles "Distill my heart" cracked me up! You folks up that way seem to have a great time!

I take lots of church pictures for some reason. I'm not an overly religious man, I have my moments, but there is just something about the architecture of churches. Simple and to the point. Old churches I'm talking about. The new Mega Churches might as well be big office buildings.

Great report Matt

Tell Cheryl I said hey, and to save me a piece of pie.

[emptysea]

I'll tell her that you said hey, Mickey, but the pie exists only as a memory and a slightly higher number on my scale each morning. Glad you liked the report.

[the Ferret]

NO PIE?

[emptysea]

Let me know when you're in the area. I think she'd whip ha up a pie.