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