A Brighton Sunny Saturday

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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?"
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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)
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A very cool vehicle...this is all you should need to see to know what it was:
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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
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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!
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And who says that grocery shopping is boring?!?

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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/
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