Kettle Morons - Episode #1

[emptysea]

In 1937, the Wisconsin Legislature set aside land for recreational and forestry uses referred to as The Kettle Moraine. They created The Kettle Moraine State Forest (North and South Units) and shortly thereafter, The Kettle Moraine Scenic Drive was mapped out to travel through and between the two forest units.

The area was heavily glaciated during the last Ice Age and the land the ice left behind is scarred and cut and pockmarked. The land heaves into mounds in some spots and sucks back into itself forming kettles in other places. There are many small, mostly shallow, lakes and streams dotting this part of southeast Wisconsin. The state and county roads that crisscross the forest were, for the most part, paved between the hills rather than through them.

And boy oh boy does it make for a fun day on a motorcycle.

Mike, but not 'Bump Start Mike' from "Tales of the Dragon", and I decided to head north from Illinois (aka "The Flatland" aka "FIBsville") to Wisconsin (aka "Cheeseland" aka "The Great White North"). All our usual riding companions were unavailable so it was Mike on his Wing and Me on my CB. We were going to meet for breakfast at 8:30 but I needed my morning coffee so I lit out a little early and stopped at a coffee shop near my house which I inexplicably had never visited before. Great coffee and a fantastic scone got me started on my day. For those in Chicago, this coffee shop/bakery is in Edison Park and there's plenty of parking at that time of the morning on the weekends. Stop in if you're in the neighborhood.

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After breakfast, a run up I-294 got us 'out of Dodge' pretty quickly, but Saturday morning traffic clogged up the otherwise pretty roads we were on on the Illinois side--can't these people run their errands during the week or something? Eventually we hit Wilmot Rd (or is it Johnsburg Rd?) which turns into Fox River Rd. in Wisconsin (aka County Trunk W, or just W). Nice road that has enough turns to be pretty interesting plus it parallels the river for a portion.

We meandered our way north and west and found ourselves in East Troy, WI which was perfect because it was time for a refreshment break. It was a little warm out and a Sprecher's Root Beer would hit the spot and, wouldn't ya know it, but Gus's Drive-In serves Sprecher's!

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Mike had a root beer float because he's thin. You can see him carrying it in the background. I had the "diet" float which is seen in the foreground.
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Refreshed and gassed up, we headed north on Townline Rd. A really pretty stretch of road even if it isn't particularly twisty. We could have gone directly west to our next stop, but what's the fun in that? We got slightly detoured thanks to a charity bicycle tour which just meant a little more exploring of the "alphabet roads". We wound up on D then CI. We turned on Z and connected to H. We may have been on ZC and ZZ for a bit, too. A fair number of curves were found along the way combined with some elevation changes, pretty farms, and tree-lined roads with no other cars -- it was not a bad detour at all.

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When I was a little over a year old, my parents bought a summer home on Whitewater Lake. I spent my summers in this area until I was about 30. My motorcycle rides to this area always bring back nostalgic feelings and I almost always stop at a couple of landmarks from my youth. Saturday was no exception.

Along H, just south of Palmyra, is a trout farm that my dad wold stop at to pick up smoked trout. I still recall the first time I tried smoked trout. It was pretty adventurous eating for a little squirt, but I loved it. Us kids were never (or not often) with him when he'd stop so I didn't recall the name of the place, but it turns out that it's still there. They have 50 small ponds on the property and supply farm-raised trout to area grocery stores and restaurants. You can also fish there, but it's hardly a sporting affair as the ponds are very well stocked. They just opened a full service restaurant and are planning on having live music there during the summer. I am anxious to go back for a meal and maybe some music.

I like that the sign says "Full Seafood Store" and then "All You Can Eat Jerk Chicken"
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I'm used to fly fishing in southwest Wisconsin, so this sign seemed odd to me.
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At the intersection of H and US12, there's the La Grange General Store. Hikers, bicyclists, and more than a few motorbikers stop here for a snack. As my kids like to say, it's pretty "chill".

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From there, we headed to my last landmark stop of this trip.

The "Artesian Well" as it is usually called, was dug by hand in 1895 and has been flowing water from an underground spring ever since. When we would visit our lake house in the winter, we would stop here to fill a 5 gallon jerrycan along with a few glass milk jugs for our weekend's drinking water. Later, we would stop on hot summer days coming back from church for a drink or if we were out on our bicycles. In the early days, it was a pipe, bubbling straight upward which made filling that jerrycan a pain in the ass. Later an L was added and later still a T so you can fill from the bottom or cover that opening and drink from the top like a water fountain. I have had a drink of water from that well at least once a year for 50 years. My motorcycling companions all know that, if we are within 10 miles of the well, we're stopping for a drink. And so it was Saturday.

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There's a section of road that I crossed on our way to and from the well that I love to ride at an excessive rate of speed. If you look at the map closely you can figure out its name. Just take one slow run past the ranger station before you go too crazy on it.

We arrived home covering 240 miles and taking all day to do it. A martini and some conversation about our ride punctuated nicely our day in the country.

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[Elipten_imp]

Nice tour and thanks for the great write up.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[MFGUSA_imp]

Awesome ES. All the leaves are on the trees and everything is in blossom in Wisconsin. Our riding season has begun (more or less).

You zoomed right pass DaveTS in Lake Geneva. Shoula hooked up.

[Ridem32_imp]

Nice thread. I really enjoyed it. That's what bikes are for!

[emptysea]

Thanks for the compliments, Elipten and MFG. We headed north with no particular route in mind and it wasn't really "my" ride or I would have posted it here for a possible meetup. I kind of hijacked the lead when I remembered a couple of stretches of road I knew Mike had not ridden and then it became "Matt's Ride Down Memory Lane". Mike didn't mind, though. LOL

[Rocky_imp]

Nice report and pics

[Cormanus]

Nice report and pics

+1! Another ripper EmptySea.

[redbirds_imp]

Beautiful pics and a good story to go along.

[CA200_imp]

Nice pictures - next time you guys cross the border I am checken
passports