Cycling to/from Milwaukee (Photos)
Day 1: Evanston to Illinois Beach State Park (35 miles)
Henri's first day of cycle touring with a pedal bike! He pounded out some miles on the bike trails in the Chicago cuburbs before retiring to the chariot. We snacked while watching an impressive family baseball practice in Lake Forest. The bike trail became industrial/ghetto from Great Lakes up to the IL/WI border. Eventually found a non-blocked entrance to Illinois Beach State Park, and eventually found a campsite that satisfied Daryl's stringent noise polution standards. We steered clear of the beach itself in defference to the asbestos contamination. Our neighbors across the way were French Canadian, and happy to hear their mother tongue state side. Campfire, smores and Modelo Especial kept us happy in camp.
Day 2: Illinois Beach State Park to Milwaukee (53 miles)
We woke up to light rain, and wolfed down some leftovers. Henri pedaled some miles in Zion, IL, but then hid from the drizzle for most of the day. The bike trail became splendid and much used when we crossed into WI. We stopped for breakfast at Jack's Cozy Cafe in Kenosha, WI. They made us feel like family. Pressed on to Milwaukee. The views of Lake Michicgan from Bayview Park was the highlight of the day. After checking in at the Plaza Hotel, we ate pasta at Louise's and Henri played pirates on the structure in Cathedral Square.
Day 3: Milwaukee (0 miles)
We spent a day off our steeds. Had a delicious breakfast in the courtyard of the Plaza Cafe, walked through Veterans Park, checked out the Posters of Paris exhibit at the Milwaukee Art Museum, and lunched at The Wicked Hop, before retiring to the hotel for nap and laundry. At the museum gift shop we has acquired a French-English amgnetic poetry game, which we were hoping could sharpen Henri's language skills. Instead, we were wowed by his mastery of both languages. In the afternoon we headed north, visiting Cory the Bike Fixer, having dinner at Cempazuchi. Milwaukee was looking pretty good.
Day 4: Milwaukee to Kettle Moraine State Forest (38 miles)
Disaster: after a pleasant stay in Milwaukee, some spineless son-of-a-jackal tried to steal Henri's trailer! Can i just start by pointing out the lifetime of bad cycling karma one earns by stealing a kid's bike! They must have tried the deed in the dark and gotten as far as removing Daryl's rear quick release skewer before realizing that the trailer (and Henri's bike, for that matter) were securely locked up. Doh! Instead of gracefully giving up, the thief held onto the skewer and stole the blinky lights off the trailer and Daryl's bike. We concluded that this was some form of frustrated vandalism: after all, while the missing blinky lights cost nearly $100 to replace, they can't have a very good resale value after some years of use; and a skewer only costs $10 new, so not much money to be made there, either. Nonetheless, the missing skewer rendered Daryl's bike unridable, so we delayed our start by a couple hours so that Henri and i could hit up Crank Daddy's, another good local bike shop, to replace the missing parts. After this inauspicious start, we were happy to have a relatively straightforward day of riding. We took a single wrong turn near Miller Park, and had trouble finding groceries in Waukesha, but the Glacier Drumlin State Trail was gorgeous and we still managed to get to Ottawa Lake in time for a much-deserved swim and ice cream. Before hitting the hay, i double checked the forecast and saw rain starting early in the morning so i put on the fly.
Day 5: Kettle Moraine State Forest to Lake Geneva (29 miles)
The thunderstorms hit as scheduled, but unfortunately the rain kept coming long after the blustery bits had blown by. We retreated to a nearby picnic shelter where Henri could run about, but eventually got stir crazy and started packing up despite the drizzle. We hit the road and had brunch at the Hen House in Eagle. This was by far the hilliest day of the tour and at this point i was the sole trailer-puller (Daryl's replacement skewer being too short for the trailer hitch). Daryl and i estimate that the fully-loaded trailer (with Henri and his bike) weighs in at about 100 lbs, on top of the usual fully-loaded bike. All that to say that i'm glad the hills were mercifully short, if steep. We made it to uncle Harry's place outside of Lake Geneva just as the sun was coming out of hiding. We dried out our gear and showered will Harry finished his nap. As bonus we got to see Anita, Daryl's cousin from Mexico City! We were joined by Stacy, a friend of Harry's and went to dinner at The Grandview, where everything was lovely except for our incompetent waiter.
Day 6: Lake Geneva to Fish Lake (31 miles)
After a restful night in "Hotel Hartshorne," we breakfasted with Harry and Anita at Egg Harbor. Daryl had noticed her rear wheel acting up when we bicycled down Snake road. While she and Henri did the groceries, i took a look at her wheel and discovered a broken spoke. I did my best at truing the wheel, not trivial since many of the spokes were stripped, probably as a result of my previous incompetence! The wheel survived the rest of the tour so i call it a success. We made it down to Genoa City, and hopped onto the lovely McHenry County trail. The trail was so good that we ditched our initial plan (Chain of Lakes State Park) and pressed on to Fish Lake Beach, on the recommendation of friendly local cyclists Jen and Dan. The final hour of cycling was on a really crummy road, 120, so we were very happy to pull into the campground. Unfortunately, it was a beautiful Friday afternoon and this is one of the nearest campsites to Chicago, so it was completely booked (had been for weeks, it turns out). Fortunately, Rob took pity on us and "found" a spot for us amongst the regulars (ie: the folks who camp here semi-permanently in mobile homes). It felt like pitching a tent on a random person's lawn in the suburbs, and Daryl insists that we got some dirty looks from the neighbors. We ate dinner on the beach where Henri made fast friends with other kids and we chatted with Jim, another cyclophile parent.
Day 7: Fish Lake to Evanston (45 miles)
I woke up a bit chilly (we opted to sleep sans fly on account of the clear skies and i only had a wee summer bag) but got to enjoy the sunrise on the lake from the tent. We broke camp and hit the road by 7:30, our earliest start of the trip! We followed the awesome Millenium trail to Wauconda, and breakfasted at a Dunkin Donuts in Mundelein. Henri, who is not yet three and half and has only been riding a pedal bike for a month or so, then blew us away by pedaling for the next 8 miles with only a pee break in the middle. He even had some respectable hill climbs in there (granny gear hills for me, but then again i was in my lowest gear for half the trip). After that herculean effort, he slept in the chariot until we got back to his stomping grounds in Evanston. Daryl, being a genius, had left some Daisy Cutters in the fridge and cold glasses in the freezer, woot!