Iola, Wisconsin Weekend
During the weekend of June 4-5 we returned to our hometown area of Stevens Point, Wisconsin for some bicycling. We stayed in Iola, WI, a town of about 800 people that serves as a great place to launch rides from. We stayed at the Norseman Motel, which is probably the best value in lodging on the whole damn planet. If you ever go to Iola or in the Stevens Point area, stay at the Norseman and have breakfast at the Crystal Cafe.
Another redeeming quality of the Iola area are its farms and rolling hills. Like most of Wisconsin, the county and township roads have been paved. This, of course, is largely due to the dairy industry and their needs to get milk to market under any weather conditions. The roads in this area are lightly traveled, and there is no shortage of deer, Sandhill cranes and wild turkeys to see.
As a reminder, June is dairy month is Wisconsin.
This was actually Gina's weekend and her group ride. Trouble is, the group largely leaked out, leaving the foursome of me, Kay, Gina and Dan to ride on Saturday. We ended up doing the pie ride route, which goes north of Iola and then makes a loop to the west, south and then east back to Iola. We altered the route to deal with county road C being closed due to road construction and ended up with 45 miles. We waited out a rainstorm at the hotel and did another 15 miles, making it a 60 mile day.
Sunday's ride was the annual TRIPPER, Tommorow River Incredible Pancake, Potluck and Excelent Ride. The ride is a heartland club event that is hosted by Barb and Rolf, owners of the Hostel Shoppe. Its a 50 mile or less ride that starts outside of Amherst and goes to towns like Waupaca and King. After the ride there is a feast at the home of the hosts. It was another great time, probably our 3rd TRIPPER.
Here is a group photo from the TRIPPER.
A couple of highlights from the weekend:
- We saw Fuzzy Thurston at a gas station in Waupaca and said hi. His cool new Cadillac had Packer Plates with vanity "FUZZ 63" and he was wearing a Packer gold shirt. I don't think he minded that I recognized him and said hello, especially given that I referred to him as "Mister Thurston". If you don't know who Fuzzy Thurston is, then you probably don't know much about the Lombardi era Packers. That's probably not a crime unless you are over 40 and live in Wisconsin.
- We saw a Bald Eagle sitting on a fence post along I-94. Huge bird, man. Really cool, almost as cool as seeing Fuzzy.
Later,
Jim
Another redeeming quality of the Iola area are its farms and rolling hills. Like most of Wisconsin, the county and township roads have been paved. This, of course, is largely due to the dairy industry and their needs to get milk to market under any weather conditions. The roads in this area are lightly traveled, and there is no shortage of deer, Sandhill cranes and wild turkeys to see.
As a reminder, June is dairy month is Wisconsin.
This was actually Gina's weekend and her group ride. Trouble is, the group largely leaked out, leaving the foursome of me, Kay, Gina and Dan to ride on Saturday. We ended up doing the pie ride route, which goes north of Iola and then makes a loop to the west, south and then east back to Iola. We altered the route to deal with county road C being closed due to road construction and ended up with 45 miles. We waited out a rainstorm at the hotel and did another 15 miles, making it a 60 mile day.
Sunday's ride was the annual TRIPPER, Tommorow River Incredible Pancake, Potluck and Excelent Ride. The ride is a heartland club event that is hosted by Barb and Rolf, owners of the Hostel Shoppe. Its a 50 mile or less ride that starts outside of Amherst and goes to towns like Waupaca and King. After the ride there is a feast at the home of the hosts. It was another great time, probably our 3rd TRIPPER.
Here is a group photo from the TRIPPER.
A couple of highlights from the weekend:
- We saw Fuzzy Thurston at a gas station in Waupaca and said hi. His cool new Cadillac had Packer Plates with vanity "FUZZ 63" and he was wearing a Packer gold shirt. I don't think he minded that I recognized him and said hello, especially given that I referred to him as "Mister Thurston". If you don't know who Fuzzy Thurston is, then you probably don't know much about the Lombardi era Packers. That's probably not a crime unless you are over 40 and live in Wisconsin.
- We saw a Bald Eagle sitting on a fence post along I-94. Huge bird, man. Really cool, almost as cool as seeing Fuzzy.
Later,
Jim
posted by Jim K at 8:13 PM
1 Comments:
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Post a Comment
<< Home