Madison Fall Tour - Bewabic State Park to Oconto

Saturday, 11 Sep 2021
140.0 miles
2451 ft of climbing

I slept in a bit later than I'd planned, having not being invited to the campground rager, which went well past midnight. My air mattress had also given up a bit, and I didn't have the most comfortable sleep. But I did manage to get up, break camp, and make coffee and oatmeal on my wood stove.

I hit the back roads to bypass Crystal Falls, but was just not feeling too great. Occasional eye flashes and a persistent headache stuck with me for quite a while.

With Bikes & More closed, the only other bike shop I'd found anywhere near my route was Marinette Cycle Center, and I called them from the road as soon as they opened. Dave was filling in for the regular staff, and was extremely helpful in finding the exact part I needed in their stock. He even offered to reopen the shop after I got into town so I could swap it!

At about 20 miles in I rolled through Florence and decided to stock up for lunch, since I wouldn't be passing through many other towns. The baker at Chainey House Bakery made me a giant ham and cheese sandwich on fresh bread, and it and I headed south on the usual "Iron Mountain Bypass" route.

I was still flagging a bit, and the headache was still with me, so I stopped to rest and eat my sandwich just north of US-8. By then I'd decided to let Dave off the hook for an after-hours repair, since the bottom bracket wasn't sounding much worse. I figured that if I at least had the new bottom bracket with me, I could swap it using improvised tools from a hardware store if it got worse. I called and paid for the part, and arranged to pick it up from the shop mailbox when I got to town.

It's always a challenge finding good spots to fill up with water, and I found another old hand pump in a park in Dunbar. Perfect! I was off the hook for making it to Marinette at any specific time, so I eased up a bit, hoping my headache would subside. I was all alone on these pleasant county roads, and was happy to find a store with ice cream sandwiches in Athelstane.

A quick pause in Crivitz, another stop because I'd forgotten to lube my chain, and then back to the grind. Soon I diverted from my planned route to head southeast to Marinette instead of south to Oconto. Hmm, wasn't there some gravel around here? Yep, here it is, not bad at all!

Despite Google Maps typical needlessly circuitous routing, I made it to the bike shop and retrieved my bottom bracket from the shop mailbox. By this point I was 112 miles in and starting to feel it. My headache had finally gone, but there wasn't much light left in the day. I'd ridden by a city park with campsites on the way in, so I made my way back there.

There were a couple of RVs parked, but the campground was mostly empty. This looked perfect, and I could end my day a bit early. I called the reservation number and was told that the tent section was closed and that if I tried tent camping there I would be kicked out. Well then. I'd looked for other campgrounds in this area when I did my initial route planning and knew there weren't many options, so I decided to top off my water, dig out my reflective gear and lights, and head on to Oconto.

Leaving Marinette was tricky due to construction. As I was waiting an an intersection, a pickup driver pulled alongside,  rolled down his passenger window and yelled out to me. "I'M AN AVID CYCLIST BUT ONLY RIDE AROUND TOWN. HOW FAR YOU GOING TODAY?" Avid cyclist, sure, so you understand how appealing being yelled at from a pickup is.

Somehow I escaped Marinette and made it through Peshtigo. The sun set, and I found myself on marshy low roads right on the shores of Lake Michigan. As the air cooled, a figurative plague of frogs emerged. They were in the road, hopping across the road, jumping into my wheels. I tried to dodge as many as I could. It was the most eerie experience, rolling through the swampy darkness, alone, with thousands of suicidal frogs.

Finally I emerged in Oconto, feeling wiped out. I made my way to the Kwik Trip and bought supper (a family-size microwaved chicken mac and cheese) and a gallon of water. The campground, Holtwood Park, is on a peninsula cut out by Oconto River, which meant a bit of a maze to get to my campsite. The campground was dark and seemed to aggressively deny me any power outlets (all the powered sites had only 30A and 50A outlets), but I eventually found a place to charge my battery bank in a nearby pavilion.

All I really wanted was a shower though. In the dark I dug out my shower stuff and a change of clothes, and then made my way to the showers, which were in a special trailer raised off the ground a few feet. Access was by an unlit wheelchair ramp with an evil handrail that took a chunk out of my leg and sent me crashing to the ground, bleeding. To add insult, after I made it inside I found the only shower I've ever seen that required quarters. QUARTERS.

That seemed somehow fitting given my experience with the Marinette park, but after I sulked for a while I rummaged around for change (there was no change machine in the campground) and had the best 8-minute ($0.50) shower of my life.

Off to bed, better luck tomorrow?