Saturday, July 22, 2017
Start: Mauston, Wisconsin
End: Fond du Loc, Wisconsin
Mileage today/cumulative: 95 / 2,530
Elevation Ascended: 2,608′
Weather: Foggy, 67° at start; partly cloudy, 78° at finish
3D Relive Video (approx. 1 minute)
When we booked this tour last year, I mentally circled this day on the calendar. I didn’t know the exact date we would get to experience the life-changing event that I so eagerly anticipated but then, when the route sheets were handed out, there it was. Mile 55. The American Legion Wisconsin Brat Fry.
When I was a kid in the 1960s, my Dad traveled to Chicago every July and came home with fresh bratwurst to cook on the grill. Back then, there was no internet and very limited mail order business for meat, so getting fresh Midwest brats was a huge deal. All of these years later, I can still remember how they tasted. Every ballpark brat pales in comparison but today I was going to experience heaven in a bun. As for Bev, she would never eat a bratwurst in the middle of a 95 mile ride, but, hey, she ate cheese curds on yesterday’s ride, so there was hope that she would join me in this culinary delight.
As we approached the small town of Princeton, Wisconsin, we could smell those heavenly sausages – and we were over a half-mile away. And then, there it was. Wisconsin’s Best Brats (so the sign said)! Yes, I’ll have the 1/4 pound bratwurst with potato salad and beans! It was as good as I remember. Even Bev succumbed to peer pressure and ordered a brat, which she promptly covered in sauerkraut and mustard. Wisconsin = bratwurst, cheese curds, and Spotted Cow beer. Well done, Wisconsin.
As for the ride itself, it was an easy 95 miles of beautiful dairy land with ideal riding conditions at a casual pace. People here take great pride in their gardens and we saw some elaborate ones. It also seems that everyone owns an ATV and a snowmobile. In fact, there are marked snowmobile trails everywhere, often paralleling the road.
One more ride tomorrow before we spend a rest day taking a ferry across Lake Michigan. The tour keeps on rolling!
“An easy 95 miles”?? Does not compute!
After 9 years living in Iowa, I came to appreciate a good brat! Hard to come by in TN – so glad you had one Bev!!
Greg: I see brats go well with helmet head! Or was that taken after eating your brat with all its toppings? Inspiring 🙂
About 15 miles from our cabin in Lassen Co, (an 11 mile paved ride) is a very **fancy** gas station/truck stop at the intersection of Hiway 36 and County Road A21. There they serve up some of the best polish dogs ever! It’s a destination ride for Jim, for sure. He’s been known to eat one and pedal back up the road to our car, which we park at the dirt road junction leading into the cabin. Once off his bike, Jim will remove polish dog #2, dressed and wrapped in foil, from the back of his jersey and we’ll split it driving back to the cabin. It’s the only time I eat “stuff” like that……. ya gotta live dangerously once in awhile!
It sure is nice to have something to look forward to and a good bratwurst is a worthy objective! Way to go Bev for partaking in the culinary experience 🙂
Purple brats are the BEST!!!!