July 2, 2018 – Today the Amazing Ride for Alzheimer’s will ride in tribute to Susannah J. Kist.
The 2018 Amazing Ride for Alzheimer’s is raising money this year for a rickshaw for seniors at The Samaritan Campus, a 501c3, so all donations are tax deductible.
Thanks to the sponsors below for supporting this year’s tour including: Elm Grove Woman’s Club, Gruber Tool and Die, Horicon Bank, Alliance Services and Pizza Ranch
July 2, 2018 – Peshtigo, WI – I learned a long time ago you’re not going to win against Mother Nature.
She’s been with us since our sweltery Day 1 so we figured she might as well just grab a bike helmet and join in the adventure.
On Sunday she was in rare form with strong storms, driving rain and wind that slapped us in the face to show us who’s boss.
It was actually a bit of a relief from the intense heat.
Highlights of the day:
– As we made our way to Whitefish Point, MI, we logged 70 miles from Belle Plaine to Peshtigo. That was a personal record on the bike for Audrey and a great day to ride in tribute to Donna Albinger, a resident at The Cottages.
July 1, 2018 – Today the Amazing Ride for Alzheimer’s will ride in tribute to Donna Albinger.
The 2018 Amazing Ride for Alzheimer’s is raising money this year for a rickshaw for seniors at The Samaritan Campus, a 501c3, so all donations are tax deductible.
Thanks to the sponsors below for supporting this year’s tour including: Elm Grove Woman’s Club, Gruber Tool and Die, Horicon Bank, Alliance Services and Pizza Ranch
July 1, 2018 – Belle Plaine, WI – We were early risers ‘for real’ on Saturday as the heat from Friday’s 55 miles from West Bend to Oshkosh taught us a lesson.
We managed to secure an affordable dorm room at Gruenhagen Conference Center at UW-Oshkosh Friday night.
Air conditioning, two beds, showers and we were able to bring the bikes into the room, no questions asked.
On Saturday we hit the road by 6:30 a.m. and took advantage of the fantastic trail system biking the Wiouwash State Trail from Oshkosh all the way to Hortonvillle.
It was super easy to navigate and the shade of the trees made the first 44 miles on the day extremely enjoyable.
Audrey was a trooper when I asked her to pose at the Allenville sign; “Population 28” caught our attention.
One second after the photo she was deluged with mosquitos.
A couple highlights of the day:
– We made it to Belle Plaine, just 7 miles south of Shawano, in record time. That’s 63 miles on the books as we rode the day in tribute to Helen Reinke.
– We saw an eagle’s nest atop a power pole, a ground hog that wouldn’t get out of Audrey’s way until last minute, some “adorable pigs” in the mud and a fawn with spots that ran next to the bikes for a couple of pedal rotations.
– Some people have asked what we talk about during our marathon miles. Today I learned a lot about speed skating, i.e., the names of the skaters, stupid workout routines, and where the next race series will be held.
-After this tour Audrey will be going to speed skating camp in Lake Placid. I’m sure riding her steel 10-speed cross country for three weeks while carrying 60 pounds of gear will be a good prep.
– While at Gilbert’s Sentry in Hortonville a woman who left the store marched right back in. Audrey and I were eating and resting next to the grocery carts. “I know you don’t know me,” said the woman. “But you’re welcome to come sit in my living room for a while if you like. I have air conditioning.” She was so kind and matter-of-fact. We were actually doing pretty well so we declined. Those unpredictable interactions are one of the things I love about touring.
– While taking a break in the shade of a huge tree on someone’s front lawn just past the Clintonville city limits we noticed the homeowner had a full-on windmill in his backyard. I never knew there was a windmill in Clintonville.
– Today we plan to bike to the Michigan state line up near Marinette. It should be another 60+ mile day. Hopefully overnight storms have pushed out some of the heat.
The 2018 Amazing Ride for Alzheimer’s is raising money this year for a rickshaw for seniors at The Samaritan Campus, a 501c3, so all donations are tax deductible.
Thanks to the sponsors below for supporting this year’s tour including: Elm Grove Woman’s Club, Gruber Tool and Die, Horicon Bank, Alliance Services, American Commercial Real Estate, The Sign Shop and Pizza Ranch
June 30, 2018 – Today the Amazing Ride for Alzheimer’s will ride in tribute to Helen Reinke.
The 2018 Amazing Ride for Alzheimer’s is raising money this year for a rickshaw for seniors at The Samaritan Campus, a 501c3, so all donations are tax deductible.
Thanks to the sponsors below for supporting this year’s tour including: Elm Grove Woman’s Club, Gruber Tool and Die, Horicon Bank, Alliance Services and Pizza Ranch
June 30, 2018 – Oshkosh, WI – One of the benefits of traveling by bicycle is you’re going slow enough to stop and take in the sights and second you’re burning tons of calories so you can feel free to indulge in whatever comes your way.
Friday’s leg of the Amazing Ride for Alzheimer’s took us 55 sweltering miles from West Bend to Oshkosh with plenty of adventure in between.
My niece Audrey, 15, who is my sidekick on this tour is a lover of animals including rodents. She left behind two guinea pigs; Sugar and Katie. On the Eisenbahn State Trail it didn’t take her long to find some new friends. Actually, on first account she pedaled right past them.
This first sighting were some baby thirteen-lined ground squirrels, also known as striped gophers. They were no more than a small bundle of fur. I saw it first. Thought it was dead… but it blinked.
Audrey pedaled back around and found four more.
We were surrounded.
They were like adventuresome punks who left the nest while mom wasn’t paying attention and next thing you know they were baking in the sun on the trail and couldn’t find their way back home. We did the best we could with friendly, gentle nudges. One was extremely stubborn and seemed to feign death just so we would leave it alone and go away. That, eventually, was our endgame and we left Mother Nature to take its course.
Following the Eisenbahn Trail through Campbellsport and Eden we fielded quite a few reminders from passersby to “hydrate.” Temps creeped up quickly to the lower 90s.
Into Fond du Lac around 11 a.m. and we took a break at a place I’ve driven past for years but never bothered to stop.
The Historic Galloway House & Village is a step back to what life was like in the 1800s.
The nearly 16 acres is just to the north of E. Pioneer Road and Old Pioneer Road. The majestic Galloway House is surrounded by historic buildings that have been relocated from across Fond du Lac County.
There’s the Law Office and Court Room “built in 1842 on land owned by Governor Doty, the structure was used as the Taycheedah Community building and it was the county’s first schoolhouse.”
Our docent said women would gather at the community center and make uniforms for men during the Civil War.
Another interesting note: Taycheedah was originally spelled “Tee-charrah” and it was an Indian/Native American term for “camping place.”
Our docent said Taycheedah was once bigger than Fond du Lac but the railroad didn’t go to Taycheedah so it eventually “died.”
The Old Courthouse Bell was a big attraction.
Cast in 1900 the 3,000-pound bell was removed from the old Fond du Lac County Courthouse in 1965. The clock and bell were a gift from famed local artist Mark Harrison.
The Fond du Lac County Historical Society is tasked with keeping up the buildings and grounds. They’ve made a very interactive display including a rotary phone system and switchboard in the Springvale Town Hall. The docent filled us in on the once-common ‘party line’ and some of the seniors in the group recalled their numbers in rings.
“We were two long and 3 short,” said one woman. “We were six long,” said another. The comment was made, “That was a lot of long listening and counting for that number.”
Audrey and I started playing the marble game before our tour started. The large marbles were a bit bigger than a quarter and the colors were brilliant.
After a couple breaks in the shade we coasted into Oshkosh… weary and flat worn out. The sun had taken its toll. I cheered at the first sight of Ardy & Ed’s orange sign.
Ardy & Ed’s Drive In began in 1948 shortly after the end of WWII. At that time it was known as the Southside A&W Drive In.
Steve, the current owner, has 41 years on the job pouring root beer floats and dishing out Blue Moon ice cream and sundaes with a ladle full of marshmallow and a cherry on top. The roller-skating car hops add to the retro feel of the place.
On a side note: Audrey and I were getting ready to take off from a rest break in Campbellsport and I said, “Ready Tonto?”
She said, “I don’t know what that means.”
Time for some cowboy summer school.
The 2018 Amazing Ride for Alzheimer’s is raising money this year for a rickshaw for seniors at The Samaritan Campus, a 501c3, so all donations are tax deductible.
Thanks to the sponsors below for supporting this year’s tour including: Elm Grove Woman’s Club, Gruber Tool and Die, Horicon Bank, Alliance Services, American Commercial Real Estate, The Sign Shop and Pizza Ranch
June 29, 2018 – Today the Amazing Ride for Alzheimer’s will ride in tribute to Al Steffes.
The 2018 Amazing Ride for Alzheimer’s is raising money this year for a rickshaw for seniors at The Samaritan Campus, a 501c3, so all donations are tax deductible.
Thanks to the sponsors below for supporting this year’s tour including: Elm Grove Woman’s Club, Gruber Tool and Die, Horicon Bank, Alliance Services and Pizza Ranch
June 29, 2018 – West Bend, WI – The 2018 Amazing Ride for Alzheimer’s is officially underway.
This year’s tour takes us to Whitefish Point, Michigan and the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum.
My 15-year-old niece Audrey is my sidekick. This is the first time in a long time I’ve toured with someone else and it’s going to take a bit of getting used to.
Audrey is very athletic. She is a seasoned speed skater who trains with the Olympic hopefuls at the Pettit Ice Center in Milwaukee.
She’s been known to beat the boys in her age group.
Audrey’s also an accomplished swimmer and last night she told me she ran a half marathon and didn’t even train.
I plan on doing quite a bit of drafting this tour.
The one big difference in our makeup and travel style is Audrey likes to eat. She laid out some of her gear Thursday night and half of it looked like a grocery store. “I have these fruit discs and granola bars and some nuts,” said Audrey. “Actually my dog took my nuts and hid them. I had to give her a time out.”
To be clear Audrey is leaving out a couple of key details – mostly in regard to the quantity of her bounty. She has a family pack of granola bars. Her bag of almonds could feed a bear; she also has a jar of powdered peanut butter and she confessed to bringing eight bars of soap.
While it’s something that would make Century Farmhouse Soap maven Anne Marie Craig cheer, there is a weight factor.
”You know you’re going to be toting that all the way to Michigan,” I said.
Audrey laughed. It’s a teenager laugh; a little Bevis with a flare of ‘stop taking life so seriously.’
I have to hand it to her, she is not bothered by the fact I’m a ‘tight packer’ who carries more water than food. I can see us in the Upper Peninsula at a campground dodging mosquitoes. Audrey is funneling back a handful of salty Diamond almonds and I’m gnawing on a twig and washing it down with warm water. Who will be the smarter traveler then?
Audrey also just revealed she brought a 16-ounce bottle of sunscreen. “That’s enough for a family spending the week at the water park in the Dells,” I said.
Audrey smiled. She has her dad’s deep dimples and a ‘butt chin’ …. as she calls it.
Travel details: On Thursday, June 28 we took off an hour later than planned at 9 a.m. from Audrey’s home in Milwaukee. We pedal the Oak Leaf Trail from downtown Wisconsin Avenue to Bradley Road and then hop onto Hwy 145 north into Germantown. The rest of the way into West Bend I can do in my sleep.
We stopped for a break at the 20-mile mark at Sendik’s in Germantown and wheel our bikes out of the heat and into the entryway where we’re greeted by a woman who says, “My daughter and granddaughter have horses. I wonder if they’d be allowed to bring them into the lobby of a grocery.” That made Audrey laugh.
After 37 miles we’re in West Bend. We made a quick stop at Mountain Outfitters for supplies and visited the Samaritan Campus to talk to some residents and make a list of people to bike in tribute to this tour.
On a side note: If you would like to keep up with Audrey’s version of this story just log onto AmazingRide2018.blogspot.com or click HERE.
Thanks to the sponsors below for supporting this year’s tour including: Elm Grove Woman’s Club, Gruber Tool and Die, Horicon Bank, Alliance Services and Pizza Ranch
Stories and photo updates will be published at WashingtonCountyInsider.com
June 21, 2018 – West Bend, WI – UPDATE: Found it – THANKS WBPD. All is well…. nothing to see here.
Seven days before I leave on my fundraising bicycle tour and my bike is stolen.
I’m shaking my head as I write this. It’s an old beater of a bike. A TREK, black, boy’s frame, tear in the front tire – so it wobbles a bit but it got me from here to there and I could get from story to story and Music on Main to help promote what was going on in downtown West Bend.
For years I’d take it downtown. Park by Sal’s Pizza. Meet friends. Listen to music and it would be trusty and waiting for me at the end of the night.
Not tonight.
Straight handlebars. Tear in the handgrip. Hand brakes. Two waterbottle racks. One ratty waterbottle. A little black frog light on front. Red rear reflector. Plastic cages on the pedals.
It used to be an old West Bend Police bike. Bought it when Russ Wanta owned Pedal Moraine.
While I was working with West Bend Police on a statement, one guy offered me his old bike he kept in his garage. “It’s a GIANT. You’ll love it,” he said.
I have another bike.
I don’t need a Go Fund Me or any money.
I’d just like it back.
Figure it’s on another adventure as we speak… or in the alley. Or in the river …..
From this perspective it feels like a bit of a violation but I’m trying to take my brother-in-law’s perspective.
He’s a pastor up in Winneconne. His watch collection was stolen. He said the person who took it probably needed it more than he did.
I guess that’s the way I’ll look at this.
But, selfishly, …. if you took my bike… could you please just bring it back.
I leave in 7 days on a bicycle tour. I’ve gone on this tour the past 10 years and brought the community in tow with stories from the road.
The past five years we’ve raised money for people with Alzehiemer’s. Funding music and exercise programs at Cedar Community.
This year my 15-year-old niece Audrey and I are raising money to buy a rickshaw for the folks at The Samaritan Home – so they can have adventure on a bike too.
Thanks in advance.
Judy Steffes
TheBiKeWriTer is a travel-by-the-seat-of-your-pants website. Few plans, lots of spontaneous adventure, great people, with a little bit of history and humor thrown in. Follow along.
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