8/14/18: North Branch Trail to Chicago Botanic Gardens with deep dish finish

WOOHOO!!! Leslie's trike issues are FINALLY completely solved, and we're off on a shakeout ride. Another big thank you to the staff at Amlings Cycles here in Chicago, Rocky Mountain Recumbents in Fort Collins, and Stefan at HP Velotechnik, for all of their support.

We began our ride today on the North Branch Trail from Miami Woods, a prairie preserve area in the Cook County Forest Preserve system. Our route was recommended by the knowledgeable and friendly staff at Amlings Cycles. The Miami Woods trail head is a short bike ride away from Amlings in the Village of Niles, a Chicago suburb. 

The North Branch Bicycle Trail is a lovely curvy paved trail that is tree lined for much of its route. This is clearly a purpose-built trail, rather than just a simple paved former rail right of way conversion, and the result is delightful. With the hot muggy temperatures, we're enjoying the shade cover.

Our goal for today was to ride to the Chicago Botanic Gardens. The Gardens encourages alternative forms of transportation by offering free admission but charging $25 to park a car. They provide deluxe and plentiful bike parking right in front of the Visitor's Center. 

Of course once we arrived, our first stop had to be the model train garden. They featured G-scale (Garden Scale) trains with run from April through October each year. It was a trip across the U.S. in miniature, from Yellowstone to the Statue of Liberty. As casual model railroad tourists, this is the most extensive example of a garden railway installation we've experienced. All of the modeling in the scenery used entirely organic materials: bark, sticks, flowers, plants, stones. Leslie would have preferred structures that were more true to life in the materials used, but can appreciate the plant-based theme.

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Wrigley Field

Yellowstone Lodge

Old Faithful

John Muir home in Martinez, CA

Mesa Verde

Frank Lloyd Wrights' Fallingwater, Mill Run, PA

Next, we sampled some of the other gardens. The Botanic Garden is overwhelming in size, and on this hot muggy day we had to budget our energy wisely. We opted for an example of an early botanic garden, focused on plants with medicinal uses. This water garden display was beautiful. Check out the platter-like lily pad in one of the shots...

We never did find out who this fellow was... 

The rose garden was magnificent. Here's a sampling.

And a couple shots from the tram tour...

Then it was back to bicycling the lovely trail. After that, based on recommendations from Amlings Cycle Shop, we stopped at the Pequod Pizzeria for authentic deep dish Chicago pizza. Yummy!!

A good day. 31 miles, all paved, hot, humid, but the shade and breeze from riding was wonderful.

Jane Addams Trail and Badger State Trail

Click for Trail ride Video

What a wonderful ride today. 43 miles from Freeport, Illinois to Monroe, Wisconsin. The trail was not paved, but was hard pack with some moss, grass, and sand. For a dirt trail, it was in fabulous condition; we met several diamond frame bikes on the route who were navigating it without issues.The best part was that it was 90% shaded. With 100% humidity the shade was quite welcome. We left our campsite about 7am and were riding just before 8:00.  We started at 67 degrees and finished at 88 degrees. If it had been dry it would have been easy, but with the humidity it felt like riding through a sauna.

The trail wound its way through space and time, passing a ~150 year old grist mill, the remains of a prohibition era speakeasy. While we knew we were passing more endless corn and soybean fields, much of the trail had a berm of lush dense foliage that hid them view. The vegetation seemed to almost grow as we watched, helped along by extensive wetlands engineered to remediate some of the road realignments and bridge construction in the area. Of course with wetlands, comes a lively insect population. Mosquitoes and dragonfly abounded, and our stops in the shade provided a veritable human buffet.

As I was riding along the trail, I couldn't help but think about Jane Addams. In an era notorious for its robber barons, 18 hour days and 7 day work weeks for immigrants living in horrific conditions, Pinkertons firing into a crowd of strikers demanding an 8 hour day, Jane Addams pioneered social justice and reform. Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, Addams gives hope and inspiration in our current era of 21st robber barons. 

The route treated us to heron sightings and rabbits, rabbits, rabbits. In Orangeville we saw ‘The Haunted Warehouse. We also saw a caboose and grain elevator right beside the rail bed. Check out our snaps...

Wittenberg to Illinois State Park and Amlings Cycle

After the Midwest Recumbent Rally in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, we decided to head for Wittenberg to Nueske's before moving on to Niles on the outskirts of Chicago. We know Nueske's from visiting Wittenberg for my folk's sixtieth wedding anniversary.

We picked up cheese, bacon, and their signature corn beef hash. The campsite is going to smell good!

Outside Nueske's is this truck. Hey Kim and Nicki -- should we get an RV like this? 😍

Then we drove to Niles, outside of Chicago to see Amlings Cycle. Our HP Velotechnik contact, Stefan, suggested that this shop could troubleshoot the electrical issue I'm having with my trike. Unfortunately, the part hasn't arrived yet. We checked out their amazing shop and made a plan to contact them when the part arrives. They have a great selection of 'bents, both three and two-wheeled, along with a cool selection of historical bikes hanging from their ceiling gallery. Amlings does well in the accessory department as well, with a wide selection of shoes, bike bags, lighting systems, and tools. They too are interested in trying to set up a rally, so we offered to ride the routes they are considering.

Next it was off to our campsite at the Illinois Beach State Park. As the name suggests, the campground is on Lake Michigan, and it was a surprising bit of woodland refuge less than 45 miles from downtown Chicago. It featured lush vegetation and easy access to the beach and lake shoreling. Beyond that, we are sad to say that this was our first public park campground that did not measure up. It is not well loved, having deferred maintenance on the facilities. Plus the mosquitoes were all too prevalent. Makes me wonder if the state of Illinois has similar finance issues to California. We tried to bicycle from here, but unlike the locals who were riding through the park at 7am, we trusted the weather forecast and waited until mid-day to ride. Of course, it being summer in the midwest, it rained on us, so we cut it short.

The Midwest Recumbent Rally, Stevens Point, Wisconsin

On the way to the Midwest Recumbent Rally, sponsored by the Hostel Shoppe, in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, we drove through Sparta, Wisconsin. Sparta claims to be the bicycling capital of the world. It has some grand bicycle related sights.

Then it was on to the rally. Friday we checked in to the rally, and got registered at the Jordan County Park, six miles from the shop. We dropped into the ice cream parlor for some excellent refreshment. Weather was hot and humid.

For Saturday's ride we chose the 45 mile ride so we have the stamina to add the 12 miles to and from the campsite. The route started at 7:30, so we were out of the campsite at 6:40AM. While it was like riding through a sauna, the route was wonderful. Consistent rolling hills with nothing monstrous and fun folks to ride with. Sorry, no photos; I was too busy riding. When we returned to the shop, we waited for luncheon to be served. The roasted chicken with all the fixings was delicious, and we were all super hungry.

While waiting for lunch we chatted with a couple from Dana Point, California. Great to meet Helen and Dan. We look forward to riding with them in southern California.

Sunday's ride was 39 miles, starting from the community center in Amherst. We drove the van there, and got the chance to show it off to folks before and after the ride. Again a wonderful ride; this time I got a few snaps before the ride.

After the ride we found the Central Waters Brewing Company in Amherst. Nice dark beers, some on nitro, but the best of the best was a Scotch Ale. Thanks for turning us on to this style of beer, Briar.