Wisconsin Westward

Day 8

We started heading west towards Madison when we realized we had forgotten our life vests. We had taken them out of the van because when they dry out they smell like the lake we just visited. We were going to be gone for five days so we had to turn around and head back to Milwaukee. That made us 45 minutes late to our breakfast meeting with friends at the Pancake Cafe in Madison WI. Mary had pancakes and I had an omelet.

We said goodbye to our friends and headed towards Reedsburg WI. An hour and 20 minutes later, we found ourselves and the ‘400’ State Trailhead Headquarters and trailhead.

The trail is so named because this section was part of the rail used by the Chicago-Northwestern passenger train. The train ran 400 miles between Chicago and Minneapolis in 400 minutes.

There is ample parking at the trailhead headquarters building which is a converted train station complete with an old locomotive and small museum and shop inside. State trails in Wisconsin require a pass. It’s $5.00 per day or $25 for the year. Since we only planned one day on a state trail, we opted for the daily pass. All other trails in our trip would be city or county trails and those generally don’t require a pass.

The 400 Trail runs northwest along the Baraboo River from Reedsburg to Elroy. While the trail is 22 miles long, we thought maybe a little shorter ride was in order so headed NE for about seven miles before turning around.

*A view of the Baraboo River. It has recently flooded and was quite muddy. Something may have been left behind to show “we were here”*.

We really enjoyed this trail. It was all crushed rock, pretty well maintained and mostly flat-ish.

After the ride, we found the Deli Bean Cafe in Reedsburg. Mary and I both had iced coffee – refreshing. Feeling recovered from the ride we headed to our overnight destination- staying with family.

I thought about deleting this photo but maybe there is a good story here. This building in the background is or at least was the Garden City Motel in Union Center WI just a few miles south of Elroy WI. This brought back or should I say triggered some old memories.

Seven years ago, I did the Kickapoo Valley Dam Challenge adventure triathlon just a short drive from this motel. I had registered for the race late and this was the only place available in the area and it was under $50.00 per night. We soon found out why. To check in you called a number then would use the code to unlock a box to get a key to the room. Cell service was spotty and unreliable which made us nervous. When we finally got through to get the code, the room was clean and ok but still had that 1950’s decor. I think we slept in our street clothes on top of the sheets. I wouldn’t call the place third world as there was a Kwik Trip right across the road. Just not our style.

*You can see more of the flooding from the Baraboo River. I wonder if you can get a relief ‘drop’ from the water hazard on this course.*

We reached our stay-over destination near Elroy WI unpacked and cleaned up for supper. It was fried chicken time.

Although it’s a 20 minute drive, Almost Home Bar and Grill in Camp Douglas WI (or Clifton WI depending on the map) is absolutely worth the trip! We’ve been to this out-of-the-way bar numerous times for their specialty-fried or broasted or however-they-prepare-it chicken. This place has been through a few iterations including the name Rotten Brothers. I read some of the reviews and they had some recipe changes that were not popular but everything seems to be all squared up now.