As a connoisseur of great beer, I've been trying to visit local breweries in the towns that I ride through.
I got a suggestion from a guy in Madison last night to visit Karben4.
Karben4 is the best brewery I've been to on this tour. Their beer is fantastic, and even though I'm a die-hard fan of hoppy brews, I sampled most of their tap selection and was impressed with all of them.
Their labels and branding materials are incredible too:
These photos aren't that great, but you can get a better idea here.
The staff at Karben4 was just a great as the brew. I also have a thing for macaroni and cheese, proudly featured on their menu.
At this point, I didn't really want to leave.
After exploring Madison Wisconsin and discovering my new favorite brewery, I moved on. Milwaukee is about 80 miles from Madison, and I had no intention of staying in the city for the night.
In fact, I hoped to hit Milwaukee in the middle of the day so I could take the ferry across to Michigan.
That means I had an easy, 40 mile afternoon ride.
I rode past more beautiful lake communities and stopped in Wales, Wisconsin. I chose the town because of the massive sports complex, city park and disc golf course.
But, upon arrival, I was a little disappointed with the tree coverage in the park. The whole place was visible, from everywhere. Stealth camping is a lot easier when you can hide.
Despite the sun setting and light fading, people were still playing disc golf, which ruled out that area.
And there was a wedding, complete with a lighted dance floor, in the middle of the soccer fields. So, that was out as well.
That left me with the baseball fields, usually my first choice. I ate an incredible dinner of spicy kale salad and garlic pasta (procured from the local grocery store) in the picnic tables next to the fields. Once you could no longer see without a light, I setup my tent between the bleachers.
Joe