Waking up at Donnie's and booked on a 4pm Greyhound out of Detroit, soon enough I was off to the tunnel bus and on my way towards a week-long cycletouring trip in Wisconsin.

Like the last time I was on this Detroit to Chicago run, there wasn't a ton of people on the bus. I was able to lean against the window and enjoy the sunset as we rolled through Benton Harbor and Northwest Indiana.

Arriving in Chicago around 9 o'clock, my boxed mountain bike meant that I wasn't navigating any of the crowds or surrounding streets. I threw my bike in a taxi van and pointed them towards my hostel.

Chicago is a tough place to find decent, cheap accommodations, so I was fine with my $105 bed in a four-man dorm room at the Hostels International Chicago.

Arriving late and leaving early, I never discovered if there was anyone else in the other beds (there were curtains). I remember struggling with my bike and the front door though, and this nice woman jumped up from her seat in the lounge to hold the door for me.

It was about a 20 minute walk to Chicago Union Station and as I arrived, I was already sick of lugging around a 54-pound bike box. Although, from here I had a 90-minute Amtrak ride up to Milwaukee, where my bike in this box was no problem at all in the designated bicycle area (take that, Via Rail!)

Milwaukee provided a brief brunch/washroom/snack stop and not enough time to wander around at all. It's been years upon years since I've been in Milwaukee and it would have to stay that way.

The train curves inland from Milwaukee and heads towards Minneapolis. I was instead heading to a bus destination and after 2.5-hours and craning my neck at brief Manitowoc and Sheboygan stops, I finally arrived in Green Bay! Time for a week of cycling around the Door Peninsula which juts out of Wisconsin's east and into Lake Michigan - a peninsula known by some as the Cape Cod of the Midwest!

Using nail clippers to cut through all of the zip ties keeping my bike safe with pool noodles, I then went about trying to be helpful by breaking down the bike box and stuffing it into the bus station trash. After all, it didn't look like the station was open.

"Hey! What are you doing? Throwing out a bike box? Throw it out at your home! Don’t you have a home?" came the rapid speech from an irritated man. "Well, I do, but it’s in Canada." "Oh! You came on the bus? Well then, welcome to America!"

The caretaker took the remainder of my bike box and sized up the stuffed garbage can before heading back inside.

There's just something about a direction-distance sign with unfamiliar place names. I remember being young and in Buffalo the first time and marvelling at the interstate sign for Boston - what a distant and exotic place! What do you mean I could take that exit and eventually end up in Boston? Wow. The world really is my oyster!

That was the same feeling here, but amplified by the fact that I was on a bike. Today I was heading to Sturgeon Bay, 75 kilometers (46.6mi) away. I'd go to Algoma for the first time in a handful of days. I could end this trip in Manitowoc instead of Green Bay.

Especially with the relatively flat land around here, there were so many exciting choices in just this one sign.

Stopping after a half-hour of riding to put on some sunscreen, the first passing truck stopped as the guy wanted to check if I was okay. Good ol' Midwestern folk and their friendliness!

Anyway, this country road only followed right along Green Bay for a few kilometers, but the weather and scenery was perfect. I felt confident that I made the right choice to come cycling here.

Afterwards I was on a lovely, quiet country road that followed the main highway up to the Door Peninsula. It was much better over here, even if the highway has a more impressive welcome sign.

Bringing the muscles to Brussels!

Brussels (and nearby Namur & Luxembourg) were named by the Belgian ethnic group, the Walloons. Walloons came here in the 1850s and brought foods and language that still exists today. There's actually a language called Wisconsin Walloon, which less than 50 people speak today.

I didn't know any of this at the time and instead my mind was going, "wow, look at this place! It's like I'm cycling in Southwestern Ontario! This rules!"

Leaving Brussels, I scooted across the four-lane highway as the previous county road stopped and it also seemed like fun to add in the village of Maplewood.

I'd seen a sign indicating 11 miles (17km) to Sturgeon Bay as I crossed the highway and figured I had to be chewing up some of that distance now. Except that by taking line A from Brussels to Maplewood and then line b from Maplewood to Sturgeon Bay, I was adding about five miles instead of just taking line C from Brussels to Sturgeon Bay. That was the type of math I could work out as I was into hour four of cycling today.

I liked Maplewood even if it added some distance to my day. Its five business structures were all a bit worn and old. The only place that looked like it had any life, the pub & grill, was unfortunately closed.

I went up the hill to check out Maplewood's Catholic Church, but came right back down as the road ahead was slightly hilly. Instead, I planned to take whatever county roads north and east that avoided those bits of hills - but just seconds north of Maplewood, I discovered a sign for the Ahnapee State Trail. There was a sign that warned for ticks, so I only committed to going down the trail for a minute to size up the grass length, but it was immaculately maintained. It was now late afternoon and the flat dirt path passed swamps with Red-Winged Blackbirds and one really beautiful runner, where I wondered where the heck they came from in this rural area, lol.

(When I eventually got to my dinner destination, I looked in the mirror to discover I hadn't worked in any of the sunscreen and I must've smiled back with a face that was 30% white sunscreen.)

Popping out a bit east of Sturgeon Bay, I still felt great and like I could keep cycling for a long while. Except that as I raced by the Justice Center and then turned around for a picture, I discovered the strong east wind that'd kicked up. I definitely wouldn't have been feeling so good if I ended up five miles west of town instead of east.

Today felt like a good and appropriate workout and distance. Following how sore and useless I was after my last major cycletouring trip - the Nova Scotia one - I came into this trip concerned and doing my best not to get stuck in some town 150km (93mi) from Green Bay, utterly spent and screwed with no way to get to my departing bus.

But, like I said, this evening I was feeling great. Especially as the day one reward was a combination Taco Bell/Arby's I'd scouted out! Fucking SCORE.

The Arby's was even nautical theme with multiple lighthouse photos.

Proper celebratory dinner after a 76km (47mi) first day on the road.

My accommodations were sort of neat down at the Motel 57. This was an old roadside motel that's been jueje'd up and you pay the price for it - but I figured after a night in Detroit, then a night at a Chicago hostel and then 76km of cycling, that I'd appreciate a motel this first night. Or at least I'd appreciate knowing where I was going to sleep and not worrying about stealth camping.

This was also just about the cheapest room in town. Sturgeon Bay & the Door Peninsula are popular vacation destinations and there's a lot more mid- and high-priced motels/hotels for the clientele that like sitting by the water and sipping cocktails.

I would have liked splurging on one of the options downtown instead of the Motel 57 on the edge of town, but at least I was feeling good while walking. The cycling had worn out the cycling muscles and the walking ones weren't too bad.

Truthfully I could have tented this first night over at the state park, but I was also excited about exploring one of the only sizable towns I would see in the next handful of days.

So I enjoyed a pleasant half-hour walk downtown on what was a fine evening. Cutting through neighbourhoods instead of passing the Quality Inn and the Advanced Auto Parts on the main arterial road, I was delighted to be checking out the homes and cats of Sturgeon Bay.

Down at the Greystone Castle, an ice-cold Old Style was the cherry on top of this day.

Downtown Sturgeon Bay.

I'm not going to lie, it was a bit of a trudge back up the hill to the Motel 57, but before I knew it, it was time for another day of cycling.

More to come!