Continued from Part 3

Day 4 continued with a 13.5km (8.4mi) ride back across Washington Island, then back to the "mainland" of the Door Peninsula at Northport. It was then another 13km (8mi) over to Ellison Bay for lunch.

Stopping at Ellison Bay's cool but limited Pioneer Store, my rig then had some extra weight as I tackled the big hill out of town. Huffing and puffing along in granny gear, it was then that a car rode by and all I heard was "GET IT" from the passenger window.

Was the person was being supportive because of the outdoorsiness here, or if he was just being a jackass? Who knows, but eventually I did GET IT and reached the top.

Back on day two, I stopped by the Edge of Town Motel to inquire about any single-day vacancies because it felt like every motel on the Door Peninsula either had a 2 or 3-day minimum stay policy.

At the Edge of Town, the motel's owner explained that they prefer to have 5, 6, or 7-day stays as you don't have to clean and turn over the rooms every day. I suppose I was seeing how others travel here, where the distances aren't too great and people simply have a Door Peninsula home base to set out on daily excursions.

That all being said, the owner said he'd make an exception for me as it seemed like he sort of felt sorry for me being on a bike and not finding anywhere to stay. I knew I was capable of paying an extra $80 up the road at the Parkside Inn, but I also wanted to save that $80. Accommodations were already costly enough on this trip.

I was definitely questioning if I even needed the room as I rolled up today. I thought I'd be more tired and dirty and longing for a shower by this point, but I could have easily kept cycling. On the other hand, I was worried about ticks in terms of stealth camping, while paying for a campsite at a private campground up here would have only saved me roughly 60 bucks - since it was 40 or 50 bucks for an unserviced tent site. They were also calling for moderate to severe thunderstorms to pop up this afternoon, which didn't sound like fun in my small tent.

So I took it easy for the day. I showered, then watched some Flip or Flop, followed by The Accountant, starring Ben Affleck and John Bernthal.

I felt a bit soft staying in four motels versus three nights in the tent, but at least my room had a sweet Lighthouses of Door County poster.

Staying at the motel provided another victory in that it allowed me to have breakfast at the iconic Al Johnson’s Swedish Restaurant & Butik in Sister Bay.

The restaurant was absolutely jammed with people, but as I was only one guy, they were able to find me a spot to enjoy Swedish pancakes and meatballs while goats grazed on the sod roof above.

I would have never stopped here in a car with all of the people and hoopla, but this wasn't a hacky, overrated tourist spot - this was the best breakfast of the trip. I'd absolutely endure the people and hoopla if I ever find myself in Sister Bay again.

Riding out of Sister Bay, it was another gorgeous Wisconsin day and there was little traffic on the roads. I read somewhere that more county roads in Wisconsin are paved because of the old milk farms, and now I was benefitting from that fact.

This was lovely and these were the cycling conditions pictured when I pondered going on this trip.

Over on the east side of the Door Peninsula, I was pretty excited to pull up to the Cana Island parking lot. It's here that you're free to take your shoes off and wade through the shallow water to get to Cana Island...or you can just wait and arrive via tractor and hay wagon!

This was a new means of getting to a lighthouse, lol.

Also of note, all trip I wished I had brought either a Tigers (the local team where I'm from) or Orioles (my favourite team) hat instead of my St. Louis Cardinals one I randomly bought. I don't mind the Cardinals per se, but I can't really discuss them outside of singing the praises of their stadium. Well, here was the only time anyone gave me any gruff or even mentioned the hat, as the tractor driver joked about not allowing me on the island as he's still upset about the 1982 World Series where the Cardinals apparently beat the local Brewers. I considered joking that I was "negative years old", but we pulled away before I could get in my quip.

Hopping off the wagon and making my way over to the lighthouse, my heart sank as I saw the construction site and corresponding fence that would keep me from "standing before" the Cana Island Lighthouse.

Except I cut down a path and on to the shore, button-hooked around the point of land, then found no orange fencing on the backside. Woo ha! Wisconsin lighthouse number four!

Cana Island Lighthouse was built in 1869 and first lit in 1870 as a replacement of the old Baileys Harbor birdcage-style lighthouse. The lighthouse, the outhouse and the oil house were all made with the cream city brick that you might know from the Milwaukee Bucks alternate jerseys. That cream city brick was good enough for the outhouse and oil house, but the tower deteriorated in the winter storms. A steel cladding was added around the lighthouse in 1902.

Cana Island is a tourist destination these days, where people enjoy walking the 93 steps up to the lantern room and being able to go out on the catwalk. Unfortunately, the million dollar renovations that almost kept me from "standing before" Cana Island Light, would succeed in keeping me from climbing those stairs, or taking in what is supposedly a great view over Lake Michigan.

The tractor driver asked if I would need a ride back, but I wanted to walk in order to experience that as well. It also helped me get some pictures that were hard to take in the jostling hay wagon.

A half-hour up the road and I reached yet another lighthouse - the Baileys Harbor Range Rear Lighthouse!

This was another museum and thankfully they didn't sync up their renovations with Cana Island.

Heading upstairs into the lantern room, I could see a walkway down to the front lighthouse of the range lights.

(The museum also had a very sweet Lighthouses of Lake Michigan poster that I coveted.)

A closeup of the front lighthouse. Both buildings were in immaculate condition.

Just a handful of minutes down the road was a building not in immaculate condition - the old Baileys Harbour Lighthouse, built in 1852.

This lighthouse was built to provide guidance for the village of Baileys Harbour, but it was never the right type of lighthouse for the job. Ships often ran aground and many requested that a set of range lights instead; to guide ships safely into the harbour instead of a single lighthouse just marking the harbour.

With deterioration of the limestone lighthouse also noted, the decision was made to build both the Baileys Harbour Range Lighthouses and the Cana Island Lighthouse as a replacement for old Baileys Harbour Light.

Some time afterwards, the entire lighthouse island was sold to a private owner and this owner has kept the lightkeeper house as a summer cottage. So much for those worries about deterioration of the limestone buildings!

I'm not one to go out of my way to see lighthouses if I can't stand before them, but the old Baileys Harbour Light wasn't that much of a detour. There were also nearby shallows, where I could walk out to a couple of islands.

I wasn't about to test whether the private owner was home at the lighthouse, but I enjoyed leaving the bike behind and pushing out into Lake Michigan around these small, unnamed isles.

Back in Baileys Harbour, I stopped at a bench by the water and sized up my route as there were a couple of different options for heading back towards Sturgeon Bay.

Baileys Harbor seemed like a nice enough place where you could get an upscale meal and a local brew. I wouldn't have minded staying here and there were cool, old motels; but the motels were either $150USD a night, or a 2-night stay minimum @ $125USD/night. There was also a campground, but as it was private, they were charging $45USD/night for an unserviced tent site amongst a bunch of RVs, far away from the water or lighthouses.

It was time to bid adieu to Baileys Harbor.

A couple hours out of Baileys Harbor and I was feeling pretty hungry and like I could also use a cold beverage - and as luck would have it I soon stumbled upon the Institute Saloon in Institute, Wisconsin!

(Institute is so named because of a Roman Catholic boarding school that used to exist in the village.)

Walking in and taking a seat at the bar, there were wood coolers with the pull latches like you see in some Newfoundland convenience stores, plus FSN Minnesota was on the TV and talking about my Timberwolves. Oh baby!

The bartender then came over and took my order, while a nearby group kept to themselves and I was able to read my book, iMessage, and watch Anthony Edwards news. I couldn't have asked for a better dinner stop.

Only a few kilometers from the Institute Saloon, I merged onto the main highway of the Door Peninsula and even though there was a wide shoulder, it was still an adjustment to suddenly have cars passing at 55mph (90kph).

Thankfully it was only ten or so minutes before I headed down into the Sturgeon Bay outskirts of supper clubs, chain stores and flag/fireworks emporiums. That bartender who told me to avoid this road back on day 2 really nailed it, haha.

About the only other thing I remember about passing through Sturgeon Bay was happily flying downhill after a long day of cycling, only for some sloppy, sleeveless-shirt wearing, plump, goatee'd bozo to stumble out of Sonny's Italian Kitchen & Pizzeria and into the road, where I guess I didn't register as traffic as he was only looking for cars. Slamming on the brakes and coming to nearly a complete stop, he gave me a whole big over-the-top, woah, ho, look out! both-hand gesture and I just slowly started moving again and away.

Over at nearby Peninsula State Park, I had a better interaction as I was worried about not finding a space on July 4th weekend, but the ranger said he keeps a few extra spaces for "cases like me." LOL. Which is good because I risked them not having space just so I could save on the silly ReserveAmerica campground reservation fee, but then the ranger must have to use the same system because the price was the same in the end.

The ranger put me in a pretty good spot too, but there was still one more person to deal with as a guy came over and asked if I could help him back up his giant travel trailer. Having no experience with trailers I didn't know what I could offer, but that didn't dissuade him. So over I went and he repeatedly backed into his campsite picnic table. "No, turn, turn, your going to hit it again" and he wouldn't try turning like I suggested, but just repeatedly backed right up into the picnic table. The dude was nice, but man, I couldn't help but wonder if there was limited activity upstairs. I also wondered if this was a COVID purchase like all of the jet skis and snowmobiles I'd seen friends, family, and random people grab.

Eventually he sort of backed it into a passable spot where if people were paying attention they wouldn't hit the front end of his truck poking out into the road. I went back to my unabused picnic table and read for a good while, then retired to my tent. As I did, I could hear buddy with the camper repeatedly trying to open his sun awning into the branches around his site.

As I rode 89km (55mi) today, I briefly thought about riding 11km around the campsite to get a century day. And maybe I should have so I didn't have to listen to the whirring of this guy's motorized awning extender, lol.

More to come.