Wisconsin motorcycle trip help?

Question

I am wondering if anyone has a good riding route for a one day motorcycle trip. I live in Milwaukee, WI and am interested in a full day ride. My hope would be to stay away from busy highways. It would also be great to ride along a lake or river. If you have gone on a great trip, would you be willing to share your route? Thank you!

Answer 1

Start out heading southwest on 24 to L.  Roll on all the back roads.  Just general direction, and allow yourself the day.  I usually started in Kenosha, and went straight to East Troy and dropped into the Buell Factory.  On weekdays you can sign in and take a walking tour for about an hour and meet some great folks.

Then leave the Buell factory, head back into town and back up L to 164.  Follow it North to 175 into Fond du Lac.  Take the eastern run around Lake Winnebago.  Far more scenic and much less traffic.  Head North on 151 which becomes 55 and even more rural.  Eventually 10 into Appleton.  Enjoy the city for a bit.

Then 10 East to the lake and pickup 42 North.  Dinner waterside at Kewaunee or points north, then make the 2.5 hour scrammble back home.  

Answer 2

I wish I had a decent answer for you. I'm riding out to Wisconsin in 3 weeks. We are planning on riding to Madison and heading north to Wausau. We'll most likely head north from there until we get to Lake Superior (Eagle River, Michigan) Then we'll go west to Duluth and then start heading home traveling Southwest through Minnesota.

The Wisonsin Rapids area is pretty nice. You might want to look into riding up there and up through Wausau.

Answer 3

There are tons of great rides in WI.  In the west, the entire length of the Mississippi River is beautiful.  In the east, you can ride along the lake, i think it is highway 32, most of the way.  In Milwaukee, roads like Fond du Lac Avenue, Appleton Avenue, Green Bay Road, Port Washington Road and Capitol Drive actually lead to those locations.  Get a map and drive the state highways, you will love them.  To the northwest of you is the Holy Hill area and that is also a great area for riding.

Answer 4

Door County is an obvious choice.  Getting to the tip takes around 4-5 hours I think.  The obvious route would be to take 94/43 to Manitowoc, and from there you would get off the freeway and onto .... I think it's 32.  Whatever it is where you'd be riding right along the lake.  But if you want to avoid that much freeway riding, I'm sure you could Mapquest a different route up there.  One example would be to split off from 43 and take 57.  It's still a highway but it's a 55 speed limit.

Another option would be to head toward Dubuque.  I've done that twice although I was with others and paid no attention to our route.  But at some point we were riding along the Mississippi.  We took backroads so the trip did take all day.

Answer 5

A hundred lifetimes ago, I used to ride from Chicago to Winona MN and Lansing Iowa almost every weekend in my MGB. From Madison, there was a road I seem to recall as Route 14. It was wonderful. A vacation in itself. It wasn't super twisty, but it was a bit in places. I can't remember all the places it hit. I think Richardson or Richland Center something like that, Appleton for sure. There was a beautiful little city, maybe Appleton again, with a waterwheel or a waterfall. Once you're near the MN border, there is Highway 61 ( I think ) that runs along the Mississippi and some railroad tracks. I am really tempted to make the trip by motorcycle next summer. It's not really a day trip I guess. But one day up, stay overnight in Lacrosse or Winona, and come back would be like a week off in my opinion. Let me know if you go! I'm jealous. Look up Pete Egan of Cycle World and Road & Track fame. He lives in Wisconsin and has a few books out, and writes for Cycle World every month. The current issue is about a road trip he takes all the time.