[Contributed by Joseph King, jking@gcg.com. -Ed.]
About a year and a half ago, during GRABAAWR, I met Joanne Raetz Stuttgen who is the author of the book Cafe Wisconsin. She relayed a few stories about how, the year before, she happened into more than one small town cafe that was totally wiped out by the GRABAAWR horde. I bought her book on that trip and she signed it, "Try the Koffee Kupp in Stoughton. Happy adventure cycling!!!". So leave it to me to pick a rainy day in November to do it.
The only ride I've made to Stoughton was a 64-mile Bombay ride. Since this is mid-November and it looks like it might rain, I decide to find my own route. I planned this route using the worst of maps-- the city map of Madison. It does show some of the outlying area but there are gaps which leave a couple parts of the route to my imagination.
From my house it was a short ride to Olin Park which is on the south west corner of Lake Monona. The rain which started almost as soon as my ride was letting up when I headed away from the park on Rimrock Road. I wasn't sure if I'd survive this attempt to cross over the Beltline Highway. It worked out beautifully-- the road is wide and new. It imagine it could be quite scary if a big event was going at the Dane County Coliseum which was passed on the right. The only bad part about passing over the Beltline Highway on Rimrock Road was, due to a headwind, having to stop for two traffic lights less than one block apart.
Soon after crossing the beltline, Rimrock Road enters the country. Woodlots and marshes fill the spaces between subdivisions along Rimrock. This is also the first part of the ride that is mapped out only in my imagination. I take the second left and discover yet another subdivision with no through streets. Returning to Rimrock Road I cross a stream and turn left on Clayton Road. On Clayton the corn fields are on the left and the ranch homes are on the right.
The rain stops for good and the sun eventually peeks out for about a minute and then back behind the clouds. I turn south on Larson into a 15 mph head wind. That's OK, I'm in no hurry. I jog over to Lalor road and then Sand Hill Road and continue plodding into the wind.
Riding alone I'm enjoying the day and perhaps daydreaming a little when - -- BAM! BAM! BAM! -- duck hunters interrupt my thoughts. For a paranoid moment or two I worry about being mistaken for a deer. Fortunately, I know I'm just paranoid and quickly forget all about it. Besides, deer season doesn't start until next week.
On my map Stoughton appears as only a large gray rectangle-- no streets are marked. So as I approach the area I eye each cross road carefully but end up biking into town on Highway 51 anyway. This was decidedly the worst part of the ride. The road is new and smooth with very narrow shoulders. Although traffic is moving fast, it is not too heavy and the wide right lane reduces the feeling of danger.
My odometer reads 24 miles when I pull up to the Koffee Kupp on Main Street in down town Stoughton. The real charm of this place is not its outward appearance and it's not in the decorations inside either. It's the proprietors. Kendall greeted me with a surprise on his face. He said he thought the weather was too lousy for a bike ride. I told him that it's hard to complain about mid-50's in mid-November. He heartily agreed. In fact, it was nice day for a ride. It never once rained hard enough for me to put on my rain gear.
The oddest fixture at the Kupp is the public phone. Kendall dialed my number for me and gave me instructions on how not to lose my coin if the party I'm calling doesn't answer. The phone is located behind the kitchen so I was afforded a look at the boiling pots and busy hands. This is country food prepared with care. The hand-peeled potatos are boiled and mashed and served with chicken and gravy today. The small group of patrons in the diner are filling up on roast beef, chicken and other hearty lunches. But I am here only for the pies.
Trish reads me a long list of pies and other treats available today-- all made at the Kupp. I settle on the cherry pie. The crust is thin and light. The filling is loaded with cherries with just a small amount of gelatin holding it together. I enjoy it thoroughly. Along with the pie she brought me a pot of decaf coffee-- all for less than two dollars.
Refueled, I return to Madison the way I came. I'm glad to have discovered this land of marshes so close to home. And also I was surprised at how easy it was to get out of Madison via Rimrock Road. In some ways this route out of town is superior to the more familiar Old Sauk Road. The road is wide, and once I turned off Rimrock Road the roads were quiet. This is probably well known to east- and south-side Madisonians but to me it seemed like a discovery.
Below is a cue sheet of the ride. The distances are approximate.
Olin Park
L Bike Path 0.4
R Rimrock Rd. 1.8
L Clayton Rd. 0.8
R Larson Rd. 1.3
L Goodland 0.3
R Lalor 2.3
L County B 1.0
R Sand Hill Rd. 2.4
L Rutland-Dunn Town 5.2
R Hwy 51 (becomes Main) 3.0
355 Main Street Stoughton