On the road to Stevens Point -- Osseo to Stevens Point

Bike route 69585 - powered by Bikemap 

The third leg of our ride to Stevens Point was longer than we might have liked -- over 100 miles -- but the time spent laying out a low-traffic route in the hotel the night before was a good investment. We rode south from busy Highway 10 and followed quiet country roads, watching goldfinches and indigo buntings fly up from the ditches, occasionally spotting some sandhill cranes or wild turkeys, and often enjoying the shade of a roadside tree. The downside of the quiet country roads is that they have very few places to eat. We were glad to find a roadside bar and grill just when we thought we couldn't go any further. (Look on the map for a little detour off the road at the location of the restaurant.) The traffic from Highway 10 came to us, because there was a small bridge out on 10, and a detour brought quite a few large trucks to Highway 73, but we were soon able to leave that road and get back onto the smaller ones.

We were pleasantly surprised to find that this route across Wisconsin, despite the detours and construction, was reasonably safe and not too hilly.