Buffalo Grove to Sheboygan Bike Trip

In July, 2025 I took a 3 day bike trip from Buffalo Grove, Il to Sheboygan, WI.  Below are some maps and pictures:

Day 1: Buffalo Grove, IL to Milwaukee, WI.  75 miles. Heat Index 100 degrees. 

First rest stop was outside Great Lakes Naval Base. 

Breakfast at K-town cafe in Kenosha. 

Views of the lakes and beaches south of Milwaukee. 

Accommodations for night 1, RV camper in Milwaukee from a site called HipCamp.

Day 2: Milwaukee WI to Random Lake, WI. 45 miles.  Heat Index 95 degrees. 

Mural leaving Milwaukee. 

The St. Mary's Challenger, seen leaving Milwaukee. This boat was built in 1906 to haul ore and is still in use today, hauling cement. 

Sunrise over Lake Michigan leaving Milwaukee. 

Day 3: Random Lake, WI to Sheboygan, WI 40 miles.  Rain and wind. 

Leaving Random Lake in the morning

Cool barns between Random Lake, WI and Plymouth, WI. 

The end: panoramic shot of Sheboygan lake front. 

Church Pew Repair

Another project with Al - repairing an old Church pew.  I acquired this church pew sometime in the early 2000s.  See this link from 2013 for my $10 fix.  

Some pictures from the 2013 project: 

Pictures from before the project started in 2024: 

I decided it was time to fix the pew up right and Al was willing to do a lot of the work and use his shop.  Below are some pictures of the process/project: 

STEP 1: Disassembly, sanding and gluing. 

STEP 2: Rounding the edges.  The pew had sharp edges, especially on the arm rest. 

STEP 3: Al made some brackets/bracing to solidify the pew when we reassemble. This will be more clear in final shots. 

STEP 4: Removing clamps, more sanding, new base. Al made some nice trim pieces to hide the defects on the bottom of the pew. 

STEP 5: Walnut Stain - we used the walnut stain left over from the ice box -> liquor cabinet project. 

FINAL WALKAROUND!

Ice Box -> Liquor Cabinet Conversion

Below are some pictures of an ice box to liquor cabinet conversion.  Thanks to Al who let me use his workshop and did a majority of the work.  

The original ice box is from the Alaska Refrigerator Company, based in Muskegon, MI. The label on the back indicates it was originally purchased at a Wecker Furniture Store at 1433 Milwaukee Avenue in the Wicker Park neighborhood of Chicago. Some info that I found is below: 

Alaska Refrigerator was one of the first companies to move to Muskegon Heights.  They opened their factor at the corner of Broadway and Fifth in 1891.  At their height, Alaska Refrigerator employed 325 workers and was the largest refrigerator plant in the United States.  They produced a full line of wooden cabinet ice boxes, chests and coolers that used large blocks of ice to cool food.  Alaska was known world wide, shipping units to six continents.  In 1926, the company was sold to the Coldak Corporation and continued to produce ice boxes for a market increasingly dominated by electric refrigerators. In 1931, the Borg Warner Corporation purchased the factory and moved its Norge Refrigerator division from Detroit to Muskegon Heights.  The Muskegon Heritage Museum collection includes three examples of Alaska Refrigerators for the residential market. 

Original condition below:

Front

Back

Label on back

Wall papered inside

Step 1: Removing the wall paper from inside. 

Step 2: We removed the doors.  You can see about two inches of wood, tin and some insulation (as it was a refrigerator).  We removed all of that and cut out the middle of each door to make glass doors. 

Step 3: router out a ledge for the glass panes to sit on. 

Action shot

Cleaned up doors sitting in place. 

Step 4: Al made some very nice trim pieces to hold the glass in place.

Step 5: Sanding

Step 6: Al installed adjustable shelf brackets and some strip lighting (in the corner covered with blue tape). 

Step 7: I spent 7-8 hours polishing all of the removed brass hardware. 

Step 8: Clear coat applied to the back.  We did not sand this as we wanted to preserve the serial number on the back.  (Not sure what it indicates, but maybe I will find out one day.)

Step 9: Painting the inside and first coat of Walnut varnish on exterior.

Step 10: Walnut stain done, lights on. 

Step 11: Al installed the glass on the doors

Step 12: Two coats of walnut stain, 4 coats of lacquer and sanding in between coats. Finished product below. 

(glass shelves, bottles and glasses will be added later)

Before and After Pictures