P.S.

(Oops. I put this aside to reread and it got lost in the busyness of my life at home. It's now been several weeks and this is still pretty much how things feel.)

We've been off the bikes for a week, and home for five days. All my dreams are still about being out on the bike. The second night on my own bed, I woke up feeling not at all sure that I knew where I was, but slowly, slowly, things are starting to feel normal. If there is such a thing.

Last night as I settled down to read, I saw a big flash of light. Bruce had seen a couple, too, so we climbed up in the big window seat to see what was going on. The sky was clear above us. The moon was almost full, and was shining down. There was a thick blanket of fog, very low to the water. We could see the tops of the Bay Bridge's lighted cables. But within a very few minutes, I saw a huge lightning bolt strike somewhere in or around the Marina. Hmm. I really though we were home, but home never has that sort of weather. We continued to see flashes of lighning, although no more were as close or as vivid. After all the summer's weather excitement, I felt almost guilty, as though the more severe weather had somehow followed us back.

Even before we left, I wondered what it would feel like to have done this. Would we want to toss our bikes in the Atlantic and be through? Would we wish we could simply turn around and ride back to the west coast? Would we be physically exhausted, or stronger than we could have imagined at the start? Would we be really, really excited to be able to change into different clothes?

So I gave it a week, and here's what I have been thinking.

Our routines are so well established that I fell back into mine pretty easily. I remembered all my passwords at work. I knew which bus lines I wanted to take if I wasn't riding my bike. I even remembered most of the places I had left things in the house, and since we had only gotten the drawers built fairly recently, that was not something I could be too sure of. I went to tap today, and my feet don't seem to have frozen up from three months of bike shoes. Home is very welcome. Getting back is every bit as good as I expected it to be.

I did not want to throw the bike in the Atlantic. I actually felt quite sad about ahving to leave it to be shipped home. Fortunately, my other bike is here so I have been able to commute on it and go out on my first Velo Girls ride in months.

Some days, I almost feel as if it didn't happen. Then someone asks me a question about the trip, and I start answering and the memories flood back and fill my brain. I am once again in the Michigan Upper Peninsula, or discovering North Dakota, or Montana. I am thinking of views, of special places we stayed, of spectacular birds, of (the relatively rare) good meals, long days, short days, hard days, easy days.

Then I get back to work and it is once again as if I had never been away.

So, the big questions:

Would I do it again?

No. Too long to be away from home, from friends and family, from other things I really love to do, like tap, and my work.

What would I do differently on another bike tour?

I'd attach more importance to support. On a long distance ride, I would like to have more flexibility in the schedule. On the other hand, having all those reservations was very reassuring. But the trips I would choose first right now would have us stay for several days, maybe even weeks, at a single place, and do rides out from it, or maybe even rides from nearby locations we could drive to. I would like to get to know areas more thoroughly.

How soon would I think of doing another long bike tour? How long would it be?

I'd be ready to go almost any time. It would be anything from a long weekend to a 4-6 week tour.

Where would it be?

Almost anywhere. There were several parts of our route that we would like to see more of. Eastern Washington, Montana, Minnesota & Wisconsin, the Upper Peninsula, New England. It would also be fun to do more exploration of the west coast. I would like to complete the parts of the coast we have not yet ridden - Seattle to Mendocino. Bruce would probably choose to do the new Adventure Cycling route in the Sierras. I would like to spend some time in the deserts, especially in Arizona and New Mewxico. France. Italy. Australia. I guess we have a lot of riding to look forward to.

Am I glad we went?

Absolutely. This is an amazing country. I have a better sense of its size and diversity, of the amount of space we still have dedicated to wilderness. I am more than ever certain I am lucky to live in the San Francisco area, but also more certain that I am lucky to live in the United States. We met people everywhere we went who were kind and thoughtful. We tend to think diversity means the cultural and ethnic diversity we enjoy in our area; I have now seen firsthand that there are lots and lots of life elements in rural states that would feel very unfamiliar to us. We should not underestimate their importance.

What about the clean clothes?

I hope I will never again take that for granted!!!!

4200 miles, some details

Days away: 98
Ride days: 68
Highest miles in a day: 99
Lowest miles in a ride day: 10
Average miles per day (all): 43
Average miles per ride day: 62
Total pedal strokes: 1,470,000
Total calories burned: 96,600
Rest days: 30, including Vermont wedding time and Connecticut babysitting
Different places stayed: 72

States visited: 10, including Ontario
Days per state:
Washington, 10
Idaho, 1
Montana, 22
North Dakota, 12
Vermont (no riding), 5
Minnesota, 6
Wisconsin, 5
Michigan, 14
Ontario, 4
New York, 10
Massachusetts, 6
Connecticut, 3 (no riding)

Named passes climbed:
Rainy & Washington, 5477'
Loup-Loup, 4020'
Wauconda, 4310'
Marias, 5213'
Kings Hill, 7385' (highest altitude reached)

Bike issues:
3 new tires, 2 flats (Winnie), 2 new tires, 4 flats (Bruce)
2 tune-ups & chain replacements each, one new big ring (Winnie)
No big problems on the road

Weather issues:
3 days of mostly rain, 4 with significant showers, several with minor showers
2 days when thunderstorms took us off the road
Extreme heat & humidity in parts of North Dakota & Minnesota
1 tornado siren
1 tropical storm

Health issues:
Almost none. 1 minor cold, 1 brief episode of conjunctivitis, occasional mild tingly hands, plenty of saddle sores (went away as soon as weather cooled down), plenty of sore muscles, although they, too, had pretty much disappeared by the end. No falls.

Best food: Whitefish, Minneapolis, Blue Mountain Lake, Natick (not much in the most rural areas)

Places we'll want to see again: eastern Washington, Montana, especially the areas near Glacier and Choteau, Michigan upper peninsula & Lake Michigan shore, Minnesota, especially near Xanadu & Minneapolis, Wisconsin, the Adirondacks, western Massachusetts. In other words, almost everywhere we went.

Favorite hotels, motels, B&Bs: The Listening Inn, Horse Creek B&B, Bullfrog B&B, DelMonte Lodge, Freestone Inn, Lodge at Sand Point, Pine Butte Guest Ranch, Bunkhouse B&B, Hemlock Hall, Xanadu Island B&B, Great Northern Motel, Edgewater Inn, Garden Gate B&B, Inn on the Harbour, and there are lots more we would be happy to see again.

Best birds: eagles, bald and golden, ospreys, evening grosbeaks, lazuli buntings, Wilson's phalaropes, pileated woodpeckers, sandhill cranes.

Best views: Northern Cascades, parts of Montana, Great Lakes where shoreline was accessible, Highway 12 between Miles City & Baker, Montana.

Interesting people: the Glacier waiter who planned to sail & paddle a kayak from there to his Florida home; the quietly amazing couple at the Listening Inn who know their land & its creatures incredibly well, the 82-year-old woman who runs a B&B alone & made us breakfast on the wood stove, the guy in the Cascades who spends much of his year wandering on his Bike Friday, stealth-camping & doing an occasional Couch-Surfing night, and so many others.

Best people out there: Aline & Jim, Willie, Kitty, Stephanie & Ben, Liz & Raven. Without them we would have struggled far more to get comfortable with the trip, would have eaten far less well, would have feared the weather more, would have so missed the chance to have their company!

Made it!

What else is there to say? Late this morning we found a long pier jutting out into the Boston harbor and realized we were there at last. Or there already. Perhaps a little of each. We got a couple of pictures and moved back towards our regular lives. If you can call riding in Boston traffic anything like regular.

Right now we are in New Haven. Willie is asleep in the next room and Lillian is right next to me, working on getting sleepy. I couldn't have a better ending to our adventure.

Miles today: 30
Total miles ridden: 4200

The bird with the turquoise eye

I couldn't sleep very long this morning. It's all too exciting. We are in a very comfortable room, but I woke up thinking about our plans for the day, and our plans for tomorrow, the very last day of the ride.

Our first plan was not exactly exciting - unless it's exciting to visit our last laundromat for quite a while. We got directions from people at the hotel. They told us the shuttle driver could take us, but he had one more trip to make first. We started to walk there, but before long the shuttle pulled up beside us! The driver did not think we should have to walk. He's a nice guy from Brittany. He said he was pleased to have met us - now he had an interesting story to tell when he got home for dinner.

Once we had all that taken care of, we went over to the Wellesley campus. It is a beautiful school, and the weather was just right for a nice walk. We rode our bikes over. I had called the campus police; they kindly offered to house the bikes while we walked around Lake Waban. They really liked the idea of our trip.

We found lunch in the ultra-modern student center. Wellesley really has done a good job of integrating new with old. The food service is vadtly improved from our day, too. It was ok at Wellesley compared to other schools, but now there are all sorts of choices and apparently great flexibility in time.

After lunch we walked around the lake. I don't know how many times we took that walk while we were in school. It is a very good one. Not very long, maybe a couple of miles. There is now a boardwalk section that lets you look down into the reeds. The Honeywell estate still has the topiary hedges we remember so well; there is still the nice little stone bridge between the college president's house and the rest of the campus.

Naturally, I looked for birds as we walked. I was sort of surprised when Bruce noticed three double-crested cormorants resting on a fallen tree. Maybe the storm blew them in? Next time you see one of them, take a look. They are almost entirely black, with the dull yellow throat area (most of the time). Their eyes are a startling turquoise. A woman walking the other way seemed slightly interested. Then she looked through my binoculars & was amazed.

A couple of turtles, a family of swans, and we were back to pick up the bikes. The campus policewoman at the desk was busy working her way through a wave of students seeking their id cards, but not busy enough to fail to announce to the group what we had been up to. The students seemed, at first, to think she was joking. Then they began to stare and comment. So we left an admiring little crowd behind.

This evening we had dinner with Elisa & Michael. Elisa and I worked together a long time ago. Her second daughter was born very close to the time I had Elizabeth, and that probably was the thing that brought us close. We have stayed in touch ever since. She has been living in Massachusetts for several years now & we have managed to see her during Ride FAR. I feel so very lucky to have kept connected to lots of people over time. We really had fun this evening, and she found a great place for dinner, too.

So we are full and happy, and even more excited about tomorrow. It will be a shortish day, maybe 25 or 30 miles. Then, if I feel a little sad, I can remind myself that we spend tomorrow evening with Lillian and Willie. The perfect ending.

Miles today: 13
Total miles so far: 4170

Ride FAR

We had to start by washing the bikes off. Tom Swamp Road definitely left its mark. The short additional distance we rode to our place last night made my brakes shriek and my gears slip. A little water and chain lube fixed things and off we went. Our first ten miles went slowly. More of those short, steep hills kept coming up. They really are quite steep. There was one yesterday that reached 14%. I almost couldn't do it with my loaded bike. I was at CP6 and managing all of about 3 1/2 miles per hour. Today was not quite so tough, but not easy either. We stopped to get water and mail cards in the first little town, talked to a couple of other cyclists & went on. More climbing. I began to wonder if we would get to Natick in time for our planned dinner with the Ride FAR group.

Pizza in Princeton, only 22 miles out. Then, at last, we began to go downhill. We added lots of miles fast and had a good time doing it. Actually, the climbing was good too, it was just taking too long. I had told Bruce I would like to stop for ice cream along the way. Then, after lunch, I got distracted. Things started to feel familiar - a real sense of deja vu. Bruce spotted an ice cream place, and I knew. I really had been there before. We were, for a short distance, actually on the Ride FAR route, and this was where we'd had lunch on the last days! Even though I wasn't very hungry yet, this had to be today's ice cream stop. Bruce took a picture to show at dinner tonight.

Soon after, we reached busier areas. We are getting closer and closer to Boston and the towns show it. More traffic, more choices of routes. We spent much of the afternoon following the turns we had figured out last night, and they worked fine. Our hotel is on a street that is not good for bikes. We managed to reach it within less than a block of our goal.

Our big deal today was to have dinner with a group from Ride FAR. In case you don't know, that is the AIDS ride I have done three times in the past. It was in alternate years, and this was to be one of them. Suzy, the woman who created and organized the ride, found that it would just be too much. She has a six year old daughter and is to publish a book soon. Deadlines loom. So the ride is no more. I was sorry to hear that, but also relieved. I have never loved fundraising and although the idea of training for a 500 mile ride by riding over 4000 miles had a certain weird appeal, I am not sorry to be closer to the end of my big adventure. But the people I have met are wonderful, and it was very exciting to get to see some this evening. One, Lee, showed up on his bike. Suzy and her sister, Meredith, brought their kids (and the kids somehow managed to get two years older since I last saw them). Lorene, Charles, Kim, Jonathan. A real treat to get to catch up a bit. Also nice to talk to local riders about our possible routes over the next couple of days.

So our next-to-last official ride day has been quite a success.

Miles today: 62
Total miles so far: 4157

Cyclocross?

New England is really beautiful for riding. Really just about perfect. The weather warmed up quite a bit after my morning note, but never got hot. Our route took us up and down hills, through lots of woods, along little rushing streams with tiny waterfalls, through picture-postcard farms. Easy to understand why so many bike tours come here. I was almost sad to think we are so close to the end of the trip, and very glad we had split this section in two so we had lots of time to enjoy it.

There is one dark note. Some of the pavement is atrocious. Not most of it; most is average and some is perfect. But occasionally, and especially in a couple of Berkshire towns yesterday, it was scary. Those big cracks in the road that are just longing to eat a skinny tire or two. Not terrible on a climb, but what a wasted descent when you have to keep a death grip on the brakes to keep the rubber on the road!

But I want to record more about our Bullfrog stay. Our hostess told Bruce when he made the reservation that she bet she was older than he. When he acknowledged his 59, almost 60 years, she said gleefully that she has a son older than that. So when we arrived pretty much as scheduled and could not get an answer at the door, I was a little bit worried. We rang the bell, and eventually I stuck my head in the unlocked door & called out. Nothing. Was she all right? What should we do? Then we heard some construction sounds out back so we walked around. There was a guy working on the roof who stopped and showed us to the front door and told us our room was upstairs. We would see our hostess when we got back from dinner; she had just made a quick trip up to the farm.

So we rode back to the little restaurant on the lake, had a very nice meal, and stopped at the little store to pick up a pint of ice cream to eat back at the inn. Sure enough, Lucille was there. She had been to harvest corn. The storm had knocked it down & it would quickly rot when touching the ground. So she was cooking & freezing it, having already canned several pounds of tomatoes and green beans. She stopped long enough to join us in eating ice cream and we had a great talk. She is fascinated by our trip. In recent years she has done week-long Elder Hostel bike tours in Europe (but, she said apologetically, no days longer than 43 miles). She said her kids don't like it when she trains for them on the fairly narrow and well traveled road out in front of her place. So she gets up at dawn to ride so the few cars up that early will get to expecting her.

She has five kids in the area and several grandchildren, mostly grown. Her house is in perfect order. She seems to have unlimited energy and a cheerful approach to everything. She made us a wonderful breakfast: black raspberries and peaches to begin, all local, followed by homemade sourdough toast with rosemary, eggs, local sausage and whole wheat pancakes, all prepared on her woodstove as we watched. We had more fun conversation as we ate. I could have stayed all day.

But we headed out, and before we knew it were crossing the Connecticut River. It is very, very full. We stopped on the bridge for a bit to look. The trees are in water almost up to their lowest branches. The water is very muddy and there were plenty of logs & branches rushing downstream. The water racing under us emerged with ripples and little whirlpools. I can hardly imagine how it must have looked on Sunday evening.

But our roads were dry and peaceful, and I began to fear we would arrive long before check in time. We went by parts of the Quabbin Reservoir & took a side road to get a better look. We found an alternative to the route that would get us off a busy road and closer to tonight's place. Left on Athol Road, right on Tom Swamp, we're there.

Wait. Tom Swamp? Will we never learn???

It looked ok at first. A local road that still had a fair amount of tree limbs on it from the storm, but a few nice houses, a day care center, then, well, then the pavement ended. Bruce kept riding but I got off to walk. It was pretty rough. Bruce soon decided to go back & ask a guy we'd seen mowing his lawn if we would actually get through ok. I kept walking. Yes, we would get through, but there was one area where the water covered the road for a hundred feet or so. Ok, I kept walking. Bruce has bigger tires & some off road experience, so he kept riding. For a while. It eventually got beyond any road bike's comfort zone & he did quite a bit of walking, too. When we found the pool across the road ( by then I had passed several large but easy to walk around puddles & had gotten my hopes up), we knew we'd be getting our feet wet. Bruce offered to get the bikes through. I took off my socks, felt very glad to be wearing my rubber Keen sandals, and plunged in. It was actually sort of pleasant. The day was quite warm, the water was always a comfortable temperature, and it only took a few minutes.

After that, we just had to walk the rest of the way through to the main road. Which turned out to be close to another mile & a half of occasionally steep, always rough road.

We weren't early arriving.

Well, I really do think the adventure must be about at an end. We hit the suburbs tomorrow. Meanwhile we are at a very nice, rather fancier B&B tonight. They also serve dinner, so no more need to try to master local navigation.

Miles today: 45
Total miles so far: 4096

Worst weather to best weather

Irene finished up with Williamstown in the middle of the night. By the time we got up, the sky was mostly blue. For the first time in months, I was happy to have blankets (using them because the AC is too high doesn't count). We had another great breakfast and went on our way.

We did a quick, final tour of parts of the Williams campus. The field that Bruce had seen under a few feet of water when he walked around Sunday (after the threat of wind had passed) was mostly back in sight. Then we rode to North Adams in search of lunch. A few wrong turns, a few places we hoped to see that were no longer in business, and we went on to Adams. There we found a nice little bakery that served lunch and raspberry turnovers - no ice cream, but one has to accept a little variety on a trip like this. Then off into the Berkshires.

More climbing than we have done since Washington, which rather surprised me. I had expected that in the Adirondacks, but they seem to have crept up on us more gradually. At least, there were lots of short, steep hills thete, but no climbs that continued for a mile or so. We had a couple of those, then we were at the top. They can't climb that much when the highest place in tbe state is shorter than Mt. Diablo. So having reached the summit we rode rollers for a couple of hours and were there. We stayed at the Bullfrog B&B in Ashfield. It's yet another place I am so glad to have been! We also had quite a nice dinner at the Lake House in town. I'll say more about the Bullfrog later. There was no phone or internet service there and I don't know about tonight. I am writing a quick update here as we sit on the eastern shore of the Connectucut River having a snack. I didn't want to risk going two days with no post.

Both yesterday.and today have perfect riding weather - sunny and a tiny bit crisp & cool. A beautiful way tofinish up.

Today we will end in Petersham. Tomorrow Natick. A day to walk around Wellesley, then Boston. That'll be it. Hard to believe.

Miles Monday: 46
Total miles so far: 4051

My first hurricane...

...was a big disappointment. Or a big relief. Or some of each.

We lay in our cozy room last night, listening, waiting. Irene was due to arrive by early morning. We heard rain, then more rain. No wind.

We got up and looked at the forecasts. Things had slowed down a bit; now she was due late morning. We had a very nice breakfast. It was raining at a rate of two inches an hour. There were lots of flood warnings in the general area. New York was just feeling the force of the storm.

It rained.

It rained some more.

The air was still. The calm before the storm?

The other guest at the B&B we are enjoying is a guy from England who just dropped his son off to begin his studies at Williams. We spent a bunch of time this morning helping him figure out how to get home before Labor Day; his airline seemed to think that was the best it could do. We offered various suggestions & he will now drive to Burlington, fly to Chicago and head back to England from there on Tuesday.

It kept on raining.

Finally, we heard thunder. About three times, and with a little imagination we could see the wind building up. Then that subsided.

By mid-afternoon, I could see on the Doppler radar picture that Irene was already north and west of us. The rain got lighter. At about 5:00, some wind came along. Since then we have had a fairly ordinary rainstorm with gusty winds. The power went out for a couple of hours at dinnertime, there are a few small branches lying on the paths. That's about it.

Tomorrow we will check road conditions & move to our next destination. The weather is supposed to be wonderful.

No miles ridden, hardly any walking. Possibly the least movement I have experienced since my last flight to Australia.

Not a good day

It really had almost nothing to do with the looming hurricane. I did want to keep moving & try to get to Williamstown before the rain & thunder began, so we did make a point of starting out a little earlier. We had a route sheet that we'd cobbled together and Bruce had gone over it using his iPhone map and we had a not-detailed-enough map of New York state. Sort of Impressionist navigation.

It works for art. Not for navigation.

We made our first wrong turn at about ten miles. We figured it out about 2 1/2 miles later, down a bunch of hills. Ugh. So we've lost five miles and probably close to half an hour. I was not happy. But we got back on track, and the roads were great, and the street signs were kindly agreeing with the route sheet for a change. I cheered up.

Then one well-marked turn showed up almost a mile before we expected it. We took it. Bruce said we'd be on it for quite a while, so I took off. We were meandering along the Hudson River - very peaceful & attractive. I had recalculated our overall distance to 71 miles; with that in mind, we were half way there & we would only arrive about a half hour later than I had hoped. Then my walkie-talkie buzzed & Bruce asked me to wait for him; he was not sure we were on the proper road. We'd been going north along the river for over ten miles. Our destination was southeast of us.

20 more miles added to the route???

We were only a mile or so south of an opportunity to cross the river, so we did it and stopped for lunch and rethinking. I looked at the Doppler radar screen including the animated version. A huge, fierce looking system had moved from the very bottom of the area shown to about 3/4 of the distance it had to cover to reach us. That was it for me. 35 miles out, 60+ of the original 66 hilly miles left to go, a hurricane moving right in.

We started looking for rental cars. No one in that area was willing to do a one way rental. We considered closer places to stop, but we are now on a fairly tight schedule & couldn't quite figure out how to make it work. Tomorrow is supposed to produce gusts up to 70mph, sustained winds of 50+. Rain of several inches is likely. No way can we ride tomorrow. We toyed with riding further and looking for options as we went along, but we were as close to a good-sized town as we were going to be. Actually, we were a lot closer than we were ever supposed to be. That was the problem.

In the end, it was also the very inelegant solution. We got a cab. For an exorbitant fee. The ride was well over an hour at taxi pace. Bruce's GPS claims to have traveled over 100 miles since we left this morning, so I guess we were farther off course than we thought.

I was feeling incredibly frustrated by the whole thing. Definitely the low point of the trip. And it didn't help that the rain held off an extra couple of hours and still (it is 8:00 now) is not very hard rain, or that we drove along the roads we should have ridden & they looked great. Maybe we could have made it. But maybe not. At the rate we were going it might have been dark before we arrived. Who knows what other ways we could have screwed things up?

Anyhow, we are here. A bath made me feel distinctly better; a good dinner followed by a reminiscing walk around Williams brought me back to a reasonably cheerful state - or at least I am now ready to move on.

We have rescheduled the remaining days. We will take three days to get to Natick, will still take a day to wander around Wellesley, and will then ride towards the coast near Boston. Bruce points out that Seattle to Boston sounds good.

Miles today: 37
Total miles so far: 4005 - the high point of the day, passing 4000. Boy, am I glad I didn't stop six miles sooner.

Closer all the time

The trip down to Lake Luzerne from Blue Mountain Lake was another great one. Riding through the Adirondacks is just about perfect. It's a summery day, and there was lots of downhill, amd other than one short stretch the pavement was especially good. We reached another cool landmark: we were riding along the Hudson River for quite a while. We just had a very nice dinner in town, and I am sitting outside the library to take advantage of its WiFi. The place we are staying has very little cell reception.

Of course, we are thinking a lot about Sunday. The forecast has been pretty consistent; it looks lime we're in for one wild day, even way back in the northwest.corner of Massachusetts. As we thought of how to reorganize things if Monday turns out to be a tough riding day - could easily be flooding, power outages, trees & branches down - it occurred to me that we could simply ride one less day. I mean, Massachusetts has a coast, doesn't it??? So I mentioned that we could stay three nights in Williamstown, and pick up a car in the Boston area after dipping our wheels in the salt water somewhere out that way.

Well, Bruce is one loyal Williams alum. He has taken to that idea with enthusiasm. No, I am (reasonably) sure he has no particular hopes of playing that dreamed-of golf game on Monday. I doubt the course will be in playable condition. They are talking about 5-10" of rain in ONE day. But we would certainly be able to explore the area some. Maybe help the locals with sandbags or something.

So that idea is gathering strength even as the hurricane probability grows. We'll know more tomorrow when we will be able to make a few phone calls to set up the changes.

Nothing, nothing, nothing will change our arrival in Old Saybrook on Friday where we get to catch up with Lillian and Willie!!! Oh, and Rebecca and Will, too.

Miles today: 65
Total miles so far: 3968

38 years

Today is our anniversary. That's why we chose to have a rest day, and were glad it happened in a very nice place in the Adirondacks. It was supposed to rain today, but we didn't care. We could just dawdle around & look out at the lake and visit with all the nice people we have met here.

Hemlock Hall serves a very generous breakfast. Like dinner, it is family style. We are directed towards a particular table, and we are placed with different people each time. Everyone here is very interesting. Most have spent lots of time in the area and know of great hikes, or history, or performances, all sorts of details. We decided we would take a short canoe ride and then walk up to the Adirondack Museum, less than two miles away.

We watched the clouds gathering as we paddled. We managed to spot some rain approaching in time to dock the boat just as the first drops reached us. No thunder or lightning today, but the weather prediction had suggested there might be some. Being out on a big lake in a metal canoe is even worse than being caught in a thunderstorm on the bike! So we wandered back inside & got organized to go to the museum.

It's really a good one. It has all sorts of little buildings that show typical Adirondack settings, ranging from a little lean-to set up for camping to a fairly elaborate summer house to a hunting camp. There was an exhibit of early 20th century photographs, mostly of animals at night, then a quilt exhibit, a hall filled with railroad cars including one very ornate private car, and several horse-drawn vehicles. It also had a decent cafeteria where we found lunch & ate looking out over the lake. There were several rain showers but we avoided them for the most part.

We spent some time after we got back looking over our routes. We have no more days of Adventure Cycling routes & that's a little unnerving in this hilly and populous area. We also called ahead to be certain we would be able to spend an extra night in Williamstown if, as appears increasingly probable, Hurricane Irene becomes a factor. Current predictions have it hitting Massachusetts on Sunday. We will be ok if that sticks, although we may be stopping to walk around fallen trees on Monday. Otherwise, we may have to push things back a day. If we do that, we might have to reach the coast near Boston and get a rental car to get to Connecticut.

Then our second great dinner here. One of the families we sat with at dinner last night had spotted cute buttons with bicycles as happy faces (it works, really - they are not yellow & black, and the bikes look like glasses with a curve/smile down below then) and had brought us each one. The group we sat with this evening talked about all sorts of stuff. One woman described her initiation rite into an organization that took her very much by surprise. Another ended up having in her car the very western Massachusetts map we had been longing to see this afternoon & she brought it up for us to use this evening. A very home-like feeling.

Tomorrow will be our last full day in New York.

Earthquakes? Hurricanes?

Two things we didn't worry about. Now we hear the Washington Monument is closed because of quake damage. Huh? When someone said Washington, I assumed Seattle, but I guess not. Well, I think we can still let that worry go. But hurricane Irene - the first expected to hit the US in a few years and they think it may cause evacuations in Massachusetts about two days after we get there. If it stays on track, it should arrive on our rest day in Williamstown, probably about the best we can hope for. Lots of wind & rain on a day we don't have to travel. Bruce would miss a golf game he is really looking forward to, but he can handle that. So close to our end point - could get complicated. Well, hurricanes are notorious for changing course. We'll just have to pay attention.

Aline & Jim, I hope you and Granddad & Gretl don't experience any problems - hope you are far enough inland. I gather you will begin to feel it very soon. We'll keep our fingers crossed that all will be ok.

For now, though, we are at Hemlock Hall in Blue Mountain Lake. It's a charming lodge with some cabins, very Adirondacks-style. An old clapboard lodge with a great big living room/library, a huge porch where I am sitting in one of a dozen rockers looking over the lake, a little beach and dock with canoes & kayaks we can use whenever we wish to, family-style dinner & breakfast included. The interior includes a lovely old wooden staircase and a big fireplace. There is a huge osprey nest on an island we can see from here. Bruce is in heaven; all his childhood vacations, and his father's and his grandmother's were spent here. He has gone off for a little hike.

The weather has really cooled down. We had learned to like the heat, but the cooler temperatures are more restful. So far, no actual cold, so I am happy.

Miles today: 38
Total miles so far: 3903

Songs, and another perfect day

When I first woke up I heard something quite loud. It took me a minute to realize it was pouring rain. In a very few minutes, it stopped. We weren't ready to get up for another hour or two, and there was no more rain. I kbow I keep talking about how different the warm rain is. The thing is, this was not warm. Last night would have been right at home in the San Francisco area. 50s overnight with an expected high today of no more than 70. So I was very glad that the rain was through when we backtracked a bit to get breakfast.

After we got back, we found ourselves donning layers we haven't used since western Montana: full fingered gloves, arm & leg warmers, wool socks. And just as we were ready to set out, it rained a bit more. We waited it out and ended up having a completely dry day. This temperature range is really just about ideal for touring, especially now that we are brushing up our climbing skills. Especially since this is the first time in the whole trip that we have done much climbing carrying all our stuff.

It's fun, really. I love having the variety. My legs actually seem less tired when they move differently. It's fun to push a little and remember what a high heart rate feels like. So far they are short climbs, but a few are steep enough that they require a lot of power just to keep the pace over 4mph - in other words, to minimize the chance of toppling over. Bruce's back bothered him some from the steeper climbs, so he is choosing to walk some.

So as often happens in climbing territory, we don't stay together all that much, which gives my mind lots of time to wander, and here's the question that has been nagging me the last couple of days: what brings all those weird song choices to my mind??? I am one who almost always has music of some sort running through my head. Most often it is classical since that's what I listen to most. Also, there are the more lively & (once upon a time) popular pieces I have on my running playlists.

So where did I come up with Rubber Ducky? Yeah, the one from Sesame Street. Or that Carly Simon song, You're So Vain? I mean, I never deliberately listened to that one. I just had to Google it to figure out who sang it. And today it was a couple of songs from Brigadoon, the musical we did my senior year in high school - and I didn't love it all that much in 1969.

If you know how to do it, please insert into my brain whatever it would take to get back to something that actually resides on my Nano!!!

I am happy to say that we had a great diversion this afternoon. If you ever plan to ride around here, be aure to ride Moose River Road. Beautiful! The river is an ideal scenic combination of rocky rapids, boulders, trees & steady water. The road is mostly wooded and very smooth (with a short exception, that does not happen to be within the four miles a sign warns of). It is one of the best roads we have seen all the way across, and we got to stay on it for 8 miles.

We are now in Old Forge in a motel right down by the lake shore. We rode back for dinner at a steak house. Bruce is sitting outside in the dusk calling all his family members who grew up camping here. Tomorrow, more lakes, then a lake-filled rest day.

Miles ridden: 65
Total miles so far: 3864

My turn

"Looks like you'll be riding into rain," said our host as we pulled out in the morning. That was fairly consistent with the tone of the place. It was run down, although everything was very clean, and obviously a lot of treasured objects filled every room. At dinner, though, our hostess had made it quite clear that she could not wait to retire: "Oh, how I would love to spend the winter in Tahiti!" "You should go with Joe," said her agreeable spouse. "No! I want to be all by myself. To go to sleep when I like, to get up whenever I choose. Aaaah."

So it was not altogether surprising to hear comments at breakfast - get good mattresses to withstand heavy guests, that sort of thing. I doubt she saw the irony, though, in the fact that her stream of complaints - how bad things have gotten in her homeland thanks to hordes of foreigners, and she was broad-minded enough to list the seemingly all-inclusive nationalities soiling her heritage - was delivered in what, to us at least, was rather a strong foreign accent.

Talk about the wrong line of work!

However, we felt not a drop of rain, and no foreigners or natives tried to steal our bikes or sell us anything dubious. Or anything at all, actually. We were having quite a nice ride when...I got yet another flat. I guess that's at least partly because of the amount of traffic. More broken glass, more wiry bits from tires. We changed the tube & went on. Last night I replaced the rather worn front tire in hopes that the older one's long life was contributing to the wave of tire-changing practice.

Our arrival at Crossroads Inn & Cabins could not have contrasted more dramatically with the night before if it had been carefully planned. Tanya (I could be a bit off on the name) came out to greet us as we rolled in. She gave us each a fancy sugar cookie she had made, decorated and wrapped, along with very nice pens with the inn's name on them. Bruce had called her to find out about local dinner options; there really aren't any, at least on Mondays, so she questioned us carefully to be sure we were ok. We were - we had a big lunch and brought sandwich-makings along for dinner. She seemed almost sad she would not be able to make us breakfast. She let us do our laundry. Definitely one of the best.

The only missing piece was cell service or WiFi. That's why this is a day late. But we were on a lovely lake. There were huge, threatening clouds covering half the sky with the sun shining brightly from the other half. The light on the lake and surrounding woods was very dramatic. An osprey perched on a tree showed its starkly contrasting dark & light colors.

We had both begun to feel we were in very different territory as we rode in. The mountains, not high, but decidedly wilder, the rushing streams, the increasing chance there would be a lake just through the trees. Great riding.

Miles ridden: 61
Total miles so far: 3799

Hilly, hilly, flat, flat, flat

Thunder claps woke us up this morning. Actually, we were very pleased to hear them so early; maybe the harsh weather would pass before we left. And it did. By the time we were ready, it was still raining but we had not heard thunder for a couple of hours. We set out, choosing to take the road rather than the canal trail. Unpaved & rain seemed a bad combination. A little over a mile out, my bike started to feel unbalanced. Before I had time to do anything, I felt the unmistakable roughness of yet another flat tire. The front this time, less than a day after I had replaced the rear. We walked around the corner to a sheltered side street and began to change the tube. A guy came out of the house we were closest to and offered help. We said we were ok, but he stayed to talk. He couldn't quite imagine our trip. He's a hybrid rider - typically 10 miles - and a runner. He couldn't picture doing all the climbing. I said, oh, well, you live in a flat place. Then I spent the rest of the day wondering what he'd thought. We started hitting small but continuous hills as soon as we got back on the bikes.

Before we had covered many miles, the rain stopped and the sun appeared briefly. Another great day on the road. But then I saw that Bruce's rear tire was a little soft. That's the one he changed last night. He never could find anything that had caused his slow leak, but it was clear something was still in there. It was a slow leak again, so we kept stopping to pump until we reached Pultneyville (right on Lake Ontario - another Great Lake sighting!) and found a nice deli for lunch. We ordered sandwiches & Bruce began one more time the process of replacing a tube. This time he asked me to try to find the problem and I managed to spot a little wire that had done it. By this time there was a group of three at the next table who had gotten interested. They were all local cyclists & the woman had done an Ironman. They offered to help, but had limited access to supplies as they were just moving to a new house. They asked about our ride and were quite startled by the answer ("We thought you'd tell us about a nice day ride..."). Anyway, we had fun chatting and were easily distracted from the frustration Bruce felt as yet another tube went flat. I suggested patching as his supply of undamaged tubes was getting small. I figured sitting around a deli with a bunch of other cyclists was a good place to spend a little time figuring things out.

We were so easily distracted that it took a loud rumble to make us realize the next weather front had arrived. The deli had outside seating under a little tent, so none of us really cared when the rain began. Eventually, though, our new friends took off after leaving us a phone number in case we needed help. Bruce kept patching.

Soon, two more cyclists arrived wringing wet. The storm was getting pretty close by that time. They are from Ontario & were riding out to the Boston area. One of the had ridden the Pacific coast route from Portland south, and also the Adventure Cycling southern tier route. They were camping. I am glad we are not today! Ok, every day, but especially days like this. We kept chatting, eventually moved inside to eat a bit more. Bruce got his tire all fixed - it is still holding air beautifully - and we just had to wait out the weather. It poured. I wondered if we'd need scuba gear. I pulled this little tablet out & found the Doppler radar image & was very happy to see the system was almost past us. Sure enough, after another few minutes the rain slowed down.

Meanwhile, Bruce had begun to dream of taxis. We are now in a B&B where we had arranged to get dinner, but it was still forty miles away. It was after 3:00. The hills were still continuous, and some were getting quite steep. Little walls. But I refused to be lured to a car. We put all our rain gear back on and rode out one more time. And one more time the rain eased & stopped. And no more tires went flat. The terrain didn't go flat either. Oh, well.

At about 6:45, we spotted the sign. Two large dogs came barrelling out barking ferociously; it was all an act. As soon as we walked in they were fawning on us, bringing us pinecones, wagging energetically. Also just as we artived, the next weather system burst. Very lucky timing. We had called to warn our hosts we would be late, so they and their other guests had started to eat. We got cleaned up and joined them for a German dinner. We actually were the only ones at the table who did not speak German, including the thirteen year old from New Jersey. It was a nice change.

Miles today: 68
Total miles so far: 3738

Erie, eerie, Erie

A couple of rest days sure helped. We left Niagara Falls feeling great. It would have cost us quite a few miles to get back to the maps the way we had planned, but there turned out to be a nice, easy alternative with good pavement and wide shoulders. We rode for twenty miles or so, then met a couple of guys from Quebec who were out for a four day trip. They told us a bit more about our choices from Lockport.

That's the town where we rejoined the Adventure Cycling map, and where the route began to follow the Eirie Canal. There's a trail alongside the canal, but most of it is crushed limestone or fine gravel, not pavement. It is ok to ride, but the guys agreed it would be slower than the road. Today was one of our longest days of the trip, and the start of a five day stretch that will remind us how to climb. It was also our first day unsupported in a while - that's how the rest of the ride will be. So we agreed we would stick to the road that runs parallel to the canal until lunch.

This is not Manhattan, not at all, but it is definitely New York. People have the accent. Towns are larger and more sophisticated. The culture is more diverse. Once again it is easy to find lunch. Not that we did anything exciting. We ate at Subway. It's just nice not to have to plan the day around where we can expect to find food & water.

Now we can pretty much count on lemonade. Which is what took me across from Subway to a Tim Hortons, a chain I saw for the first time in Ontario. It has frozen lemonade & today was warm & humid & made that sound awfully appealing. As I waited to order, a woman in front of me began to ask questions about our day. She & her husband had passed us earlier. Where were we headed? Where had we begun our day? And she eventually figured out how far we had come. She brought me over to meet her husband who had questions about the bikes & we got talking about where everyone came from & whether they talked lime New Yorkers - by the time we were done, Bruce had almost finished his sandwich & was beginnng to wonder what had become of me. A very pleasant lady who reminded me a bit of Granny. We could find Granny standing & chatting with someone & assume from what we overheard that she had found an old friend, but it always turned out she had just fallen into conversation with a stranger.

After lunch we went on through Albion, a very attractive old town with a silver dome on its town hall, and rode across a little drawbridge and found the trail. Riding was easy and reasonably quick. It was flat and we had minor tailwinds some of the time. The water is quite still and trees line the canal, so the scenery was not exciting. It was pretty, though, and just riding along that canal made me picture its history and compare it to the canals we have cruised in England and France. Very peaceful now.

We read that one trail section was quite rough, so headed back to the road for a few miles. That's when Bruce noticed his tire getting soft. It was a slow leak, so he pumped it up & we rode on. But whike he was pumping I gazed idly at my rear tire and realized it was about to wear through! Both of our rear tires wanted to quit at once. Mine would be ok for the rest of the day.

We had read that the trail was paved once it reached Rochester. We found our way back to it easily and finished up the trip on a well paved path. That's when it was a little eerie. Well, ok, more creepy than eerie. There was almost no one else on the trail for several miles, but it was obvious that others were there regularly. There was graffitti all over, and it didn't smell very good, and we were pretty much out of sight of the roads. I don't like that, especially in unfamiliar territory. The only people we passed in that section were one fairly tough looking guy who looked up and nodded hi, and one old, bearded, white haired guy who looked like maybe a birdwatcher from a distance. As we got closer we could see that the various camera and binocular bits I thought I had seen were just odds & ends he happened to have hung from parts of his outfit. He said hello & was very friendly looking. So no problems, and eventually other cyclists and runners began to appear and I was happy again.

Then Bruce managed to avert today's possible serious wrong turn. There's a river in Rochester that runs perpendicular to the canal & we were to be very cautious not to be led astray and follow its paths when it intersected our route. Well, if alone I would have gone astray, but somehow Bruce could figure it out. We stopped to pump his tire a couple of times, asked directions once, and suddenly found ourselves at our hotel. It is actually on the trail.

It is also quite a nice hotel. We were a bit worried about walking in in bike clothes carrying bikes & gear. We took it in stages: first, take the panniers to the room, then go back to the trail to do all the messy tire-changing we needed, then, finally, walk gingerly through the lobby carrying the bikes in our now very greasy hands.

We made it, but decided we should opt for room service rather than present ourselves - even once or hands were scrubbed - at this particular restaurant. It was a great dinner- we split chicken and crab cakes - and you know what's best about room service? If you happen to order dessert with ice cream in it, you just have to eat dessert first!

Thunder showers & plain old rain expected tomorrow.

Miles today: 91
Total miles so far: 3670

The falls

Not a bad place for some extra time. We are on the wrong side, I guess, but really there are some amazing views from the park. It was designed by Olmstead, who is best known for Central Park. He had a wonderful feeling for keeping interest. The park is full of grass and trees and sudden views of the falls and the turbulent waters surging into them. The crowds are much smaller here. It is easy to walk right up to the railings and watch for as long as you like.

Yesterday was given largely to errands. We found a bike shop to change our chains & give the bikes a good check up before we set out on the final 800 miles. Actually, we sort of found a bike shop. It does sell bikes and has a repair area, but its primary role is locksmith & seller of safes. When we arrived we soon realized that the guy we were talking to knew even less than I do about bikes, and that's scary. After we talked a bit - I asked him what differentiated the two chains he planned to order & he looked puzzled, then looked at the catalog & started to read me their specifications - he acknowledged that he really didn't know, but that Dave, their expert, would be back shortly. We felt comfortable enough with Dave. He doesn't know everything, but he knows what he doesn't know & he quickly checked brakes, made sure wheels were true, clearly had a feeling for bikes. So we left the bikes with him & will retrieve them today. I will definitely ride around the block a few times to be sure all feels right.

Laundry got done, we looked at maps, we said goodbye to Liz & Raven. We moved to yet another room, and the tub does hold water. I went in for a massage. I asked at the desk for a recommendation & was given a discount coupon for the casino across the street. If you know me, you know casinos are pretty foreign to me. I have never actually spent a single cent gambling and it has probably been 25 years since I even walked through one. Oh, my! I was more or less prepared for a place that allowed smoking, but not for those machines. There must be well over a thousand of them. There are seats in front of them; I guess people sit there for hours. I really don't get it. All I wanted was to get through as fast as I could. Fortunately, the spa was on another floor & had nothing other than ownership in common with the casino. I left through another door & walked back through the service driveway to avoid having to see all the zoned out people giving their money and time to a bunch of hungry automatons.

We took a walk to the falls with Kiana and Juliet afterwards. I got too hungry after a couple of miles & we headed off to a very nice Indian restaurant. Then back for another restful night. Liz brought me some mail from home including a couple of Bicycling magazines & one Runner's World. I always get some fun out of reading those when I am feeling totally self-indulgent; a chocolate bar in one hand doesn't hurt. So today is given to doing as little as possible & loving it.

Niagara Falls

Somehow I always picture the falls as being just too touristy, too kitschy. I mean, why would I want to go there? But it's on the route, so I figured we would take a look. Actually, a long look. This will be the first time we have spent more than two nights in the same room since Vermont.

After yesterday's tired day, I was glad our ride today was short. I figured I would just get through it. So of course I woke up feeling just fine, and found my energy level was right back to normal. Boy, if I could figure this out...

So we quickly found our way to the parkway that runs along the Niagara River from Fort Erie/Buffalo to the falls. It was another beautiful day, and there was very little traffic. Before we knew it, we were catching glimpses of the taller buildings. I found myself getting pretty excited. The approach was just the right length to keep up the interest. Suddenly, we were on a bike trail that took us out over the water. Then we saw more and more mist. Then wilder and wilder rapids. Then...the falls. I knew so little about them, not even that there are two areas. Since we were still in Canada, we reached the Horseshoe Falls first, the really impressive ones. Then we stopped to gape and feel the mist, and walked our bikes as we encountered more people. I just have to remember that major, enduring tourist attractions stay popular for a reason!

We met Liz & Raven for lunch, then walked down to gawk some more. Then we set out for New York. We still have over 800 miles to ride, but somehow reaching New York really almost feels like we're there. It certainly is an east coast state even if we are not exactly at the coast yet. A big landmark for me.

We had figured out that the bridge on the official route is a few miles north of both the falls and our New York hotel, so we took the Rainbow Bridge. We figured we'd walk across and avoid traffic confusion, but as we fished through pockets for the required 50 cent toll, a guy in a uniform told us we were not allowed on the sidewalk. Out with the cars we must go. Turned out to have a 15mph limit, so that was not a problem. Our customs agent was perfectly nice to us, but I got the feeling he had been practicing his best interrogator face since he was ten years old. He did it very well.

Then we were here, in New York. We easily found our hotel, and just as easily realized why everyone told us we should stay on the Canada side. Oh, well. Kiana is here with 7 month old Juliet, and it can be a pain to cross even such a benign border as this one when only one parent is there, and of course David is at work this week.

So I stood outside with the bikes while Bruce went to check us in. And stood. And stood. After about 20 minutes he stuck his head out & said everything was good; it was just taking some time. No kidding. 20 more minutes went by before he came out to say they had finally figured out how to put our room and Liz's & Raven's and Kiana's together - but the rooms would not be ready for another hour plus. Right then, Kiana arrived. We went to find - what else? - ice cream. Raven & Liz caught up and we came back to get the rooms. All set, except they only have showers. I love my bathtub & wasn't ready to spend all my rest days without, so we moved. After all that. This time they sent Bruce up with a new key that didn't work to a room right next to the vending machines. He went back down & they fixed the key but said this was the only room with a tub they had available. I was beginning to feel like the imperious aunt (Agatha?) in the Jeeves & Wooster stories.

We quickly got ready & walked down to take the Maid of the Mist boat. You get a blue plastic poncho as you board, so we all looked rather like Smurfs. Then the boat takes you to see the American falls, then Horseshoe falls. I would not have believed it possible to navigate that close. I almost wondered if we were going to go right under them. We seemed to get closer and closer for far longer than I would have dared to try. Oh, my, what an experience! Rainbows everywhere, powerful gusts of wind, spray, roaring water. An incredible trip.

Then we walked to a restaurant Raven had discovered & had a very nice dinner, then back to the hotel. Where I found that our tub does not hold water very well. Maybe we'll deal with that tomorrow.

Miles today: 25
Total miles so far: 3579

Tired day

Yesterday felt so good. I hadn't really expected that, so I figured I must have broken through some barrier & would have the same experience today. Nah. Today I just felt lethargic. I didn't sleep well which didn't help. Anyway, we set out on our longish day & it just never really took off. But it is different. Even though I feel lazy & ready to rest, my legs really don't seem to consider themselves part of the problem. They just pedal away obediently, patiently. Boy, do I hope that will last!

In spite of my lethargy, the day had some good parts - and one bad part. We missed one turn, but the road we stayed on rejoined the route in a few miles. The only bad part was that one RV that approached when there were cars coming the other way, honked loudly, and just drove on through. There was no particular shoulder & I had to move off onto the unpaved area by a few inches. I almost crashed, but managed to get control back in time. It took a while to feel relaxed.

But it happened. A lot of our roads today were right along the lake. We passed bigger houses on our left with docks or picnic stuff along their waterfront yards on our right. Then there were some more modest houses. Eventually we passed what almost looked like a row of dollhouses set side by side. The couldn't have had more than one room each. Very cute little buildings.

Later we rode into Port Colborne and arrived at the river just as the drawbridge was being raised to let a big ship through. It was the type of bridge with a building on the top that just pulls the entire middle of the bridge up along its towers - not the more usual one that lifts the two sides up into sort of an inverted V. Anyway, it was fun to watch. After that we rode onto the Friendship Trail, a long paved bike trail that took us all the way to Fort Erie. Tomorrow we will ride along the trail that passes Niagara Falls and takes us to a bridge back to the New York side. We will spend three nights there before going on to the Adirondacks. We are looking forward to seeing the falls and RESTING.

Miles today: 76
Total miles so far: 3554

Loved the rain

Really, we both did. It didn't hurt that it didn't last too long, but it was quite a downpour while it lasted.

Raven had seen that rain was expected today, so we were relieved to see blue sky when we got up. We had decided to make a relaxed start today. Not too many miles, and the thought of taking it very easy as the day began was very appealing to me. So by the time we rode out it was about 10:30 and we were beginning to see some clouds. Oh, well. Maybe it would happen, maybe not.

There was a little bit of a headwind/crosswind for much of the first twenty miles or so, never enough to be frustrating. We met Liz & Raven for lunch at a little spot on the route. Today we had plenty of choices. We sat around & enjoyed everything but the yellowjackets that were competing for our food. There was a lighthouse right down the street and a family with a cute baby boy at the next table. A horse-drawn carriage went by at a pretty good pace; it had handwritten signs on it advertising blueberries.

The clouds were getting bigger & closer. We set out hoping there would be no thunder this time. Our route today spent much of its time along the shores of Lake Erie, our third Great Lake. The system is interesting. The road is mostly a mile or so inland, and maybe 50-100 feet above the water level. As you approach a town, you head down a short, steepish little hill, pass through town, and head back up a hill. The climbs are very short, but several today were about 14%. All the towns we went through today, whether or not they had a commercial district, followed that pattern.

Just a few miles after our lunch stop we started to feel a few drops. Suddenly, the drops were pounding down. I could feel them stinging my arms through my rain jacket. But it was warm rain & I didn't bother to cover my legs. I have also been wearing Keen sandals with cleats since Montana got warm, so my socks were wringing wet almost immediately. I dropped a bit farther back from Bruce to avoid the "rooster tail" effect. A few Amish or Mennonite women were doing some farm work by the side of the road just then. They waved & smiled & seemed quite pleased to see us splashing along. Then the rain stopped as quickly as it had started.

We rode another several miles, and it happened again. This time, we were by a field of corn. The drops pounding down on the corn made a sound sort of like a large audience applauding. Nice effect. Then we went down & up one of the little hills. I stopped to cover my handlebar bag so Bruce got a bit ahead. I could see the water accumulating in the mini-valley created by the dip in the road. It is easy to see how quickly such a spot could be dangerously flooded. I could see tiny streams beginning to form. As I was beginning to climb back up, a soda can actually floated by. It had been raining for maybe two or three minutes. It was already stopping by the time I got to the top of the little hill.

The rain left the air wonderfully clear and the colors vivid. It also left us full of energy and although we are tired, we both thought of this as a great day.

Ontario is very picturesque and bike friendly. The towns along the lake are appealing - at least in the summertime. We are lucky to have chosen the Lake Erie connector section of the route.

I forgot to mention yesterday that Raven pointed out an interesting place when she drove us up to the restrooms. Just before we got there, we saw a restaurant called The Country Kitchen. On the same sign it advertised its other business: abbatoir. Sorry - I could not help being glad it was closed on Sunday.

In answer to Velo Girl's comment on the pepper spray, we were not actually surprised by the question. We housed a guy through Warm Showers a couple of years ago. He was riding from northern Alaska to Patagonia, camping, unsupported. Naturally, he had pepper spray in case a grizzly got too friendly. When he entered Canada, he was told he'd have to give it up - not allowed to bring it into the country. When he expressed anxiety about bear encounters, the customs agent told him not to worry, he could just go across the street & buy some more. Makes you feel all warm & protected, doesn't it? Like knowing there's no tube of toothpaste bigger that three ounces on your flights.

Miles today: 67
Total so far: 3478

A little of this, a little of that

Wild lightning last night. We were just ready to fall asleep when Bruce started asking about the rumbling sounds. I figured it had to be furniture getting dragged around. There had been a wedding at the place and the sound was happening pretty steadily. Then I opened the curtain. Wow. It was a lot like the wild night in Fargo. The flashes never stopped for more than a few seconds and the thunder roared almost constantly. We sat and watched and thought about how very glad we were to be inside, warm, dry and safe. One bolt was close enough to make me retreat to the far side of the room.

We thought about Liz & Raven, whose flight had been due to arrive in Detroit only a half an hour earlier & hoped the weather system had not been a problem for the plane. Then the worst of the storm passed and we got to sleep. This morning we discovered that Liz & Raven had not arrived until about 1 AM. Raven was up, though, and ready to join us at breakfast. We made a few plans together and set out into the rain. Yes, it was still raining, but it was no longer stormy.

We found that our route was not as obvious as we had expected, so we called back to keep our support crew up to date. Bruce thought to suggest once they were on their way past us that they could look as they passed through an upcoming town to see that there really was someplace we would find lunch. Good call, Bruce. There wasn't. When they called him with that news they made a plan to go a few miles off the route & bring us sandwiches. I had ridden ahead so Bruce pulled out his walkie talkie to make a plan. Its battery died as he was saying, "Raven just called and..." I waited for him to pull up, we phoned in our orders, and rode on. The rain had pretty much stopped by this time. In a few more miles, we found our gang with sandwiches in hand, parked in a lot of a former shop that should have been one of our food sources for the day. The town's only open business today was an antique shop.

So after we'd eaten, we realized that meant no public restrooms either. Raven drove us up to the place they'd gotten the sandwiches & Liz sat with the bikes. Raven and Liz are only with us a few days; we seem determined to make full use of their visit!

I rode ahead again. I saw a white tailed deer bounding along the edge of the field beside me. Why do birds and animals work so hard to outrun us when they could just turn right and get away so easily? Anyway, this one looked quite small & seemed almost to be flying to escape. Eventually there was a break in the crop growing in that field, so I assumed it would turn into the space. Instead, it stopped and turned towards the road. A car was headed towards me so I put my hand up signaling it to stop, then pointed at the deer. It froze and stared at me briefly, then turned back and escaped into the field. I had gotten close enough to see it still had the spotted coat of a fawn.

A little later, I saw a pileated woodpecker flying. Then I saw two. The pair of them flew just ahead of me for almist a quarter mile. A good day for wildlife.

Then I stopped to check in with Bruce, who told me he'd misplaced his phone. We are getting more and more prone to errors like that as the trip progresses. You'd think that with so little to keep track of we would have it all figured out by now. We don't. Anyway, he called our helpers. I gave him my phone to carry figuring its best position was in the sweeper's hand. His phone did turn up in the car, so Liz and Raven rescued us yet again. They brought him his phone, then carted mine back up to me.

At our next regroup, we found the only place we saw all day that was selling food along the route so we stopped for a snack. When we left, it was once again raining steadily, and the rainy system looked pretty big. We had only 19 miles to go; we figured we'd just be wet. Then, about 5 miles farther along, we saw the lightning. It didn't look - or sound - very far away. Off the bikes we got, and we huddled under a low clump of trees (there were all sorts of trees around that were taller and on higher ground). And we tried to decide what to do next. There were no buildings nearby. This was not an isolated system; the entire sky was a damp looking gray color. So we called Liz & Raven, who came to pick us up. The storm never got worse, but every time we thought it must be over, we'd hear another rumble, see another flash.

So I skipped another few miles. It really poured, too. Had we finished the ride it would have been a very long, wet day. As it is, our room is filled with damp stuff.

We are very happy to be here in Port Stanley. Great room, great dinner.

More rain predicted tomorrow. Hmmm.

Miles today: 64
Total so far: 3411

Canada

Today was quite nice. For me, anyway. Bruce was pretty tired. Fortunately it was a fairly short day, and even better, the expected rain & thunderstorms never materialized. We did have some minor headwinds and some fairly rough surfaces and we did miss one turn by almost a mile. At least getting back to it was downwind.

Our B&B last night was not my favorite. The rooms were sort of airless, and the decor was very ornate Victorian. It was, though, very clean and generally comfortable, and breakfast this morning was very nice.

We have had yet another great day for riding. It hasn't been uncomfortably hot for weeks now. For me, it is very unusual to feel comfortable riding in shorts and a sleeveless jersey, but that's what I put on every day now. So with another warm day beginning, we rode towards the St. Claire River, border with Ontario. More pretty country roads. I really had no idea how much of the country is still covered with red barns & smaller fields. Kids are hanging around feeding the chickens. Tractors are mowing, plowing, shaping the soil.

We arrived in St. Claire and got on a bike path for several miles, then rode through a series of turns and walked right onto the Blue Line ferry to Canada. It's a quick trip across the river. We were up in the bow with a few guys who had stacked up cases of beer on a couple of hand trucks. We all had to step back a bit to keep from getting splashed by the water that splattered up through the front loading ramp's joint with the deck. When we approached, there was a flock of mute swans drifting elegantly around the landing. We walked off & stood in the very short customs line. The agent asked us where we were riding & if we had any pepper spray (no) and wished us a safe journey.

We got a quick snack - I was worried about the clouds piling up behind us, and rode for.several miles along the river. Its water is surprisingly turquoise. Before long we found Wallaceburg where we are at a fairly basic motel. We took a little walk & are looking forward to waking up to find Liz & Raven in the next room tomorrow morning.

Miles today: 41
Total miles so far: 3347

Last full day in Michigan

Nothing particularly stands out today - except that we really liked that B&B we stayed in the last two nights. The two women who run it have a real gift for making guests feel at home and comfortable. But we had to get up and ride out this morning.

This part of the trip is starting to make me think about the third quarter of quite a few century rides I have done. The beginning of the ride usually feels great. The early middle still feels pretty good. Then you stop for lunch and are so glad to stretch out for a while and you realize there are still a lot of miles to go. I never seem to appreciate that part.

This is different. My legs are pretty much beyond fatigue. Oh, they may make a few minor complaints here & there, but they don't feel much different at the end of the day than they do at the start. We have been very lucky. No injuries (unless we count Bruce's accident on the luge-like device in Vermont) and no falls and nothing more than discomfort from all the hours on the saddle. I don't have the sense that it is too hard.

I do have the sense that it is long. I think it really boils down to two factors. First and foremost, I miss everyone at home, and to a lesser degree I miss familiar places and food and routines. Second, I have reached the point where I want to do more. Have more variety in my days. Use my brain more.

But like the centuries, I am also looking forward to finishing the ride. I know there are still lots of beautiful places to ser and interesting people to meet.

It will be hard to say goodbye to Aline tomorrow. It has been such fun spending all the time with her, and she has made our lives so much easier!!! But Liz & Raven will catch up with us tomorrow evening & I know we'll have a great time with them, and we will see Kiana and Juliet on Wednesday. Lots to look forward to.

Today? Nothing special, but no problems.

Miles today: 74
Total miles so far: 3306

Interlude

This has nothing to do with our tour, and nothing to do with bicycles. It's a rest day, and Raven's comment about the dress (undress?) code at the Grand Hotel made me think about my never-to-be-forgotten encounter with the same dress code.

If you didn't know Granny, here's a little key to what follows. She was the sweetest person imaginable. She adored children and may have been the best possible grandmother and, eventually, great-grandmother a young child could imagine. But in spite of having grown up in Omaha in an Irish family with a very formal, conventional background, she had no feeling for conventions. I always think of her and Grandad as my personal Burns & Allen: he had the dry, straight man sense of humor, she had no sense of humor at all but never stopped being funny. And never understood why we were laughing.

I was about 16. Granny, my mother's mother, took Rosemary (my sister, about 14 at the time) and me out to dinner at the Shirt Tail Restaurant. I was, as usual, in my school uniform, a wool skirt with a white shirt. Rosemary was wearing what she called her "convict pants" which she had bought very thoroughly used at some army surplus store.

When we walked in and asked for a table, the maitre d' said apologetically that the restaurant required that ladies wear skirts or dresses. I edged towards the door, Rosemary waited, Granny said in a surprised voice, "Why, those are party pants she's wearing!"

I edged still closer to the door.

The maitre d' politely held his ground. He was very sorry, but he simply could not seat us. The two of them went gently but determinedly back and forth for what, to my hypersensitive adolescent mind, felt like forever. Finally, Granny turned to Rosemary. "It's all right, dear. I am wearing two skirts. Come with me to the ladies room and I'll give you one!"

I slunk out to the car.

A little later, Rosemary came out to tell me I had to come in; I was spoiling Granny's dinner. Soon after I arrived, the maitre d' seated a woman in an elegant lace pants suit. Thank goodness Granny let it go after one fairly audible comment.

It makes a hundred mile day feel easy.

A spinnaker would have been nice

Serious tailwinds again today. We started out on the thirty mile Pere Marquette trail. It began less than a block from the hotel. It is beautifully paved & has good signs, bathrooms every five miles, and even pressurized air hoses for filling tires. It runs mostly through deciduous woods although there are times you can hear traffic on a nearby highway and occasional towns where you can see houses & businesses. The woods sheltered us from the winds a little, but we still got plenty of help. One cyclist going the other way who passed us as we approached the end said, "You're gonna hate riding back!" with a very unhappy look on her face.

We came out in Midland, a fair sized town with a nice deli where we got sandwiches. As we were leaving we felt a few drops of rain so I stopped to encase everything in plastic bags. Naturally, that ensured that we would not feel another drop all day. It was actually almost chilly. I kept my windbreaker on all day. It's been well over a month since I have done that. At home I would have it on almost every day.

We found our way through town to Nebobish Road. I sort of like the name, and we really liked the road. It soon shook off what remained of the town and took us barrelling through about ten miles of open fields. No shelter from the wind there, and no need for it. We just let it push us along towards our goal, which I had just recalculated & determined was about 8 mikes farther than I had thought. Bruce was pleased. He was having a great day. I was a bit less pleased - doing ok, but happy to think tomorrow will be a rest day.

Bay City. My computer was flashing a warning that its hub battery was getting low, so Bruce helped change it. Unfortunately, the batteries in the little bag with the "unused" label must not have belonged there; they gave out before we arrived today, and the place I stopped to try to get new ones didn't have the right size. More on the to-do list for tomorrow. Bruce noted his time & mileage so I could add his for the rest of the day to what I had done up to then. We had a couple of map-folliwing issues in Bay City. Score: one for me, one for Bruce. It was lucky that we didn't miss them at the same time. Reversing directions would have been quite a penalty in today's wind.

A little later, we looked more closely at the map & realized there was a better route to Caro. It is just a bit off the Adventure Cycling route. We tried it, and it worked perfectly. Probably saved us two or three miles which would have been into the wind.

Our B&B is very nice. Everything about it looks precisely as it did online. Since that's what made us choose it, that is very good news. Our hostesses directed us to a great restaurant a couple of miles outside town (Aline, where will we be when you leave???), and we stopped for ice cream on our way back. Aline & I got out of the car to get ice cream while Bruce tilted his seat back to get a head start on a good night's sleep.

When we got across the street, the place looked closed, but Aline tried the outer door & it opened. A guy came right over to the inner door. "Ice cream? Come on in. Don't worry about all this. Lots of groups here tonight."

Yes, there were. As we entered, we passed a large round table with 9 guys playing poker around it. Our guy had stood up from his place at the game to help us; he called out his bets as he served the ice cream. A little farther into the shop were a couple of people carefully producing frosting-flowers for a wedding cake; just beyond them, two young girls were making their own attempts at flowers.

When my ice cream came, it had little candy eyes on top, staring at me. One of the little girls said, "They're edible."

Miles today: 88
Total miles so far: 3232

A lucky mistake

Last night's cabin was, well, beyond basic. Very well worn, not very clean, a strong moldy smell, but a full kitchen in which Aline made us a great dinner. Then we all headed for different beds. There were lots of decision points: how close to a nicely screened window? how lumpy was the mattress? how easy to navigate to the bathroom in the dark? good pillows? We all felt quite certain that we had made the best possible choice and equally certain that the best possible choice was not particularly good.

Lights out, and we all shut our eyes and hoped for sleep. We are all quite sure we did not sleep well, and yet we all remember different things that went on. I heard three gunshots. I am SO not used to living in an area where that does not - should not - lead to a 911 call! But I managed to keep my hands off the phone. The service was lousy there and besides, who knew what I might step on if I tried to get up and find the phone? Then I heard tiny bits of rustling, and footsteps. That turned out to be Aline trying not to wake us up. Then it rained and rained and rained. I read a whole book last night, just listening. This sounds sort of spooky; it wasn't. It was just so unfamiliar. We were pretty ready to get out & head for the next place in the morning.

Our route today was to be 60 miles from Luther to Clare, Michigan + whatever it took us to get all the way to Luther. We figured three miles or so. It turned out to be ten. Fortunately, the rain had stopped & the weather was quite nice. The roads were pretty nice, too. As soon as we reached Luther we were once again on the Adventure Cycling maps & that is reassuring. Aline scouted out a place for lunch.

As we rode, I was going faster, so when my cell phone rang I had time to take the call without slowing us down. It was a guy I have talked to through the NBTS connection. He also had an oligodendroglioma & has found it helpful to talk to me & others who have had the same experience. I first talked to him in Montana. Since then he has had surgery & is recovering very well, but there are still future treatment choices to make. It's a lot to absorb. So I felt bad when my cell service suddenly decided to fail. We did manage to talk about an hour later.

The lunch place was fine. I had come up to another cross country cyclist - carrying everything, so catching up was easy enough - who was eating at the same place with some motorcycle friends. While we were there, the weather arrived. It poured. Thunder roared. Bruce moved the bikes to a slightly more sheltered spot and we waited for it to pass, happy that the timing had been so convenient. It was quite a narrow system, and within an hour or so there was more blue sky than gray, and heaps of beautiful clouds all around.

We rode another hour or so, then had to make a couple of turns. I was a little surprised at how quickly the second turn arrived, surprised that the mileage sign brought our destination quite a bit closer, and once we had turned, surprised we were to ride on such a busy road for ten miles. But the shoulder was adequate, the road sloped gently down, and the wind was behind us. We had gone several miles when it occurred to me that the road number on the signs was not right. My brain was pretty mushy.

Once again, though, good luck prevailed. Turns out we had accidentally turned too soon onto a road that took us about as directly as possible to Clare. We missed some pretty roads. Aline got to see them and told us about them. But we kept the downhill trend and the tailwind and had a blast riding mostly 20+ mph all the 25 miles we had left. And it saved us about 7 miles. And tonight's hotel is a big place with all sorts of space and services. As Bruce said when we arrived, we are ready for this!

Miles today: 64
Total miles so far: 3144

Multiple personality day

Traverse City really is a small city. It has the feeling of a resort area and also sort of a college town. There are lots of young people around, lots of runners, lots of bike trails. We had one of the best dinners of the trip at Poppycock. The soups were especially good.

This morning we felt lucky to have explored enough to find possible bike trails to get us to our first turn; our road out of town is NOT a bicycle-friendly choice. Two lanes, plenty of fast traffic, no shoulder or parking space. By the way, this has nothing to do with Adventure Cycling. We wanted to stick to the lake shore for a couple of extra days, so we had to find our way back to the official route ourselves. I am obviously not ready to get into the bike map business.

So, on the path for a short distance, then back on the road after the first turn. Not a happy place. We tried heading west a block to find a parallel street. Great, except the parallel street ended in one block. Several more blocks west found us a road with an official bike route sign which got us maybe a quarter mile, then dumped us off on a path which was? was not? was? no, definitely was not paved. So we took it, for another quarter mile or so until it ended at a big, busy road with no signs telling us where we were. Sigh. Our road turned out to be close, but still to be busy and shoulder-free. We tried briefly, then spotted a bike path on the other side of the road & managed to get to without dying. And so on. The first twelve miles or so took all our attention and were not fun.

The next fifteen or so were ordinary. They offered plenty of places to find food and nice people and some attractive farms. There have been fruit stands all over for a couple of days, and their big crop right now is cherries, my favorite.

The second half of the day has been in Manistee National Forest land, lovely and peaceful. Most of it is pine woods, but there were some deciduous areas about knee-deep in ferns. Just about ideal riding. We arrived at our night's destination at 3:00. Bruce is napping outside. On a picnic table.

We are in a log cabin with musty old chairs & beds scattered all over it. The Little Manistee River is about fifteen feet away. The insects are buzzing, the trees are still. It's a perfect summer afternoon.

Miles today: 59
Total miles so far: 3080

No thunder, but...

They can't all be perfect. We didn't have all that many miles to ride, but they were all on Highway 31, and it's not a particularly nice route. Its shoulders vanish as it goes through towns - the busiest parts, in other words. I made a few bicycle enemies, I am sure, by doggedly taking the whole lane at times. It was either that or get squished by an over-confident driver. Not a hard choice. There was also a stretch of several miles with brand new black top, perfectly smooth. Only no shoulder lines had been painted yet, and that seemed to confuse some RV drivers terribly. Bruce noticed one with its steps still let down. Fortunately it pulled out towards the center of the road. This was a day meant to remind us to be vigilant as we ride.

We did find one pretty side road that ran parallel for a few miles, and thank goodness there is a bike path that took us through the last five miles or so. And we did have one brief shower, but nothing much and no sign of storms until we got very close. Rain began to spit a bit just as we arrived, and the sky is getting steadily darker at 3:00. Looks like we'll get to see some dramatic weather tonight.

We are in a hotel right on a bustling beach. It is very hard to think of this as an expanse of fresh water.

A couple of bits & pieces: we actually were on Lake Huron from St. Ignace to Mackinaw City, so we have ridden along two Great Lakes now; I passed 3000 miles today. That usually takes me six months, not ten weeks.

Miles today: 51
Total miles so far: 3021

Testing

Down in the main part of Michigan. We had planned to get off the Adventure Cycling maps for the first couple of days. Kitty's sister got us some ideas from a local cyclist. We put together alternate routes that would take us along the shores of Lake Michigan for a bit longer. We just needed to figure out how to get from the Mackinac Island ferry to the main road we'd chosen.

Back in Montana, when we made our leap from the original route to the southern path through North Dakota, to avoid the Minot flooding, Bruce was quite concerned about diverging from thoroughly tested roads. Well. He seems to have left that worry far behind. He went into a gas station in Mackinaw City for directions & came out with a whole new plan. "If we turn left at the light, that road will take us towards 81." Uh, 81 had nothing to do with our modified route, but ok. I didn't learn until later that the gas station guy had apologetically said he had no idea how to get where we were headed; even the vague advice we accepted had come from another customer who chose to speak up. So we rode for a while, and found 81. Then more ideas surfaced. If we turned to an even smaller road, we could stay right on the water most of the day. Only things didn't look quite right.

We stopped a passing cyclist, who said she thought we might be on a road that ends at a park, but she's from Minnesota, doesn't really know the area. I decided we should keep going. There was too much traffic coming towards us to be coming away from a park at 10 on a Saturday morning. Luckily, I was right. We soon arrived in Bliss. Really. That's the name of the next town. It has a little store where we stopped for snacks and advice. This was the decision point: a fairly efficient road a bit inland, or the winding coast road that would take us on an extra c-shaped bay? Bruce decided he didn't want to add maybe 10 miles to the day so we turned left. Then he changed his mind & we made a hasty u-turn to the coast road. Just the way we might navigate at home where we have a rough sense of what we are choosing. A little adventure!

This turned into one of our best days. The coast road goes through a "tunnel of trees" and goes through a couple of charming little towns, then through a very fancy neighborhood of what have to be summer places. They are great big early 20th century houses, very attractive, great lawns & gardens, porches with swings, interesting windows, docks on the lake. Then a bike path begins that takes you over 20 miles, right up to the town we are in tonight (Charlevoix).

Our first stop was not a great success. We had heard from one of our route advisors that the town had a place called Legs & that it was supposed to be worth seeing. It looked very nice, but too popular. We decided not to wait in line for lunch. We did get a quick look at the gardens and some of the carved bears that fill it. But I was not sorry to leave. As we were on our way out, a woman said yes, we needed to move the bikes; it doesn't look nice when there are bikes all over the place. I was taken aback. Could she not simply have asked us pleasantly to put them wherever she wanted them? Or maybe even said nothing, since we were already leaving? But that was the only sour note all day.

The next stop was in Good Hart, another great name. There is a deli & bakery well worth trying if you are ever there. We got sandwiches & stuff & sat in front to eat them. I don't know if I can describe all the people we met there. First, as we waited to order, there was a very high energy woman who was talking about the stuff she had ordered, then asking us all sorts of questions, then reacting with huge enthusiasm when she figured out how far we were riding. She seemed to be with her mother & sister. She lives in Orlando (but keeps far away from Mickey Mouse). Then there were the two older guys who were teasing each other about whether they were wise to be buying the treats they had ordered (I'd have to vote no on that one) and who also asked us about our trip, then used our mileage to tease each other more. They left after we'd taken a seat on the bench out front, one of them on a motor scooter, smoking a rather overpowering cigar. Then another cyclist. He asked us to keep an eye on his bike while he went inside, then he came out & sat on the other bench & chatted. I know more about him than I do about some people I have known for years. He is a trustee of his college; he has been at the house of a fellow alum in Atherton who has an impressive modern art collection (he refused an offer of 10 million for one piece); he has a PhD- in what I don't know, but I know where he earned it; he's very involved with his local symphony. In fairness I have to add that he offered us his cottage for the night. He was really very nice to us. But I have only rarely encountered such a persistent name-dropper.

Then we went looking for the start of the bike trail and met a guy who used to live in Colorado & race bicycles - especially loved climbing. Then a local couple on a tandem rode beside us for a bit to ask about our trip. He had once done some of the route on a motorcycle. They had reached their car when we got to the end of the trail & stopped to ask where we were staying & told us they thought it was a good place.

Phew. Quite a day. Well worth the extra miles. Aline got here first. We are in a sort if condo on the harbor. We had dinner on our porch, watched while someone attempted to dock a boat very nearby to the accompamiment of the strident criticisms of a brash woman on board who had clearly drunk her lunch. And dinner, probably. Took three tries to get the boat in. We walked along the canal into the harbor afterwards. There's a drawbridge that opens twice an hour to accomodate all the local boat traffic.

70% chance of rain and thunderstorms tomorrow, but no severe weather anticipated. Does that mean lightning can really be gentle?

Miles today: 71
Total miles so far: 2970

Finding quiet in bustle

I was determined to make this a very restful rest day. Bruce and Jim wanted to play nine holes of golf. I just wanted to be unscheduled. We all walked around the bend in the road last night to watch a beautiful sunset; Bruce and Jim made plans to go around in the other direction to see the sunrise this morning; Aline & I said fine, just don't wake us up on the way out.

They went, and by the time they got back I was starved so the three of us went out to find breakfast. Aline was (Jim thought) still asleep. Unfortunately, she woke up as he left & came out looking for us & couldn't find us. Anyway, after we ate and managed to find each other, Aline and I chose to walk up to the course with the golfers.

The course is at the Grand Hotel, and it is certainly grand! I am so very glad we did not choose that one. It is a lovely old white hotel surrounded by perfectly manicured gardens. Guests are met at the ferry and taken up the hill in the most elegant of the horse-drawn carriages on the island. It must have a terrific view. But then the grand part falters a bit. There are signs all along the drive announcing (ever so politely phrased, but still) rule after rule. No bicycles or saddle horses on the drive to the entrance; proper attire required (with some comment about the reflection on the place's style), which means among other things that women are not to wear slacks after 6 PM. Ok, I expect there are all sorts of people mourning the loss of all those traditions that separated them from the hoi polloi. But perhaps they have forgotten one golden element in that tradition: that you simply do not get to scold your guests.

But we just got to take a quick look and leave. Bruce had his best nine holes ever, Jim was glad to have played, although he was not as excited about his game. They came back down the hill to find that I had managed to spend the entire time sitting & reading & dreaming of lunch. So we went to a little soup & salad place I had noticed, had a nice lunch, and came back to read some more. Bruce and I also spent some time on Aline's computer refining our last week of rides, then back to reading. My big activities today were walking out to buy postcards, walking out to find ice cream, and walking out to do laundry. Oh, and counting. On the main street here, which is perhaps three blocks long, there are thirteen fudge stores.

No miles, plenty of stretching, lots of books.

How'd we get to Disneyland???

Nice walk on the St. Ignace boardwalk this morning. It was just the right length for these tired legs. Lots of signs telling us a little about the local history, sunshine, a relaxed schedule. Aline went to get our ferry tickets while the rest of us packed our things into the car and onto the bikes. We hopped on the ferry for Mackinac. A young woman on the crew spotted our panniers as she helped to load the boat. She completed a mostly solo and unsupported ride from Maine to Florida earlier this summer. We traded blog addresses. She had a great trip, but a couple of pretty scary moments.

Soon we arrived at the island. I don't know quite what I expected, but I was taken aback by the crowd, by the Main Street packed with souvenir shops, by the number of bicycles, only a few of which appeared to be ridden by people who knew how they worked. Gently chaotic, this place. Main Street really has more in common with Disneyland's Main Street than it does with just about anything else I have ever seen. We struggled to walk our bikes off the ferry dock without hurting anyone, and without losing sight of Jim & Aline, who were struggling to find their suitcases. Then we all worked our cautious way down the street to our hotel.

It was too early to check in, which we expected. So we learned the first very un-Disneyland thing about the island: you just leave your bags lying in the lobby while you go off to explore. Don't tell TSA. And they don't rent locks with all those bicycles. Everyone just leaves them standing in the street. Of course, they almost all have kickstands. Well, we can pick things up pretty fast. We tossed everything in the lobby, went back to the heap to empty a pannier to hold our picnic, and prepared to explore the rest of the island. Of course, we needed a few provisions. Jim and Aline rented bikes and some of us fueled up with ice cream. A wonderfully high percentage of the Main Street shoppes offer ice cream. Oh, did I say shoppes? Sorry. I must be giving in to the island atmosphere.

There is a paved trail, almost road, that follows the shore of the island all the way around. It is 8 miles long, almost entirely flat. We rode the whole thing, averaging maybe 9mph. There were hundreds of bikes on the trail, all just taking it easy. We stopped one place to walk up a bunch of steps to see the Arch Rock - very worth the climb. We stopped at a little path & followed it (maybe all of ten feet) to a little beach no one else seemed to be using & had lunch. A ring billed gull came very close and watched with great interest. Then we packed up and dawdled the rest of the way around. Our rooms were ready. Bruce and I were allowed to stash our bikes in an office in the rather dungeon-like space in the hotel basement. Then we came upstairs.

Well, I won't have any trouble getting used to this. Our room is big - bedroom and living room - with all sorts of comfortable furniture and a view over the yacht harbor. Yes, we can sit with our feet up and gaze out at the bikini-clad sunbathers on the big yachts, the parasailers, the ducks & geese. If we take the trouble to walk out on our deck (which turns out to be quite easy once you realize the door wants to be pulled, not pushed - took a few minutes), we can see other islands - at least I think they are islands - the mainland, the fort here, a ferry dock, the hotel pool and patio restaurant. Very resorty, very different from anything else on the trip so far. Not quiet, but perfectly restful.

Aline & Bruce walked a short distance & found a restaurant in a more serene setting, so we'll head there for an early dinner.

Not quite what I expected, but a great break in our routine.

Miles today: 9
Total miles so far: 2899