On the Home Stretch!

Today we began our last week of riding! Like most experiences of this kind, the time has really flown by, and yet it seems like it has been going on since I can remember. At certain times of the day (usually between the last sag and the motel, I look at the empty road ahead, the endless corn fields, feel the endless heat, and vainly try to find some redeeming value in each mile I have yet to ride. Of course, the real value is when I realize the vastness of this continent, and think of those who trod those same miles before, and realize how easy I have it compared to some of them. You just can't get the same depth of that feeling in a motor vehicle. I remember back to my journey out to Astoria, and the "problems" I had getting there. How trivial they now seem, compared to the daily grind of the ride. Even with those "problems" it took but one day for me to fly serenely over the terrain I have traversed now for over 43 days.

The ride from Niagara Falls to Henrietta, NY, was a day where that kind of questioning pops up like a "whack a mole" game at the state fair. The terrain: flat and featureless. The main crop: weeds, or maybe corn. Heat: hot and humid by 9 a.m., sweltering and oppressive by noon. Our destination: a motel with no pool in the middle of a hot nowhere called Henrietta. Maybe by tomorrow morning I will find some gem of value in Henrietta, other than just another "Here" on the way to "There". At least we had a stiff tailwind much of the way.

Last night many riders had put their bikes in the window boxes of their motel rooms. Had there been any passers-by on the US side of the falls, they might have thought this was a four-story bike shop with window displays.


This morning, our prime enemy was soon spotted and photographed.


There seemed to be a bumper crop of weeds everywhere, including these intruding onto the bike lane.


Other places, the crops stayed where they belonged, like these cabbages.


The owner of this barn must have entered the "Reddest Barn Contest" My bike looked pink by comparison.

Sad news on Rest Day

On what should be a carefree rest day, I found out from a co-teacher that one of my students at Godwin High School drowned at Virginia Beach Saturday. I remember Mani as outgoing, funny, bright, and dedicated. My heartfelt sympathies to his family, some of whom are currently in India.

Here is the article about the drowning in the Richmond paper.

Niagara Bound!

It was somewhat cooler this morning when we headed up the road to the same restaurant that had given us such poor service last night. Breakfast was quite deliscious and quick. I was on the road with 2 pieces of French toast, two pancakes, and a good scoop of hash browns on board.

The light had a really nice quality for my standard morning shot.



I liked the layout of this farm, with the house and barn on raised "islands" above the rather flat terrain.



Tobacco fields gave way to sod farms, some of which had neatly mown grass as ar as you could see. I approve of the change. Other farms, especially on yesterday's route had switched from tobacco to ginseng as a big-money crop.



At one point today, the pavement ran out and we ended up on a dirt road for about 2km. We had been briefed about this at route rap, but when you are riding road tires, you never like to see the end of the pavement. The dirt ended on a very steep downhill stretch, stop sign at the bottom. As my dad would say, "What a waste of good energy!"



Niagara Falls was soon in our sights, and we headed for the Canadian side, with its views of Horseshoe Falls. I took this picture of the American Falls first.



Here are the other requisite pictures showing myself, and my travel companions Kent and Ilkka.


Here Kent tempts fate by trying to eat my lunch while I am carrying out my important documentation.


After lunch at the Falls, I headed over the Rainbow Bridge, through US Customs, and got my picture entering New York. I couldn't find a "Welcome to the USA" sign anywhere. I will investigate tomorrow.


Dinner was at Denny's, and then Dan and I walked over to the US side of he falls and got some more pix that I will put up tomorrow. Now for a great day off!

Into Urban Decay

London turned out to be a very bustling place. There was a large mall close by, with all the related traffic. Anya, Eberhart, and I managed to get up to the mall on our bikes, and took them inside with us to the food court. Other than that, I didn't try to anything else in London. Our goal for today was to get to Brantford, which I somehow thought might be more laid back.

On the way, I got another good morning shot showing the mist that made the riding pleasantly cool for a while.


I got this shot of Sarah taking a picture of the same thing. This is how we take pictures on the fly.


I ran into this other recumbent rider (almost, literally) at an intersection about halfway to Brantford. His name was Fred, and his bike was almost like Larry's. He was a local and knew all the roads we would be riding. He was on a 60 mile loop if I got my facts straight.


Tobacco seemed to be the main crop in this area, which surprised me. I thought tobacco needed the hazy, hot, humid weather we have in the south.



At one point three of the coolest bikes were together on the route, including Larry's recumbent and the tandem of Barb and Steve. Mine, of course, didn't quite make the picture.



I didn't take any more pictures because I found the rest of the route to be rather depressing. Our course took us through the former main drag of the old town of Brantford, and most of the businesses were boarded up, closing as the transition was made to the more suburban areas with WalMarts and McD's. Our motel was in the older area, which must have been really nice at some point, but no longer.

Dinner was at another restaurant where the staff was not prepared to serve us. It took about a half hour for them to get the hot foods onto the steam table, and they once again took drink orders, rather than just putting pitchers of water, tea, and soft drinks on the table. I am working on a list of suggestions for the restaurants which the ABBike staff could give the restaurants in order to make sure we can get in and out in less than 2 hours. Having spent ten years in food service, I know I could have organized any of these meals quite easily, and it doesn't take a nuclear physicist to figure it out.

O Canada, We're Glad to See You!

The sun was up a little higher by the time we started out today. We had a slightly shorter route, and were also departing in an unusual manner: as a group. This was because we had to cross the Port Huron-Blue Water Bridge over the St Clair River into Canada, and they wanted us to go together to make things safer and easier through Canadian Customs. Here are some pictures I took while we were waiting for our escort for the bridge crossing. (Musical interlude: The Final Four singing O Canada)

"The 'Bent Brothers" Jim and Larry


Riders with the bridge in the distance.


Finally we got our escort, and they closed the bridge to eastbound traffic so we could trave unimpeded. It was great they could do that for us, rather than make us ride off to the side with bridge traffic inches away. Here are some pictures during the crossing.

Ilkka, concentrating on the uphill stretch.


The group, heading up the American side.


We had to stop and dismount at these large expansion joints. You can see my front wheel in thee picture for size. One rider didn't follow the instructions, and tried riding across. Score: Bridge 1, rider 0.



After descending the Canadian side, we went through customs, and they didn't even check the passports we had so carefully brought along. We will no doubt need them re-entering the US on Sunday. We had to ride together for a while longer, due to some re-routing to avoid road construction. I tried to capture some pictures without looking at the camera, to the side and rear. Here Annie is telling me that I have the camera aimed wrong. I thought the shot turned out pretty well.


After we got on route, it was pretty much Michigan repeated, so I didn't take any more pictures. I got in at about 12:30, all in all an easy day at the office. I am still glad to be out of Michigan. It was my least favorite state yet: Bad roads, bad drivers, sloppy farms, mosquitoes, rain.

Michigan, We're Outta Here!

Hooray, we are done with Michigan. I guess the endless cornfields are better than the endless scrub of South Dakota, but I miss the mountains. I am just not comfortable on flat land. As I am writing this, a severe thunderstorm is moving in, and I am glad that I didn't have to ride in it today.

The day started muggy and warm. Just like back home. It reminds me of my ulterior motive for the trip, escaping the Richmond heat. I guess I didn't choose well on that one.

Here is my bike in its parking place, the end of the hall at the Comfort Inn in Birch Run. We often use the halls as parking, since the rooms are not always big enough for the bikes and three of us.


The obligatory sunrise photo


As I ride, this is what I see from my seat.

I decided today to do a scenery theme. I had noticed the huge number of fallen (or falling down) barns. After seeing the neat, tidy farms of Minnesota and Wisconsin, I noticed right away that the way most Michigan farmers deal with fallen buildings is to let them stay there and hope they eventually erode into the ground. A few of these have just about made it. Others need more aging. Very sloppy to say the least.





Tomorrow we leave Michigan and cross the bridge into Ontario. I am looking forward to being back in the area where I first started my bike touring in 1972. In that trip, our group from OutSpokin', a Mennonite youth biking venture, set out from Kitchener bound for Harrisonburg VA by way of Ottowa. We ended up encountering Hurricane Agnes along the way in New York, and we will be retracing some of that journey. Hopefully this time there will be no tropical weather.

How Do You Spell Flat?--Central Michigan

After yesterday’s rainy marathon ride, I was looking forward to a shorter, drier ride. I got pretty much what I expected. We woke to rain, and the radar showed a band of showers moving across the area, with another big blob behind, probably in Wisconsin. By the time we loaded, however, the rain had ended, and the roads were pretty good. The winds were from the southwest, which meant that anytime we headed south, we had headwinds, but any time we turned east, they were tailwind/crosswinds. Here in Michigan, they are on the grid system, so the roads are either north/south or east/west. I made good time on the headwind sections, and really good time when we headed east. There was only one town to go through, and although I wanted to look for a good bakery, it was too early in the morning to eat again. (I know some of you may be surprised, but I don’t like to ride with too much under my belt)

I stopped off at the post office in that town, Alma, and mailed a birthday package for Eric. It has been really difficult to mail packages because I don’t have access to my luggage throughout the day, and can’t carry too much on my bike, especially in the rain. I had decided to chance it today, and it paid off.

I got back on route, and was first to the SAG stop. I helped the staff set up the tent thingy they use to cover the snack table at the SAG, and helped myself to some bananas and granola bars.

I headed out again, anxious to finish in case the weather turned bad, and made quick work of the remaining 35 miles. I went to A&W for lunch with John, Daun and Bill. It was very nostalgic to get my root beer in the big glass mug, just like back in State College PA when I was a kid.

We had a relativelly late start. Here are some riders waiting to load and hit the road.

Here is Sara, whose blog many of you are following at http://sarabikes.blogspot.com/


The route was extremely flat, and this was the scenery throughout



Here, Kent goes for his favorite snack at the SAG stop.


Late Addition:

Dinner was at Tony's Rerstaurant. Here is Kent with his dessert

photo credit Bob Roberson

Last of the Century Days

Happy Birthday Eric!!!

Whoopie! Today was the last of our rides of 100 miles or more. I put in a good 115 miles, and would have had a great time of it had it not been for the rain. When I went down to load at 5:45, Nancy came up the stairs and said that it was pouring rain. I took her warning to heart and unpacked my duffle bag to get out my rear fender. I was upset when I found out that it had just sprinkled lightly, but went ahead and installed the fender. This turned out to be fortunate thing. It ended up raining most of the morning, and the fender added significant spray reduction.

Rainy start at the motel. Several riders had relatives joining us today, and this was probably not what they wanted to see.



A wet ride. On a better day, we would have been able to enjoy bluff-top views of Lake Michigan, which we steamed across yesterday.



SAG 1, where some of these riders helped me sing Happy Birthday to my son Eric, who was getting ready to go to Kings Dominion theme park for his birthday.


The sun finally came out at about noon. I was mostly dry by the time I pulled into the Baymont Motel in Mount Pleasant at about 2:30. I even got a little sunburned.


As we wend our way through Michigan, into Ontario, and then the final 3 states of our ride, our longest day will be 87 miles. We are all getting a little worn around the edges, and will appreciate the shorter mileage. I really don't like the early starts. It is much nicer loading at 6:30 or so.

Across Lake Michigan

Today was a very different kind of traveling day. First of all, we got to sleep in late. We still had to load our stuff in the truck. Then, we had to find something to do to pass the time until we were to gather at the ferry dock. Our riding route was about 4 miles to the dock, but most of us rode around the beautiful waterfront area near the Maritime Museum. I rode out to the marina, then found a group of our riders at a little cafe having "second breakfast".



At the requested time we found our way to the ferry dock. I stopped off at Subway to get a nice sub sandwich to take along for the four hour ferry ride to Michigan. I still got to the dock plenty early, and it was a "hurry up and wait" situation. Here are some of the "waitee's"

Stu, looking fashionable as usual.

Kent and Ilkka, wishing they were as dashing as Stu.


Fianlly it was time to board the SS Badger. This is the ony steamship operating on the Great Lakes today. While we were waiting, they had loaded four large truckloads of coal, which soon turned into large clouds of black smoke after heating the boilers.

They let us load our own bikes against one of the walls, correctly called a "bulkhead" on board the vessel.


The voyage was mostly pleasant, although the quartering seas made me mildly seasick for awhile. I did find relief when I lay on one of the deck lounge chairs and took a nap. Here is Kent on deck.


He took a picture of me, with the approaching bluffs of Michigan visible behind me.

As we docked, several swans sailed by, oblivious to the ferryboat.



After disembarking, we rode the four miles from the harbor to the motel, and grabbed a late dinner. I later walked up to Wal-mart and exchanged my defective camera (the one I had bought in Idaho Falls as a snapshot camera). I now have a Fuji camera for that purpose. It at least has a viewfinder, so that I don't have to use the stupid little LCD screen while wearing dark sunglasses, hoping I am pointing at the intended subject. I got to bed late.