Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Toronto!

So Canada is lovely, toronto is a very cool and environmentally aware city, and there are an astounding number of cyclists here. We have much to report, including Blackie, Cedars (the most amazing gay campground *ever*), and an adventure at the toronto bicycle network workshop/co-operative, but we're on a hostel computer and must dash. Suffice to say we're tan and tired and enjoying our adventure, and we'll tell you more very soon.
xoxoxoxoxo,
meg & melissa

Friday, July 25, 2008

Day 13: Put Another Dime in the Jukebox Baby

We have stumbled into the quirky little town of London, Ontario along the Thames River. A daily farmer's market, historical monuments and used book stores. Satisfactory, but is there anything fun to do? By some gross oversight, minor-leaguer Sammy Hagar (the Who? Eagles?) was billed as the headliner of a festival sponsored by a classic rock station. Luckily, I opened a paper that gave us the real news. Joan Jett, people. THE Joan Jett, as in my favorite version of Crimson and Clover, ba bum bum bum ba ba. Our mullets weren't long enough to get in, so we sat in the adjacent park and waited patiently through the opening bands, Megan with her Booker Award book and I with my Proust. Finally, the time came to climb a tree to see the crown of her head bopping over the tops of outhouses. Ms. Jett really gives you something to look forward to turning 50. We tried stalking her at her hotel later that night, but only ran into members of the band and the long hair guy from Skid Row.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Things I have learned, Meg's vol. 1

Oh, bike road trip = learning experience.

Notes others may profit from:
*don't pack dry lentils. Waste of weight and labor. (I over-estimated my willingness to cook.)
*do pack Trader Joe's boil-in-bag indian meals. yum. fast. win/win.
*do bring your leftover Chicago Blue Bag recycling bags- they make excellent cheapo rain gear. If the city won't recycle, at least you can.
*bring twice as many big and medium ziplock bags as you think you'll want. You'll use them.
*make a point of getting the bike maps of the states/provinces you'll be in ahead of time- verrry helpful.
*keep pens in handy places for directions/contact info.
*it is better to bring 1 bikini top and a couple of random shirts to ride in than to mess with jerseys/sportsbras/etc. Trust me and my new tan on this one.
*bring more than academic reading. After 100 K today, the last damn thing I feel like reading is Hannah Arendt. An Us Weekly would be more like it. (though I did think a bit about swiping the newest Economist from the farmhouse where we stopped to use the bathroom...)
*three resounding cheers for the Brooks saddle. Worth every penny, breaks in even better than the doc martens I wore in high school, it attracts fellow cyclists who will buy you italian sodas (thanks Pete and Judy!), and it is So. Totally. Comfortable.

These are today's lessons-- There are definitely more but I'm a little fuzzy-headed and I'm positive Melissa will have some excellent insights to add...

Time to lube the chain and ice the knees. Gnight.
xo,
meg

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Evidence

As my dear Dan often tells me, you can know a thing to be true and still appreciate supporting evidence. He's right. I've always maintained that people are fundamentally good and our time riding through Michigan has provided ample evidence to support my perspective. Christy the bartender in Walkerville who called the Bitely Boys Motorcycle Gang to get us a free camping spot, Rusty and Jack and Don of said gang who chatted, Sandy the Bitely bartender who gave us coffee and pancakes and wouldn't take payment, Donnie and Kim who let us sleep in their award-winning pole barn and swim in their pool, Pete and Judy who bought us coffee and joined me in geeking out over gear stuff and gave us Tour de France updates and a beautiful route out of Midland, and now Gerry and Sara who opened their jaw-droppingly gorgeous historic (1872! Survived a wildfire!) home and their homemade wine and vegetarian pizza and stayed up laughing with us til faaar too late at night--- all kind and lively souls who reached out to us, each one the source of stories we'll be telling for years. Amazing.

And that's just over the last 10 days. I'd be remiss if I failed to also mention the enthusiastic support we've gotten from the homefront. There was a great deal of collaborative work in the lead-up to this adventure: before the sendoff brunch and the Zion camping, there were months of speculation and planning and chatter. My mom and Dad and Dan and Arline and Ruth and Max and Rachel and Dave and Toby and Stacey and Nick and the crews at Uptown Bikes and Boulevard Bikes and Johnny Sprockets-- good lord, you guys. Words fail. Big hugs.

I continue to be overwhelmed by the graciousness and generosity and good humor of the people I encounter, both in regular life and in epic undertakings like this one. You all make it easy for me to be happy and hopeful. Hooray for evidence.

xoxoxo,
meg

Day 11 - Canada

Hey folks! The time has arrived to cross into Canada. We will be turning off our phones to avoid international fees, so please email and/or post comments to this blog to stay in touch! We love hearing from you, so leave a message!!

hearts,
melissa

Day 10 - the thumb of michigan

It seems as though we have stumbled into some sort of contest where the people of Michigan compete to be the nicest to us. It all started in Bitely when the motorcycle gang let us camp for free on their schoolhouse-turned-HQ lawn. We woke up to Sandy's pancakes and coffee the next day and thanked 70 year old Rusty for the campgrounds.

Not to be outdone, Donnie and Kim waved us in from a thunderstorm to sleep on their garage floor while watching the weather channel and drinking Bud Light. The garage turned out to be a pole barn, and an award-winning pole barn at that. What does it take to win a pole barn contest? The entire upstairs was outfitted with a flat screen tv and billiards. We stayed downstairs with the tools, the surveillance cameras, and the police scanner.

But Sara and Gerald are in it to win it. Last night, after we rode 10 miles in the wrong direction to get to a campsite, they packed up our bikes and drove us to the site (for anyone who thinks this is cheating, we had ridden over 50 miles already so bite me). It was getting to closing time at that point and the sun was setting. There was no way we could pitch the tent and get settled before dark. Sara and Gerald offered us their guest bedroom in their house of history. They own an antique shop and their house is filled with antiques. This is roughing it at its finest. Pizza and homemade wine and hours of laughter into the night. Showers! Beds! Eggos! I'm glad I'm with Megan who can express gratitude better than me. She can gush like no other. Sara and Megan gossiped until 1am about the Lincolns, as in Abe and Mary.

Peter and Judy are still in the running. They tried hard to get us to stay at their house, but I had already used my Hilton Honors points for a hotel in Midland. They enticed us with fancy very very fancy bikes which Megan finds hard to resist. They settled for buying us coffees at the Barnes and Noble and poring through atlases to give us the best directions into Canada. We got a voicemail this morning from them making sure we were okay and wishing us the best of luck.

Michigan gets my vote for best overall Midwest state. Not just the hospitable and socially conscious people, which could wins hands down alone, but the excellent well-maintained rails-to-trails, the respectful drivers (most are motorcyclists and know what it's like), and don't think I didn't notice the bioswales to collect stormwater in even the most rural places. MICHIGAN! CHAMPION!

Friday, July 18, 2008

Day 6: Dark Knight

The scariest movie ever! Did you see how he just raced down Lake Street on the Bat-mocycle without looking for cyclists!!?!?!

PS We are in Midland, MI today, but I don't have enough time on the slowest internet in world to write about it.

Day Five: award winning pole barn

This is a funny story. Perhaps we will get a chance to tell it when we're not trying to check out of the fancy hotel.

Day Four: Oh, Country Roads


Megan is still in race mode. Even though we have no more deadlines, no more ferries to catch or friends to meet at picnics, we are plowing through as if we were on stationary bikes at the local Ballys. I became very familiar with the pavement - a light gray mix of tar and white gravel to lower the albedo rating, perhaps. I looked up - hey wait a minute! This is pretty! I stopped Megan. Perhaps we should take some more breaks and meet the locals? We stopped at the Walkerville tavern whose bartender hooked us up with a free campspace in the next town and told us her views on migrants and how if they didn't pick the asparagus, no one else would. Have you ever seen asparagus still in the ground? I thought it was a christmas tree farm.

The bartender's friends were the Bitely Boys, a motocycle club headquartered in an old schoolhouse. I went straight to sleep. Megan can tell you what happened next.

Day Three: Muskegon to Hart

The ferry to Muskegon was smooth and uneventful, and a favorite subject of many Michiganites. The people here love to wax poetic of their exotic excursions across the great lake. Definitely worth the price in my book.

Muskegon first impressed me with their Lake Front Path bike trail, then with the fact that no one stole our stuff while we blogged away in the library. Out of Muskegon, we headed towards the Hart-Montague trail to make our way north towards Luddington. A stop a Red Rooster Tavern introduced us to the local progressives. I had to stop for a bathroom break. The rainbow sherbert caught my eye first. The picture of a chicken wearing pasties with the caption "chicken strips" was what made me wave Megan inside. Chatting with the young bartender who reminded us of Falon from CBF, we regained hope in America. Ahhh, socially conscious people in the Midwest, a sigh of relief. The biracial motorcycling couple at the bar congratulated us on embarking on this trip and we were on a way. A quick dip in Duck Lake (a must for future bike riders) and we were on the Hart-Montague bike trail.

Everyone in Michigan knows about the Rails to Trails program. They might not know where they are, or how well maintained, but they do know that many of their tax dollars have gone to make some of the most impressive bike paths I've ever seen. I highly recommend this trail.

Monday, July 14, 2008

So here's the thing about

Milwaukee. It does NOT have the superfast/easy lake path that I'm used to. I got directions to the ferry from a (very certain-seeming) native and ended up taking in the gorgeous edifice of the milwaukee art museum (http://www.tommcmahon.net/2006/08/the_milwaukee_a.html) The dock for the ferry? Not so much. A pair of extremely sweet middle aged guys out for fitness rides on shiny Giant mountainbikes rode me back to the appropriate location, and I got to see part of indie Milwaukee (in Bay View I passed an anarcho-feminist book shop, a sewing collaborative/boutique, bunches and bunches of coffee spots, and midwestern hipsters galore). Melissa and I ended up crashing in a hotel. Now, after 2 hot showers, 8 pilfered mini-shampoos, half a pineapple pizza, and a lovely two-hour ferry ride during which we subjected Bee Movie to a Marxist critique, we are ready to resume The Ride.

Muskegon has amazing bike trails- kudos to their city planners- and friendly locals with tons of useful information. We're taking a trail to Hart today, and will end up working our way over to Saginaw. I do not yet hate cliff bars. Ask me again in 230-ish miles when we hit Port Huron.

Day Two: Milwaukee Bound (mh)

Saying our final goodbyes to at the campground was bittersweet. Embarking on a the trip of a lifetime but leaving everything behind. The Elite Peloton is now down to three: Megan, Andrea and myself. We headed north towards Milwaukee to make the 7pm ferry.

The Kenosha bike trail is lovely. Trees to the left, trees to the right, nothing but "good mornings" and "oh my you must be going a long way" along the way. Megan even saw an otter! I would prefer pavement to crushed gravel, but what can you do? The trail in Racine is nice as well, but hard to follow. Several times we got on and off Route 32 to try to get back on the trail.

The most hilarious thing happened! We started to wonder whether or not we were going to make it to the ferry in time. The ferry left at 7pm, but that meant we had to check our bikes in at 6:15pm. Andrea was getting tired. We were ALL getting tired. At about 5pm and not having a clue how far away we were, we decided that Megan should go ahead and get the tickets. I would stay back with Andrea. We kept going and going on Route 32, but there was nary a wayfinding sign. Finally, Andrea chatted up a biker on a Specialized racing bike, Will from Oak something, and he escorted us to safety. But Megan had followed the map. The map indicated that we should have turned at Howard instead of going along the lake and wind up in northern Milwaukee, far away from the ferry. Andrea and I got to the ferry and Megan was nowhere to be found. Andrea turned to me and said "It says in the Bible, the last will be first." What a good sport. Megan texted me "You go ahead, I'll take the ferry tomorrow." HA HA HA "You go ahead!" HA HA HA. So I talked to Robyn, the one of very very nice people in Milwaukee, and she said she would change our tickets and waive the fee. So nice! Take that, Chicago! Andrea took the night ferry and I waited for Megan to take the morning one.

Megan felt bad and put me up in a fancy hotel (why aren't there any hostels in Milwaukee???) and bought me pineapple pizza. Mistakes taste good! We had fine showers and loaded up on travel sized mouthwash.

Day One: The Send Off (melissa's version)


Thank you everyone who came out to show support for our ride. The first part of the send off was a beach potluck that turned into BYOP: "Bring Your Own Pie." So much pie! You should see Megan's bag after she tried to shove the leftovers in her back pannier (just kidding!) The Chair of my department at DePaul came, my old roommate Elise and her boyfriend Chris, friends Jenny and Suzanne and Carolee and Tony and Mary and her family in town and Emily from MCA and Chad and his friends from Wisconsin and Arline and Alie and the Elite Peloton and you can see the photos of the excitement. Chris Brunn took some great pictures with his new camera: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cbrunn/page1/.

At about 2/3pm, the Elite Peloton (http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?va=peloton) rode 40 miles north to Zion State Park. The pack consisted of Megan and myself, Matthew from CBF, Andrea from Germany and Stacy from Stacyland. Traveling the very nice bike trail along the metra line was a refreshing change of pace from the downtown streets. Watch out for this bike path, though. It did stop suddenly in the middle of nowhere and we had to stop at a gas station to ask a very nice young man with bedazzled and gilded teeth how to get back on. We went through the Ravinia crowd waiting to see Lyle Lovett and stopped at a lovely gazebo that was a memorial for an 11 year old girl who died of leukemia. We arrived at the park exactly at sunset with the sky a beautiful stratification of gold and blue. Dave F. had ridden his motorcycle ahead of us to reserve a space and prepare the campfire for our arrival. Steph L and her boyfriend Dave reserved a campsite nearby and came over to join in the festivities. Later, Nick and Aaron B arrived on their motorcycles, killed a bottle of whiskey and put out the fire long after everyone went to bed. Or should I say, went to Thermarest.

Contest!


Try to guess how many mosquito bites I (melissa) got at Zion State Park. Post your guess here and the person who is closest will get a postcard!

Lessons Learned

Melissa's ongoing list of things we learned along the way.

1. When camping in Zion State Park, forget everything Rachel Carson (Silent Spring) says about saving the environment and bring vats of DEET. Kill! Kill!

2. If you are going to the ferry out of Milwaukee, do not follow the map. Take 32 north, but at Howard, instead of turning left to follow the road, turn right towards the lake and continue north. You will eventually see signs for the ferry.

3. When you make a budget, double it. That will be about how much you need.

4. Don't take alot of food in the beginning of the trip. First of all, if you are buying food in Chicago, you pay over 10% tax, so you will save by buying food out of the area. Secondly, it's heavy and you will build muscle and grace after being on the bike a few days.

5. Always travel with someone younger, preferably with a student ID, so you can get the discounts.

Monday, July 7, 2008

A resource!

I just found this site for searching for campsites in Michigan. This is going to be very helpful!

http://www.michcampgrounds.com/arvcmich/search_campground.php