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
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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