Day 37 -- Love these long days...well, sort of

July 27, 2004

ROUTE: Ludington MI to Mt Pleasant MI            
DISTANCE:  115 miles...120+ after the detours              
WINDS: None to mild 3 to 8 mph

WEATHER: Overcast, 50's to low 60's           
TERRAIN:  Rolling in spots, but mostly flat            
TOTAL CLIMBING: 3,260 feet

RIDE OVERVIEW: We had a wonderful ride today and plenty of it!  This was the last of our 100-mile days, and we made the most of it by stretching it to about 116 before we were through.  Riders encountered two minor and one dirt detour that they navigated with ease, though by the time they reached the dirt detour it had been raining long enough to make mud pies and a bit of walking in places. There were only two miles on muddy, dirt roads, however. Two winters ago Barbara and Mike came up to reroute this day to get it off some terribly rough, narrow, and busy roads that made the ride more stressful than it needed to be. Their revisions made an already long day a little longer, but everyone enjoyed the new route despite this year's detours. At right, The Hammer & His Nails and Pete and RePete arriving at SS#1.

It was brisk and darkly overcast when we departed after a quick breakfast at Kuntry Kubbard.  We tried to get riders out as early as possible because of the long distance, but we couldn't leave until daylight. We are now on Eastern time, so riders were groggy with the missed hour of sleep this morning also. On departure, we rode along Lakeshore Drive which allowed us to see some of the Lake Michigan shoreline and some of the big waterfront houses perched along the bluffs.  It was a peaceful morning with cows enjoying their morning graze and meadowlarks singing in the cool morning mist.  Every once in a while, the sweet aroma of honeysuckle permeated the cool morning air.  It was a nice change from the familiar odor of dairy farms that would make the riders hold their breath until they either turned green or were able to get upwind.

Mike lived on a dairy farm when he was a kid and he went to school right after cleaning the manure out of the barns.  Says he never could figure why no one wanted to sit too close to him in class . . . hmmm.  The farms on today's route were much smaller than the ones in Wisconsin, and although you see small plots of corn and soybeans, many can't compete in the big markets, so they grow squash, pumpkins, carrots, asparagus, beans, cherries, apples, sugar beets, and cucumbers.  Also, if we weren't riding along small farms, many of the roads were tree lined, and some even tree tunneled, so riders felt almost as though they were riding a very wide trail.
   

There's always a down side to everything:  Because we rode in such rural areas, there weren't many facilities for our SAG stops.  It was almost as bad as when we were in the desert.  Our first SAG was at a cross roads with a small abandoned log cabin being the only building in sight.  It was surrounded by asparagus fields, however. Somehow we had to distinguish the "lady's room" from the "men's room," but before we could put up signs, the riders had already sorted it all out.  There should be some sweet asparagus from this field.

Yesterday, Josh's mother, Linda, met him at the ferry and brought all sorts of goodies in honor of "The Kid's" 28th birthday.  Seven of the things she brought were cherry pies to be served at the SS.  We went through five of the seven at SS#1.  The first riders into SS#3 polished off the remaining two pies.  Box set up SS#2 and served Josh's birthday cake -- a huge sheet cake with the outline of the US on it, the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, snow capped mountains of frosting, a frosting road crossing the states, and a sugary portrait of Josh wearing red, white, and blue Fourth of July flowers in his helmet.  Thank you Linda!  Your contributions made our first rainy day a sunny one.

Speaking of the wet stuff, this was our first day with any appreciable rain. It was a gentle--albeit cold--rain that began about 2:30. Most pulled out their shower caps and rain jackets and merely shrugged it off.  I draped the tarp over White's open doors, and the last riders through SS#3 stood under these and ate from the side of the van.

Mike, who was riding sweep, took advantage of what sun there was to take some shadow pix.  He says, "It's always more enjoyable to ride with someone, but today I was sweep so it was just me and my shadow until I hitched up with Karen at the first SS. Wow, I was making a neat shadow...and I had my trusty camera, so to pass the time, I spent several minutes snapping different angles trying to capture the perfect effect.  I got several neat photos, but I'll have to get my photo editor to doctor a couple of them a little to hide the camera shadow.  Here's one of the pictures I took. I have tons of others.  Hey, I had a 128 MB card and plenty of time on my hands. The farmer who saw me go back and forth several times by this weed field probably thought I was crazy."

Anyhow, despite the detours, the long day, and the rain, we all got in by early evening, found time to clean the mud and rain grime off our bikes, found time for Route Rap and dinner. Those who got in super early even ate lunch in Mt. Pleasant and several found time for a swim in the motel pool. Life is good.

Two more limericks from Andrew:

Team E

Julie, Lisa, and Lynn

Make up Team Estrogen.

With rippling thighs,

A sight for sore eyes

The blue jerseys roll past the men. 

Paul K.

Tall Paul like Bunyan is strong.

When winds blow he gathers a throng,

All seeking a pull

From Big Paul the bull,

As his Seven goes spinning along.

HEARD ON THE ROAD TODAY: 

• "Where's the ice cream?" Where's the coffee?" [both of these in response to being served cherry pie at the SSs]   
• "What kind of crop is this?" [holding up a sprig of asparagus greenery from the adjacent fields]
• "We have nothing to lose but ourselves." [in response to the detours]   
• "He told you we got lost?  Naw, we didn't get lost!  That's my story and I'm sticking to it."   
• "I'm completely caught up and in credit now." [Andrew M. in reference to having made up all 111 miles missed when he was ill--plus 30 bonus miles]   
• [Many at SS#3]:  They don't serve lunch at the Senior Center do they?"  Susan:  "Well, we might be able to get you Meals on Wheels. Let me check"   
• "Did you see those Oreo cows? They all were black on both ends with a broad white stripe around their bellies?  Heck of a good thing. Oreos and milk from the same source."

DUH! OF THE DAY:  Diane hustling to get things together to get to dinner, milling about the room asking, "Where are my glasses? Where are my glasses?" when they were hanging around her neck.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY:

Carrie-Ann & Robert help me cut and serve Linda's pies at SS#1

Egads!  A fashion faux pas. Josh and RePete found
themselves Twinkies dressed in identical PMU jerseys.

Senór Senior Paul posing before the SS#3 Senior Center.
 This was quite a place, seemingly in the middle of
nowhere, yet with a very active membership
and a volunteer staff of 250.  The parking
 lot was full of cars and people were coming
and going most of the day.

The Senior Center makes an artful and creative
trellis out of unneeded crutches.

The reindeer family I was trying to shoot when I
caught "the eye" of the guy below.

"Objects in your mirror are closer than they appear!" Actually this
was a curious reindeer who ambled up and blew bad breath
in my face as I was trying to take a photo.

This poor candidate probably paid double what the other candidates
paid for their campaign signs. His signs had to be twice the size
of his competitors' just to fit his name! Then, of course, he is faced
with trying to make his name a household word: "Who are you
 voting for?"  "Oh, you know, Mmm-uh-zad-uh-dowski. 
Well, okay, Smith."