Bonus! You get two days in one.
Breakfast at Indian Lake
First (Sunday June 7), let’s look at Indian Lake again, where we had rain falling on my tent at 6 am. It got heavier, so I eventually got up at 8 am and put the tent away wet and headed to the shelter to eat breakfast, and to read until 11:30, when the rain switched from downpour to a steady drizzle.
Rain on Hwy 2
I’ve been through this before, and have learned a few things over the years. One is that rain always sucks. Two is to keep my rain gear in the tent for morning rain. Three—and you know that wise learnings always come in threes—is to roll with it and recognize the perverse pleasure of riding in that gray splashy world and smelling the fresh rain air.
Reflections
All of this positive attitude is realistic only if you have a warm room to end up in. Which turned out not to be the case. After riding in drizzle and rain for five hours, and feeling really very good and mellow, because I was making good time with a tail wind, I arrived in Naubinway to find no accommodation within ten miles in any direction. That’s over an hour by bike, at 6 pm.
Nothing!? I asked again, and then the woman in the restaurant remembered that the guy next door rented a few rooms upstairs. He was ready to go home, and after some tapping on the glass, I got a whole suite for $45, and had the entire building to myself for the night. Thank you, Larry. Plus I got to eat a Pastry for supper at the restaurant next door. (A baked Cornish pastry that is big in these parts.)
Room in Naubinway
The next morning on Hwy 2 . . .
The next day (Monday June 8), under cloudy skies I met Jerry and Tom riding cross country from Maine to Oregon, and they were pleased to say that they’re still friends after riding one month together so far.
Jerry and Tom (soon to be 70), riding cross country
I’m also still friends with the voices in my head. I get along with myself and am confident of a successful journey, talking with myself, never too much or too little, and on subjects I like.
Doing a bit of review, I’ve covered 259 miles in the last five days out of Green Bay, with average speeds of 10.8, 8.4, 9.4, 10.3, and 10.6. This reflects the various winds and weather, since the terrain is pretty much the same.
Sand dunes along Hwy 2
I had been concerned about holding up for riding solid days in a row, since you never know with knees and tendons, and getting older. I would have needed a rest day in between had there been hills, and I will play tourist tomorrow.
Jerry and Tom said they were exhausted after two weeks, but then got a six day rest for family reasons. They now average 50 miles a day. Tom mentioned that he sometimes wonders whether they are crazy doing their cross country ride.
Yes Tom, you are crazy. All those old people sitting in the Galley Restaurant with me tonight, as I wolfed down a celebratory prime rib, are sane. Would you have it any other way?
Lighthouse in St Ignace harbor
