People

(TAKE NOTE:  TWO POSTS IN ONE DAY.  READ POST BELOW!)

Hey:  My brother Ed has joined me for the ride across new York!!!  More on this in a later post.

WONDERFUL PEOPLE

Ok, so here's my rant:  Everyone, everyone, should take a cross country bike ride and meet the wonderful people who inhabit this world.  I have told stories of the people that I have met in earlier blogs.  Here are some more:

I met and spoke with Chandra at a campground in Lake George, Minnesota.  The next morning when I woke up, on my picnic table was a bag full of good things to eat and a note from Chandra and here sons Jeremy and Keith wishing me fair travels.

At a campground in Port Huron I met Ed and Cindy Puddock who invited me to their campsite for the night for some refreshments and an evening of conversation.

"The gang of ten".  There is a group of ten cyclists riding together across the country together.  A wonderful group of people with whom I have been hop-schoking with and riding with different members.

Charlie, who is doing "the four corners".  What are the "four corners"?  how about a single bike ride from California to Washington State, to Maine to Florida to California?  He's riding to raise awareness of climate change.

Charlie and I ready to stop for the night.

And then, and then there are Karen and Jean-Michel Patten who adopted me as soon as I arrive in the campground in Lewiston, New York.  They fed me supper, plied me with wine and cigars until the wee hours of the night, took me to Buffalo the next day to pick up Ed, and provided me a million laughs.  Thanks guys, see you in Maine.

Karen, Jean-Michel, and I.

How about Jean-Claud, a Frenchman, no?, out for a ride, who accompanied me for 40 miles as we chatted and laughed?

Yesterday, as we huddled away from the rain in a cafe in Brockport, New York, we met Eril who gladly checked the forecast for us on his tablet and offered us and our gear a ride to our next destination.  (An offer, as tempting as it was in the middle of a rainy day with rain forecast for the rest of the day, we declined.)

Helo Canada (Onterio), Goodby US (Michigan)

Today I'm in Fairpoint, New York

The odometer says 3501

Mile stones:  Two months on the road as of July 22nd, wow.

Sorry to have missed Bev's birthday on July 15th.

THUMBS UP

I crossed into Ontario today by ferry from Marine City, Michigan.  It's a $1.00 ferry ride.  Since my last post, I have completed the lower peninsula or thumb of the state with these stories to tell:

MY, BUT THAT WERE A LONG ONE.

Turns out that I will ride more miles in Michigan than any other state.  Eight hundred and ninety three all toll.


PRETTY TOWNS.

As I made my way down the western side of the thumb I was treated to a number of picaresque towns.  Harbor Springs and Petosky are two towns on either side of a bay on Lake Michigan which, again, remind me of Maine coastal towns without the smell of salt air.  Lots of boats in the harbor, beautiful homes and plenty of nice (tourist) shops.  In between is the state park with a beautiful beach and sand dunes.  After the west coast I headed east through the center of the state.  This is a treed and farm filled area that could easily be mistaken for Maine.  (Wait a minute, does it sound like someone is homesick?)  Smack dab in the middle of this otherwise rural area is the town ow Frankenmuth.  An interesting German settlement with beautiful buildings and plantings and lots going on.  I arrived on a Friday night and was treated to, perhaps, a dozen street performers.  People were milling about enjoying the music and weather.  A local restaurant was having an all you can eat steak and chicken barbecue.  They lost money on me that night!

The town of Spring Harbor.  Looks kind of like a town on the Maine coast, doesn't it?

Petosky State Park Beach.  Looks kind of like a beach on the coast of Maine, doesn't it?

The town of Frankenmuth.  Ok, this one doesn't look like a Maine coastal town.

MID-STATE.

The middle of the "thumb"  looks a lot like, you guessed it, rural Maine.

Methodists mid-Michigan style.

Farming mid-Michigan style.

Ah, so there is a mushroom capital after all!

TRAILS.

I have had the opportunity to ride several trails during this trip.  Many have been converted from former rail lines.  On the eighteenth I rode 46 miles on the Pere Marqoette Rail Trail, a highway for bicycles.  It's nice to spend some time away from traffic.

The Pere Marquette Trail.  A highway for bicycles.

BOB GETS SOME NEW SHOES
A close examination of my tires in Traverse City led me to conclude that they would not make it to Burlington as I had planned.  There was still plenty of rubber left but the casings were starting to come apart.  I think that I may have had a bad set of tires to begin with.  Shortly after I began my trip I noticed that the sidewalls were beginning to crack and as I went on the tread began to separate.  Never-the-less, I got 2,800 miles out of them, that's enough.  Absent any mishap the new tires should get me home.

Time to re-tire.

A TEA PARTY

I have been desperate.  Desperate for a good cup of tea.  Seems as if there's not much demand for lose tea across most of the country and I soon ran out of tea to brew.  As Dave, a fellow biker from Scotland says,: "You cant get a bloody cup of tea in the States".  Well, my good friends Bill and Lee from back home took care of that problem for me.  The sent me a car package of seven different teas.  I'm now set to make it back home!

The UP (That's Upper "Peninsula") (Of Michigan, that is)

Today I am in Traverse City

The odometer reads 2771

The upper peninsula reminds me very much of Maine, trees, fields, lakes, woods and sea-shore.  Looking out over Lake Michigan is like looking out over the ocean.  The horizon stretches out to the outer reaches of the water.  The waves crash against the sandy and rocky shores.  Seagulls are everywhere.  The only thing missing is the smell of salt air.

Looking out over Lake Michigan.

The economy here is very much tourist based.  There's not much farming and the mining business (iron, mostly) seem to be on there way out.  Again, this reminds me of Maine which has seen a decline in its extraction based businesses and its farming leaving tourism to take up the slack

  What do tourists like to eat?

Pasties, of course.

A meat and potato concoction wrapped in a soft pie like shell

If every town in the mid-west has a grain tower than every town in the Upper Peninsula has a water tower.  Usually a bulbous affair atop a skinny tower.

Here's Trenary's "standard" water tower.

Here's the "historic" water tower in Thompson.

I had a wonderful two day stay with Joe and Rhonda's son Collin and his girlfriend Hedi in Chatam.  Collin is working with the Michigan State University Agbioresearch program.  His focus is on developing crops and methods to extend the growing season in colder climates.  He graciously gave me the tour of the farm he manages which includes a recently constructed "tunnel" greenhouse about the size of the Lincoln Tunnel.  After my visit I said my goodbyes to Joe and Rhonda who are returning to their home state of Iowa to attend a wedding.   They'll return to Collin's afterwards to continue their trip.  We'll meet again somewhere between there and Maine.

Collin and Hedi.  That's the "tunnel" in the background.

I made a visit to the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.  Similar to Devil's Island in the Apostle Islands, the waves and Ice of Lake Superior have carved the sandstone shore into interesting formations.  (Hey, wait a minute: Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, maybe we should call it "Lake Horseshoe".)

 Here's "Miners Castle", one of the most notable formations in Pictured Rocks.

At Pictured Rocks they even teach you the correct way to fall off!

The straights between the Upper and Lower Peninsulas of Michigan holds Mackinac Island which is reached by ferry from St. Ignace on the Upper Peninsula or Mackinaw City (yes different spelling) on the Lower.  I took the ferry from Upper to Lower, stopping at the Island.  What is Mackinac Island?  Imagine taking every coastal tourist town the length of Maine and shoving it on one little island.  That's Mackinac Island!  Everything, yes everything except the sidewalks is for sale or rent.  Gift shops, hotels, restaurants, fudge, candy and ice cream shops, horse carriage rides, bicycle rentals, historic building tours, and yes, even kite rentals.  That's Mackinac Island.  Want a map of the town to find your way to the next place to spend your money?  That will be $2.00 please.  Oh please!

Hold on to your wallets folks.

Today I rode in the rain, sixty miles in the rain, sixty miles in the pouring rain.  What's that like?  Well, not a lot of fun.  I have a rain jacket and rain pants.  Does that keep me dry?  No that does not keep me dry.  It's kind of like this:  "Do want to get wet wet from the outside in or the inside out?"  I drink between one half and one gallon of water a day, most of which ends up coming out my pores.  Despite the fact that my rain gear is designed to "breath", there's no way it can keep up with that amount of moisture.  So why bother? Being soaked with rain results in significant vapor cooling, usually too much.  Before too long, my rain gear simply functions as a wind barrier.  Fenders help, they keep most of the water from the tires off me and the bike.  I have a really neat wind direction indicator.  On days like today there is a constant spray of water forward from the front wheel.  As the wind blows, it deflects the spray to either side, back toward me, or, if I'm lucky, straight ahead (tail wind!).  Water is the death knell for a leather saddle.  I have a saddle cover to protect mine from the rain.  Those bright yellow things you see in some of my pictures are pannier covers.  They help, but don't keep out all the rain.  Combined with large Ziploc bags inside, my stuff stays dry.  The covers do help to keep all the mud off my bags.  Finally, I have a helmet cover.  This works well to keep me both dry and warm and has a really cool built in flashing light.

Why is this man smiling?

The rest of the Midwest

Still in Chatham, Michigan.

My last post was so dull that I figured I had better get another one up quick before I lost my viewership. If you haven't been on the site recently, there is a post from yesterday.


MINNESOTA

Remember North Dakota?  Well Minnesota is kind of like that but not quite as bad.  Lots of fields but a few more trees.  What I did find in Minnesota is more great people.  Read my previous post about my stay with the Ruuds.

I had a wonderful weekend stay at the lake home of Doug and Sue Lamski.  The Lamskis are long time friends of the Thompsons and offered us the use of their beautiful place on Little Pine Lake in Perham. (Actually, they offered the Thompsons the use of their beautiful place on Little Pine Lake.  I just tagged along.)  We (Rhonda, Joe and I) arrived Friday night and stayed through Monday morning.  The Lamskis arrived from their home in Mendota Heights on Saturday and stayed through Sunday afternoon.  Delightful conversation and lots of laughs.  The town of Perham is a nice little resort type town, very nice.  Turns out that the weekend that we were there they were having a barbecue cook off (the town that is, not the Lamskis). We dropped by to sample some wonderful BBQ ribs, chicken and turkey together with corn on the cob.  Boy did the wind blow!  The lake had whitecaps the whole time we were there: whitecaps strong enough to undermine the docks and wash up fish.

Sue and Doug.  Not sure who that is in the middle.  Is that you Rhonda?

The Boys enjoy a cigar and a beer.  Kennedys, eat your hearts out!

Joe and I save the Lamskis' boat from certain disaster.

On Tuesday, the first of July, we arrived at Jay Cooke State Park in the eastern part of the state.  The park is on the upper St. Louis River.  It was nice to be beside the river and among the trees.  Here Joe's sister and brother-in-law Nancy and Rod Smith met up with us for a few days of camping.

Entrance to Jay Cooke State Park (I think).

The upper St.Louis.

Camped among the trees (at last).

Nancy and Rod.

On Wednesday we made a foray into Duluth for the day.  Duluth is a nice little city on the southwest shore of Superior Lake .  Turns out that Superior is even larger than Horseshoe Lake.  Go figure.  I practiced being stupid on Wednesday.  (For a practice run, I did quite well.)  As I got ready to go in to Duluth I noticed that I had an open bag of nuts on the picnic table.  Not wanting the squirrels to eat them I decided to put them in my tent.  Anyone see a problem here?  Yup, the squirrels ate holes in my tent to get to the nuts!

Draw bridge in Duluth.  If you don't want to draw one you can just look at this picture.

WISCONSIN

Upper Wisconsin looks a lot like Maine, small farms, fields, woods and lakes.

Farming here isn't on the grand scale that it is at the Ruuds'.

A road-side garden.

I finally found my way to Easy Street and yes, I did stop.

On Thursday, the third of July, we arrived in Washburn.  Wanting to avoid Fourth of July traffic we decided to make Washburn Memorial Park our home for the next few days.  The park is on the south shore of Superior.  For the Fourth we made our way 13 miles north to the town of Bayfield. Bayfield has the feel of a New England coastal town absent the smell of salt air.

The Bay in Bayfield.  (It would be kind of disappointing if they didn't have one, wouldn't it?)

We took a tour boat to explore the Apostle Islands.  It was a beautiful day, calm, and nice to be out on the water.  The captain of the tour boat was very entertaining.  Avery enjoyable afternoon.

This is the shore line of Devil's Island, one of the Apostle Islands.  This effect is from the wave and ice action on the soft sandstone base.  Pretty cool, huh?

The light house on Devils Island.  A light house on a lake?  We've got to get one of these for our lake!

A boat cruising the Lake in the early evening.

Bayfield put on a great fireworks display.  As an added benefit, we could see the displays of other towns around the Lake in the background.  Surely, a memorable Fourth.  After the fireworks were over I looked out in the bay to see that the barge that was used to light the fireworks was on fire, really on fire.  Few people seemed to be too concerned about this, as it continued to burn with abandon.  No fire boat, no shouts for help.  The next morning when we asked the waitress in the coffee house if she had heard about the disaster she responded "Oh yeah, they always end the show with the bonfire on the barge."  Ah, one more drawback of being a tourist.  On Sunday morning, the seventh, we said goodbye to Nancy and Rod

Hey, is something on fire?

Hope all these pictures make up for the dullness of my last post.

Bike Issues (This is a boring one) (Sorry only one picture)c

Today I'm in Chatham, Michigan.

2457 miles on the odometer.

Milestones:  I am now in the Eastern Time Zone.



It's one thing to ask a human to pedal 4,500 miles across the country.  What happens when you ask a bicycle to do it?


BIKE SHOPS
The bike shops, so far, generally have been few and far between, not well stocked, and lacking in expertise.  When an issue arises with the bike, that can present a problem.



WHEELS AND TYRES (don't you just love the way the British spell Tires?)
In the course of this trip my wheels and tires will make nearly 3,000,000 revolutions. (Yes, sadly, I really did take the time to figure that out.)  Together they support nearly 300 pounds of bike, rider and gear.

Tires:  I am using a heavy touring tire, the Nimbus, made by Specialized, installed new for the trip. They are a wide tire, 35 mm, designed to carry the weight of a loaded touring bike.  The tires, more than any other part of the bike, really take a beating!  Besides supporting the weight and running long miles, they are exposed to torturous road conditions.  Most of the riding is done on the shoulder of the road.  This is where you find rocks, gravel, broken glass, and rumble strips.  The bike tires have to deal with much more difficult conditions than a car tire would traveling the same route.

I carry 2 spare tubes, a tire patch kit, a tire boot (designed to fix a slash in the tire), tire levers to remove the tire from the rim, a collapsible spare tire, and an air pump.

How many flats have I had?  Only one.

How are my tires holding up?  Quite well, really.  Bike tires, unlike car tires, do not come with mileage warranties.  They don't last as long as car tires, but their longevity has been vastly improved.  The back tire wears much faster than the front; most of the weight is back there.  Over the course of the trip I have picked pieces of glass out of the tire that had become embedded in the rubber.  This gets to be more of a problem as the rubber wears thinner.  Only one has made its way through the tire casing (thus the flat tire).  At about 1,800 miles (about half way to Burlington, Vermont where I'll meet Bev), I switched my front and rear tire to even the wear.  How many miles will I get from this set of tires?  I don't know, what am I some kind of fortune teller?   How far do I guess?  Hard to tell, but at 2,400 miles they don't look too bad.  I'll try to get to Burlington on these and maybe have Bev bring me a set of tires from home for the lat 1,000 miles.

Wheels:  The wheels I am using are also purpose-built for touring.  The rims, spokes and hubs are all heavy duty, designed for the abuse of touring.  Now, about those hubs (that's the part in the middle of the wheel that holds the axle, around which the wheel spins):  When I switched my tires at 1,800 miles I discovered that I was barely able to move the axle in my front hub.  Definitely not in rideable condition.  The nearest bike shop was a day's ride away.  What to do?  Well, fortunately, I was riding with my friends Joe and Rhonda (remember Joe and Rhonda?  If not, stop here and immediately read earlier posts!) who offered me the use of Rhonda's front wheel while she drove ahead to the next bike shop to have the wheel worked on.  Unfortunately, Rhonda's wheel was a different size than mine so I had no brakes on my front wheel and more importantly, looked really silly.  (I have since recovered from the embarrassment.)   When I selected components for my bike I had two things in mind: durability and availability of parts.  The hub I chose is a popular hub for touring.  I felt good that it met both criteria.  A hub should go thousands and thousands of miles without problems.  The fact that this one failed so soon is definitely a problem.  But more of a problem is the fact that replacement parts are not available.  The shop I sent the wheel to did not have the replacement part I needed.  They took the axle apart, cleaned out the metal shavings (not a good thing to discover in a hub) and re-greased the bearings with the warning that the parts were distressed enough that I had better find new parts to get me home.  The next bike shop was four day's ride away in Duluth.  I called ahead to see if they had the parts I needed and they assured me that they did.  Turns out, they did not have the necessary parts and could not get them from their supplier.  Seems as if the only place to get them is directly from the manufacturer.  They did a little more work on the hub and wished me "good luck".  So here I am, 2,000 miles from home, trying to decide what to do about this problem.  Not what I expected when I made my purchase.

My bike with a "girly wheel"

CHAIN
On my bikes at home I have long used a wax based lubricant on my chains.  Just before my trip I replaced my chain and gave it the proscribed treatment with this lubricant.  My first day I rode 60 miles in the rain.  By the end of the day my chain was squeaking like a rusty old Schwinn.  Still another two day's ride to the next bike shop where I purchased some petroleum based lubricant which I have been using since.  At 2,000 miles I replaced my chain because it had stretched out significantly (not unusual for that amount of mileage), together with the rear gear cluster.  If you don't replace the rear gear cluster with the chain, often times the chain will skip because the gears on the cluster wear with the chain.  This should get me home absent a break.



SHIFTERS
My shifters haven't been operating properly since Idaho.  I think I could probably fix them but I haven't wanted to mess with them on the road since I can still use them all right as they are.



Heard enough whining?  Actually, overall, I am very happy with the performance of my bike. Considering the miles and abuse, it really is quite remarkable how well it has performed.

It kind of grows on you

Today I'm in Washburn, Wisconsin enjoying a little rest and relaxation over the weekend of the Forth on the shores of lake Superior

Missing my family.

A special hello to the Crossleys from their home state.

Milestones: Half way home.  It is amazing that I'm already on the second half of my trip but also amazing all the adventures I've already had.  There has been too much to blog about so I'll continue to hit a few highlights with each blog (usually long after they have happened).


Most folks out in this part of the country seem to make their living farming.  They grow corn, wheat, soybeans, sugar beets and hay as the main crops.

But let's start this story where it should be, in Twin Valley, Minnesota.  That's where Doug and Sandy Ruud live.  Who are the Ruuds?  Well, I suppose they are many things, some of which I know and some of which I don't.  But what I do know is that they are a warm, welcoming couple who farm this part of the country and who opened their home to me for two wonderful days.  They also happen to be the parents of Megan who is to be married to Quinn Thompson, son of Rhonda and Joe Thompson (remember Rhonda and Joe from my last blog?) this fall.

The Ruuds farm 2,000 acres.  Some of this land they own and some they rent from their neighbors.  They grow corn, soybeans and wheat.  The Midwest has experienced the demise of the small farmer.  To make a go of it requires a lot of land and a lot of equipment.  Farming on a small scale is no longer economically feasible.

The Ruuds were wonderful hosts who were happy to show us around their farm and let us play with their farm equipment.

About that "showing us around their farm" reminded me of the story of the farmer from Minnesota who bellies up to the counter at Moody's Dinner and discovers that the local he is sitting beside also farms.  When he tells the local that it takes him two days just to drive around his spread the local responds: "Yup, I used to have a car just like that".

Now about that equipment, wow.  I don't know much about farming at home but the equipment out here is really something.  Big and sophisticated.  You may recall an earlier blog where I mentioned "wide load" out here. When it refers to farm equipment, it really means "wide load."  And this is really cool:  The equipment is GPS enabled.  I'm not talking about the Garmin you have hanging from your windshield.  I'm talking about a piece of farm equipment that drives itself with an accuracy of less than an inch and controls the implements with the same accuracy.  These things can plant a field without wasting a seed and then return to spray once the crops are up and navigate the tractor through the field without touching a leaf on the crops.  It is truly amazing!  These guys can work the fields all night, which they sometimes do because of the time frames they have to meet, without the need for lights.  Amazing!

Here are some photos with some explanations:

Here are the Ruuds beside an eight wheel, 400

horsepower, GPS enabled tractor.

Here I am driving that Bad Boy.  Yes, that really is

me behind the wheel.  17 forward speeds all controlled 

by joy stick.  If I could get a mower deck for one

of these babies I could mow the lawn with one pass.

If this is what your rear view mirror looks like,

move over.

Hey there.

Maybe next season.

These are sugar beet freezers.  One by one the opposing

blowers are connected by perforated pipe.  In the fall

as the beets are harvested, they are piled over the 

pipes.  Once the temperature is below freezing, the 

blowers are turned on to freeze the beets.

The Ruuds treated us to some wonderful conversation, great food, introduced us to some of their delightful friends and even provided us with a concert by a singer-songwriter friend.  I'm telling you, this has been a wonderful trip!