Floating

Day 121, July 31, 2011, Floating

Route from Floating on the Apple River from River’s Edge to Dairy Queen

4 miles, averaging 1.3 mph

Worst Moment – This humidity makes things seem really hot.  The a/c in Ruby can’t keep up because of the power capabilities of the RV park.

Best Moment – The rapids!

Today was a rest day and it was wonderful to be able to sleep in and not have to go anywhere.  It was amazing to see how fast the once filled campground emptied out.  By the time I walked Duncan around 6, people were already pulling up stakes and moving out.  The kids across from us left before that.  Late in the day we had the place nearly to ourselves.

Neita fixed a great breakfast with biscuits and bacon and eggs and we headed for the river around noon.  What a kick.  We got tubes to float on the Apple River as part of the camping fee.  An extra tube to hold the cooler was an additional charge.   With the tube, one can take the three-hour ride on the river as often as they would like during the day. There’s a shuttle that picks you up at the Dairy Queen and takes you back to the River’s Edge. (The river opens at 9 and closes at 5 – the last shuttle is at 8 pm.)

Since it was Sunday, the river was pretty quiet.  This was a huge contrast to what we saw when we scouted things out yesterday.  None of the crazies today – just a relaxing ride on the cool river.  At the very end of the ride, there was a short section of rapids – almost white water.  It was tempting to portage the tubes out and run the rapids again – just the rapids.  

Tomorrow I go into Minnesota and the start of the fourth month of the Big Ride!  We get to see Chris & Casey toward the end of August.  We can hardly wait.

If you would like to donate to my ride, my link for the Lance Armstrong Foundation is http://grassroots2011.livestrong.org/billsbigride197.  I really appreciate your support.

Apple River

Day 120, July 30, 2011, Apple River

Route from Amery to River’s Edge Resort, New Richmond, WI

29.7 miles, averaging 12 mph

Worst Moment – The front air conditioner isn’t working right- again.  I think and hope that it is an issue with the power that it’s getting.  I don’t think that there’s enough juice.   

Best Moment – We were sitting outside enjoying the cool breeze as a group of college-aged kids camped across the road from us were walking up toward the activity center.  They were carrying a cooler.  Neita asked what was inside.  They replied, “Beer, would you like some?”  Neita, thinking of our tubing on the river tomorrow, said we’d like 4.  They gave them to us and didn’t want to take anything in return.  Later after they returned from the pool they stopped and talked some more.  We found that they were from Partyville, WI.  (Actually it is Pardeeville and is close to Madison.)

The original plan was to get closer to Minneapolis, (which is off the route) for the rest day coming up tomorrow and possibly take Rocket into the city.  However the campground there couldn’t accommodate us, and going into the city wasn’t really that important, so we looked for some other place sort of on the route.  We found the River’s Edge in New Richmond or Somerset WI, on the Apple River and it sounded like a fun place.

Since we weren’t going into the Twin Cities, the ride today was thankfully very short – a good thing.  The first ten miles or so was on Stower Seven Lakes Trail, a re-purposed railroad bed.  It is now a wonderful trail for cycling and hiking.  There is supposed to be a $4 fee for a day permit.  The website indicated that there are pay stations at the trailhead, or you can purchase permits at various merchants in town.  Well there were no pay stations, and I had no idea where to find the merchants selling the trail passes, so I’m a scofflaw.

 A Good Thing

After leaving the trail, I was again on wonderful Wisconsin County roads.  This state has probably the best rural roads that I’ve been on for the whole trip.  I think that Neita agrees.

I got to the River’s Edge before Neita and got us signed in.  This is quite an operation!  There is a waterslide open in the afternoon, miniature golf, a swimming pool, supper club, but the big attraction is the tubing on the Apple River.  The fairly high camping fee covers all of the activities.    

After we got set up, we walked around the grounds.  It is a bit of a walk from the campground to the river and water slides.  The supper club was there and we stopped for a beer.  The place was built in the 40’s still had much of the same kind of décor.  We were the only customers, but it was early.  They were getting ready for the weekend crowd.  The owner was there and told us a few stories about River’s Edge.  He tried to talk us into staying for dinner, but it was really too early to eat.

The campground is party central.  The rolling hills of the campground are covered with groups of college-aged kids camping in tents.  There are a few, but very few RV’s.  The alcohol consumption must at this campground probably is as much as a month’s worth of drinking at all of the other campgrounds we’ve been at combined.  It is quite a sight to see all of the kids having a good time.  And I guess this is a good place to do that – they won’t be drinking and driving. 

Later we went to the Rec Hall to watch the karaoke.  I think that we were probably the oldest folks at the place by at least 20 years.  A great crowd of kids having fun, almost made me wish I were 25 again.  We got back to Ruby as a huge thunder/rain storm hit.  Really cooled things off.  Tubing tomorrow!

  

If you would like to donate to my ride, my link for the Lance Armstrong Foundation is http://grassroots2011.livestrong.org/billsbigride197.  I really appreciate your support.

America's Dairyland

Day 119, July 29, 2011, America’s Dairyland

Route from Hayward to Port Valhalla Campground, Amery, WI

94.9 miles, averaging 13.3 mph

Worst Moment – I don’t know whether these hills are getting to me, or what; but now both knees are screaming instead of just my left one.  The hills certainly aren’t as steep as the ones in New England or the Texas Hill Country, but there are a lot of them.  Advil & ice.

Best Moment – Neita bought Elephant Tracks!  Last night at the KOA Kampground, there was an ice cream social.  I got a dish of a local chocolate ice cream that had all kinds of stuff in it – elephant tracks.  When I got back to the RV, Neita wanted a bite then she wanted her own dish.  I went back.  Well when I got to the RV this afternoon, she told me that she found Elephant Tracks!  Mmmm, Mmmm, Good.

The scenery today went from lake country to farm country.  After all, Wisconsin is America’s Dairyland.  This hasn’t always been the case.  In the 1840’s wheat and hops were king.  However, there were several things – pests, soil exhaustion, and a price collapse that led to the decline of the area as a prime grain producer. 

It wasn’t until the late 1890’s that a majority of Wisconsin farmers had dairy cattle.  (In the 1870 census, only 25 farmers listed themselves as dairy farmers.)  Things that helped lead Wisconsin to become the Dairy State, were the invention of the silo for winter grain storage, lower transportation rates, and the establishment of cheese production facilities.  (If you have all of that milk, something has to happen before it turns sour – so you make cheese, but it is difficult for cheese making to be done on a family farm.)  Today, Wisconsin produces 16% of the nation’s dairy products. But dairy production is not the state’s leading source of revenue - other industry including beer production is.  (Information from Adventure Cycling Association North Lakes Touring Map.)

This area of the state, the sense of smell and sound are especially keen.  There is nothing quite like the smell of the cattle lots and there were a lot of them today.  I could even hear the cattle lowing.  

Thought that you might be interested in seeing Neita’s new method of pest control inside Ruby.  We have three of these things hanging in strategic places to catch any adventurous flying insect that dares to enter the RV - like mosquitos or fruit flies.  So far I think that it may have scared them all away since there aren’t any bugs on the fly paper, but I’ve not seen any flying around either. 

If you would like to donate to my ride, my link for the Lance Armstrong Foundation is http://grassroots2011.livestrong.org/billsbigride197.  I really appreciate your support.

Lumberjack Championships

Day 118, July 28, 2011, Lumberjack Championships

Route from Mercer to KOA Kampground, Hayward, WI

94.4 miles, averaging 14.1 mph

Worst Moment – Neita has wanted Chinese food for the past several days and since we were close to town, we thought that we could pick some up and bring it back to Ruby.  What a disappointment - the Mongolian Beef and Cashew Chicken tasted the same and were mostly celery.  I guess we’ve been spoiled by the Chinese food that we would get at Pei Wei’s, Flo’s, Jade Garden or The Bamboo Club at home.  

Best Moment – riding through rural northern Wisconsin’s amazingly beautiful lake country this morning.  There were lakes on the left and lakes on the right and hills ahead.  And there were lots of deer grazing on the shoulder of the road.  I could get fairly close before they would raise their head in attention, prick up their ears and take across the field or into the woods with bounding leaps.  Amazing!

This is wild life country – lots of fishing; and apparently there are a lot of elk; and from the signs and statues, lots of bear as well.  This is really a beautiful part of the country. 

In addition to a lot of beautiful farmland, beautiful woodlands, and dairy farms, there was this pretty cool Christmas tree farm

I got to the campground and found out that it is Lumberjack Champions weekend coming up.  This entails, all of the traditional lumberjack feats like log rolling, chopping and sawing for both men and women - the town was hoping in anticipation. 

We went into Hayward, a really cute small town.  They have one incredible bakery!  We got cookies and pecan rolls! They also have a winery - Hook Stone Winery.  The wine was only okay, but at least it was made with California grapes (except the apple wine – that was way sweet.)

If you would like to donate to my ride, my link for the Lance Armstrong Foundation is http://grassroots2011.livestrong.org/billsbigride197.  I really appreciate your support.

Probability of Rain 100%

Day 117, July 27, 2011, Probability of Rain 100%

Route from Iron River, MI to Loon Lagoon RV Resort, Mercer, WI

87.5 miles, averaging 14.4 mph

Worst Moment – Having the rain showers start in earnest around the time that I normally try to get on the road was a little disconcerting.  I kept checking the weather forecast looking for a time that might provide a window of dryness and there didn’t appear to be any, so I decided that I would wait until 9 to give it a bit of a chance to clear up and then leave.

Best Moment – The most laugh-out-loud moment of the trip came early in the day.  Just outside of Iron River, one of the farms had the huge round hay bale with a pair of legs sticking out of one side and a sign that said, “Oops.” Couldn’t help but smile at that farmer’s sense of humor.  As I rode by in the rain, I really debated stopping to get a photo of that amusing sight.  In retrospect I wish I had stopped.

Another amusing sign was a bit later on this roadside restaurant.  It read “Y Not Here, Ron’s Not Here.” I think that was the name of the place.  It’s Wisconsin.

The weather forecast when I checked this morning called for certain rain.  They were right.  It started raining about 7 am in Iron River.  I left Ruby around 9 since it looked like the showers would let up about that time.  After riding in the rain for about ¾ of an hour the rain did stop.  Then I had another hour of riding in the rain around Star Lake, Wisconsin.  Even with the rain gear, I got wet.  The temperatures hovered in the upper 60’s all day, so it was a cool day. 

I traveled from the county roads with numbers in Michigan to the county roads in Wisconsin with letters.  After entering Wisconsin, I rode on CR/A, K, W, and J.  All roads were well maintained and without traffic.  This route was through Northern Wisconsin Lake Country.  It was forested and only a little hilly and there are lakes nearly all over the place.

After all of the angst about riding in the rain, and hills and wind, I have to say that the stem of my bike has it right.  I look at this every day and it reads “Never a bad time to ride.”  So far none of the days has turned out as badly as I expected and I really can’t think of a day that I wish I hadn’t ridden.  Some of the best days are the ones that I’ve worried the most about.

When I got to the campground, I replaced the rear tire.  It was really worn out.  This makes the 5^th new back tire, compared to two new front tires. 

The little mustard colored spots means the tire has worn through. 

If you would like to donate to my ride, my link for the Lance Armstrong Foundation is http://grassroots2011.livestrong.org/billsbigride197.  I really appreciate your support.

105 or 205 (Wisconsin or Michigan?)

Day 116, July 26, 2011, 105 or 205 (Wisconsin or Michigan?)

Route from Gladstone to Iron River RV Park, Iron River MI

105.5 miles, averaging 13 mph

Worst Moment – When I was verifying the route late last night I realized that we had reservations at Top O’ the Morning Campground in Iron River, Wisconsin and we were going to Iron River, Michigan.  The Iron River in WI was about 205 miles from where we were staying last night.  I knew it would be a long day headed west, but 105 miles to Iron River, Michigan is enough. 

When Neita called the Wisconsin campground to cancel, the woman tried to make her feel guilty.  “I turned down several reservations, because I was saving a site for you,” the woman told her.  I don’t know why things would be so different in Iron River, WI, but I only remember one campground that has been full on the whole trip.  (That campground was the KOA in the Finger Lakes area of NY and they were having an LDS family weekend.)

Best Moment – The biggest sense of relief came when Neita called to let me know that we had reservations at a place in Iron River, Michigan.  We are at the county park and it is really quite lovely – even has cable TV and WIFI.

Today, after Escanaba, I left the Great Lakes.  The high school has the Eskimo as their mascot – it really must be cold here.

The route was gradually uphill with the elevation being about 1500 feet here compared to about 500 feet on Lake Michigan.  That is it was gradual uphill until I got to Crystal Falls when the grades went from 3 – 4% grades to 8 – 10% grades and up and down instead of basically uphill.

Temperatures are wonderfully cool, but the headwind still plagued me most of the day.  The wind, the climbing, and the length of the ride really zapped my energy level.  We crossed into the Central time zone.  Now it will get dark earlier though I doubt that any amount of light will keep me awake tonight. 

Here are a couple of photos from the day.  

 Roadside flowers

Makes figuring out east or west easy

If you would like to donate to my ride, my link for the Lance Armstrong Foundation is http://grassroots2011.livestrong.org/billsbigride197.  I really appreciate your support.

Emerald Ash Borer

Day 115, July 25, 2011, Emerald Ash Borer

Route from Thompson to Gladstone Bay Campground, Gladstone, MI

41.6 miles, averaging 13.3 mph

Worst Moment – The wonderful tailwind of yesterday turned into an ugly headwind today.  My fast pace of yesterday was significantly reduced and I struggled to keep it above 13 mph on the basically flat road around Lake Michigan.

Best Moment – I think I’ve found the yard artwork we need for our California backyard.  In the small town Rapid River, MI, I saw these wonderful yard sculptures.  Not sure that Neita will agree.  I’m not sure whether the name of the store was Mosquito’s or they were being cute. 

The store was closed and looked like it was for sale.  There is a lot of business opportunity here – lots of motor lodges, restaurants and other businesses are vacant and for sale.

For most of the trip through the east, there have been occasional, purple, triangle shaped, boxes hanging in the trees.  Today there were a lot of them – all along route 2.  (I know that in the photo, the box looks blue in this photo, but it is really purple.)  Anyway, I finally remembered to find out what they were.  According to a University of Maryland’s website, they are traps for the Emerald Ash Borer.  They hope not only to capture the pest but also track its migration to see if it is infesting other areas.

This is a very noxious pest and has been decimating forests throughout the east coast.  Originally from Russia and the Far East, the pest was originally found in Michigan and bores through the bark, killing the ash tree within 5 years. 

It is believed to spread partly by transporting firewood between states.  Most of the states have laws against importing firewood.  New York you might be required to show a receipt indicating where the firewood originated.  Another state required that campfire wood be kiln dried and the camper would have to produce proof that the wood came from a state approved vendor.  Sort of interesting since I see at least 2 or 3 roadside signs advertising, “camp wood for sale” every day. I wonder if this  wood is approved.  

We are again camped on Lake Michigan,  this time on Little Bay de Noc.  Earlier today I rode past Ogantz Bay, Indian Lake and Big Bay de Noc.   Lots of water views in this part of Michigan.

If you would like to donate to my ride, my link for the Lance Armstrong Foundation is http://grassroots2011.livestrong.org/billsbigride197.  I really appreciate your support.

Mackinac Bridge

Day 114, July 24, 2011, Mackinac Bridge

Route from Mackinaw City to Driftwood Shores Campground, Thompson, MI

96 miles, averaging 17.2 mph

Worst Moment – Today was such an awesome ride, I was a little disappointed that it ended.

Best Moment – The tailwind pushed me south at the fastest clip of the entire journey.  It was awesome!

Leaving Ruby before 7 this morning, I rode the few miles into town and the phone booth where the Bridge Authority will pick up bicyclists to transport them across the Mackinac Bridge.  I called the number given and was told that they would dispatch a driver to get me.  About 20 minutes later, a pick-up truck with the Mackinac Bridge Authority did a U-turn from the east/south bound lane of Interstate 75 to the phone booth.  I was on my way across the bridge.

I did get the driver, a reticent man, to talk a little about life in the UP (Upper Peninsula).   He had been working for the Bridge Authority for 13 years – a good job for the area, lived in St Ignace (because of gas prices) and said that there had only been two cars that went off the bridge.  One of the cars was a Yugo that really blew off the bridge and the other time, the driver actually drove off the bridge to commit suicide.  (Pretty effective.)  While only two cars have blown off the bridge, there have been some boats blown off their trailers (what a way to launch the skiff) and semis blown over on their sides. He told me that it is pretty quiet and very cold in the winter.

After crossing the bridge, I was on Route 2 the entire way south.  Most of the time the road followed the lakeshore, but occasionally went inland.  I had the amazing tailwind until the last few miles when the winds were sort of variable and sort of seemed to come straight at me. 

Neita passed me just outside of Gulliver and was amazed at my progress.  She went to a market and passed me again just outside of Manistique.  I was surprised to see her then.  I arrived at Driftwood Shores just after Neita did.  The campground is on Lake Michigan.  There doesn’t seem to be much of a beach, but beautiful views of the lake and bay. 

The forecast thunderstorms didn’t materialize today.  There was a very brief, light shower just as I was entering Manistique.  The temperatures are wonderfully cool.  We can actually have the windows open. 

If you would like to donate to my ride, my link for the Lance Armstrong Foundation is http://grassroots2011.livestrong.org/billsbigride197.  I really appreciate your support.

Bike Paradise

Day 113, July 23, 2011, Bike Paradise

Route from campground to Mackinaw Island via Rocket and Ferry

0 miles, averaging mph

Worst Moment – Today was so nearly perfect the only thing that caused any anxiety at all was the thought that tomorrow I have to ride nearly 110 miles and there’s a 50% chance of thundershowers. (But there’s only a 50% chance and it isn’t all day.)

Best Moment – I’d called the Mackinaw Bridge Authority to find out more about crossing the bridge for tomorrow.  All I have to do is to call them when I get to Audie’s Restaurant, and they will pick me, and my bicycle up and take me across the bridge for $2. 

Since I wasn’t sure where Audie’s was, I suggested that we go there for dinner and checked them out – online.  The menu looked okay and they had lasagna. We went there and had one of the most enjoyable dinners out of the trip.  The food, the ambiance, the server, the wine, the dessert, everything was great.  And their strawberry rhubarb pie was as good as mom’s used to be. 

Audie’s has three different restaurants all in one place.  There is a banquet room, (where a wedding reception was taking place); a family dining room, (where much of the same food was served but with paper rather than linen napkins); and the Chippewa Room (where we were – a little higher end and perfect pacing with linen napkins and table clothes.)

Today we took the ferry to Mackinaw Island.  It takes about 30 minutes to cross Lake Huron to the island.  There is no motorized traffic on the island.  Everything has to go by bicycle, foot, or either horse or horse drawn.  THIS IS A BICYLIST’S PARADISE!!!

Walking up and down Main Street made me feel like I was in a different country, or a different century for sure.  There were no cars.  The taxies were horse drawn, the garbage trucks were horse drawn and the tour busses were horse drawn carriages.  And there were bikes everywhere of every kind.  Even the hotel bellhops had to use bikes or carts (either push or horse drawn) to claim guests’ luggage from the ferry dock to take to the hotel.

Of course there were fudge shops at every other store.  We found out later that tourists here are called “Fudgies,” since they come for a visit and buy fudge.  We bought some too – a slice of coconut fudge that tastes like a Mounds Bar and a half slice Snickers fudge that Neita got.  We’re Fudgies!

We took a horse-drawn carriage tour of the island.  We went past the Grand Hotel, where in the evening men are still required to wear a coat and tie and there is dancing on the balcony.  It looked like an amazingly elegant place to stay at.  During the day, there is a $10 charge to go into the hotel unless you are a guest (and probably pay a whole lot more.)  We also got to see Main Street and some of the historic buildings of the town.  There is actually a school on the island and some brave folks live there year round.  The graduating class this year was 6. 

The first half of the tour ended at a carriage museum and butterfly exhibit.  We didn’t get the tickets for the butterfly exhibit, but walked through the carriage museum. While they do now have modern fire engines on the island, they still use a horse drawn hearse.

We also went past Fort Mackinaw, Arch Rock and through much of the state park.  There was lots of bicycle traffic and lots of folks struggling on some of the hills.  (There were some folks struggling with bicycles on Main Street, which is flat.)  Through the arch, you can see the road 400 feet below along the coast with bicycles. That looked like an amazing ride, but will have to wait for a return trip.

  

If you would like to donate to my ride, my link for the Lance Armstrong Foundation is http://grassroots2011.livestrong.org/billsbigride197.  I really appreciate your support.

Two Great Lakes

Day 112, July 22, 2011, Two Great Lakes!

Route from Bay Harbor to Tee Pee Campground Mackinaw City, MI

58 miles, averaging 13.5 mph

Worst Moment – It’s the mosquito coast here. No matter how much Bull Frog I’ve got on they keep swarming.  

Best Moment – There was a bicycle path all of the way from the RV park to north of Petoskey with great views of Lake Michigan and absolutely no cars to worry about.  A cyclist’s dream!  And it was cool – the mid 70’s.

As of the completion of today’s ride, I’ve cycled 8,000 miles.  (Actually it is 7999.2 – so that’s close enough to boast that I’ve cycled 8000 especially considering that I don’t always start the bike computer when I start riding so I’ve lost a few miles here and there.)  Today’s ride was mostly along the water, with only a little climbing.  It was relatively short and I got to the RV by about 1 pm.

Harbor Springs is a wonderful waterfront town.  The bicycle path along Beach Drive gave me the chance to see some fantastic beautiful mansions that have been converted to bed & breakfasts.  Next time we’ll have to do the B&B tour and make this one of our stops.

One of the really interesting places that I saw today was Legs Inn.  It is a Michigan Historical Site.  Located in Cross Village, the inn was built by a Polish immigrant in the 1920’s and gets its name from the inverted cast iron stove legs that are used on the roofline.  It is still owned by the same family (third generation) and is supposed to be a fairly good place to eat.  (Though, there wasn’t anyone around when I cycled past.)

Mackinaw City is a perfect summer place with all kinds of things to do and more motels per block than just about any place I’ve seen.  (An amazing thing is that when Neita and I returned from dinner, many of them were filled.) The town lists fudge as one of its industries along with tourism.  We counted more than 15 fudge stores and am certain that we missed a few.  (This was on the, not more than 8 block areas of main street – more fudge shops than Seattle has Starbucks.)

The campground is located on Lake Huron and looks at the Mackinaw Bridge.  I’ve now seen 4 out of 5 Great Lakes.  Guess Lake Superior will have to wait for another time.

If you would like to donate to my ride, my link for the Lance Armstrong Foundation is http://grassroots2011.livestrong.org/billsbigride197.  I really appreciate your support.

No Manager on Duty

Day 111, July 21, 2011, No Manager on Duty

Route from Traverse City to Motorcoach Resort at Bay Harbor, Petoskey, MI

84.7 miles, averaging 13.9 mph

Worst Moment –When I started writing this blog this afternoon, my most annoying moment was going to be the flat front tire I suffered late in the day.  That was until we tried to go out to dinner at Odawa Casino’s Sage Restaurant.  (All things considered, it’s been over a month since I’ve had a flat and that was in Maryland.)

The casino advertises on the resort’s property map that they have a shuttle that will pick you up.  Neita called to make certain that this was the case and to find out how far in advance we needed to engage the shuttle.  Neita made reservations for dinner at 6:30 and called the shuttle at 6.  We were waiting for the shuttle outside the main entrance to the resort and no one came.  At 6:30, Neita called the restaurant to let them know we’d be late.  The guy who answered said that he would call transportation for us and get someone out there within 15 minutes. 

Still no one showed.  At 6:45 we were told that the ETA was about 15 -20 minutes.  That the shuttle driver had been to get us, but no one was waiting.  Neita made sure they knew where we were.  Anyway at 7:15 no one had shown, so I called and again verified that they knew where we were and find out when they would be here.  I was told that someone would be to get us within 10 minutes.  At 7:30 – still no shuttle, so I called to cancel.  When I finally got through, (they have an atrocious phone system with no way of queuing the calls.) I told the receptionist that this wasn’t working and we decided not to go to the casino or dinner. 

I thought that the manager should know what was going on.  After all, they are paying for an advertisement at a high-end RV Resort claiming they have a shuttle service.  There was no manager on duty!  The receptionist transferred me to the transportation manager because she wanted to make certain I didn’t get voicemail.  I got voicemail.  As Casey would say, “that certainly wasn’t 5 diamond service.”

Best Moment – The 20-mile ride along Torch Lake was spectacular.  It was wooded and somehow didn’t seem as hot as it really was around 90 with high humidity.  There were gorgeous homes with amazing views of the lake.  Other than a few approaching cyclists, I had the road to myself.  Wonderful.

The route is progressing northward to Mackinaw City.  Today there were lots of hills, and lots of steep hills.  When I saw a sign saying “Steep Hill,” I thought I might have a great descent, but no such luck – it was a mile of 10 – 13% uphill grades.  Why?

I ate my lunch at the beach in Boyne City, MI.  This is the town where I think I nearly went to middle school and high school.  If I remember correctly, it seems that dad was offered a job here, or maybe just an interview, but mom didn’t want to move out of Wyoming.  It looks like it would have been fun.  There’s a beach.

Some pictures from the ride today.

And this is Michigan?

One of the route markers today

The front wheel is a lawn mower - a riding cycle mower?

View of the countryside

When I was headed for the shower this afternoon, a guy from the swimming pool was pretty animated about seeing my Arizona flag jersey.  It turns out he was born and raised in Tucson.  He and his wife have spent three years touring the US in their RV.  Now they are spending another three years going back to their favorite locations and spending more time in each.  They’ve been here since May.  This area really has lots to explore. Lots of small towns and lots of water to check out.  

If you would like to donate to my ride, my link for the Lance Armstrong Foundation is http://grassroots2011.livestrong.org/billsbigride197.  I really appreciate your support.