Two…two…two rides in one!

We started the day soaking wet as usual. I tried packing my sleeping bag in a different duffel from the tent, in hopes of keeping it dryer. The tent fly is double-bagged in zippered plastic bags.

We started riding on the same path we ended on yesterday. After a few miles it became fairly impressive. The path claims to be in the Rails-to-Trails Hall of Fame, something which I didn’t know existed. It was about as wide as a town road, leaving plenty of room to ride side-by-side or to pass people with dogs and/or strollers. The pavement was good. Intersections were well-marked. The only problem was the frequency of intersections, all with stop signs and limited visibility. Since the limited visibility was due to the forest we were riding through, I can’t complain.

The stop signs actually provided the only variable in the morning. Otherwise we rode at a constant 19 mph for the first 35 miles.  I rode with Ole Steve until lunch.

We left the trail and rode through Midland, home of Dow Chemical and (if memory serves) the childhood hometown of the only DAR I know.

There is a Dow High School and a Dow Museum. Whether they have a display featuring the uses of Napalm, I don’t know. Leaving Midland, things turned ugly.

We rode through miles of industrial wasteland on busy roads, which gave way to miles of not-quite-suburbs and not-quite-farm country. The roads are straight and flat with suburbs that never seemed to coalesce giving way to corn, bean, and beet fields. Even in the rural area there seems to be a grid system of roads every mile. 

There is a lively electoral campaign for Road Commissioner. One candidate’s signs say, “Fix our roads now!” I saw and felt his point. The road is beyond repair. Jackhammers, new road bed, and new pavement appear to be the solution.

There are crack-filled ruts corresponding to the four paths worn by vehicle wheels. The shoulders are crumbling. 

We arrived in the tourist town of Frankenmuth. I stopped for ice cream and walked through town before heading to our campsite at Jellystone Park. “Toy Story 2” is showing in the camp theatre tonight. I don’t know if I can stay up that late. A moot point, as our dinner and meeting ran well into the movie.

Dinner tonight and breakfast tomorrow are in dueling restaurants across the street from each other. Greg says a local family controls much of the town but an internecine feud resulted in part of the family opening a restaurant across the stree from the already-existing family-owned restaurant. To keep the peace we eat in both.

3000 miles!

Today we crossed the 3000 mile mark. Since leaving Seattle on Father’s Day, I have now logged over 3000 miles (including incidental miles running around various towns).

Today we rode 95 miles from Ludington to Farwell. Lunch was in the resort town of Idlewild. This was an African-American resort with a nightclub  that attracted top-level African-American acts when black people were not allowed into whites-only clubs. If you zoom into the photos you should be able to read the history of the area. If too fuzzy, let me know in the comments and I can attach larger files next time. (Or follow the links to read the history. The woman featured in the first article came down to meet us.) We ate lunch across from the Flamingo Club.

Wading in Idlewild Lake, Idlewild Lake.

Much of the afternoon was on a paved bike path. The path started at an old train depot. In the Colorado Rockies jersey (middle) is Ed, whose father-in-law used to run a grocery store where Burnie’s Rock Shop is now.

In the middle of nowhere I came upon a Little Free Library, complete with chair and table. The library had skylights for lighting. I just needed an espresso while I read. No barista in sight.

To Michigan…and beyond!

Sunday, July 29, Ludington, MI

We’re in a junior high school. We have internet access but much of the internet is blocked. WordPress is blocked, YouTube is blocked, MAYCO is blocked. I’m not sure how or when this will be posted. (Hah! I found a workaround!)

I rode into town for breakfast at the only cafe I could find open (besides the one where dinner tonight and breakfast tomorrow are scheduled).

I ran into Porter, one of our mechanics, and asked him about plans after the ride. He said he might return to the west coast to wrench for another coast-to-coast tour starting a couple of days after this one ends; or he might ride self-supported down the eastern seaboard and back home.

After one week of riding the question was how to sustain this level of activity for eight more weeks. After six weeks, it is how to give it up after only three more weeks.

Will I have to ride the long way to work, going around the lake? Yesterday’s 40 miles felt like a warmup; we were all ready for more. My riding style has changed; in the distance of my normal commute to work, I am now just getting warmed up and ready to get up to speed for the day. Since riding hours correspond with my normal working hours, will I want to go for a long ride after work, or will I be done for the day?

The Door County Century is in September and on a day off; maybe I’ll ride that this year if I can still find a campsite this late. A Century Ride used to be a Big Deal; now it’s just another day at the office.

After breakfast I rode back to camp and walked to the laundromat, where there was a steady stream of cyclists. Back at camp, the dew still isn’t off the grass, so I can’t spread things out to dry yet after packing up wet on Saturday morning.

In the midst of writing this, Robin and Wendy invited me to join them to see a movie. They didn’t mention that it was three miles out of town on a five lane expressway.  I needed the exercise. We saw the new “Mission: Impossible” film and the theatre manager invited us to stash our bikes in the box office. There were six of us all together.

Cycle America lingo

A few weeks ago at dinner Ed referred to me as an EFI. I had no clue what he was talking about, but it seemed complimentary so I smiled and nodded. A few minutes later he called me an ELK. That also seemed complimentary, but my ignorance must have been more obvious this time, so he explained that it meant “Every Last Kilometer” (as in, that’s what I’m going to ride). EFI suddenly became clear.

Terry refers to those who sleep on gym floors in lieu of camping as “floor floppers”.

About ½-⅔ of us (in any given week) are riding coast-to-coast. Beth refers to the others as “weeklings”.

Thanks

Thanks again to Mikko, Rosebud, Tim, Jeremy, and Sarah, who all came out to see me during the Wisconsin week. I understand special thanks are due to Noreen, for a heroic but failed effort to find Cytomax for Sarah to bring to me. Thanks again to Tyler for taking on my duties, and to everyone else for picking up the slack (and for caring enough about what I’m up to to read this). Deb, if you lack for ideas for the Friday song, I’ve left enough links to keep you in music for more than nine weeks. I hope the new residents are learning the ropes.

Next week

The first half of the week we’ll be crossing Michigan. On Thursday we cross the border into Ontario and continue across it to Niagara Falls. We’ll have our next day off there before crossing back into the US on Monday, August 6.

Also next week: If you’re in Madison, WI, go hear MAYCO (the Madison Area Youth Chamber Orchestra) on Saturday night at First United Methodist Church, 203 Wisconsin Avenue, at 7:30 PM. Tickets are $10, students by donation.

If you can’t make it Saturday, you can go to the Chazen Museum Sunday. Concert starts at 12:30. Be there by noon to get a seat. It is live-streamed, so they don’t like to seat people late.

If you’re anywhere else you can go to https://www.chazen.wisc.edu/index.php?/events-calendar-demo/event/sunday-afternoon-live-at-the-chazen-8-5-18/ to find the live-stream link.

Frazz

We haven’t figured out how to reach Frazz or his alter ego Jef Mallett, so we’ll try here. A short ride to Manitowoc, a long ferry ride ride to Ludington, and we’re in Michigan; Frazz country. Frazz, or Jef, if you’re reading this, please join us when we pass through your neck of the woods in a few days.

Frazz is one of my heroes, for a number of reasons. He’s the school janitor at Bryson Elementary with intelligence way beyond his education or what folks expect from someone in his position. I used to be the maintenance guy at a housing project. We have both cleared our share of clogged toilets. Going to college at the age of 40 didn’t make me suddenly smarter.

Frazz is a triathlete. I’m a half-fast bicyclist and was, in my youth, a competitive swimmer and diver. On the other hand, I only ran to catch buses or soccer balls, not just for the fun of it.

Frazz is a successful songwriter (OK, end of parallels) who works as a school janitor because he wants to. I continue to work in a hospital at age 65 because I love the work. (Unlike Frazz, I also need the money.)

One of the main characters in the strip is Caulfield, a brilliant and underachieving child. One of my other roles in life has been as an advocate for advanced learners. Research has identified common traits of gifted students (current nomenclature is “advanced learners”, not “talented and gifted” [TAG] students). Further research has found that the terms used to describe those traits in white students and the same traits in students of color (particularly African American) are different. Donna Y. Ford is a prominent researcher in this field.

A white student may be identified as “inquisitive”, and a black student as “defiant”, for asking tough questions in class. A common trait of gifted learners has been identified as a “keen sense of social justice”. A white student may be identified as “sensitive”, a black student as a “troublemaker” for possessing and acting on that sense. Learning and teaching are culturally-based and black students frequently do not meet white norms.  African American students are 54% less likely to be identified for advanced services than their white counterparts, after adjusting for other differences.

Caulfield is frequently disruptive in class and spends a lot of time in detention with Frazz. Caulfield is African American. His teacher is European American.

Frazz is one of the few comic strips which has made me look things up. Caulfield introduced me to the term “benighted” (antonym of “enlightened”).

Another comic strip (Pearls Before Swine) contains a recurring character who embodies all of the stereotypically worst traits of stereotypically arrogant bicyclists. He is identified as “Jef the Cyclist”. Due to the spelling of Jef, I suspect the character is a dig at Jef Mallett. So Jef, come and join us so I can ask you about that in person. (OK, I looked it up and my suspicion was confirmed. That doesn’t mean we wouldn’t still like you to join us on the way across Michigan.)

Frazz can’t set his own hours, but maybe you can. Ride with us for a day. Here’s our Michigan itinerary:

We have arrived in Ludington after a short bike and long ferry ride. Pizza and Sangiovese for dinner. Thank god for Google Maps, as the written directions and street markings did not agree. I found our destination with darkness falling.

Tent fly is soaked inside and out. Everything else is still damp.

We had a phenomenal lunch spread in Manitowoc at the home of a former Cycle America staffer. The ride was short and sweet, up the Lake Michigan shoreline. 

We all got antsy on the ferry, wanting to ride more. We are within spitting distance of 3000 miles.

Boarding the ferry, our escort into Ludington, Michigan shoreline:

Sheboygan County takes their corn security seriously:More to come tomorrow on our day off. It’s past my bedtime. Another state and another time zone behind us.