Gig Harbor Washington to Bar Harbor Maine 2001

Heard Gridley's alarm go off at 6:00. Ignored it and got up about 7:00 and on the road about 8:00. Traffic was thick and the road was rubble. When there was a shoulder, it was cracked and covered with gravel. Most of the time there wasn't a shoulder and the road was also cracked and full of holes. We made all sorts of decisions about what kind of people and government Michigan had. Wisconsin's main industry was obviously dairy. Judging by the traffic, Michigan's primary industry is trash. There were far more garbage trucks than any other commercial vehicle today. We turned onto another highway, well paved with good shoulders. A few more roads were also in good shape. Highway 20 was a crime, but maybe it was an isolated crime.

Michigan?

Besides the roads, Michigan has not been particularly impressive. It reminds me a lot of Oklahoma in August. Dry flat farmland and hilly deciduous forests. I like Oklahoma, but I wouldn't choose to ride it in August.

We stopped for lunch in Stanton at a downtown diner. There was a sheet of paper on each table with the three things you could have for lunch. I picked the cold plate with a few slices of lunchmeat ham, one of american cheese, a slice of white bread (maybe homemade), a few slices of cucumber and tomato, half a hardboiled egg, a pile of cottage cheese and a pile of potato salad, plus a cup of very good hamburger veggie soup and a lot of iced tea. Odd, but perfect. Gridley had the grilled cheese and soup. I forget what the third choice was. The diner was connected to a bakery that must have great breakfast pastries because the cases were empty except for some cookies. I got some molasses cookies that fueled me the last half of the day.

It got hot in the afternoon, but a cloud would pass by whenever it got unbearable. We rode by a car belching clouds of toxic smoke across the road and dripping fire from the engine. A couple of guys were carrying buckets of water and throwing them under the car. Looked pretty useless. I worried that I might burst into flame, too. A bucket of water would be nice.

We rested in a couple of nice parks and a couple of shady lawns. Whatever magic has made our 100 mile days easy didn't happen today. It was hard work. We made our goal of Chesaning at about 6:00 and looked for camping. We were told that people camped in Showboat Park during Showboat Week, but not now. On our way to check out the park we saw a banner welcoming Willie Nelson and the Smother's Brothers last week. In Chesaning, MI. A very large sign at the park declared the park closed at dark except during special events. We considered ourselves to be special events, but the bathrooms were locked and we rode on to a motel. We would be not be going to bed without a shower tonight. The girl at the desk let us use the motel's washer and dryer for our nasty clothes and a local pizza joint brought us a lot of food. The high school pool had open swim but it would have required us to get back on our bikes. Not tonight.

The shower felt so good I found myself moaning orgasmically. Mike did the same thing later. It made me realize how little our wives have to worry about. Sex is so far down the list of needs and desires, after food, sleep, chain lube and showers, that it rarely comes to mind. And what a lot of effort. Give me some iced tea and a cookie and consider me satisfied.

Got a message from Garcia. They'd run into people with detailed maps and found an alternate route headed for Ithaca. Not sure where that is, but I'm impressed that they're finding their own way.