Saturday, June 24, 2006

7th Day on the Road: Ionia to Evart, MI (70 miles)

I have now ridden a total of 400.07 Miles!! We left at 8:40 in the morning and got to Evart around 6. Check out this map of my progress thus far. (Also linked on the side)

First, I'd like to say a few more things about my day off yesterday. It was a good day for adjustments. As I mentioned in my last entry, I went to the very nice library here and was checking their internet service for maps of the area. While doing this, the librarian chastised me, saying that "the computer is only to be used to do library searches. Tsk tsk." This rule bound place is to be contrasted with Rob at the Amerihost, who went out of his way to be helpful. At the motel later, I used the hot tub and swam some, which was very good to do. Lynn and Lucy arrived around 8 PM, and we had dinner at the Lamp Lighter. It was a great deal at seven dollars and 95 cents. Our waitress, Missy, told us that Ionia has 5 prisons, including one maximum security prison. Ionia, this weekend, also has its annual Farm Power show full of old time tractors and tractor pulls at their magnificent fairgrounds, known as the World's Only Free Fairgrounds. Chuck and Mary arrived around 10, and we went to a Mexican Restaurant/Sports Bar for a while.

One thing I want to say that I haven't said before is that I have had a lot of trouble sleeping. Every night so far on the trip I have had trouble, and I don't know if it's from anxiety about the trip and planning routes or if it is an effect of prednisone... Not sure. One other point about Prednisone and PMR is that I was due today to reduce dosage from 8 mg daily to 7 mg for the next month; but I am delaying this because of the trip just to be safe.

Now, back to today: Ionia to Evart. Chuck had never ridden more than 25 miles at a time before today, and had not trained vigorously for this effort as I had, but was able to do 70 miles today with lots of hills! So my two riders, Suzanne and Chuck, neither of whom trained a whole lot, have both been superb bike riders and great company.

Mary and Lynn had breakfast this morning, and then Lynn went on to Fenton to pick up our new boat, which she reports is beautiful. She is now pulling it to the island. Mary joined Chuck and I for lunch at the Homestead at Six Lakes. It seemed very much like an Adirondack place, so we liked it a lot. The countryside we traveled through today reminds Chuck of his family roots (where the Dolph family has had history). The weather today contrasted with other days and was really beautiful; sunny and temperatures in the 60's. Route 66 was quite good and in the last 20 miles we deviated to a side route to get to Evart for diversity's sake. Although very pretty, this route was very hilly, chocked with ups and downs, so it was difficult. Of course, no side routes were marked, so we once again had to rely on the kindness of strangers.

We arrived at Evart and found that the Super 8 Motel, the only one in the area, was completely filled with people attending a motorcycle convention! Imagine our surprise. Chuck arranged, somehow, for us to be placed in their meeting room, where overflow sometimes is put. This is a huge space! We call it the Howard Hughes Suite. We have 3 air conditioners, a king sized bed, a cot for muah, plenty of room for our bikes, our own bath, a worktable, and all the chairs we need to actually run a meeting (which we will avoid doing). Mary just returned with snacks and beer.

Now, for two observations. First, I realized that I have not been away on this trip for a whole week yet. However, it feels like I haven't done anything else in my life! This is all consuming and either I am riding my bike, or preparing to ride my bike, or thinking about riding my bike, or dictating blog entries over the phone about my bike. Maybe this is why I can't sleep so well. On the other hand, it's been really a wonderful process so far. Second, I want to point out the value of friends and family who have gone way out of their way to join me on my journey here. And also, those people who have taken time to make comments on the blog. All of this support has been wonderful and I've really appreciated it.

Tomorrow, Chuck will be with me for a large part of the day and then needs to return home with Mary. We'll bike ever closer to the Lake Michigan area, which I understand is not only very beautiful, but very busy and hilly. The original plan was to go to Lake City, but I think I will try to get to Kalkaska or maybe Manselona. From here on out, I'm on my own, so we'll see how that goes.

Until next time, Bob.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Chuck's South American commando training seems to be working out quite nicely. And by now, of course, you have become acquainted with the age-old maxim: no Mapquest on the library computer, unless you invite the librarian to the hot tub FIRST.

Onward...