Thursday, July 1, 2010

Day 24

Stats
Net Elevation gain: 0 ft.
Average Speed: 11.1 mph
Top Speed: 29.4 mph
Time spent biking: 3 hours 55 minutes
Total time for the day's travels: 10 hours 30 minutes
Miles biked today: 43.8
Total for trip: 1040.4 miles

What a beautiful day to wake up to! It was sunny but the temperatures were cool, a rare combination on this trip. After packing up, we backtracked the little way back to Old 27. We stopped briefly at a Subway shop to buy more sandwiches, because they worked out so well the day before. Three miles into our ride today, we broke 1000 miles!! It was very exciting.

Here we are, just after pedaling our 1000th mile of the trip!

While we were on the bike we were cruising. We took lots of breaks, though, which both kept us in good spirits and able to bike quickly. When we got to Roscommon, we stopped to ask about maps at the township hall. They only had a free map of Roscommon County, which we were only a few miles away from exiting. The ladies were very nice, though, and gave excellent directions. Plus, while we were outside on the grass eating our sandwiches, one of them brought out copies of maps for the next section of our trip!

Brett writes for the blog (or just checks his email).

It did get pretty hot later in the day. We kept stopping at places, looking for shade and Internet and good places to sit and write the blog. When it's so hot in the middle of the day, it's much better to stop for a few hours and take a break, if we can find a place. In some shade outside a grocery store, Jenny talked to her sister on the phone, and lots of people talked to us about our trip. One man took our picture and said he would write an article about us in the paper he works for. An older woman swore when she heard we were biking all the way to California. “HOLY S**T!” were her exact words. It was unexpected, but cute.

After all that, we had a pretty long stretch in the woods on smaller roads. Almost all the traffic we saw had some sort of outdoor gear: an RV or trailer, fishing poles in the backseat, jet skis, boats, you name it! Soon we found ourselves back on a bigger road, flying down a long hill into the town of Grayling. We were hoping for the magical combo: Internet, good cheap food, electricity, and good place to sit at the laptop together in the shade.

We found the magical combo at Wimpy's, a fabulous diner just outside town. The staff were all really friendly, too! They even took our picture for us. We stayed there for quite a while, eating our ice creams and then later a hot dog. By the time we left, it was cooler and getting on into the evening.

Thanks to the great staff at Wimpy's for this picture of us!

After our break and our ice cream, we took the bike path out of town all the way to Hartwick Pines State Park. It was mostly flat most of the way and then at the end down hill to the entrance. We were going very fast the whole way there without a huge amount of effort. We entered the park, checked in, and then proceeded to go downhill in the dusk/dark to our campsite. All the way down, and for some while afterward, we were dreading the climb back up in the morning.

Brett steers us into the park at high speed!

The park was nice enough, but the temperature had dropped sharply, and we were shivering as we got into bed for the night. We had trouble getting to sleep because of the cold and tossed and turned for a while trying to get warm. Because we were awake we heard a hoot owl in the night. At first the sounds were far away and then right overhead! Maybe the campsite we chose is this hoot owl's favorite night time roosting spot?

12 comments:

  1. Oh, what we would give to shiver today! Cara and I did get a little chilly floating around in the river earlier, but it didn't last long.
    Thank you Wimpy's for being the magical combo plus!
    Love and warm hugs,
    Mom

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  2. Congrats on the 1000th mile. A true milestone. Enjoy the cool. We are sweltering in Florida with one of the hottest summers in memory. I envy your schedule: eat, sleep, ride, meet new friends and see interesting places. How does it get any better? Glad you had a great day. Mine was OK too, but not nearly as interesting as yours! Keep riding for those of us who can't so we can enjoy the posts. Ride on......

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  3. YEAH!!! 1000 is a good number! Congratulations and thank you for keeping us posted. I love reading your blog.

    love, Karen

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  4. congratulations on reaching (and by now, bypassing) the 1,000 mile mark! pretty amazing accomplishment. you haven't mentioned taking any swims yet...have you found any rivers, lakes or waterfalls where you can cool off in the middle of the day? i'm glad you're taking midday breaks (something we're equally fond of) and pedaling in the early/late hours instead. love you muchly! mama

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  5. Hey Jenny, how come you haven't hung out with me lately? Are you on some kind of crazy bike trip across the country or something? I don't get it!

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  6. Love it that you have passed the 1000 milestone in such fantastic shape, physically, mentally and spiritually! I agree with Rick, what better way to pass a day - I, on the other hand was undergoing a routine colonoscopy, and is our wont when awaiting anesthesia, trying to think of ANYTHING else, you guys flashed across my mind. The anesthetist said, "Sweet dreams." and I said I'm already there. Got an AOK report, too!

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  7. I love that you have passed a major milestone in such great shape, physically, mentally and spiritually. I agree with Rick, what a wonderful way to spend a day - I was having a routine colonoscopy check, and as we are wont to do while lying there awaiting anesthesia trying to think about ANYTHING else, you guys flashed across my mind. When the anesthesiologist said, "sweet dreams," I said, "I'm already there!" Good report, too!

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  8. I agree... I would like to shiver right now. But not when I'm trying to sleep... that isn't pleasant either.

    You haven't mentioned bugs or black flies where you are... do you have trouble with them at all? Here in the Pioneer Valley, the black flies are absolutely mean and brutal right now. I think they get meaner in the heat. Then the mosquitoes come out after dark, so there is no reprieve. I hope the fact that you haven't mentioned these pests means they aren't bothering you... obviously when you're riding they don't bother you, but when you stop in the middle of the day they would, if they're as bad as here.

    The 1000 mile mark is so exciting! And I love the spirit in which you are doing it.... so inspiring. Thanks for keeping us all posted!

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  9. Congrats on reaching 1000 miles!!

    You are in the country where I spent the summers of my childhood! My grandma had, and now my family has, a cabin on lake michigan. And I have a bunch of other family all throughout MI =) I love it there, and I wish I was there too!

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  10. Congrats on getting your 1000 miles. It says a lot for you two. Have you given thought about going through the Tetons? There are quite a lot of bikers through there, and the vistas are magnificent! If you have probs with critters (bears raccoons, etc) getting into your food, use a rope and hoist the bag of food up a tree limb off the ground enough so they cannot get to the food, but you can retrieve the rope, later.

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  11. Oh, I'm all for perpetual downhill. Only as regards to biking, though... be careful what I wish for!
    Having recently experienced the deer fly attack while riding, I had no trouble eliminating that particular menace in the voting. Still itching after 4 days.
    Love, Mom

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  12. Congratulations on your first thousand miles! And by looking at your map, I see that you are in Wisconsin nowadays. Go Packers! :)

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