O, Can.... na... da!

Yes, we are still riding along strong. When we last signed off entirely too long ago we had just taken the Lake Express ferry across Lake Michigan. We landed in Muskegon and from there we rode south along the shore to Holland State Park. Nothing prepared us to what we encountered there. No, this was not a normal state park; rather, it was a sandy beach, yes, even a Miami beach look alike--in Michigan of all places! It was crazy. Even though it was a Sunday evening, the campground was packed--all 330 campsites. But, we had reserved a place that afternoon via telephone and what a mistake that was. They placed us right at the entrance to the park and directly next to a dumpster full of trash. Yes, we payed $35 for this right. Needless to say we were less than pleased but out of options so we made the best of it, which was marginal at best, but that is neither here nor there.

At this point we were right in the middle of a super heat wave so the next day we woke up at 5 am while it was still dark. This was akin to waking up at 4 am as we had the day before in Milwaukee to catch the ferry since with our arrival into Michigan we entered into Eastern Standard Time. Tired though determined we pedaled 101 long miles to East Lansing broken only by a pizza sandwhich for lunch and a much needed two hour long siesta in the afternoon. In East Lansing we were greeted by Sarah, a Montana State friend of Kelly and Liz.

In East Lansing, Sarah, and her mom Leslie and husband Lewis showed us the royal treatment. We were fed lots of good food. We visited Michigan State University where we checked out the map room. We watched movies. We didn't ride out bikes. We ate great Japanese food. It was just great.

From East Lansing we spent the next couple of days working our way to Port Huron, Michigan and crossed into Sarnia, Ontario. Crossing was rather interesting. Even though there is a pedestrian part of the bridge, it is forbidden (purportedly a pre-9/11 thing) and so we had to put our bikes into the back of a border truck and be driven across. On the other side they simply looked at our passports, asked us a few questions and decided we were harmless enough to let us pass on through. It took us just over four days to pass through Ontario and we loved every minute of it. We had heard from numerous people that it is a boring stretch and along the freeway we'd assume it is, but we took the more scenic route and loved it. From Sarnia we meandered our way down to Lake Erie as some storms moved in. That afternoon we caught some showers but nothing too bad. However, they next day proved to be a soaker. It rained for the better part of the whole day and made for some miserable riding. By the time we made it to Lake Erie we were soaking wet, cold and just wanting to be done. So, we grabbed a couple cups of coffee in Port Stanley to warm up. We made it a few miles further up the road until we just couldn't take it any more. So, for the first time this trip we scouted for an inviting, nice looking place with a barn. We found the perfect place so we rode on up to the place, knocked on the door and asked if we could get out of the rain by staying in their barn for the night. They said that we could and the owners, Lee and Elaine, proceeded to roll out the red carpet for us. They cooked us dinner, cheeseburgers, hot dogs, fresh potatoes straight from the field behind their house, cookies, and even an imported beer. Additonally, they let us shower, wash our clothes, and Lee even gave us a tour of the Perry family farmsite. He was the third generation to farm there showed us the fields he used to farm situated between the house and Lake Erie in which he primarly grew tobacco, potatoes, and rye. None of us knew tobacco was grown in these parts but actually is a substantial portion of the agricultural economy there. He also educated us on the errosion that occurs along the shoreline. There is a big sand cliff from the fields to the water and over the years huge amouts of land has fallen victim to the lakes. Just in his lifetime he has lost acres to the water. This was all readily visible along the shore as there were huge sinkholes and erosion lines. We were utterly fascinated by this phenomena.
The next day Lee and Elaine sent us off with a big breakfast and a perfect example of nice Canadians. Even though just the day before they were complete strangers we were rather sad as we pedaled off. We had a pleasant ride along the shore of Lake Erie until the very end when it appeared that a monster storm was moving in. So, we pedaled our butts off for 45 minutes to the closest camping spot, Haldimand Conservation Station. We did beat the storm although it never amounted to much more than a sprinkle. The wind that we had to pedal into, however, was much meaner. We were rewarded for our work though with a free night's stay with a shelter and shower.
The following day we rode along Lake Erie among 100 (or so) wind turbines spanning miles along the shore. We also made a stop at the Sandhills, a point on the shore where the winds have formed a sandpile some 300 feet high. It was crazy. After 25-ish miles we began working our way up to Lake Ontario and the Niagara region. There we hit wine country for the first time this trip and definitley took advantage of the situation with stops at a number of wineries and a bottle from Stonechurch Wineries. It was fun. Our day's destination was Niagara-On-The-Lake, an historic town on Lake Ontario. It was a beautiful small town, albeit a tourist trap. As such, there were absolutely no places to camp. Wanting to spend the night in the town and being that we don't have the money for a $400 a night hotel room that where everywhere, we saw a lady working outside of St. Mark's Anglican Church whom we asked if we could pitch our tents on the church's property. She replied, "absolutely," however, the church was hosting the Chamber Orchestra's opening gala that evening so we'd have to go in the far back corner of the lot--in the cemetery among thousands of gravestones. A cemetery! Out of options we reluctantly obliged, which we are sure surprised her as much as it surprised ourselves. Yes, we are becoming more brazen the more we pedal; well, maybe desperate is a more appropriate word.
They next day we left without looking back and biked down to Niagara Falls where we were surprised to find that there are actually three falls, not just one as we had always thought. Who knew? Well, they were obviously beautiful, and we had a good time on the "Maid of the Mist" boat tour, a $14 boat ride that goes right into its misty paradise. Of the 100 people on our boat we were the only ones who did not use the complementary garbage sack raincoats. It was a great fun and totally worth it. Afterward we crossed back into the US at the Queenstown-Lewistion bridge and again had no trouble crossing and were even able to ride our bikes across this time.

Across the big lake...

On Sunday moring July 16, we awoke from a deep, sweaty slumber (the heat index was 110 today) at 4 am and hurried our little toned behinds down to the Milwaukee ferry. We arrived promptly at 5, a whopping 15 minutes early, and loaded the Lake Express along with our bikes, Archimedes, Chester, and Thelma. While we were waiting for the boat to leave we were treated to a beautiful sunrise over Lake Michigan, a nice benefit of getting up uber early. The boat left at 6 am and all we had to do was sit back and relax as the boat effortlessly glided over the water at 40 mph. It was amazing that a boat so big could go so fast with such ease--a feat of modern engineering I tell you. 2 1/2 hours later we arrived in Muskegon, Michigan thus entering into Eastern Standard Time, our last time losing an hour.

This parlays into yet another story about the kindnesses of strangers: With bikes trips one can never plan too far in advance because there are so many unknowns. So, we didn't try to make reservations for the ferry until the day before when we were positive of when we'd arrive. Well, the only ferry available was the 6 am (meaning arrive at the ferry dock at 5:15). This means, since it leaves from Milwaukee-a large city, we have to stay in a hotel close to the ferry the night before. So here we are, in Milwaukee, trying find an affordable, close hotel, and we are having NO luck. Then, a couple of people who had been suggesting hotels in the area just offered that we stay at their house just a few blocks from the ferry!!! How great is that?

The reason we are taking the ferry across the lake instead of going all the way around the south side of Lake Michigan is that we decided it would be way cooler to spend some time with Liz's family, Kelly's family, and get to know Wisconsin in a bit more intimate way. We were able to ride down to Iowa to visit Ross (Kelly's brother), pickup Mike (Liz's uncle) for a five day ride, then visit Edie and family (Kelly's cousins) in Madison, and finally visit Grandma and Grandpa White in White Water, WI. What a good idea it was. For sure.

Here is a quick recap of the past two (!!!) months of riding:

On May 14th we dipped our rear wheels in the Pacific Ocean, just outside of Anacortes, WA. We then pedaled all the way along the highline of our glorious country until we hit the North Shore of Lake Superior--that was when we last blogged. From there the bikes headed down to the Twin Cities where we scattered a bit to spend time with family and friends. We then entered a bit of a bike hiatus. For six days we didn't touch, ride, look at, or admire our beautiful light green bicycles. Nope, we just left them there in garages to collect dust. On the 31st of June, Mark, Kelly and Elizabeth headed down to Chicago, thanks to Mark's mom's car, for the wedding of Carl Holquist and Liz Ball (!), both Oles from the same class. It was a blast and a great break from the vacation. Lord knows everyone needs vacations from vacations. While those three were having a wonderful time in Chicago, Caleb was enjoying himself with his family is Owatonna, Brownsdale, and Fairbault, Minnesota. When it was all done, Caleb, Elizabeth, and Kelly mounted our trusty steeds and met up together to tackle the second half of the trip. We sadly said good-bye to Mark, as he departed us for some different adventures.

This past week we rode to Iowa City to visit Kelly's brother, Ross, and boy was it great. We got to go sailing, enjoy Indian food, see a horrible movie by Adam Sandler, and meet Roggie (Kelly and Ross's third cousin) and his lovely new wife Annie and their amazingly cute (but very blind(but still good at playing fetch)) dog Cora. After our Iowa City adventures we biked 75 miles northeast to Maquoketa Caves State Park where Ross joined us for the evening. There we had all sorts of fun exploring a number of their caves. And, the trail linking all of these caves was absolutely gorgeous. Take for instance the picture of one of the largest natural bridges in all of the Midwest. Who knew that such a jewel existed in Iowa?

When Ross had had enough of us and decided we needed to move on, we met up with Mike Mayo, Liz's number-one uncle. The guy put up with our countless antics and gladly rode along for five days -- crossing the entire state of Wisconsin. He is definitely on our "good guy" list and will hopefully remain there for quite some time. He bought us pizza and beer, played cards with us, and cracked a few jokes.

While crossing Wisconsin we stopped in to Visit Edie Oberly (Kelly's awesome cousin) at her cabin and then met the rest of the family in Madison. In Madison Kelly got to meet his namesake, Kelly Clifton. And Caleb and Elizabeth got to listen to even more talk of how Montana is the center of the universe. Turns out that "God begat Montana, and Montana begat everything that is and has ever known to be 'dank.'" "Dank" is Kelly jargon for good. (?) Yup.

On the way to Whitewater, we stopped by the Trek Headquaters, where our bikes came from. They (the bikes) were happy to visit their family too! We especially enjoyed the "Lance Wall," a wall (obviously) with 7 stations comemorating each of Lance Armstrong's Tour de France victories. Each station had about 10 photos, his yellow leader jersey signed, and a bike he use in that year's tour. The photo above is of the seventh station for his win at last year's tour. Is that not a sexy bike? In Whitewater, Grandpa White treated us to a dinner in the country club- showing us off and sharing stories of his own adventures. The visit was way too short, but very good to see Grandma, Grandpa, and Patty (Elizabeth's aunt and Mike's wife).

Hopefully this clarifies what we have been up to for the past few weeks.

Caleb, Kelly, and Elizabeth

Wisconsin!

I am honored to serve as an invited guest blogger to provide some vignettes of The Odyssey's first two days in Wisconsin!

This is Kelly's cousin Edie, who enjoyed the company of our intrepid travelers for two evenings. I will serve as their Homer or their Bernard DeVoto for a tiny sliver of their epic journey.

On Wednesday, July 12, 2006, the Intrepid Ones traveled through the green hills and valleys of southwestern Wisconsin. Ask them for their thoughts on the relative difficulty of riding these hills compared to the Continental Divide. You may be in for a surprise!

Around 4 pm, they arrived at Otter Creek, a cabin by a stream in the woods.


We enjoyed some lovely summertime moments together, such as...

...sharing this picnic conjured up by the highly competent crew in just a few minutes...


...watching Uncle Mike do the dishes...


...setting forth to Madison, with Edie riding a few token miles just to be part of the epic.


In Madison, they greeted young and old alike with equal aplomb...





...and invoked the two-hour rule bright and early the next morning.


Onward!!!

Iowa!

It has now been way too long to even half remember what has gone on for the past three (!!) weeks since the last blog. So where do we start? Lets hop into our time machine and head back to the beautiful waters of Grand Marias.

After a wonderful evening on the sailboat, we all hopped into the dingy and rowed ashore where we mounted our bicycles for a rather hectic, long trip back down the shore of Lake Superior. Highway 61 was very stressful; the only road heading south was loaded with antsy Minnesotans heading north driving their F250, king-cab, extended bed with camper, trailer and fishing boat-in-tow combo. It was their weekend by god, and we sure as heck weren't going to slow their progress. Nothing better than angry men in sunglasses driving vehicles in a sensless effort to over compensate for something God just didn't make big enough...

In Duluth we were welcomed into the home of the Bents' -- a wonderful family whose son grew up with Mark. Ten minutes before we arrived to their home, after way too many miles for the day, we got nailed with a grand deluge of rain. In eight minutes of riding, one and a half inches of rain poured from the heavens and landed directly upon our small fleet of Trek 520's.

We found a bike trail from Duluth that took us a wonderful 81 miles south to Hinkley, Minnesota, and then then following day a bike path that took us all the way into the Twin Cities.

Once we hit the Twin Cities the trip fell into an eleven day haiatus of soft beds, home cooked meals, train rides, roadtrips, weddings, co-ed bachelor parties, and lots of other things that fall into the category of complete and absolute tom-foolery.