Finally made it to the Third Coast!

Some interesting lake Michigan facts; Lake Michigan is the largest lake entirely in one country (by surface area) and it is the 5th largest lake in the world. Lake Michigan also has more boats disappear than the Bermuda Triangle, it has lost between 8,000 and 10,000 boats. It is beautiful lake and compared to Oregon's water it feels pretty warm (mid 70s).

watch out for horseflies!

Once we reached Kalamazoo bike paths were in ample supply. This one was a rails to trail path that was a little over 30 miles long running to Lake Michigan.  We rode faster this day than any other on the trip, we contibute it to a combination of the ease of the ride on the ground limestone path and the mass swarms of horseflies that chased for for about 25 miles of our ride.

Kelly attempted to capture the swam in this pic, but to little avail.

Learning to make my own pottery

Back at desire and Ryan's house we learned how to throw our own pottery (it's much more difficult than it looks). Meadow (the not quite 2 year old) was insistant on helping.

Menlo Park

Henry Ford and Thomas Edison were good friends. So when Henry Ford decided to build his legacy, he wanted to move Menlo Park (Edison's labratory) onto the property. Edison told Ford that he could never move the lab to Michigan because it belonged on New Jersey soil. So, Ford had 32 traincars of New Jersey soil transfered to his property. Menlo Park then followed. Edison continued his practice for many years with the labratory in Menlo Parks new location.

Lunch is cooked for the workers in the field

Lunch is being cooked, using traditional recipes and only food products from the village or what would have been traded with neighbors. The men shown in the previous picture will be coming in from the fields to eat soon.

The crew at the Henry Ford Living Village

In the background you can see wheat being harvested using all of the techniques from the 1850s. They actually mill the wheat and then use it for cooking to feed to the workers that are in the fields at the village.

Seeing friends and meeting their family

Our trip to Ann Arbor was wonderful! We caught up with a friend, Desire (woman on sweet scooter) that we hadn't seen for 5 years. She has since gotten married and had two babies. So much fun! Her husband Ryan(man with baby), is a potter at the Henry Ford. We visited the living village, which is a replicated functional village from around the 1850s. Fascinating!!

Let the adventure continue!

It just gets more exciting. This morning we are sitting at the Express Ferry in Muskegon, Mi ready to head to Milwaukee,Wi. We are told the ferry is running late,in fact we are told this in frequent increments as the departure time comes and goes,and goes and goes. Finally we are told the ferry is broken and they will have to send tugboats out to deliver the current passengers coming from Milwaukee. We will not be riding a ferry today.
Kelly looks at both Ammtrak and Greyhound options while Scott inquires about the refund. Kelly is finding the public transport options to be less than favorable and neither arriving to Milwaukee until Sunday.
Scott walked out with a large grin on his face. After seeing the enterprise rental company he made the split decision to rent a car. Not only did he get the last car but it was less than half the ferry cost.
So, we are currently backtracking on a 5 hour car drive to Milwaukee. Gotta love bike tour adventures!
More pics to come

1000 miles

We take back any negative comments about riding in Michigan. The people are wonderful, biking is part of the culture here. Once we arrived in Kalamazoo we found bike paths and they continued along the Western coast of Lake Michigan. The weather has been pleasant and other than being chased by a swarm of horseflies for some 20 odd miles it has been an amazing last couple days. We will reach Muskegon today and take the ferry to Milwaukee,Wisconsin on Sat. Grandpa will be there to meet us. Did we mention we made 1000 miles today!!!

On the road again

After a wonderful couple days in Ann Arbor we are back in the saddle. Our legs feel strong but our backsides are complaining already. We have traded in the rollercoaster hills, heat and humidity for a mixture of gravel and 3rd world road conditions with a healthy dose of road kill. We will take it,no complaints what-so-ever

Stop over in Chicago

Instant cooler temperature in Chicago and a wonderful 3 hour layover gave us time to walk to waterfront and enjoy the sun without massive amount of sweating!

Our decision to head North

So after 3 weeks in the South and very, very hot weather we started rethinking the next leg of our trip. Our final day in Southern Illinois with temperature reaching 103 and a heat index of 113 we decided that we didn't want to end up looking like this guy. We headed to the train station and bought 2 tickets to Ann Arbor, Michigan to see friends and enjoy cooler weather for the rest of bike trip.

And meeting new friends.

It's nice to see old friends and meet their new kids!

Seeing old friends

Seeing old friends in Southern Illinois. It's great to reconnect!

Making new friends

Some of the houses had welcome signs with dogs that loved to come out and greet you as you rode by. Other dogs bared there teeth, only one has needed the HALT used on them (approved by the US postal system).

It was how big??!??

More swamps in Southern Illinois, retelling the size of the gator that we saw in Mississippi.

The bikes have found a good stopping place

In Southern Illinois, almost to our friends house we stumbled upon a beautiful little winery. Ah, sweet surprises! The bikes were very happy!

At Cave In Rock in Illinois

So the beauty of bike tour it that people take better care of you than car tour. At Cave In Rock we pull into the campsite and are starting to set up camp when the hosts come up on their gator. We are chatting with them and asking them about where to eat. They are mentioning various restaraunts. We ask which ones would serve a beer (since it's in the mid 90s, we've pedaled over 50 miles and forsee with no upcoming respite from the heat we figure atleast a beer would sooth our insides). He tells up that this is dry county and there is nothing available. He pauses for a minutes and then asks how many beers we want. We tell him 1 each would be amazing. The next thing we know he is pulling out a little cooler and handing us each a beer. He states, "we like to take care or our bike tourists." I love the hospitality here!!

Getting on the ferry crossing the Mississippi from Kentucky into Illinois

That arrow on the sign means not just curves but hills that never end!