Yesyerday was a zero day. We stayed another night at Pokagon State Park. Our main priority was to change Rose’s tire. The bike shop was in Angola, 14 miles away round trip. It was another hot day and the LBS didn’t open until 10. ( in cycling lingo LBS is local bike shop). Not being able to get an early start to beat the heat and then having to ride 14 “bonus” miles made the desicion pretty easy. We did have to pack up and move a few campsites over because the one we were at was reserved for the night. After setting up at the new campsite we were ready to ride to town. I think we had lost our motivation though because we both started participating whole heartedly in a rather long and drawn out session of lollygagging. After an hour, I think it was an hour at least Im really not sure. Time does not seem to pass with the expected normalcy when one is engaged in the act of lollygagging. Anyway right around the time we were headed out, a man named Matt and his son Silas rode by on their bicycles and stopped to chat. After they heard what our plans were, they offered to drive us to the LBS! They both run triathlons and were training for their next event. They were pretty cool guys and definitely true athletes. Thank you guys for the ride!
Back at camp I put the new tire on and then we ate lunch. After lunch I read and napped for a couple hours. We had pancakes and sausage for dinner. Then played scrabble for a couple hours.
Shortly after leaving this morning we crossed into Michigan. It was on a very small dirt road. I was a little disappointed there were no welcome signs or any indication we were leaving Indiana. So we had to make our own.
Michigan might not of had a welcome sign but I really felt welcomed any way. Everyone that passed us in vehicles waved and were really courteous when going around us. There were a lot of little rolling hills and often times a car would get behind us while we slowly made our way to the top. The driver’s always waited paitently until the crest of the hill before going around us. The roads have taken us mostly through fields of soybeans and corn. But today there was a big field of potatoes.
After being an accomplice in the great Michigan potato heist of ’22 we made our get-a- way down Snow Prarie Road. There was no snow, but I enjoyed the bucolic road anyway.
In the shade of some spruce and fir trees we stopped for lunch. Last night Rose had made some tuna salad to put on a wrap for our meal. They were delicious. It is days like today I’m so thankful we brought a little ice chest. It was really hot again today. Ice cold coffee and tuna salad wrap was a great lunch.
During our lunch we made final arrangements with our warmshower host in Colon. Just 20 more miles to go. The roads today were really enjoyable. We even had a tail wind part of the time so we arrived right on time at 4pm. Richard showed us to the guest cottage. We could hardly believe our luck! A whole cottage to ourselves again. With a full kitchen! What a kind and generous man! After he showed us around for a few minutes we both took cold showers to cool down. We sat in the living room enjoying the air conditioning. Richard lives right next to Lake Sturgeon so after cooling down we walked down and swam for a little while. It was still hot so we went back to the a.c and to start preparing dinner. Rose rode back into town 1 mile to a grocery store. I washed and started boiling the potatoes. We are low on stove fuel so it made sense to cook anything that takes a while since we had a real stove. Dinner was mashed potatoe casserole and a 6 egg omelet each.
In the freezer was ice cream. I love ice cream and thought I had tried just about every flavor available. But here in the northern part of the mid west is a flavor called blue moon. It was definitely blue! In Pennsylvania, my home state we have a hard to find teaberry ice cream. It is delicious. It kind of smells like icy hot and it’s pink like Pepto Bismol but really good. I had a big bowl of blue moon after dinner it was really good. I can’t describe the flavor though. It’s like nothing I have ever tasted. I Googled blue moon ice cream flavor and what I got was…… the mysterious flavor of blue moon is part of its alure. You’re just going to have to take a road trip to Michigan!
Hello Matt and Rose, Have been following your trip for a few days now, ever since Matt checked in on the Trail Baboon the first time, and I must say, I’m happy to know that young people are still pursuing this kind of endeavor. I’m in St. Paul, Minnesota – originally an emigrant from Denmark. In my youth, I had just turned nineteen, I bicycled from Basel in Switzerland, where I had worked for a year, back to Copenhagen, Denmark. I zigzagged all over Western Europe, and did a lot of backtracking, stayed in youth hostels along the way. By the time all was said and done, I had bicycled 1500 miles by myself, on a bicycle with coaster brakes and only one gear. I don’t know how ambitious your goal is for where you’re going, but having traveled extensively in the US (mostly by car) I’d say you have your work cut out for you. Stay safe and enjoy the ride.
That is awesome! I bet you have many memories and stories of that adventure. We are headed to Anacortes Washington, then down the west coast. Thanks for referring to us as young!!
Your trip sounds wonderful Matt, like real freedom. Love the photos of you – you look so happy. And your writing is very engaging and allows me to feel a bit of your adventure. Makes me want to try a bike trip – have only done backpacking and hiking trips so far. Keep on Rolling!
Thank you! It definitely is freedom. But so is backpacking. There is advantages to both and I also enjoy long distance backpacking trips. Thank you for following along.
Matthew i will pass on the ice cream i cant get away from chocolate ha ha ! That was a cute frog! Ah the lollygagging is such fun! Enjoy the adventure!