Day 39.
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| Lake Michigan & Bikes. |
A nice leisurely ride around the shore of Lake Michigan. The
terrain around the Lake would appear to be quite un challenging. Roads are very
gently sloping and I struggled to get the bike out of top gear. Compounding
this non calorific amble was a cooler than normal tail wind. My new cluster being
a 7 speed is slightly wider than the 5 speed I started with so ever so slightly
touches the rear drop-out. Every so often it touches and makes a slight
scraping sound. Adi thought this was her bike rubbing and asked what the noise
was. I told her not to be concerned as the noise was coming from my rear
Schnaken torque washer and would self-correct in a few hundred kilometres. She
was quite happy with this and it was more entertaining for me than trying to
describe what the real problem was. I quite simply can’t be bothered adjusting
the rear axle cones and spacers and then re-dishing the rim, an operation that
I could perform at the next campsite but would get me very greasy and eat into
my personal grooming time. In four weeks that cluster and chain will be in the
bin anyway after the trip.
It is nice to have a comparatively smooth running system
again although I am conscious of the chain only just holding onto the much
reduced teeth of the big chain wheel. A
limited slip Chain wheel situation.
The highlight for the day was an impromptu visit to the Old
Cooks Historic Cemetery down a sandy Dead End road. It was well worth the push (the
bike not handling the loose sand at all well).
From a look at the gravestones it appears that the American’s love for abbreviation
goes way back, but even today I think putting’ Laugh out loud’ on someone’s
tombstone might be considered very bad taste.
Day 40.
Brevort Mi, and I find myself in a roadside diner hunting
for something edible on the menu. I settle for bacon, lettuce and tomato wrap
with a large cup of coffee. The pretty waitress sees my New Zealand top and
says “Are you from New Zealand” thinking that the day was about to get better I
said that I was. “I have friends that live there” she stated. O jolly good I thought.
“They live in the Isle Of Man, is that near there?”
Silly girl. I think she needed to spend less time on
Facebook when she was at school. The wrap was nice though, and the rest of the
day…. Uneventful.
It’s not that cycle touring is totally boring. It’s just
boring for extended periods when the weather is good, the terrain unchallenging
and when the scenery predictable. When you have cycled challenging and tough
terrain it’s lovely to chill out for a time and stamp out some easy kilometres.
But that time has passed. Bring on some decent hills and get me away from the
great lakes. I want to start the final chapter to the East coast. I have two
cats at home who are forgetting who I am. One of them ‘Ken’ was just a mite
when we left and he will need his Dad. Henry wasn’t much older and has taken
little Ken’s care all on himself. Ad’s 3
legged Bob will be missing her too. We tell ourselves that in about 4 weeks we
should have knocked the bugger off and back with our adopted family of moggies.
In the last week we seem to have cycled out of mossie
central and I can type this on the computer in the evening without losing a cup
of blood. I do however have to put up with this abomination of a coffee that
Adi picked up for me at the supermarket. I will tell you now what it is so none
of you have to endure the loathsome taste in your mouths. It is Folgers coffee.
I don’t know how they can call it coffee. The stuff comes in a coffee bag like
a tea bag. That in itself is very disturbing. What on earth do you need a bag
for when talking instant coffee! It tastes like tea filtered through a dirty
sock. I’ve tried everywhere, and can I find instant Nescafe or Greggs?
Obviously not.
This has become my challenge lately, to find drinkable
instant coffee. (I do like the little cube sugars over here though. Very user
friendly).
Day 41.
The quest continues. Another day and another Lake. Today we
were forced from our bicycles. Told to dismount and to load the treadlies into
the Ute. Or flat bed, or flat deck, or into this stupid big over-kill of a
truck. We had reached the Mackinaw Bridge spanning Lake Huron / Michigan and the State
Police fella wouldn’t let us ride across on account of the fact that we might
fall over the side, and the Mercian and I can’t swim.
I protested and said that I had achieved my Aqua Bear One
certificate and could therefore float on my back for at least 10minutes. He
wasn’t convinced. And I was conscious of the fact that clipped into the Mercian
my chances of making the far bank would be slim.
Adi had already the night before decided to go in the Ute
without a fight. She doesn’t like high bridges or deep water. We both left the
Firth of Forth bridge in Scotland quite a few years ago shaking in our cleats
and the poor girl has never fully recovered.
No Nescafe today.
We have arrived at another KOA campground. For anyone who
hasn’t experienced the American family man’s camping dream and others camping hell,
you must try a KOA (Campground of America). Here you will find the flagships of
RV’s. RV’s so large that they have to escort them to their selected site with
little golf carts. The driver’s family then get out and direct him as he tries
to back the apartment on wheels into his spot. This is enormously entertaining
as they usually manage to rearrange the back of the vehicle or the neighbour’s
garden gnomes or other furniture. Angry discussions and pensive faces ensure as
the driver extricates himself from the cab and examines the damage.
The rest of the camp activities are as equally entertaining.
Teenagers strutting their stuff while babies bawl their eyes out because their
parents can’t get the same brand of breakfast cereal that they have at home.
Talking of breakfast cereals look at this;
Sweets in a box for kids to eat for brecky. Now don’t get me
wrong, I love this stuff. And you can substitute the milk for Fanta and it’s a
sugar blast from heaven.
But I’d only eat this stuff on tour. Fancy feeding your kids
it! Kellogg’s shame on you. Don’t you know that the average parent is brain
dead and that the kid is making the decisions in the family? Or maybe you do
know. Shame on you.
No Nescafe today, maybe tomorrow.
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