Goal Reached!

That's right, Michael reached his destination, the Atlantic Ocean about 15 miles north of Portland, Maine, today - September 10th, 2008. He called us here at CLBL right after he'd eaten a celebratory dinner of Maine Lobster...and then a follow-up meal of fish and chips!

He would have reached the site yesterday, but was held up by one of the hurricanes - it poured rain and when the lightening started he turned back to the town that he'd just left (was about 5 miles into the ride) and found a good hotel to wait it out. The hotel owners were wonderful and cooked him up an amazing pasta dinner!

After a day off and time to ship his bicycle back to CA, he is getting on a plane in Portland and flying to Indianapolis. He is going back to the dairy where he stopped off earlier in the trip, as they have asked him to fill in as manager for a few weeks. The interim manager needs a vacation and the new one is not yet there! So, two weeks of paid work, and a place to stay. After his time there, he will head to Colorado to do some river rafting.

Congratulations Michael! He promised pictures when he gets to the dairy.

Mary

Back in the Saddle Again...

Michael is heading north now, up to the Great Lakes via Sandusky, Ohio. He will travel via an old road along Lake Erie, and then east through Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and finally Maine.

Hope you enjoy the 4 posts of Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio!
Mary

O-H-I-O! Home of the Buckeyes and Michael's Family

Photos, From Top: Ohio State Line, Morton Road (Mom's family name and road that the farm was on), golf course that was originally the family farm, Michael and Uncle Mike in the Beech and Sugar Maple forest, and a family shot (taken earlier in the trip because Michael forgot to take a picture of everyone while in Ohio)

So after nearly a week I headed of to Ohio loaded with dairy products. My Uncle Mike actually came to pick me up as I was behind schedule to meet up with my cousin Tim at their house and I could carry a lot more dairy products in a car. So now I have been at my Uncle Mike and Aunt Stephanie's house for five or six days. My cousin Tim drove up from Georgia where he is stationed and hung out for three days. We hung out, walked around Miami University campus and ate a lot.

I went and saw a primary growth Beech and Sugar Maple forest yesterday and got to visit the area where my great great great maybe another great grand father and his family was from in Eaton, Ohio and we went to one of the original farms, which sadly is now a golf course. I am off on the bike again today after nearly two weeks of no riding. I think it might be a bit rough for a few days getting back in the swing but I am looking forward to continuing the adventure. I think I have around 1500 more miles to Maine.

Brown Swiss Cows and Indiana Cream

Photos, from Top: Indiana State Line, bottle feeding the calves, 10 at a time, same thing, view from the bottom, Traders Point Creamery from the upper field, Indiana countryside, Fritz and Ollie, Elena, 3 month old calves, 18-hour old bull calf, milking parlor, waiting to enter the parlor, A reminder of a "cool guy I know", and a corn-ish pit stop :-)

Michael's Diary, continued from Illinois...

After three or four days Bob gave me a ride out of Chicago into Indiana as the southern part of Chicago is debatably worse for roads and a bit unsafe in areas for slow moving strangers. After saying good by I headed off on the sidewalk as there were still no shoulders. I finally ran into a group of bike guys and one of them, Dan Green, who was wearing a neon green shirt that had Dan in large letters on the front rode with me for about ten miles to show me the way. I said "see you later to Dan" and headed of on wonderful low traffic shoulder swollen country roads. When it was starting to get nearer stopping time I grabbed a bite to eat.

I meet a group of locals mostly in their seventies that were really nice and very inquisitive about what I was doing. So I told them and was quickly caught up on the local goings ons, which included that the area was to be the home of the countries largest wind farm, which explained all of the wind turbines I saw being erected. These things were huge and numerous. I was then given directions to a campground about 15 miles away on a scrap piece of paper that were let us say more artistic than clear. I did find the campground that was about a mile down a deep gravel road. I was sitting at my picnic table when the guy at the campground to my right came over and offered me a hamburger. I of course said yes and ended up hanging out with him and his wife and son (their names were Brian, Jessica and Jack) for the next two and a half hours around a campfire. Jack was probably the most inquisitive kid I have ever met. He never stopped asking questions about everything from what I was doing, and why to movie trivia to scientific enquiries to how I like my smores cooked and why. He is six. After he had two smores he really got rolling and jumping and running. I let him play with my headlamp and it was like being in a light show at a disco. He was a cool kid. In the morning the two ladies to my left came over and said hello and gave me a huge plate of scrambled eggs.

At the end of the day I had made my way to Zionsville were I was to visit an organic grass feed dairy that a friend of mine had told me about several months earlier. The dairy or creamery is called Traders Point Creamery. I ended up staying at the creamery for the next six days working around 70 hours. I did everything from moving the cows, which happened at least once a day. There were four different groups of cows ranging from the milking herd complete with three bulls one of which was named Denise, pregnant and younger cows, all younger cows and lastly calves. I think somewhere around 160 to 200 in all. I fixed fences, bottle fed calves, scooped poop, sprayed poop, loaded hay, fixed water tanks, feed chickens, chased cows as they escaped at times, removed old fences, reworked an irrigation system, milked cows and gave a very brief management training work shop and learned a great deal about electric fences. It was a good time and I learned a ton. I also was able to hang out with the owners Fritz and Jane. They were both very nice and very committed to the sustainable Agricultural movement. I actually meet probably 20 different people who worked either on the farm, in the creamery (they make cheese, yogurt, ice cream) the restaurant on site, the retail store on site as well as sales reps for the creamery who happened to be on site while I was there. The variety of people was amazing. The interim farm manager Serge and his wife Letsia were from the Ukraine, my super cool house mate and guide Ollie was from England and France (he split his time), the person in charge of poultry, Elena was from Panama, two guys in the creamery who’s names escape me where from the Dominican Republic and Egypt, one of the hay guys, Alfonso was from Mexico and another hay guy, Glen was a Mennonite. There were also three or four high school students working on the farm. The creamery had an exchange student program with Ohio State.

Illinois Challenges and Escapades

Pictures, from top: Downtown Chicago skyline from the Shed Aquarium, skyline from the boat, Captain in training, Captain Bob, Bob and Vicky, Chicago Trail System, Illinois state line - no sign...

Michael's Diary, continued - from Wisconsin into Illinois;

So there I was cruising along on country roads, no cars to mention and then suddenly everything changed. The roads were suddenly full of cars and trucks and the shoulders were not only gone but the edge of the road dropped off three to eight inches and looked like something had been chewing on it. I had entered Northern Illinois. I did not see a state sign and had to ask a guy-walking by if I was indeed in a new state. I was. This would be the beginning of a bit of an epic. So there I was on this road from hell full of cars and nowhere to go. I decided that my best course of action was to ride as fast as I could and not think about the cars until I got to better roads. I think the method worked well as it kept my momentum high, which was useful for shooting off the side of the road into the deep gravel shoulder when a semi came by. I was very thankful for my bomber tires I have been many many times before on this trip. They are holding up and just might go the distance.

After about 10 miles of this I reached a town where there were some road options as in more than the one I was on. Unfortunately none of theme were all that great. So I looked at the map and pretty much threw a dart for which road to take next. I actually rode on the sidewalk for a long time, not ideal but the best option at the time. Luckily I ran into a local guy who was sitting next to his bike. I asked him about the best way to get to the eastern center of Chicago and he directed me to a trail network that supposedly would do the job. So after finding the trail I thought I had it made. The trail was packed decomposed granite, heavily forested and totally free of cars and O yes there were mosquitoes a plenty. So I am riding down this trail for a long time and suddenly it ends. Apparently a section of the trail was closed so I found myself in northern Chicago-ish area with only roads packed with cars and it was starting to get dark. I had also ridden around 100 miles at this point.

Once again I asked for directions from a guy on the trail and I was off. I found that as a general rule, roads in Chicago are not built with bicycles in mind as there were never any bike lanes and the shoulders if marked were pretty much non-existent. So I resumed the high speed or at least high speed for a very heavy bike ridden by an increasingly delirious guy method and headed east for the Lake. I actually practice critical mass of one and took what I had to have of the road. This reminds me of a lesson I learned on this trip about riding on roads with little to no shoulders. Never give up space by moving into a wider shoulder area or into a turning lane, etc. that you will have to suddenly regain. This is dangerous, as you have to effectively push your way back on to the road. You have to hope the cars see you and that they will yield a foot of road if they even can.

So there I am getting close to the lake, feeling pretty groovy, and it is getting much darker. After consulting the maps again, which I did more in Chicago than any where else so far on this trip I realized or thought better, that I was still about 25 miles away from Kristin's dad's house. Feeling adventurous I pushed on. Finally I arrived at the lake and headed south through a maze of roads that wound through endless neighborhoods most of which in this part of town were well, unbelievably affluent. I mean holy crap. But no people to be seen anywhere. I was shooting for a town called Evanston. Then it got interesting. The darker it got the less able I was to read the street signs, which were generally obscured by tree branches and leaves. So I made a few wrong turns and ended up at a golf course, then a park then a quite neighborhood at an intersection of five roads, of which amazingly none were shown on my detailed map of the area. I headed east. So now it is very dark, I am only sure of my cardinal direction, I have some how lost a very big lake as a land mark and oh what is that but a very large, very black, very gnarly storm cloud moving in quick. I actually had seen the storm front earlier but thought for sure it would hold and that it was not to bad as I could only see it's far edge. It was at this moment that I should have taken Bob and Vickie up on the offer of a ride to their house. So I pulled over on the sidewalk pulled out my phone, which served as the cutting of the ribbon for the storm to begin. I was suddenly very wet and surrounded by lightning strikes.

As it was raining very hard now and dark I decided to hang out under a dense tree branch in someones front lawn. Yes I am fully aware that being under a tree during a lightning storm is not the thing to do. However as I could not see the road due to the rain and the cars likely would not be able to see me and I would be the tallest thing in the road I opted for the lawn under a branch of the shortest tree around. The lightning was so close that it would buzz and pop less than a second before it hit at the very moment you saw the flash. This was great moment to re-invigorate my fatalistic view of life and make peace with what ever was to come. I was smiling the whole time as it was the best and only thing to do really and hey beyond the fear of being hit by lightning this was really cool. The rain lifted a bit and the lightning passed so I headed off to find the meeting spot that Bob had suggested. A second or another lesson of the trip, when asking directions find someone that does not have a guessing confused look on their face. I did not do this and ended up doing a ten-mile loop through Evanston to arrive back about half a mile from where I had originally asked directions. Finally I met up with Bob and gladly jumped in the car taking my first ride of the trip. The visit was great. We ate a lot and I pretty much just lazed around while Bob and Vickie were at work. In the evening we went out on their boat and saw the city from the water at night. Pretty cool. I even got to drive. I also went to the Shed an aquarium in Chicago and saw a lot of fish and whales and otters and endless other water creatures.

Wisco Dreaming

Pictures, from top: Wisconsin State Line, "Happy Farm!", Wisco countryside, Dick and Diane, boarding a ferry (there was no bridge)

Michael's Diary:

After I left the Twin Cities I headed to Wisconsin. As before I noticed a pretty immediate change when I crossed the state line. The scenery changed from endless rolling hills covered with corn and soy to endless hills covered with soy, corn and dairies. There were also more trees in Wisconsin and more hills. The people seemed different as well as they were much more talkative. The folks in Minnesota seemed to keep to them selves more than in any other state so far. I meet a very nice couple Dick and Diane at my campsite. They gave me coffee and fruit and then showed me the inside of their fifth wheel. I had no idea those things were so nice. After chatting for a few hours and several cups of coffee I vibrated down the road.

My next stop was at Kristin's Aunt and Uncle's house, Mary and Guy's. We had a nice visit complete with a great fish dinner and hanging out at Devil's lake where we listened to live Old Time music outside of a cool old lodge house. We watched the sun set, as the bats came out in force not surprisingly at the very moment that the mosquitoes came out. If I were to pick an insect significant to the trip this would have to be the one. I have found that every state has a strong population of these little bugs. I can rest easy in knowing that I personally have contributed to the base of the food chain all across America not that it was hurting anywhere so far.

After Guy and Mary's I headed for Lake Michigan and then south to Chicago. The roads in southeastern Wisconsin were great. Shoulders everywhere for the most part. When I say shoulders that usually means a foot of extra space to about six inches. The forests were beautiful and there were intermittent rain showers, which kept the sun away and the temperature down. Actually as long as I kept moving the temperature was fine. As soon as I stopped it was like being in a sauna. So much sweat that if I stopped too long I wouldn't be able to see for all the stinging in my eyes so I tried not to stop much and did a lot of eating while riding the bike. This takes some practice in opening packages as well as breathing so you don't choke but I got it.

An Update from Minnesota

So I have been here in White Bear for about five days hanging out with Kristin and her family. It has been a great time full of live music, the longest and most spectacular finale Fireworks display I have ever seen, canoeing, and massive amounts of food and sleep. Believe it or not I am having just a bit of a difficulty motivating the getting back on the road part. It will however happen today after this e-mail. So leading up to getting to the Twin Cities area I rode for 18 days straight covering a distance of about 1500 miles or so. I would not ride that many days straight in the future but this time is worked out that way due to the enthusiasm of my new riding crew and the desire to get to White Bear Lake on time for Kristin's arrival without hitch hiking or using some form of transportation other than my bike. Consequently I have been dealing with some absolutely incredible leg cramps which were occurring from something as simple as walking down steps or riding my bike for a quarter mile. Lame to say the least but after a great deal of rest and massive amounts of electrolytes, far more than I thought necessary in the beginning, I think all will be fine. I guess I was a little tired.

Any how, North Dakota was very nice for being as flat as it was. It was really nothing but endless ag-fields of wheat, corn, soy and sunflower with the occasional hay field. The fields stretched as far as the eye could see occupying every square inch possible. The only thing on the landscape that was not row crops were either, houses and barns, sparse tree stands and wetlands. The row crops went right to the edge - within one foot of the wetlands. So essentially it was electric green everywhere. The people were really nice as well. Minnesota was a bit more of a blur as I was in push mode and I had 15 mile per hour head winds for three and a half days straight. Well I guess some of it was a cross wind. Big motivation needs during that time which I think diminished my ability or desire to look around much. It is better sometimes if not most of the time to not know how much ground you are covering or even think about distances. I split from my riding companions about three days into North Dakota. They were losing one of their riders (he was done) and needed to meet another one of there riders in a town about fifty miles away at the other end of a hellish road with no shoulder, lots of traffic and a ripping head wind full of rain. I decided to take a very quite side road complete with shoulder, side wind, and little rain. It was a little strange to be solo again for a day or so but then I got back into my rhythm.

So today I am heading off to Wisconsin. I will be in touch soon.

Views from Minnesota

Liked the name of the town, thought he'd stop by and visit :-) Views from western central Minnesota (and of course, a random lake shot)

Final bits of North Dakota and into Minnesota

More soybean storage, world's tallest structure (2,065' TV tower), lots more green, and crossing into Minnesota sans offical sign

North Dakota Soybeans

The bottom picture is of a soybean warehouse - Michael said that it was "freaking huge"

Big Sky, Lots of Grass, and Tired Iron

We'll call this one "Roadside Positivity"

You can see why Michael was impressed with the good naturedness of the North Dakotans. The only problem was with the mosquitos (first picture he entitled "hiding out from the skeeters")