Day 13 June 12, 2019

Henry's notes for today:

Day 12:  Today was a little scary, because after mapping things out, we figured we would have to do 2 consecutive 90-mile days, when our original plan was 70 miles per day.  If we were to encounter strong headwinds like the day we rode into Ann Arbor, we could be in trouble.  We rolled out of Kirsten's house at 6:30 am, thereby avoiding a lot of the morning rush hour traffic, and the wind did not pick up until about 11 am.  By then, we had gone over 50 miles, and the wind never reached the intensity it had on the prior day.  Lunch was in Lansing, Michigan's state capital and home of the MSU Spartans.

A stop along the road today.

We arrived in Portland, MI at 4 pm, ahead of our anticipated arrival time.  The evening's social event was having dinner with Henry's former medical school roommate Bert Cabala (internist) and wife Christy, who drove up from Kalamazoo, about 75 miles away.

We hope tomorrow's 2nd 90-mile day will go as well as it did today.

Turtle wanted to race us.

Maps of Today's Ride:

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/3741628774

https://www.relive.cc/view/u3601911946

Day 12 June 11, 2019 Rest day in Ann Arbor

Henry's notes from today’s rest

Visited John Lien in Ann Arbor

Day 12:  Rest day in Ann Arbor.  Linda and Henry spent the morning running some errands, while Tim lubed all the bikes.  Jeff rode his bike independently to see the U of M stadium.  Henry and Linda stopped by to visit with Dr. John Lien, a hand surgery colleague on staff at the U of M Orthopedics Department.  He recommended going to Blank Slate downtown for ice cream, and we dutifully complied with his recommendation.

Dutifully Complying

Dinner with Jim Sansone and Tim Daum in Pinkney MI

In the evening, Linda and Henry met up with medical school classmates Jim Sansone and Tim Daum for an impromptu reunion dinner.  Jim has a peaceful, immaculate lakefront home 20 miles outside Ann Arbor.

Early to bed.  Plan to start riding at 6 amthe next day, as we have a 90-mile itinerary mapped out for tomorrow.

Day 11 June 10, 2019

Pictures from today's ride to Ann Arbor

Henry's notes from today’s ride:

Day 11:  We had a continuous drizzle/light rain on our morning ride.  Passing through Toledo, we saw again a town that had seen better days economically.  Toledo looked to be about the same size as Spokane, based on the number and character of the downtown buildings.  Our afternoon ride became considerably harder, with wind gusts up to 30 mph buffeting us from the northwest, while we were trying to head straight north to Ann Arbor.  At times, it was hard to keep our balance due to the weight on our bikes with the wind blowing on us sideways.  We had to continously steer vigilantly to stay on the road, and to avoid going off the shoulder into the gravel.  In Ohio and Michigan, I noted almost all vehicles were Chevys, Fords, Chryslers, Jeeps.  Lots of pickup trucks in the countryside.  Very few foreign vehicles; not many Toyotas or Hondas or German cars.  The most common foreign one I saw was a Kia or Hyundai.  That changed significantly when we arrived in Ann Arbor.

Tim's sisters Kirsten Mogbo and Rachel Yanikoglu greeted us enthusiastically when we arrived at Kirsten's home.  We were descended upon by the Turkish branch of Tim's family, and feasted on a very hearty and delicious home-cooked Turkish dinner.

Tim and Kirsten

Maps of today's ride:

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/3735612678

https://www.relive.cc/view/u3598087564

Day 10 June 9, 2019

Henry's notes for today:
Day 10: Ohio flattened out for us today. Some mild early hills, then we were surrounded by flat farm fields, reminiscent of what one would see in Illinois, where I went to Jr and Sr high school. Skirted the town of Oberlin, but we did not see the actual campus on our route. Tim stopped at the Oberlin College Arboretum to scatter a small vial of ashes of a dear friend. We had some especially easy riding for a good chunk of the day on a flat paved bike trail, with a tailwind. Overcast and temperate most of the day. Passed many small farming communities. This is the rust belt, and the towns do look like they are struggling economically. Yet, there are pockets of huge homes in certain neighborhoods. So some people are doing quite well for themselves. Tim's rear wheel became noticeably wobbly today, and we mad a pit stop to tighten some spokes. Made it to another private campground just past Fremont, OH. No working showers here, so 3 of us took turns washing off with a garden hose that we hung over an outdoor rafter, which served as a poor man's outdoor shower. Brisk, but it got the job done. Jeff took a dunk in the campground pond. We are just south of Toledo. We were heading west all day just below the south shore of Lake Erie, but tomorrow, we take a right turn and head straight north though Toledo and on to Ann Arbor. We are being rained on tonight in our tents; we are all fortunate to have high quality modern tents.

Maps for today's ride:

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/3732501744

https://www.relive.cc/view/u3595831807

Check out Earlier posts

Alert from Tim's wife, Priscilla

If you have been reading each day, you may want to go back to the beginning. Our intrepid riders are adding notes to previous days' rides after the original posting, so you have may missed something you'd like to read. Tim and Jeff are posting the links to the ride maps each day. Other writing is happening when they can in the evenings.

Day 9 June 8, 2019

Henry's notes for today:

another early exit after another great breakfast and the usual photo op with our hosts. Lots of rolling hills. The weather was favorable, and we had a tailwind for a good chunk of the day. Road conditions generally good, except for narrow shoulders. Because of a lack of places to eat dinner, we decided to push our ride to 84 miles to get to American Wilderness Campground (privately owned) in Grafton, OH.  Found a great bakery right next door to our dinner tavern, so those pastries will get us started the next day.  Our next short term goal destination is to arrive at Tim's sister's Ann Arbor home in 2 days.

Today's maps:

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/3728737637

https://www.relive.cc/view/u3593961361

Day 8 June 7, 2019

Henry's notes for today:

Very sad to leave Mary, who was the most gracious hostess to 4 complete strangers. We left Pittsburgh after Mary's great breakfast via an undulating route with lots of turns; those who know Pittsburgh know how hilly it is.  Tim and Linda had spent a lot of time the day before plotting our course for maximal bike friendliness.  We worked our way to Boardman, OH, a "suburb" of Youngstown.  A couple miles away from our destination, my tail light popped off as I went over some railroad tracks.  I went back to retrieve it, and sadly witnessed a UPS truck crush it to smithereens.  By chance again, there was a bike shop 2 blocks away, so I was able to replace it with a more secure iteration fairly readily.

With Les Schwinderman in Boardman OH

Tonight, our hosts were Les and Patty Schwendeman. Les did the same hand surgery fellowship as Henry, but 4 years later. We know each other despite never training together because we have regular hand fellowship reunions in Jackson, WY every 3 to 4 years.  Owen, their 11 year old son, is a Rubik's cube genius. Their daughter Ally is 16 and learning to drive. After dinner, we had a chance to gorge on ice cream treats at Handel's, a Youngstown institution.  Tim asks for an ice cream stop every day.  To be fair, none of us ever say it's a bad idea . . . .

Tim's notes for today:

Today we left the bike trails and introduced hilly Pennsylvania on public roads as we left Pittsburgh. The undulations did not involve any sustained climbs and we all found them quite beautiful and a refreshing change from straight level trails.

Lunch was picked up at a grocery in Beaver Falls and eaten at their riverside park where local bird watchers had installed a telescope trained on a nest with three hatchling eagles. It was preceded by a stop for Shue-goo at a 100 year old Beaver Falls hardware store that looked quite unchanged over the century other than stocking shue-goo. Stock went to the 12 foot ceilings with many dead end ailes to get lost in. It was complete with local historian at a table outside selling raffle tickets to win a gun.



Maps of today's ride
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/3725319124

https://www.relive.cc/view/u3591866905