Marine City, MI to Clearville, Canada Sept 8th (65 Miles)
Cool day with clouds, a little rain, and some lovely winds.
My poison ivy debacle isn’t turning out so well. I am pretty sure I got into the poison ivy about 5 or 6 days ago, but it has now spread to my stomach, waist, thighs, wrist and a few other places where I really wish it would not have gone. I really don’t like it that much.
I stayed at Jim and Lu Ann Douglas’s home last night and they treated me great. Nice warm comfortable bed, shower, dinner and washed clothes. This morning Jim ran me down to a pharmacy where I was able to purchase some poison ivy medicine which hopefully helps this mess I’m in. He went to work late to help me which was very nice of him.
Anyway, I got a late start and crossed the Ferry at 11:00 and immediately started riding head on into nice stiff winds.
The ferry crossed the St. Clair River which is about 1 mile across and the fare was only $1.00. The St. Clair River is a beautiful aqua blue color. It looks like the water out of a painting somewhere. The river is used as a transport river so huge ships are crossing up and down the river all the time. I did not get a photo of them. I was too slow.
The wind finally caught up to me! Got to love those winds. 7 to 9 miles an hour all day long riding directly into the wind.
The roads in Canada so far have zero shoulders. Nada – nothing. However, the route I’m on does not have heavy traffic so that is good and the people seem to be nice enough to give me plenty of room most of the time when they drive by. I appreciate that although I wish there was a little bit of a shoulder to ride on.
The roads here in Canada aren’t marked real well so I am continually trying to figure out where I am. My maps show lots of little towns, but many of those towns only have 1 abandoned house and no “Village” sign.
I missed a turn along the way and rode 2 or 3 miles past where I was supposed to turn. I didn’t feel comfortable about my direction so I stopped at a farm house to ask for directions and get some water.
The lady pointed me in the right direction and gave me some water and a nice fresh peach which I appreciated because I have also discovered that there is almost no place to purchase food along this route either. That should help me lose weight. How nice and convenient that is!
I called the Clearville Campground to see how much it cost to stay there and the man just said come on down and he will find me a place so I rode the 1 ½ miles to the campground. It is a Canadian Forest Service type campground and the caretaker was very nice. Leroy was his name.
He found me a nice little private campground with a picnic table and they had nice hot showers and he would not let me pay. Very nice man. I set up camp, got cleaned up, ate my peach and a bagel with peanut butter, put on some poison ivy medicine and went to bed.
I got in 65 miles today which under the circumstances I felt pretty good about. The camp is right on the shores of Lake Erie and I could hear the waves crashing on the shore and the frogs and crickets (katydids ?) singing all night long. It was like I was in the middle of the
Forest Tabernacle Choir. I slept better than I have for a long time. I got up a little late because I slept so good and decided to write this email because they have a picnic area with electricity and I may not get any electricity again for a while.
Once again, beautiful country, nice people and a Forest Choir to sing me to sleep. Can’t beat that except my girl Lori wasn’t here to keep me warm. I do miss Lori but I don’t miss my old job with someone jerking my chain all day every day. I’ll worry about work when I get back home.
I have plenty of time to think and so I sometimes I put my personal thoughts into these email memos. If it annoys you, sorry, you’ll just have to consider the source and not worry about it.
I have thought for a long time that although having a lot of money may be nice, it never seems to make anyone very happy. As we watch rich people live their lives through the media, because they are watched so closely, it seems that many of them don’t appear too terribly happy.
The lack of fundamental necessities of life can bring a lot of misery but the vast accumulation of “Stuff” does not seem to bring much happiness. I am pretty sure Eastman Kodak committed suicide and he was one of the wealthiest people in the world at the time.
I am discovering that service to others and doing kind things for others creates much more happiness in someone’s life than just having a lot of money and entertaining yourself and indulging yourself with all the things you want. Every time we purchase something that we really want it seems that feeling of happiness that we thought would come because we now have that “Stuff” that we wanted so bad, never really comes. We still don’t feel really “Happy” even though we now have our “Stuff”.
The kind deeds that we do for others and the service that we provide to others seem to bring the person doing the kind deed much more happiness than the acts of accumulating more “Stuff”.
I am very grateful that some people have helped me along on this journey of mine. Sometimes this little bike ride has been difficult and their acts of kindness have helped to make this trip more bearable. I appreciate them and the things they have done for me very much.
Two days ago when Karl and Darcy Wabrowetz from Marysville, MI were helping to make arrangements for me to stay at Jim and Lu Ann Douglas’s home in Marine City; I asked him why he was helping me when he did not even hardly know me. He said to me: “That is what Christians do”.
What a nice bunch of people I have met along the way on this trip. I am grateful for good people in this world and there seems to be plenty of them around still. I will try and return those favors as I go on in my life.
Well that is my story and I’m Sticking to it!
It is 9:30 AM and I am getting a late start so I better get my poison ivy rear end moving down the road.
It is kind of cold this morning and the wind is blowing about 130 miles an hour right in my face so this should be a great day. I can hard wait to start riding.
Regards, Dan
Cool Grass Hut
Jim and Lu Ann Douglas House
Jim Douglas at his home in Marine City
Jim and Lu Ann Douglas home Marine City
Ferry
Canada Flag
Ferry Dan
Ferry
Ferry Garage
Canada Flag again
Canadians? with their flag
Ahoy Canada
Sombra-Marine City Ferry
Yippy Skippy
Frozen Stiff
Ferry
Bike on Ferry
American Flag
CanadAmerican Ferry
Ferry on Water
Again
Harvest time
Harvesting
Yep
Black-eyed Susans at Jim and LuAnn's
Monumental Monument
Cool day with clouds, a little rain, and some lovely winds.
My poison ivy debacle isn’t turning out so well. I am pretty sure I got into the poison ivy about 5 or 6 days ago, but it has now spread to my stomach, waist, thighs, wrist and a few other places where I really wish it would not have gone. I really don’t like it that much.
I stayed at Jim and Lu Ann Douglas’s home last night and they treated me great. Nice warm comfortable bed, shower, dinner and washed clothes. This morning Jim ran me down to a pharmacy where I was able to purchase some poison ivy medicine which hopefully helps this mess I’m in. He went to work late to help me which was very nice of him.
Anyway, I got a late start and crossed the Ferry at 11:00 and immediately started riding head on into nice stiff winds.
The ferry crossed the St. Clair River which is about 1 mile across and the fare was only $1.00. The St. Clair River is a beautiful aqua blue color. It looks like the water out of a painting somewhere. The river is used as a transport river so huge ships are crossing up and down the river all the time. I did not get a photo of them. I was too slow.
The wind finally caught up to me! Got to love those winds. 7 to 9 miles an hour all day long riding directly into the wind.
The roads in Canada so far have zero shoulders. Nada – nothing. However, the route I’m on does not have heavy traffic so that is good and the people seem to be nice enough to give me plenty of room most of the time when they drive by. I appreciate that although I wish there was a little bit of a shoulder to ride on.
The roads here in Canada aren’t marked real well so I am continually trying to figure out where I am. My maps show lots of little towns, but many of those towns only have 1 abandoned house and no “Village” sign.
I missed a turn along the way and rode 2 or 3 miles past where I was supposed to turn. I didn’t feel comfortable about my direction so I stopped at a farm house to ask for directions and get some water.
The lady pointed me in the right direction and gave me some water and a nice fresh peach which I appreciated because I have also discovered that there is almost no place to purchase food along this route either. That should help me lose weight. How nice and convenient that is!
I called the Clearville Campground to see how much it cost to stay there and the man just said come on down and he will find me a place so I rode the 1 ½ miles to the campground. It is a Canadian Forest Service type campground and the caretaker was very nice. Leroy was his name.
He found me a nice little private campground with a picnic table and they had nice hot showers and he would not let me pay. Very nice man. I set up camp, got cleaned up, ate my peach and a bagel with peanut butter, put on some poison ivy medicine and went to bed. 
I got in 65 miles today which under the circumstances I felt pretty good about. The camp is right on the shores of Lake Erie and I could hear the waves crashing on the shore and the frogs and crickets (katydids ?) singing all night long. It was like I was in the middle of the Forest Tabernacle Choir. I slept better than I have for a long time. I got up a little late because I slept so good and decided to write this email because they have a picnic area with electricity and I may not get any electricity again for a while.
Once again, beautiful country, nice people and a Forest Choir to sing me to sleep. Can’t beat that except my girl Lori wasn’t here to keep me warm. I do miss Lori but I don’t miss my old job with someone jerking my chain all day every day. I’ll worry about work when I get back home.
I have plenty of time to think and so I sometimes I put my personal thoughts into these email memos. If it annoys you, sorry, you’ll just have to consider the source and not worry about it.
I have thought for a long time that although having a lot of money may be nice, it never seems to make anyone very happy. As we watch rich people live their lives through the media, because they are watched so closely, it seems that many of them don’t appear too terribly happy.
The lack of fundamental necessities of life can bring a lot of misery but the vast accumulation of “Stuff” does not seem to bring much happiness. I am pretty sure Eastman Kodak committed suicide and he was one of the wealthiest people in the world at the time.
I am discovering that service to others and doing kind things for others creates much more happiness in someone’s life than just having a lot of money and entertaining yourself and indulging yourself with all the things you want. Every time we purchase something that we really want it seems that feeling of happiness that we thought would come because we now have that “Stuff” that we wanted so bad, never really comes. We still don’t feel really “Happy” even though we now have our “Stuff”.
The kind deeds that we do for others and the service that we provide to others seem to bring the person doing the kind deed much more happiness than the acts of accumulating more “Stuff”. 
I am very grateful that some people have helped me along on this journey of mine. Sometimes this little bike ride has been difficult and their acts of kindness have helped to make this trip more bearable. I appreciate them and the things they have done for me very much.
Two days ago when Karl and Darcy Wabrowetz from Marysville, MI were helping to make arrangements for me to stay at Jim and Lu Ann Douglas’s home in Marine City; I asked him why he was helping me when he did not even hardly know me. He said to me: “That is what Christians do”. 
What a nice bunch of people I have met along the way on this trip. I am grateful for good people in this world and there seems to be plenty of them around still. I will try and return those favors as I go on in my life.
Well that is my story and I’m Sticking to it!
It is 9:30 AM and I am getting a late start so I better get my poison ivy rear end moving down the road.
It is kind of cold this morning and the wind is blowing about 130 miles an hour right in my face so this should be a great day. I can hard wait to start riding.
Regards, Dan
Cool Grass Hut
Jim and Lu Ann Douglas House
Jim Douglas at his home in Marine City 
Jim and Lu Ann Douglas home Marine City 
Ferry
Canada Flag
Ferry Dan
Ferry
Ferry Garage
Canada Flag again
Canadians? with their flag
Ahoy Canada
Sombra-Marine City Ferry
Yippy Skippy
Frozen Stiff
Ferry
Bike on Ferry
American Flag
CanadAmerican Ferry
Ferry on Water
Again
Harvest time
Harvesting
Yep
Black-eyed Susans at Jim and LuAnn's
Monumental Monument
Hang in there Daniel! Your sisters were talking about you at lunch today and how much we are entertained by all that you are doing. We are laughing and enjoying your ride -- probably more than YOU are because we get to do it from the comfort of our PC's without the wind, poison ivy, and pain. We are also enjoying the stories of Christian service all across our country and so personal to our family. Thanks for sharing with us all!
ReplyDeleteLove ya!
Nina