Saturday - 66 Miles - Tittabawassee River

Sept 5 Coleman MI to just below Caro MI (66 miles): Dan on the Tridge
There is a lot of moisture in the air in this part of the country and when the sun goes down the fog and dew come out really fast. It’s like riding through a misty rain. It is amazing how wet my tent is in the mornings from the dew. Just the right combination of humidity and change between warm and cold temperatures.

However, the days are beautiful and I have had great weather the last few days. 75 degree days and not much wind. I hear there is a big rain storm brewing to start up by Wednesday or so but we will worry about that on Wednesday. For now I am enjoying riding in the nice weather.

I got a good start today at 7:30 AM but stopped in Midland to purchase a new windbreaker, fix my de-railer, get some new flashlight batteries, and send some emails. I had to go to several stores to find a windbreaker but I found one similar to my last one for $44 at The Bicycle Headquarters on Bay City Rd and it will work fine.

Once again people are being nice again. The guy in the bike shop gave me a discount on my purchases and I did not ask him to do so. They must just feel sorry for me or something when I walk in because I look so pathetic. Here comes “Creeping Tadpole” they must think. Be nice to him, he probably won’t last much longer. Look at him, how can he peddle that bike with those scrawny legs anyway? Better give him a discount before he falls over and has a heart attack. Anyway, thanks again to nice people. I got a bell for my bike at Rays Bike shop and they were also nice and installed it for me.

While I was in Midland some man mentioned the word “Tridge” and I asked him what a Tridge was. He told me to turn around and look at the Tridge and see for myself. They have a Tridge in Midland. It is a bridge with three endpoints. The Tittabawassee River (I didn’t make up the name!) runs through Midland, MI and there is a fork in the river in Midland. They built a bridge to go to each of the three land areas and they call it a “Tridge”. You can see the photos. It was interesting.

I stopped at a small grocery store to get a banana and went to pay for it and the guy wouldn’t let me pay for it. I think they were either Amish or Mennonite. I don’t know how to tell the difference. The man had a beard and the lady had a bonnet. Anyway, they were very nice.

I stopped into a small store to buy some “Hand Dipped” ice cream later to keep up my sexy figure and the lady said; “Sorry, we don’t have any Ice Cream – We need to take that sign down.” Anyway she had some fresh homemade cake donuts so I bought one of those and a tomato. Tomatoes and Donuts – The Breakfast of Champions.

I sat outside and ate them and was getting ready to leave when the lady gave me another donut and would not let me pay for it when I tried. More nice people. They are everywhere. Like little rats crawling around America trying to be nice to Fat Guys on Bikes.

The wind was blowing a little bit today. Not too bad this morning when I was trying to find a store with a wind breaker but it picked up pretty good this afternoon when I was finally trying to get somewhere on my bike. You can guess which direction it was blowing.

I was trying to save a little time so I was not following my Cycling Map exactly in my attempt to cut off a few miles because I was running late. I skipped a few streets and decided to go down highway 46 which was not my original plan, but one of my maps said there was a campground about 10 miles down the road and it was almost dark so I took the road. When I got close to the campground I called them and they wanted $20 to pitch my tent and my tent camping limit is $15 so I was headed for the woods again when I passed a small sign about a “Wesleyan Woods Camp” about 1 ½ miles down a side road.

It was almost 10:00 pm and I decided 1 ½ miles was no big deal so I rode to the camp. I was in front of the camp looking at the sign trying to figure things out and it looked good. $14.00 for a tent and they had showers. A good place to stay over for Saturday night and Sunday. I was trying to figure out where to go when the camp director’s wife came up in a golf cart and asked if she could help me.

She got her husband (Dan and Lisa) and instead of pitching a tent they put me up in a dorm room with a nice bunk bed with a mattress and a shower down the hall. They were very nice and offered me breakfast in the morning also. Their local church was having a Labor Day Retreat at the camp and they invited me to participate with them.

I had a few problems today and the wind didn’t help me any, but I was able to get in 66 miles so I didn’t feel too terribly bad overall about my progress. It could have been worse I guess.

I got up Sunday and went to church with the Wesleyans. There aren’t any LDS churches around here so I just went with them for today. They had a nice 1 hour Sunday School type meeting with a nice little sermon about being nice to people all the time and not just on Sunday. There were quite a few people staying here for the holiday so there was about 100 people at church.

I picked a nice place to stay over for Sunday. Beats the heck out of sitting in my wet tent in the woods somewhere. I thought it was interesting that here in Eastern Michigan they call the small towns “Villages” instead if cities or town. (See Farwell Village sign)
I saw a couple of signs near Caro, MI which were quite thought provoking and interesting. (See photos) One read: “That, “Love Thy Neighbor” thing . . . . I Meant That. – GOD."

The other one said: “Will the road you’re on get you to my place? – GOD”

As I pedal quite a few miles every day it makes you think a little about our lives and what is really important as opposed to what we think is important and what we spend most of our time on.

I passed another sign on the front of a church that read: “There is no suffering by man in this world that is not brought about by Man’s Disobedience to God.” That sign is clearly Bull Pucky. There is no doubt that sometimes we bring a lot of misery upon ourselves because of the stupid disobedient things that we do sometimes, but I am also pretty sure that Job in the Bible was considered a righteous man and he suffered really bad. It was not because of his disobedience. My little sister Marian died of cancer when she was 10 and it was not because she was wicked nor was it because her parents or brothers and sisters were wicked.

However, Lori would be proud of me because I did not take the sign down, nor did I change the words or letters and I didn’t even go argue with the Pastor about his sign being stupid and a distortion of anything ever written in the scriptures. I just rode past the sign and kept on going. Some things are just better left alone. Lori would be surprised that I kept my mouth shut about something for once. Anyway – I probably shouldn’t have brought that up but sometimes Bull is just Bull.

I am about 82 miles from Port Huron and 100 miles or so from Marine City, Canada. I should get pretty close to Canada tomorrow and start heading to Buffalo, New York.

Later, DanBike on Bridge

Silos and Barn

Grass and Trees

Field

Pointy Barn

Mowed Field

Bridge

Party

Solitary Road

Shade

Bridge

Bridge again

Dan Bridge ;-)