10 May 2007: My Feets Didn't Fail Me Now; Neither Did Michiganders
Bellaire to St. Ignace: 83.5 mi; 73 @ noon, 50s at 2:30
Chalk up two more school presentations at the elementary and middle schools in Bellaire. AFter the first one, a boy came up with a magic marker asking for my autograph. Since he had no paper, I asked where he wanted me to sign. "My hand!"
After partaking of the potluck lunch at the school (it was staff appreciation day), I finally left at 11:25 - and I had to go 80 miles for my 7:00 talk in St. Ignace. If I hit my same average speed with breaks, I'd get there around 6:30 - barring any misfortunes. This is one of the days I'd been stressing over.
My feets (and legs, and arms) didn't fail me. Despite one rough stretch that featured eight back-to-back (-to-back-to-back...) hills, I averaged 16 mph the first 90 minutes to Charlevoix. Then I started going fast. The road hugged the shoreline (i.e., flat), and I found a wonderful bike path squeezed between the road and the water. The temps dropped 15 to 20 degrees as fog seeped in over the water. Even after Petoskey, when I had to rejoin the road, I still barrelled along - two hours at a steady 17 mph. I ended the day with a 16.5 average.
As I rushed into St. Ignace at 6:00, none of the three motels I passed en route to the library had yet opened for the season. Due to my late arrival, I just stopped at the library, changed clothes and washed up in the restroom, and prepared for my talk.
I had a small (seven people, counting the librarian) but enthralled crowd. When I opened it for questions after my talk, one woman asked where I was staying that night. Before you could say 'Michigan hospitality', I had a bed for the night.
Bill and Marian King continued my string of wonderful hosts. Their home was unique: built in 1956, it was constructed with GE's 'Kitchen of the Future', an all-steel unit including the cupboards, fridge, and oven in an integrated design. The rest of the house they'd decorated in a railroad motif - train bath towels, locomotive end tables, train telephones, even clocks that played steam whistles on the hour. For my guest room, I had the choice of Northern Pacific or Santa Fe.
On the stroll to their house, Marian filled me in on the history of the region. (I didn't know St. Ignace was the third oldest European-established city in the country, after St. Augustine FL and Sault Ste. Marie MI.) At home, Bill delighted me with his tales of a bicycle trip he took in the Upper Peninsula (UP) in 1944. Besides black-and-white photos, he had typewritten pages describing his days. Example: "Fish Camp to Trout Lake; 45 miles; start 7:30 a.m., end 9:00 p.m.; 4 flats."
Chalk up two more school presentations at the elementary and middle schools in Bellaire. AFter the first one, a boy came up with a magic marker asking for my autograph. Since he had no paper, I asked where he wanted me to sign. "My hand!"
After partaking of the potluck lunch at the school (it was staff appreciation day), I finally left at 11:25 - and I had to go 80 miles for my 7:00 talk in St. Ignace. If I hit my same average speed with breaks, I'd get there around 6:30 - barring any misfortunes. This is one of the days I'd been stressing over.
My feets (and legs, and arms) didn't fail me. Despite one rough stretch that featured eight back-to-back (-to-back-to-back...) hills, I averaged 16 mph the first 90 minutes to Charlevoix. Then I started going fast. The road hugged the shoreline (i.e., flat), and I found a wonderful bike path squeezed between the road and the water. The temps dropped 15 to 20 degrees as fog seeped in over the water. Even after Petoskey, when I had to rejoin the road, I still barrelled along - two hours at a steady 17 mph. I ended the day with a 16.5 average.
As I rushed into St. Ignace at 6:00, none of the three motels I passed en route to the library had yet opened for the season. Due to my late arrival, I just stopped at the library, changed clothes and washed up in the restroom, and prepared for my talk.
I had a small (seven people, counting the librarian) but enthralled crowd. When I opened it for questions after my talk, one woman asked where I was staying that night. Before you could say 'Michigan hospitality', I had a bed for the night.
Bill and Marian King continued my string of wonderful hosts. Their home was unique: built in 1956, it was constructed with GE's 'Kitchen of the Future', an all-steel unit including the cupboards, fridge, and oven in an integrated design. The rest of the house they'd decorated in a railroad motif - train bath towels, locomotive end tables, train telephones, even clocks that played steam whistles on the hour. For my guest room, I had the choice of Northern Pacific or Santa Fe.
On the stroll to their house, Marian filled me in on the history of the region. (I didn't know St. Ignace was the third oldest European-established city in the country, after St. Augustine FL and Sault Ste. Marie MI.) At home, Bill delighted me with his tales of a bicycle trip he took in the Upper Peninsula (UP) in 1944. Besides black-and-white photos, he had typewritten pages describing his days. Example: "Fish Camp to Trout Lake; 45 miles; start 7:30 a.m., end 9:00 p.m.; 4 flats."
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