Ok, this post is another two parter. It will include the ride report (what a fun day) and the route change that I've settled on - for now. Lets get that boring part out of the way first.
Part 1: ROUTE
The original plan for this trip was to ride about 1,200 miles after RAGBRAI to Brattleborough, VT where my buddy Mark was moving. This included riding with the RAGBRAI team bus about 200 miles to Custer (Wellingville) in Wisconsin. Since RAGBRAI I've ridden a little over 800 miles, which would have put me 400 miles out of Brattleborough and currently in upstate New York. I would have arrived around August 15th ahead of schedule.
When Mark did not move there, I figured I'd decide on my post- RAGBRAI route on the way to RAGBRAI - and I did. I wanted to head up into the UP and see Mackinac Island instead of my original plan of heading straight across the lake on a ferry. This, along with my lack of a ride to Wellingville, increased my post RAGBRAI mileage to about 1,800 miles. Vermont was never really an option with those two changes.
So, I've decided that what the latter of this trip will be is a loop around Lake Michigan and then a return to Iowa to visit friends and family. I've never bike tourered Iowa not on RAGBRAI, so I'm actually really looking forward to it. I'll also get to ride across Illinoise again and part of Indiana. The total mileage I'll be doing, if I'd headed straight to Vermont or the lower east coast, would have put me in the Atlantic ocean. I think it'll be around 1,500. I think that's good enough. I plan on doing a post-RAGBRAI tour (with people, hopefully Iris) every few years, so I can always do my original plan later if I want to.
I think my final day will likely be in my hometown of Cedar Falls, sometime around the 20th. I'll be taking a day off in Iowa City and maybe hitting Ames, but I doubt I'll have time.
Part two: RIDE REPORT
So, I forgot to mention where I stayed last night. Ellsworth has a nice campground in town, but they wanted $15 for a tent. That's silly, if I paid that every night I'd go broke. Also, pay to put up a tent? Blah! Instead of I found a covered picnic table area and slept there. There were two, actually, one near the campground and one elsewhere in town, so I picked the one away from the campground for plausible deniablity. The population was only around 600 so I figured I'd be OK. I hid my bike around a the corner of a building and slept under a table since it was a really exposed park.
The funny thing was the couple that hung out in the park from about 10pm to 12am talking and I think later having "relations" in their car. They had no idea I was there the entire time. They weren't too close to me so I tried to sleep, but it was amusing.
The park was right on a lake, so when I woke up it was beautiful and foggy. Condensation had started soaking the roof of the pavillion and dripping off like rain earlier that night (10pm even, that's why I have to sleep in a covered area instead of just a sleeping bag any grass unless I'm in a desert - and then I need to be elevated to avoid snakes and things). The heavy fog convinced me to sleep in since it's not safe to ride the crazy hills and turns around here with low visibility. Yay extra sleep for me!
I got on the road around 8:30 and did about 63 miles to Traverse City which was my intended stopping place. That ride was great, but very very hilly. I'm starting to leave forest and see more farm land. I'm loving Northern Michigan.
Traverse City has a population of 15k so I knew I couldn't just sleep anywhere. I struck out with two Warm Showers people and a bike shop guy said that anyplace I found where the cops wuld leave me alone would be shared with lots of homeless folks. I don't mind hanging with homeless folks, but I have a lot of expensive gear and I wanted to sleep soundly, so I bounced out of town 13 more miles to the smaller town of Interlochen. I got there at 73 miles (79 after exploring the town) with about 5:15 on bike at around 5:30pm.
This is a cool tiny hippy town, but has no park. There is a state park nearby, but I again I hate paying to sleep. I'm not camping and having a fire and partying, I'm just sleeping. Paying to sleep is stupid.
After some digging and asking around the owner of a cool store selling great beer let me sleep behind her store, so I'm set AND legal AND don't need a tent because there is an overhang. Total Win! She is super nice. Everyone here is, actually.
Tomorrow I head about 50-60 miles to Luther and then 88+ to Grand Rapids to hang with Josh and Amy, Team RoadShowers. I biked the US with Josh in 2003 as well! See, route change for the win!
I met another bagger today doing a local loop from Wisconsin, ate good ice cream, took naps, and had fun. With my route figured out I'm able to start relaxing again. Good times!! Also, I'm drinking really good beer right now.
ILYI
Yay!
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