May 31-June 2, 2014-Days 14-16-Marysville, MI to Frankenmuth, MI to Greenville, MI
Saturday was a rest day in Port Huron, MI. My internal alarm clock went off at 5:50am, however that did not keep my sweet Lisa from a couple extra hours of much needed sleep. I spent a leisurely morning reading, taking care of the bills, checking emails (since it was the first time in a week that I had decent internet service) and cleaning the bike. A week of riding and the chain collects lots of road grit. Proliferous amounts of degreaser and WD-40 were needed to make that chain shiny again. Craig is meticulous about cleaning his bike and showed me some of the ins and outs. After checking everything else out on the bike, all seemed good to go.
Being just north of Detroit about an hour, we decided to take an excursion to Greenfield Village to visit The Henry Ford Museum. I highly recommend a trip if you are ever in the area. However, two hours won’t do it justice. Lisa and I may make a special trip back sometime in the future for a few days. While there we decided to purchase a new 1917 Overland.  Lisa thought the seats were really comfy. You can tell by the smile on her face. 🙂

Lisa really liked the 1931 Bugatti, but since there were only six made in the world, I told her she’d have to wait till next Christmas.
On Sunday we resumed our ride beginning where we left off on Friday at Marysville, along the beautiful St. Clair River that connects Lake Huron with Lake Erie. Because of the depth of ice on the lakes this winter (as much as 12 feet in Lake Superior) and the late spring, the water temperature is still around 40 degrees F according to the locals. We could tell as it felt like a 10 degree drop in temperature from the road to the edge of the river, merely a 100 yards or so.

The day’s ride was another grinder for me. We did 91 miles into Frankenmuth, along roads that are in serious need of repair. Our butts took the most pounding we have experienced so far, because of the condition of the roads. Thankfully, we had a 10 mile respite on a bike trail that was the best we have experienced in two weeks. Frankenmuth turned out to be a really interesting and nicely laid out town: a German village.

We enjoyed Zehrner’s famous family style chicken dinner and the sights of the village.

The ladies did some shopping at the biggest Christmas store in the World. Lisa said she had her purchases shipped home. I did not ask what the price tag was. 🙂
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Today, Monday, was another grinder against the wind. We managed 86.5 miles with cross winds of 12-20mph. We were spared by finding another bike trail of 30 plus miles that shielded us from the wind for a couple hours. We gladly received that gift! Besides the wind, we experienced nature’s own menagerie today. I had four deer jump in front of me on two different occasions. We saw two snapping turtles on the trail, two rabbits, plenty of chipmunks and a squirrel or two. I ran over a snake, because my wife Lisa does not like them. I dodged a bunch of mini-frogs on the trail after the rain, because I did not want to squish one. We got off the trail when storms threatened, and found a barn to take cover in. We got to talk to farmer Jeff for almost an hour while waiting out the thunderstorms. One constant in this journey has been that people always ask us where we are going. We nonchalantly respond: “Seattle”. The looks we get are precious. The reactions are all unique. Jeff’s was “Wow, good for you guys!” Yesterday, we chatted with a couple at the beginning of the bike trail near Columbiaville. When they heard we were going to Seattle, the lady responded: “That’s hilarious!…. and she laughed. Her husband said: you’re kidding right?” I guess our physique’s don’t yet reflect the work we have put in. :) This afternoon at lunch our waitress at the Main Street Café in Alma, Michigan reacted with a cackle unlike any we have heard before and then she said: “What are you being punished for?” She cackled again. We had some fun with her while enjoying our lunch topped off by coke and root beer floats. How else do we get the energy to do what we are doing?
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I have come to appreciate the rural communities from New York, across southern Ontario, through mid-Michigan. We often think of the Midwest as the farm belt, but this northern tier is no different and the people are all friendly.

In the midst of the wind, we took time off to celebrate during our ride today. We passed the 1000 mile marker on our trip. Yahoo!