Riding Days 21 - 24

Day 21: Cheboygan, MI to Pinconning, MI

150 Miles of Michigan was conquered this day. What a great Saturday.

My weekends lately have been awesome. I get up, bike all day, and go to bed.

Early to rise and early to bed, makes a man healthy; but socially dead.

In our case that isn't true.

The support and recent stories I have heard from home from friends, family, and loved ones have been amazing to the ears!

Thank you all.

Now I must backtrack a bit. Some have asked about our situations like flat tires and accidents.

Yes. We have had both occur.

I have fallen over plenty and we have had the miracle of only four flat tires.

One was Steve Carlston on day 3 in Washington. One was a slice of the tube and tire for me, had to change both, that happened less than a mile from North Dakota. Two were my Dad's on the way to Havre, MT.

Freakin' West Dakota.

He had a tire go that the sealant couldn't seal. Matt changed it, and less than a pedal later the tube exploded!

So we changed it again.

We had already gone 100 miles when this happened. It was awesome...

Could you smell the sarcasm?

Ok.

Back to Day 21.

We woke up and started our zig-zag down the Michigan 33 towards Bay City.

Nothing eventful happend for the day, but we were able to crush 75 miles before lunch.

Which is a first.

It was a gorgeous day for riding, as you may see.

It was a high of 77, no rain, and big puffy clouds.

Perfect conditions for a great day.

My Dad hasn't sent me the photo, but we had lunch at a place called Carrie James Restaurant in Comins.

It was founded by Carrie James, a lady. We found out it was a brothel owned by her...known for its lemon maraigne pie.

Yeah. I don't see the connection either.

Still a hoot.

Lunch took a bit, or else we woulda made it to Bay City. Instead we stopped at 150 just after Pinconning on Neuman Rd. 

It was perfect because we have been watching a lot of Seinfeld lately at the hotels. So it was easy to remember.

Found this after lunch and felt very blessed for our ride.

Thanks Rev. Olse!

Day 22: Pinconning, MI to Vasser, MI

Welcome, welcome Sabbath Morning.

So another plot twist. We spent the night over in Midland, Michigan and attended sacrament meeting in the morning at the local ward.

The reason being is because Matt's older brother, Christian, is on a mission here in the Lansing Mission.

He served in this ward for seven-and-a-half months and left his greenie there.

So Matt was able to meet Elder Smyer, Elder Lyman's mission son. Took a picture and emailed it to his bro.

It was awesome for Matt and us all. We heard nothing but good things about Elder Lyman.

After that we had a short 40 mile day to Vasser.

Another beautiful day.

Vasser has Vulcan pride.

Live long and prosper.

Ride long and pedal.

We ended up staying at a nearby town called Frankenmuth.

It was a spectacularly German themed town.

Like a screen shot of Midway in the middle of nowhere Michigan.

We all felt sad that we weren't able to spend more time exploring the place.

It looked incredible! If you are in Michigan and need something, go check out Frankenmuth! They said they practically always have something going on.

P.S. Today...Return of the King. Some may understand :)

Day 23: Vasser, MI to St. Thomas, ON, Canada

We started off early as usual and started our journey to Canada.

Today was a big day! Close to another 160.

Honestly I can't really explain our route through Michigan but we ended up leaving the country!

Don't worry. It was planned.

In Ontario we headed east on the 2, otherwise known as the London Line.

This was a straight shot into London, ON

I had England nostalgia seeing all of this. I had to get a picture.

I realized within the first ten miles into Canada that it isn't like America. Although it looked like the Midwest.

Canada doesn't believe in shoulders on their roads.

Most of the London Line was zero to ten inches of shoulder. 

Which made us get to a street in London, ON that allowed us to take a straight shot south to St. Thomas by the 3, The Queensway.

Which turned out to be a much safer road. We scouted it at the end of the day in the van to make sure we wouldn't be fearing for our lives like we were on the London Line.

The Queensway took us pretty much back to home sweet home to the good ole US of A.

Day 24: St. Thomas, ON to Niagra Falls, NY

We're goin' to Americaaaa!

We made a pact that we would make it back to the US today.

The Queensway was only a LITTLE safer, but we were greeted with a beautiful morning in Canada.

And east we went towards Niagara Falls, ON and then to Niagara Falls, NY.

Canada seemed a lot like America. More so than I thought.

The difference in view? Canadian flags instead of American.

Near Simcoe, ON we ran into construction work on the road.

Hopefully they're adding a shoulder to the road.

We met a man named Gerald, older Canadian gentlemen with two good black lab dogs.

He gave us a great alternate route that made us avoid the construction.

He was a very funny guy!

He said "eh" after everything and "Ya know" before every statement.

Every time his dogs would cross a tree line in his driveway he'd yell "Get back to the house!" "Bear!!! Dumb dog. He's stupid." The way he said it was hilarious though!

The reason he wanted the dogs to get back was they had shock collars on and crossing the line would activate them, but they didn't care and just wanted some lovin'.

Good dogs.

Gerald was a solid Catholic and a good man. It was a lil' miracle meeting him.

We continued on our way until we ran into a huge opening filled with soccer fields that would be an excellent stop for lunch.

After lunch we continued on our way enjoying the fields and actually lots of huge wind turbines.

Like they were at least ten stories tall.

Not too many of those back home.

Had another delay though.

I have never seen a drawbridge like this lifted.

And after at least a half-hour of waiting for the boat to go through we were finally able to make it to Niagara Falls, Ontario to see the falls from the Canadian side.

I've been to the American side before.

This is definitely the better view.

And after only two days in Canada, we were back home to the promised land.

I agree with Ricky Bobby, "Greatest country on the planet."

We completely missed the "Welcome to New York" sign and weren't able to get a picture.

That is still bugging me even as I have been typing this.

I love keeping y'all up to date on the social media with pictures.

 

We are spending the night in Niagara Falls, NY and getting ready to head to Palmyra tomorrow.

It's pretty unbelievable to think we only have two states left to conquer.

We could be in Boston either Sunday or Monday.

Even Saturday if we all have the will.

Either way...

BOSTON OR BUST!

-Jordo