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September 5 Monday Bicycle touring from Black Lake Michigan to Long Lake Michigan The other day I saw a bald eagle fly up from the ditch a few feet in front of me. It was humongous with an enormous wing span. Its neck was white. It had a hooked beak and its eyes looked sharp. The talons had great curved claws. It looked powerful as its wings beat the air on take-off. When we were cycling the old train track, we found an old spike lying there. A memento of our first rail to trails bike ride. It was too heavy though, so after I examined it I put it back down for the next lucky person to discover. The wind was blowing strongly towards us. We can hardly pedal our loaded touring bikes, it is so strong. When I was fixing a flat tire, I saw a waddling pincushion on legs coming towards us. The porcupine continued until it got within twenty feet of us and then it finally noticed us. I had stopped fixing my bike tire by this time and we were watching it waddle towards us. I was wondering if it was just going to trudge on past us on the other side of the track. When it saw us it tried to figure out what we were. It decided to go off the side of the track and just sat there as we pedalled past -- its quilly backside stuck out. We biked through Onaway, Hawk, and then Posun, still pushing into the strong headwind. We are back to cycling backroads again. One more day until the holiday and long weekend crowds go back to work. I hate it when we are on holidays and then there is a long weekend. It really gets crowded. We thought being away from the coast would be less windy as well. As we cycled down Long Lake Highway, we stopped at a house to ask directions. Our AMA map is somewhat limited on these backroads. Martin asked us some questions and whatever our answer was he would exclaim "Gee whiz! Can you believe that?" He told us to wait while he went to get his wife. He went into the house and returned with Ann. He then proceeded to ask us the same questions all over again, so she could hear us repeat our astounding answers about bicycle touring. Martin and Ann have been married for 35 years. They have a beautiful house complete with a Jacuzzi hot tub on a huge lake view lot where they live year round. They invited us in for supper of hot chili and roasted sweet corn on the cob -- our first corn on the cob this year. Superb with a bit of butter. For dessert we tucked into cherry pie with ice cream. We met Grandma who was 92 years old. She had Martin buy her a cane because she said she was getting so old now she should have a cane. Martin bought her one. Then he said he saw her come down one day with the cane, she opened the door, she looked around, then not seeing anyone she left the cane and went zipping around the yard here and there checking all the flowers. He figures she probably goes jogging when they all leave for work and throws in a few push-ups and sit-ups too. They have a beautiful landscaped yard with bunches of hanging begonias and various types of roses. The grass is a vibrant green from all of the Michigan rain lately. We sure have been giving our cycling rain gear a test. True to form, it began to rain, and it was close to dark. They invited us to stay the night in their enclosed atrium which has a pull-out chesterfield. We had showers and then drifted off to sleep in a warm slumber well taken care of by our new friends. Cycle touring certainly can open some doors that are unavailable to most others. |
