The Mountain of Iron

Earlier today we rolled into the town called Iron Mountain in the UP of Michigan, we met back up with Taylor, who had taken a few days off the trip to go to a wedding, and then checked in to a hotel to spend a little bit of time relaxing. Did some laundry, bought some groceries, and opened up some awesome care packages from family, and my special lady friend. Needless to say it is nice (swag) to get to do nothing all day, eat , and drink cold beer. I took all my stuff out of my bag, and filled it with ice and tasty beverages. GENIUS!

As far as the old blog is concerned I am going to change up my post style a little bit to something I think is more readable and easier for me to convey what is really going on in my head during this big adventure. Basically I am ripping off my cousin Todd (www.the555.blogspot.com) who lives abroad and does an excellent job of giving the reader the general scoop as well as a peek in to the minutae of what its like to expereince a different place. So cheers Todd, thanks for letting me copy you!

Places I have been.

Here are some places I have been since Lockport NY and a little bit about each place.

6.16 Fort Eerie CA - Turns out the people that work at customs in Canada are not inclined to be polite to four guys that have no idea where to lay there heads each night. We got hasseled with looks of contempt for about 20 minutes as each of us was repeatedly questioned about our plans to which we all responded , we kinda figure it out as we go, Eh?

6.17 Port Dover CA- Famers Market. Hot Baltic Sausage. Fresh Baked Bread. NOM NOM NOM

6.18 Port Stanley CA – Slept on a beach, in a town that is the Canadian version of the embarassingly Americna TV show “The Jersey Shore”. Ate  icecream. Was severley overwhelmed by the large amounts of people. Its kinda strange spending all day around 3 other guys and then winding up on a beach with 3000 others. My brain kinda hurt.

6.19 Port Lambton CA- My first experience with Lawn Bowling, a gentlemans game. Non-ballers need not apply.

6.20 North Branch MI- One good experience with the police. At a public park the lady cop rolled up and asked “So do you guys plan on crashing here?” none of us knew how to answer. She invited us to stay under the pavillion in the park! SCORE!

6.21 Bay City MI- Tired Rainy, we wussed out and got a hotel at about 4-5pm (thanks Case Closed), didn’t update the blog out of sheer apathy. Met a crazy lady at the breakfast buffet named Jane. She got Nicks phone number. Many voice mails have followed.

6.22- Lake George MI- Stayed at a church, met a guy we call “Pastor Ben”, felt obliged to sit through Wednesday night service since they were letting us stay in their rectory. Six people attended, and we sang close to 10 hymns acapella. Awkward. Direct quote from sermon “ You can see into the spirit world” out of context yes, but take it in the craziest since possible, and you’d be about spot on.

6.23 Kingsley MI- We got chased out of a public park by some city council man. At first I was pissed but then he took mercy on us and showed us a sweet park up the road that was a good improvement. We broke camp after being chased out in roughly 5 minutes. Record time. Then this awesome guy named Seth came to the new campsite we were at and brought us 2.5 gallons of fresh water. His wife had heard us getting kicked out , so he thought he would drop in. What a guy. THANKS SETH!

6.24 Traverse City MI- if you ever have a chance go to Traverse City. Seriously it was so much fun. Great Brewery, cool downtown, wonderful food. Got our frist round of free beers bought for us. Hopefully not the last.

6.25 Mackinaw City and Mackinaw Island.  Obviously Mackinaw island was wonderful.The city is a tourist trap, but we destroyed a breakfast buffet. Got to the table at 650 and left about 9ish, totally got my oney’s worth.  Here is a dull video of the boys cruising the bike path around the island.

6.26 Epoufette MI- Boring.

6.27- Manistique MI- Karma is a strange entity. Some guy approached us at a café, and said he found $20 on the ground by our bikes. I intially took it out of confusion but after a few minutes of internal debate I gave it back and admitted it was not in fact mine. Sometimes the right thing is not always easy or convenient. Paid of in spades though, see below.

6.28 Hermansville MI. Found a iMexican Buffet  in Escanaba for lunch (our first legit mexican resturant to be found since the trip started) chatted up a guy who paid for our meal (KARMA SWAG!).

 Kept Riding on into Hermansville, went to a bar full of haggard locals who we thought would laugh at our weird bike shorts. Turns out they loved us, FREE BEER! (DOUBLE KARMA SWAG).This is tim, he killed a a 350 pound black bear with a .22 mag, an impressive accomplishment if you are familiar with ballistics. He lives on the UP , drinks heavily, picks morels for fun, and is into all things that are generally bad ass. Mad respect to Tim

WRECKED

So we had our first scrape up. Someone in the city planning council of Charlevoix MI decided it would be a good idea to make the bike trail out of wood, so it resembles a deck raised above the swampy land it passes over. Kind of a cool idea until that deck wood gets wet with dew, which turns out is extremely slippery. Keep in mind as we are riding on this deck path we are salmoning (riding against the flow) of the local marathon that was going on. So here we are dodging people that look more depleted than us, when all of a sudden I see Nick take the slowest most awkward fall that basically consisted of him just laying the bike over. BRAKES! DODGE RUNNERS! DON’T HIT NICK! And before I know it I too have fallen, and bryce has run into me due to the slick conditions. I am okay. Luckily my tailbone took most of the impact. Below are a list of words that ryhme with things I might have yelled at the top of my lungs in a group full of marathoners on their 23^rd mile while I dealt with the pain of getting spanked by a 2x6.

• Spit, Luck, Dog Cannit, Mother Plucker, etc.

You can be almost certain that there are several hundred people in Charlevoix Mi that went home and told the same tale I now tell you.

RANT.

Riding my bicycle every day has given me a unique perspective on the current state of transportation technology. Think with me for a moment, what is a car really? Most resemble boxes, of various sizes, they are metal, climate controlled, sealed off from the world, some are loud, some are fast, some make bad smells. While sitting in a car it takes you very little effort (plantar flexion of the ankle in the range of 15-25 degrees) to maintain ridiculously high rates of velocity. Something about your car gives you a sense of entitlement, I deserve to get where I am going with little to no exertion, excpet for the price of the liquified dinosaurs that the 1-2 ton casket I am sitting in drinks to do my bidding. This sense of entitlement is probably why people who see me peddaling down the road with all my stuff are enraged . The fact that they might have to slow down for thirty seconds before they pass me at 50mph in a lane marked non passing is outrageous. Of course the most logical and courteous way to express this anger is to honk aggressivley as they blow by me, literally making me jump. Before I left for this trip I foolishly considered bringing a hand gun, for that “just in case” scenario. Wisely I decided that humantiy is most good so I would not need the extra weight. I can tell you now , while the status of humanity  is still up for debate, I am glad I did not bring a fire arm, because I would be in jail for shooting out the rear windows of a few of the more entitled motorists I share the road with. All kidding aside, if you drive a car, please give cyclists a break, you are sitting in a box that could very easily kill or maim them, and if you feel that angry about their presence on the road, pull over and say it to their face don’t just honk as you blur by. Please. Thank you

High Fructose

My diet has changed drastically, but not as drastically as my shopping habits. I live day to day on roughyl 5-10 dollars in spending money, with an extra 5 bucks each day being saved for a grocery run once a week. Everytime I go in a store with the boys we have unofficial competions to see who can spend the least money and come out with the tastiest most calorie laden items. Corn syrup, HFC, modified corn starch, trans fat, lard, give it to me in large doses for low prices. I need it. It really is wonderful to be able to eat whatever. It also has some interesting side effects on the gastric system, but those things are not fit for writing.