We caught a break on the weather today. It rained with t-storms all night and the forecast was 80% rain and t-storms today. When we got up, there was severe weather south and of us with 2-3 inches of rain and flooding including some road closures. The first picture is the rain ending and the parking lot of the hotel. We held off departing until 7:30 and by that time the rain had stopped. It was cloudy and humid, but did not rain and there was a light tailwind so I averaged over 16 mph which is good for me. It turned out to be very good day as we road 87 miles.
I was one of the very last to leave as I could not decide on which rain gear to wear and bring. I have very good rain gear which I bought years ago when I biked the coast of Oregon by myself. I also have a very light jacket which is water resistant, but not waterproof. I hate being wet and cold so originally had on my rain gear, but given that it was already above 70 degrees and very humid when I was getting ready to go, I carried my rain jacket in a backpack, left my rain pants and wore my rain booties. Everyone gave me a lot of grief for being over dressed at the start. I am not used to riding in warm rain. In ND when a rain system comes through, unless it is a passing t-storm it can cool off and stay cool even in the summer. Anyway I changed on the sidewalk before loading my gear on the truck which was an occasion for more grief.
Though I road with Jeff and Karina for a while, for the most part I road by myself which I enjoy. One of the reasons is the fast riders who leave before me I will never catch and those that leave behind me normally catch me in 20 minutes to an hour plus depending on when they leave. The strongest riders, those who are on the route the longest during the day, I will normally catch within an hour or two depending on when they actually leave. The middle riders like me often do not see each other except at rest stops or if someone takes a lot of pictures as we are going close to the same speed. For that reason, after an hour or two it is not unusual to be pretty much by myself the rest of the day.
Morgan would say I like riding by myself because that is how I train and am not used to riding with other people. Courtney would say I like my personal space. Kim would say it is my personality or more accurately, lack of. They are probably all three correct.
The next picture is of Nancy and Adrianne at the second rest stop. The park is named after Adrianne’s father’s family who are from this area. Unfortunately, Adrianne’s father left Nancy and children when they were very small and Nancy raised the children on her own as a single parent. She became a very successful realtor. She probably kicked the sign after we were done taking the picture.
The last picture is riding into Port Huron and one of the homes alongside the lake. Many of the homes were spectacular mansions. Tomorrow we ride over the bridge to London, Ontario. The forecast is more rain. Like every other place we have ridden through, there is so much history here. Lake Huron is named after the Huron Indian tribe that inhabited part of the Great Lakes area. They fought with the French against the English and the Iroquois nation made famous in the book “Last of the Mohicans” and later the movie. We think of the frontier as the American West, but for well over a 100 years the frontier was throughout the eastern part of waht is now the US. There were many different tribes, all were eventually defeated and either moved or put on small reservations. Often all that remains are the names of towns and rivers.
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