I had a minor bit of cramping last night. Didn’t even have to get up and walk around to loosen up. I’m pretty well convinced that the almonds I’ve been eating really help prevent or at least minimize cramping. The question I would like to answer is which nutrient is helping me. Here’s an example package showing nutrientional information.

It seems it could be iron, potassium or calcium, or a combination there of. If I knew exactly, I could target that nutrient in my diet. Maybe I should try some experiments with vitamin pills instead of almonds in order to narrow this down.

Today the weather was friendly again, the shoulder on the road was smooth and wide and the traffic moderate.

I crossed into New York this morning.

Pennsylvania was short, only two half days. New York will be a different story, and might take as long as a week. I plan on following the Erie Canal trail to Albany. I think a lot of the trail is on the towpath of the Erie Canal which should be cool. I think I’ll be running across more bike packers on that trail, too.

Lighthouses are a thing on the Great Lakes and this one is part of a park, so the door was open and visitors could peek inside.

I need to get laundry done and cleaned up a bit so I opted for a motel today. Motel prices are sky high today in the area. A Motel 6 in Hamburg, has one of the lower rates at 135$. A lot of places are over $200 for a night. Because conditions were good and I was feeling good, I considered trying for an Orchard Park motel that had a low rate that was about 95 miles from my start point, but common sense prevailed and I settled for a place in Angola which was priced a bit higher, but only 75 miles away. I probably could have gone the 95 miles, but it might cost me some energy tomorrow and following days. As it is I’m making good time and usually have enough energy left for a walk in the evening.

2992 plus todays 75 to Angola, New York equals 3067 total miles crossed.

Perfect weather for cycling again. I wonder when my luck is going to run out.

A couple of the towns I passed through were kind of interesting. Geneva-on-the-Lake had a very vintage touristy look to it. One lady operating a small shop said she has been working there summers for 42 years.

Another town on the lake, Ashabula has a more industrial feel to it, though there is a definite resort aspect, as well.

Nothing else very interesting on the road today, so I’ll recount my pondering about Issue 1, which comes up on the Ohio Ballot on Monday. Without doing any research other than reading the signs people have put in their yards, it was easy tell that this is one of those currently divisive issues that are social-economic in nature. More often than not the signs for issue 1 supporters seemed to be in the yards of homes in better neighborhoods. Often when riding down a road that had lakefront homes on one side, those homes had pro Issue 1 signs and frequently right across the road would be anti Issue 1 signs. This wasn’t always the case, but I think it was a clear trend. However those nicer type of homes in Cleveland itself usually had signs asking the passer by to vote against issue 1.

After doing some basic research, it turns out that Issue 1 raises the percentage of votes needed to amend the Ohio constitution from a clear majority to 60%. Why this is important is that a number of states are amending their constitutions to protect abortion after the overturn of Roe v Wade. Most of these amendments are passing with less than 60% of the vote. Now you should be able to figure out why there is so much controversy over this bill.

I stopped for an ice cream in the early afternoon. A fellow started chatting with me, saying a few years ago he did a bike packing trip to Chicago and his wife went on to Denver. Eventually this fellow offered to let me stay at his cottage, but it would have shortened todays progress by about 20 miles, which is about 2 hours of time on the road. Instead I’m staying at a campground on the outskirts of Erie, Pennsylvania. Not the greatest campground as it’s crowded with RVs, but can’t complain about the 15$ price of admission.

68 miles today on top of 2924 equals 2992. I’m now averaging 62 miles over the 48 days I’ve traveled. This is far more than I originally expected I would do each day.

I used quite a variety of trails and roads today to get clear past Cleveland.

One fellow who hailed me down on the way into town said he had attempted a trans-America bike ride, but had to quit when he was called back to work. This fellow was also a warm showers host, but he lived in Cleveland and today I wanted to get in more miles than that. He talked about a place with a great view of downtown that I should pass on the way into town. This is the spot he was talking about.

This girl was trying to get a picture of her dog in front of the sign, but the dog wasn’t cooperating. The girl didn’t want me to take a picture of her and her dog, but I did it anyway using my camera. Like most rides through urban areas that I’m not familiar with, I got on the wrong trail and had to find my way through some seedy areas in order to get back on track. Cleveland has a pretty decent bike trail along the lake, if you can manage to follow it.

After getting through town, I stopped at one of the many parks along the lakeshore for lunch. I found that there was a county campground another 40 miles on, that had reserved sites for bike packers. I really like places that cater to hikers and bikers. The weather was good and after covering 40 miles so far this day, I still felt reasonably strong. I made a reservation and started on the second 40 miles of the day. This was pushing myself a bit, but I figured I had done a few 80 mile days and I could do more.

After getting going again, a fellow stopped his car in the middle of the west bound lane, rolled down his window and asked, “Where are you going?” At the moment I had my mouth full of anti-cramp food and I tried to enunciate “Boston”, but it came out like I had my mouth full of marbles. I then added in just slightly better English, “I came from Oregon.” The fellow then said “You must be famous.” I responded with “no.” We then parted ways.

I got a nice reception from Rich, the Perry County campground host. The crowd here seem a little more used to bike packers than many places that I have stayed at. The campground is right on Lake Erie and I got to listen to a country concert that they are having.

With the additional 80 miles I covered today, I’m up to a total of 2924.

Smoke from the fires in Canada made the morning sky very hazy and for the second time I could smell the smoke.

I wasn’t on the road for very long this morning when I ran across Dan riding in the opposite direction. As is customary when crossing path with other bike packers, you stop and chat, exchanging any information on the trail conditions or just whatever comes to mind.

Dan is from Arizona and started in Florida and rode up the east coast before turning west. When he reaches the Pacific, he will turn south, before returning to his home in Arizona.

Dans hat/helmet is quite unique. However, it’s hard for me to criticize him, as day after day in the sun really does a job on your skin. I was peeling for a week after I arrived in Wisconsin despite using sunscreen and moisturizing cream almost every day on the road.

Dan also took a picture of me.

A few minutes after leaving Dan, I met another couple headed west. I also chatted with them for a while. After that second encounter, I started thinking that I would be meeting a lot more bike packers on this section of the trail, but today I encountered no more people touring by bike. I did meet another cyclist who was out on a training ride. Jan rode with me for a while and guided me through a section of trail.

One theme often discussed is the number of bike packers being encountered is down. I was thinking about this and have a possible explanation. First young people now learn to ride bikes on trails, not on the streets. Many are now reluctant to ride on the street. The other factor is the rise of gravel riding and the increasing network of rail trails give cyclists safer alternatives.

In the afternoon I was riding along Lake Erie when I saw this sight.

A corn field on the right, a mobile home park to the left and a picnic table under a shade tree between them. I had to stop and enjoy the picnic table and this view.

Today, I cruised 68 miles to a motel in Amherst, Ohio. Total distance is now 2844 miles.

Again it was a beautiful day for riding. Blue skies, moderate temperatures, and Northwesterly winds.

Today Michigan and Apple Maps messed with me again. Seems like everywhere I went, the pavement turned to gravel. At one point I even turned around and went back about a half mile to take a chance with a paved road that didn’t seem too busy. It worked out pretty well. A couple of other roads turned to gravel about a mile after I got on them. Now I have done some gravel riding for pleasure, but it’s a lot more strenuous than most pavement riding. The result is slower speeds and fewer hours in the saddle before you become fatigued. It’s also much harder on your equipment. For the distances I’m trying to cover, gravel really isn’t optimal. If safe paved roads are available, I’ll try to use them.

Toledo was kind of a bear to get through, as there were few bike lanes or paths and the shoulders on the busier roads were nonexistent or very narrow. I resorted to a lot of side streets which requires a lot of stopping to check directions.

The town itself seems pretty run down with a lot of litter and decrepit buildings. However, compared to Portland, Oregon, the majority of homeless people didn’t appear to be living on the streets. Based on the state of the streets, I would say the city of Toledo was hurting financially, like a lot of the residents. In contrast, Portland has a big problem with the homeless, but the city itself seems to be in reasonable repair.

Once I got through the immediate Toledo area, the side roads were excellent (and paved) but the main roads were too dangerous to use.

About 71 miles crossed today, makes for a total of 2776. The blue line on this screen shot of the Google Maps app gives you a rough idea of my track. As I had hoped, I am now on the ABA Northern Tier route again.

About 80 miles today in perfect weather and favorable winds. I woke up with pretty good energy. No need for naps today.

I tried to stay on pavement, but that is hard to do here in Michigan. The gravel is mostly excellent, but there are always places that need maintenance. Here is an example.

Just ahead, around the corner, it looked darn near perfect.

I didn’t see another cyclist until late on the morning when a couple of guys on a training ride passed by going in the other direction. Right after seeing those two, I encountered a trail head for the Michigan State Lakes Rail-trail. There were a lot of people using that trail, but very few could be seen elsewhere, except in cities like Ann Arbor or Ypsilanti.

Today, I’m camping just south of Ypsilanti, Michigan. Tomorrow, I should get into Ohio and may be able to reconnect with the Adventure Bicycling Association Northern Tier route, which will take me through the rest of Ohio, Pennsylvania and most of New York State. That should make things a bit easier for me, as coming up the routes through Wisconsin and Michigan involved a lot of research and thought. On the other hand, I must admit that the traveling these self generated routes turned out to be easier than I had expected.

Total miles is now up to 2705.

2548 + 77 miles today = 2625 total miles. The last three days combined I rode 196 miles. I guess I might be anxious to get home.

Despite the miles covered, most of todays miles were not easy ones. First of all, I woke up with low energy levels and decided to get a breakfast at IHOP which was just down the street from the motel. That breakfast was bigger than I expected and felt heavy on my stomach.

Much of the ride was on the Fred Meijer Rail Trail. That statue on the bench that I mentioned yesterday was also of Fred. He must be some sort of icon in these parts.

The Fred Meijer Trail started out as fairly loose gravel. The going was slow enough that I considered moving over to the nearby highway. However, after a while it improved to crushed limestone much like many of the Wisconsin rail-trails. They had paved it within easy walking distance of towns.

The winds were from the North North East, which slowed progress and combined with the gravel surface really wore me down. I decided to take a cat nap on one of the many benches along the trail hoping a nap would boost my energy levels. Taking this nap was a first for me, but at least I was able to digest that breakfast. Afterwards I felt a bit stronger, as well.

Since there were absolutely no tent campsites available within riding distance, I thought my best option would be to find a room in Lansing, which is about 20 miles south of where the rail-trail crosses Michigan. I used Apple Maps to find a bicycle friendly route down from the rail trail. I also figured that the wind would switch from hindering me to helping me once I headed south. I was really looking forward to the switch to the road.

Just before I was due to turn south, I stopped to check on my progress with my phone. As I was dismounting from my bike I noticed an animal moving in a recently mowed hay or wheat field. I’m not positive, but I think that animal was a badger. If so, that would be the first badger that I have seen in the wild.

A few minutes later I found the route south was not paved, but a gravel road. After a bit of internal debate, I decided to bite the bullet and take the Apple Maps route rather than find my own route on a possibly paved road. Actually it wasn’t too bad and the tail wind really made up for the rough road surface. Apple Maps listed this road as a main road, but maybe one vehicle passed me during the nine miles that I was on that road. Later on, I had the option of following the Apple Maps recommended route on gravel or take a different, likely busier paved road. I had enough gravel for the day and took my own pavement route. The rest of the ride was wind aided on pavement.

One last note for today. There is a new thing going on in the mid-west. People are decorating their barns with quilt like designs. They are called barn quilts. Driving tour routes now exist that will lead you to many of these decorated barns.

Today I woke up at 4:15 in order to get to the ferry terminal on time, as I had a 6 AM ticket. Unfortunately it was dark and raining, so I put on my foul weather gear, added my headlamp, turned on my taillight and left my brothers house right at 5. Fortunately, just as I was about to leave, the rain slowed to a drizzle, so I didn’t get wet. You are supposed to be at least 15 minutes early in case the TSA decides to do some spot checks. I arrived about 25 minutes early and by the time I found way aboard and stripped off my foul weather gear, the boat was already moving.

Something like two and a half hours later, we arrived at Muskegon, Michigan, in the eastern time zone.

I found some nice rail-trails that lead east, as I intend on leaving Michigan somewhere in the southeastern part of the state so that I can reconnect with the ABA northern tier trail near Toledo, Ohio.

The trails ended in the northwestern part of Grand Rapids. Several people along the way warned me of coming severe thunderstorms that were projected to arrive this evening. One man was pretty concerned for me.

I decided to heed these suggestions and see if I could find a room on the eastern or southeastern side of town. I found a bench in the corner of nicely landscaped commercial property and started searching. There were plenty of flowers around me and one of those sitting bronze statues on another nearby bench. It was a quite beautiful spot.

Without too much trouble, I found a room near the airport on the other side of town. Proceeding to mount my bike and move on, I rode straight into one of those beautiful flower beds, crushing a few flowers and making it a bit less beautiful. It was a long hot day, and I realized that I was getting tired and it was a good time to quit.

I try really hard to pay attention to clues of fatigue like this and either take a big break or if I’m near a stopping point, quit for the day.

I had to ride completely through Grand Rapids to get to the motel. I was surprised at how large and developed that Grand Rapids is. I had completely forgotten that Michigan State University was located here. When you cycle through a city, you really get a sense of the place, warts and all. There are not a lot of warts in Grand Rapids, but there are some homeless wandering about.

It was six miles to the ferry in the morning and another 53 from the dock in Muskegon to the motel room. About 29 of those 53 miles were on well paved rail-trails. This makes a total of 2548 miles traveled. I think that it is significant that I think that there may be less than 1000 miles left to travel!

Todays ride was from my sisters house in Whitewater to my brothers house in South Milwaukee. I will take the Lake Express ferry from Milwaukee to Muskegon, Michigan in the morning.

I’m a bit nervous starting out again after a two plus week hiatus, but I think I have a much better idea of what to expect when compared to June 1st.

Just outside of Whitewater I smelled the smoke from the Canadian fires for the first time. It was also extremely hazy.

The first part of the ride was on quiet country roads with no dogs. The second part was composed of the Glacial Drumlin and New Berlin rail trails, which got me to West Allis near the outskirts of Milwaukee.

On the New Berlin trail, a fellow saw my packs and flagged me down to find out where I was going.  At first I thought it would be a typical conversation among fellow bike packers.  He said he had done the Portland, Oregon to Portland, Maine trip about ten years ago.  He also said he averaged 100 miles a day, which should have been a red flag.  I averaged 60 miles a day on the first part of my adventure and lost weight, despite eating like a glutton.  I’m sure that a few people could manage 100 miles a day, but there can’t be a lot of those kind of people out there.

Anyway, at this point the conversation went in a new direction.  This fellow started picking apart my selection of equipment and cycling clothing.  

He said he has never seen a bike-packer wearing racing attire.  Then he noticed my Conti Gatorskin tires, which have minimal tread and said I should be using Schwalbe tires which an adventure magazine recommended and he had on his bike.  Oh and how come you have down tube shifters on your bike, they went out in the 70s, he said.  He also said I should not be using cleats.  I looked down and saw he had old school toe cages and straps on his bike.  He said that I had everything backwards.

At this point I asked him about his retro bike.  He responded by saying it was a new bike which he had custom made.  He showed me the Milwaukee badge on the head tube, a brand I was not acquainted with.  Then he started dumping on disc brakes and pointed out that he had his bike specially made to use rim brakes.  

The vast majority of people in the bicycling community are really nice, but there are also a few with poor social skills and this guy was high on that list. This guy wasn’t my kind of person and I found an excuse to move on.  Some of the statements this fellow made were just wrong and others were matter of opinion, most of which I didn’t agree with.

The rest of the ride was urban riding, with a mix of side streets and busier roads with and without bike lanes. Wacky cyclists aside, it was a nice day of riding and I did pretty good physically, given the hot weather and the fact I haven’t been riding much over the last couple of weeks.

It was 63 miles to my brothers house in South Milwaukee, so I’ve bumped the total to 2489 miles.

Tomorrow will be a combo family/day travel day as I will be riding into Milwaukee to my brothers place. From there, I will take the Lake Express ferry to Muskegon, Michigan.

Today we had a family BBQ of bratwurst, sweet corn, and fixings. And played some games of Shrodinger’s Cat.

My mom wrote up an article about me for the Whitewater Banner and they added it to their news stream: https://whitewaterbanner.com/whitewater-native-bikes-4000-miles-pacific-to-atlantic-solo/

The whitewater banner is the replacement for the old fashioned print town paper. Whitewater is my home town.