Day 38. Wednesday, July 24.

Day 38. Wednesday,  July 24. Mount Pleasant to Birch Run, MI  74 miles

Well, it would have been close to 74 miles had we not had a bit of a detour. My odometer read 81 miles by the time we pulled into the hotel this afternoon. Again I learned to never assume a day will be easy.

We got a late start this morning - a little after 8:15, as we had our "rap" meeting this morning rather than last night because of the long day yesterday. It was nice to have Bill Drake ride with us is morning.    Amy, Yuval, Terry, Gary, Ann and Gail, Bill and I headed off together, hoping to lessen the impact of the east and north east winds today by riding in a pace line. I'd say it helped quite a bit, but the day was still a lot of work at times. It was nice when we had to go south.  Bill is still riding strong at 70 years old. There were a few times we had to tell him to slow it a bit.  As I mentioned yesterday, Bill was one of two that got me into riding 12 or 13 years ago when we lived in Sylvania, just outsideToledo. I remember Bill came riding by the house one day while I was standing outside. I asked him how far he went and he yelled back over his shoulder, "35 miles."  I went into the house and commented to Tam, "Who in the heck would ever ride a bike 35 miles?"  I asked her that last night as well!!

The day was fairly uneventful with only one SAG stop at the Reeves farm. I guess the story is that several years ago, one of the ride leaders stopped at this farm to take a picture of a tractor and the owner showed him a barnful of refurbished tractors in pristine condition. They stopped again the next year to say hi and the friendship was born. It's now a regular stop, even though Mr. Reeves has passed on.

With today's ride, we've officially ridden 3/4 of the route. We've now completed just over 2800 miles. But there's still a lot of riding to do with over 850 or so miles to go. The next few days are relatively flat, but there will be some roll when we get to the Finger Lakes region in New York, and Vermont and New Hampshire will have some tough climbs. We all know the end is not too far away, but I just have to keep in mind that there are still 11 riding days left. Now is not the time to ease up.

I'm looking forward to seeing Mandy, Vaughn, Sophia and Cate tomorrow in Port Huron.

Again, Bill, thanks for coming up for the ride today. I looked for you after my shower, but you were gone. Thanks, too, for the pictures.

Be well. Do good.

Don