Day 17

Our hotel was pretty no frills. It worked well, close to our route, cheap and nice enough, but no breakfast. I really hope I don’t just sound like I’m complaining all the time. I really don’t mean to but if I’m going to talk about our day, it started with a cup of coffee and a slice of some kind of bread… the only food with in walking distance. I used to wish for shoes till I met the boy with no feet. 

On the positive, this would be the earliest morning departure yet! 

We rode along the shore of Lake Superior. It was beautiful, and surprisingly less windy then yesterday’s inland travels. 

The day did start cold, 51 in the next town right before we left. We dressed for the weather, however shortly there after we stripped a layer. By the time we made it to the next town it was in the low 70’s and just after noon so we stopped for breakfast / lunch. 

Not too long after lunch we had a moment. Any people in such close contact are bound to have flare ups. Doing something strenuous is going to up that anti. I find, professionally 21 days is the number. On the twenty first day of most jobs, there is a sudden shift. Like I am expected to understand your problems and needs and make accommodations. (Not that this is what happened but there is a strong parallel) 

I have spent most of my career avoiding holding a position, by remaining free lance I can come, work and leave. It usually mean I need to constantly look for work, and usually work a bit harder each day. However, I am hopefully always a welcome guest. Also I never (or almost never) get sucked into the politics of who needs extra, who gets less, who always gets picked on. I endeavor to come to work, to work. It sounds so simple but on day 21 there always seams to be some kind of shift where people stop being on best behavior, or whatever you want to call their change of attitude. 

I think dating has some of this too. People tend to “act” different, better? I understand you can’t just pull out your most outlandish behaviors on the first date. But that would be just false as hiding (or even mitigating them). However, people put on their “first date” face, attitude, speech etc… But at some point one either needs to release their mask or wear it for life. The scariest part is there are people out there who choose to wear that mask for life. However, if you can’t look your love straight in their flaws and still love them, did you ever love them? Or did you just love their acting? 

At the end, Jerry and I spoke. We are great friends and will remain so. When you do big things together, there are usually big problems. You need to adapt and over come… Or you know, give up and go home, if that’s an option for you.

We weren’t allowed to ride on Route 41 in this section of town. So we turned to a small road that would hook back in to Route 28 further down. We didn’t know this would happen which made it annoying, we but did find a historical marker. These are the kinds of things that make a trip like this so fun. Dose seeing where the center line was invented really mean anything in my life, probably not, but it’s kind of fun to come across something like this.

A few miles later we saw a dead bobcat on the side of the road. We didn’t stop and I didn’t catch it with the camera but I would seriously estimate it was 40 – 45 pounds. That is a HUGE cat! Bobcats had been in news a bunch shortly before we left so they were on my mind. However I did not think I would see one… Especially this early. I hope the dead one today was the closest I will come to one. It was beautiful and I do like cats, however I would not like to tango with a cat that large. 

Jerry and I talked about the road kill of this, last and other trips. Possibly the wildest thing I’ve ever seen was with Jerry on the Manhattan – Miami trip, and it was one of his top views as well. We saw a dead deer on the side of the road, recently dead. A vulture had gotten there and started to pry out the tongue. The vulture had a claw on each side of the deers mouth, biting the tongue, using his full body trying to get the tongue plucked from the deers mouth. 

Road kill is just part of being on the road. There is a level of morbid curiosity with any death, and riding past it brings it right to you. Some times its just gone, sometimes it’s really gross, sometimes it’s just interesting. On the bike, you can smell it (sometimes), you can usually see it well, some times you can’t avoid it. 

We continued on to find the motel I saw near the pizza place on line. However, they were sold out. We took a few minutes to look up the next nearest hotel. 2 miles. Ok. Food? No. Just the pizza place right here. Delivery? No. Ok. So we order food to go and strap it all to our bikes. No worries, just two miles down the road. With our food attached I had to wear my back pack and stuff my panniers with everything else. We got back on Route 41 and headed toward the new hotel. 2 miles later I ask if Jerry saw it, because I didn’t. He didn’t either. We went a mother mile, its in case. Then, with no hotel in sight I called. He said “Yep, just keep going.”  We carried on another mile. Finally we could see a hotel. We pulled ahead, and found yet a third hotel… No Vacancy. I called again. He said “Yep, just keep going.” We continued and finally saw our hotel, about 5 miles from where my phone said 2 miles. Either way I was very excited to get to the room to eat our food while it had any sort of warmth. 

Our earliest start, with our least stops and yet we ended with similar miles and times. But as Jerry says, “It is what it is.”

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MikeDiazTheFirst

Mike was born in Queen, New York to a blue collar family. An avid self educator, artist, and traveler he’s traveled around the globe three times while immersing himself in the culture of 48 different countries and counting.  Read about his journeys and musings here.

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