Day 20

We got up early and hit the hotel breakfast as soon as it opened. It was nice to have breakfast right inside the hotel. Waffles and the mixing of all different travelers. 

Later we discussed how Jerry ended up paying more attention to a older couple giving travel advice to the woman working hotel breakfast. While I was more focused on a group of three people, two guys and a woman who looked to be traveling for work. They were all wearing the same tee shirts, I assume the company they were working. What got me about them as a group was that one guy sat down at a table quickly, as if to establish location. Shortly after the woman sat down at a different table. Now’s when I got interested. The third guy saw the two coworkers sitting at different tables and had to make a choice. What I thought was interesting was both the first guy and the woman sat with they’re backs to the room, so they couldn’t see and the third couldn’t make eye contact for an clues. Is all of this just morning routine or was there some fight that was being played out? Would these sides be held for the rest of the day? 

After breakfast we headed back to the room to finish getting ready and head out. 

The ride was cool. Over cast in the 60’s. It was either so humid or sightly raining… You didn’t really feel water hitting you, but there would be water dripping off us as we rode. Jerry was suited well for the weather, I chose not to wear my rain jacket. For the first mile or so I thought maybe I was making a mistake. However shortly I came to think it was nice. Cool and refreshing. 

I spent most day looking at the road and thinking about what it would have been like to ride this route in the rains of yesterday. The hills weren’t too crazy but they were bigger then the hills of earlier yesterday. As in, as the rain increased in the evening the hills would have grown as well. 

Finally arriving at Atwood we saw the road feet from Lake Superior. I wonder what the storm would have been like riding by the lake front. 

I usually try to allow the universe to provide but I am now feeling like I’ve spent most of the first weeks of this tour so concerned with time, and distance. Yes I am navigating but it is what it is. When the road has a detour, what can we do other then take the detour. Yes, it made us go miles out of the way… And? We are doing it. The miles are adding up. Soon enough we will be half way, and then three quarters, and then nine tenths, and just like that we’ll be blocks away. 

My biggest victory, as of yet, is having the capacity to stay in the saddle for greater lengths of time. I know this does not sound like any great feet, but this was my biggest struggle in the Manhattan – Miami tour. No matter what you want to do; no matter what your legs are capable of; you can not ride if you can’t sit on the bike. 

We passed through Atwood pretty quick and right back to riding. Shortly after leaving the city limits we saw the dreaded detour signs. We pulled over to check the maps. No mention of the detour on any of the map apps. We saw most of the cars not turning for the detour. We questioned do we need to use the detour? We started to go straight, not taking the detour. Just then a car turns to take the detour and yells at us, “You guys need to take this road!” We think maybe we should just follow the signs, literal and the guys yelling kind of signs. 

The detour, in the end wasn’t actually that bad. There was little to no shoulder, but of all problems thats not so bad. Soon we were back on Route 2. The sun came out, the shoulder was nice… all things are coming up aces. 

Before we knew it, we were entering the town that had two motels to choose from… and a restaurant open past 8 PM. We checked the map and road to find the first called ‘motel’ was really a RV park. Bust. We continued through town and see a third motel option neither of us knew about, with a large NO vacancy sign out front. We continued toward the second motel on the map. We follow the map straight to a dead end. Bust. We talk about going to the bonus ‘no vacancy’ motel, maybe they’ll have information if not a room. Inside I was informed they do not have a room but she offered to call the motel 8 miles down the road. Score! They have one room with two beds left. She asks the motel to hold the room for the two guys on bikes that will be there soon. I thank her profusely and head outside to inform Jerry of the news. It wasn’t until I stepped outside did I think about how she knew so well there were two of us on bikes. Sure I had bike gear and a helmet on but I never mentioned Jerry or expressed that we were on bikes. Either way we now excitedly forge ahead toward our new goal. 

We quickly made our way past those 8 miles. I looked at the map and saw two motels just adjacent on Route 28. We turned on to Route 28 for a quick “1,000 feet from Route 2”. Where we found a RV park. We looked at the map and saw there was a second listed just down the road. As we rode we thought about how much it will suck to get food out here, in the middle of no where. We rode for too long before we finally stopped and looked at the map. Yes we passed it. But we didn’t see anything. I looked on the map again, I called and I got some one on the phone who said the listing was actually a privet residence. A moment of panic, new apps and finally I find a listing, for a motel on Route 2. I call this number and the woman says she is still waiting for us and was about to give up. I explain what happened and we quickly make our way back to Route 2, and shortly find the motel. During check in she tells me the restaurant closes at 8. And just like that we’re in a hurry again. Luckily the real closing time was 10, but either way we had a nice meal and are ready for Minnesota. 

The following two tabs change content below.

• Bio
• Latest Posts

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.

Latest posts by MikeDiazTheFirst (see all)

• Pandemic - April 15, 2020
• A farewell to EJ - March 27, 2019
• The three children - February 13, 2019