We are like olives. Only when we are crushed do we give our best.
Today was a bike ride for the ages. After torrential rains in Missouri I thought I'd experienced it all. Not even close.
Today I did my hundred miles barely hanging on to the handlebars frozen stiff peddling through a snowstorm. Ah Michigan! I have very few photos of the last 40 miles because like I said I was hanging on for dear life. But I arrived and we all can arrive. We can all do so much more than we think.
The day started quite well. It was below zero and cold but dry. I cycle through many small towns for the most part following highway 12. In westville I'm at my first beautiful person, Charly.
Charly works at Casey's gas station. He's a wonderfully personable person chatting up each and every customer. I've been frequenting Casey's stores because they have French roast coffee. My favorite.
Charlie has worked at the store for ages. After hearing about my trip he told me about his early days cycling between towns. He'd cycle from library to library in different towns. He said he'd never want to live in a town that didn't have a library. Good thought.
Many people were coming in to buy lottery tickets. Charlie said he never plays because he's the most unlucky person on the planet. We laugh and I said that makes. He told me about his father who saved all his spare change in aluminum cigar holders. When it came time to buy a new car he took them to the bank and there was almost $3,000 worth saved up. We both agreed that's a lesson. A little each day can add up to a lot.
Thank you Charlie for making my day and for being such a beautiful person.
I continued through other beautiful towns like Laponte and also South bend. South bend was a little dodgy for me and because it started to snow I left the town quite quickly.
Then I hit Michigan and the rain and the snow and the wind began to really fall.
So before turning east to my destination I pulled into a McDonald's for some salty fries and a coffee. I needed to warm my cold cold feet constantly. I'd stopped earlier at a Goodwill and bought some woman's slipper socks. They help keep my feet dry and warm but once the snow hit they didn't work very well.
In the McDonald's I met my second beautiful person of the day Brad. Brad and I had a marvelous chat.
He's retired and now living in albertsburg. He moved into town from eagle lake once he retired. He worked over 30 years as a coppersmith, melting copper. He says those days of small factories doing that are long gone. In his life he's never traveled much the furthest was Chicago. But he watches TV and he always had dreams of traveling. We chatted about so much and he was truly the most authentic person I've met on my trip. He says he comes into McDonald's everyday for a Sunday and a coffee. He says there's Sundays are the best in the world. Thank you Brad for being such a great and beautiful person.
Next I headed east through the driving snow to my destination Sturgis 36 mi away. It was hell. I stopped every five or six miles at a gas station just to warm up my feet. My hands were beyond repair I just got them gripping the handlebars and then didn't move as I cycled along.
But I finally made it and tomorrow I know will be better. Hope truly does ring eternal. Today was an example of how deep and almost infinite are resources are when we truly want to do something. I just knew I had to get here to Sturgis and so I got here.
I'm tired, kaput and I think tomorrow I'll have a shorter day rest near Detroit and then cross into Canada on Friday. Wish me luck it'll be nice to be in my home and native land.
Share this post