What Has Happened to Truth?

A recent blog by Timothy Egan of the New York Times (http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/timothy-egan/) asked serious questions about why so many people in our country are choosing to believe lies about President Obama, particularly that he is a Muslim, and that he is not a citizen. He lays a considerable amount of the blame at the feet of certain media personalities and institutions.

It certainly appears to be true that some media figures regularly engage in deliberate deception, and that many members of the public are believing them. Perhaps more disturbing, however, is that the political figures who stand to benefit from these lies are, for the most part, refusing to repudiate them. They seem quite willing to stand silent or, in some cases, encourage and even repeat the falsehoods. By doing so, they are forfeiting any claim to character and honor that they otherwise may have had.

This lack of truthfulness by politicians is certainly not limited to members of any political party. Just look at virtually any political campaign and watch for all the ways that candidates and their campaigns seek to hide their opinions and positions in vague generalities, and how they bend over backwards to distort the positions and records of their opponents.

Soon after his inauguration, President Obama had a one-on-one interview with Matt Lauer. Matt asked him if he could see his Blackberry, which President Obama had reportedly been loath to give up. The President said he didn’t have it with him, and just then it rang. He grinned and looked embarrassed. What did he have to gain by this falsehood? Was it just habitual?

What has happened to truth in public discourse? Sometimes it seems like we live in a world in which people will say anything that they think will advance their cause or protect them from harm, without any regard for whether it is really true. The most egregious offenders may be people who make their living in politics, but some media figures seem determined to catch up. Deceptiveness by the media is perhaps more disturbing than when it comes from politicians, because the news media is established for the purpose of providing objective information to the public. When the media is deliberately untruthful, it is being destructive of its principal role in society, and therefore being destructive of itself.

Let’s consider that any effort to be deliberately deceptive is a lie. If you speak, or don’t speak, with the purpose of misleading others, that is lying. Probably the great majority of us learned as children that lying is bad. I hope that the great majority of parents are still teaching their children that. But what do children observe in their parents, and what do we observe in the world around us?

Do you remember the world before “spin” meant providing an interpretation of a speech or an event that was intended to mislead the public? If you think about it, the word “spin” is itself a lie, because it is a seemingly benign term for a pernicious activity. Political spin is now an accepted activity, and the media report it faithfully.

I’m not a person who requires answering all questions truthfully, in all times and places. It’s not infrequent that I will tell someone that I am choosing not to answer a question. Often that’s because answering the question would betray an expressed or implied confidence. Saying that we are declining to answer a question is not being deceptive. But I think we need to consider that when we are deliberately untruthful to another person, we are disrupting and destroying our relationship with that person, because that relationship now has dishonesty as part of its basis. Fundamentally, when we are untruthful, we are diminishing ourselves. Our honor has suffered, and we are also separating ourselves from the truth of the world around us.
I don’t believe that there ever was a world where truth-telling was rigorously honored and practiced, but I do think that it has suffered dramatically in my lifetime. Can the world be put on a track toward restoring truthfulness in private and public discourse? I think so, if 1) more of us accept it as important and practice it in our own lives, and 2) more of us call attention to untruthfulness by others, most especially if we would stand to benefit by the lies. Unless we move in this direction, we are all condemned to live in a world where we cannot trust anyone around us, and where we fundamentally cannot respect ourselves. That is a miserable existence, indeed.

A Recap

As time passes for all of us, it will be easy to forget what the trip really was. It may become just “a coast-to-coast bike ride,” rather than the reality of pedaling ourselves on our bicycles across every foot of this expansive continent. So here’s a recap, state by state.

California
Across San Francisco in a rare May rain, from breakers to bay

Up, up, and up the very step Oakland hills and through East Bay hills and valleys – an early test of legs

Across the Central Valley and up into the Sierra foothills

Up, up, and up the Sierra Nevada, cresting over 8,000 feet three times, then plunging for miles down into

Nevada
Through ranch and farm country, Carson City and Fallon, then into the desert and over more than a dozen mountain ranges, all with long and broad valleys between, often lush with grasses and wildflowers, others with sagebrush

Utah
A 97-mile day of desert, then ag and pasture and a mountain range

Across metropolitan Salt Lake City

Wind and hail

More mountain ranges, desperately cold and wet in the rain and snow

Beautiful ag land along a large lake, and across a corner of

Idaho
More rich farm and ranch land, up and over a mountain range and into

Wyoming
Ag land, then the gorgeous Snake River canyon (where we rendezvoused with Ralph Hughes and his arents) and into Jackson Hole

Past the awe-inspiring Grand Tetons

Yellowstone, with rain, hail, snow, ice, elk, bison, climbs, the Continental Divide, spectacular mountains and valleys. The ride over Dunraven pass and through the Lamar Valley was one of my favorite days of the trip.

Montana
The Beartooth Highway up to almost 11,000 feet, then plunging down to Red Lodge – another tough and spectacular day

A near miss (2 miles) by a tornado while we holed up in our campground in Billings

Several days of the Great Plains, never flat, and at first interspersed with ranges of foothills

North Dakota
Six more days of the Great Plains, with winds every day up to 30 mph – never at our back – some of our toughest prolonged riding of the trip

Far more lakes and ponds than I would have dreamed, tucked into every large and small valley in the very green rolling plains

Minnesota
One day of the Great Plains, then into the North Woods for three days, with numerous lakes, evoking lots of childhood memories of Michigan and Wisconsin

Lake Itasca, the source of the Mississippi

Wisconsin
More days of woods and lakes, including a layover day with my brother at Teal Lake, a favorite childhood haunt

Michigan
More days of woods, some farm land, with Lake Michigan making increasingly frequent and prolonged appearances

A layover day in St. Ignace, my boyhood home, including a newspaper interview

Crossing the high International Bridge

Ontario
Have I mentioned woods and lakes, with some ag land? Eight more rolling days of it, including Algonquin Provincial Park

Highway 17 was hands down the least safe road for bicycling we encountered in over 4,000 miles of riding – terribly narrow shoulders and lots of big trucks

Two days in the rich Ottawa and St. Lawrence Valleys – prosperous farms and many pretty small towns

Quebec
Suburban Montreal, then farmland and rolling woods and lakes for two more days

Working on my French

Vermont
A whole ten minutes of it, through Canaan and across the Connecticut River and into

New Hampshire
The Appalachians got serious, with several steep and fairly prolonged climbs for a couple of days, including over Dixville Notch

Joined by my other brother and his family for our last two days

Maine
Rolling woods, farms, and small towns, leading to Portland and the beautiful Atlantic

A wonderful reception at the finish, followed by lobster on the wharf

There is far more that I could say about each state, but these are the main images that will stay with me. Along the way we learned that 70-mile days are pretty routine, 80+ mile days can be strung together, riding in the rain can be OK as long as it’s warm, and that friendships can be cemented and community formed and celebrated while we’re living for a purpose.

What’s next? Hard to say. Kathy and I will be staying in Michigan for a week , then returning to California for perhaps a month before moving to Michigan. Rich and Cindy and Ginger stopped here in Paw Paw last night and now are driving their new truck back to California, via some family visiting in Nebraska. For now, however, this should be the final chapter of this blog. Thanks for reading!

Reflections, Part 2

Here are some more things I’m thinking about, two days after finishing.

I didn’t have a specific cause that I was raising funds for, which left me feeling a bit self-indulgent – like I was doing the ride just for me. So I sort of adopted the Ride Against Hunger that Rich was doing, and that helped. So please, if you haven’t already, donate to the food banks that Rich is supporting, or to a food bank in your local area, and let Rich know at richowlman@gmail.com.

I do know that even if it was self-indulgent, it was definitely a journey of self-discovery, and that’s good.

Whether it was self-indulgence, self-discovery, or raising money for a cause, I am very aware that we were able to do this ride because we live a life of privilege. How else could we have afforded to take ten weeks to do this? It’s one more way that our lives are so different from the lives of the people who desperately need the food banks that Rich is supporting.

I do know that our ride was very inspiring to a lot of people, and that’s good. Wherever we went, people would learn that two guys in their mid-60s were doing this, and they would get a light in their eyes and see possibilities.

Tomorrow (or within the next day or so, depending on connectivity), some final thoughts.

Reflections, Part 1

Yesterday in Portland, Maine, Rich Fowler and I completed our coast-to-coast bike trip. It was the moment that had been our goal since we started in San Francisco on May 27. The finish was a wonderful moment of joy and triumph, and a great celebration of friendship and family, but it did not come without mixed feelings. At one point in the immediate aftermath Rich said to me, “Hey buddy, we don’t have to ride tomorrow.” I said, “That’s true, but it’s also true that we don’t get to ride tomorrow.”

I am a counter. Like “The Count” on Sesame Street, I love to count things. It is just something I do, pretty much automatically. So every day I would find myself counting down the miles – “22 miles down, 48 to go,” etc. I often had to distract myself to keep from doing it every mile. I did the same thing with the days – “40 days down, 18 to go.” In this way I always had some focus on the end of the ride, each day and the whole thing. Each day was tiring, of course, but seldom exhausting. The discomfort on my rear end did progress throughout each day, but was certainly within manageable limits, especially with the breaks we took every ten miles. So to a certain extent the daily countdowns prevented me from being “in the moment,” really appreciating what I was doing right then.

So what was I doing “right then?” I was doing several things, all of which added up to a wonderful whole. I was pedaling my marvelous machine, so efficient and so well-fitted to my body, propelling it up and down hills and easily over the flat areas. I was immersed in nature, ranging from dense forests to craggy mountains to lakes and rivers to pasture to cropland, always with birdsong and occasionally with deer, elk, and other animals. I was riding with Rich, almost always trading the lead every mile, often wordlessly. Sometimes not a word was said for miles; at other times we engaged in serious conversation or banter, always getting to know each other better and deepening our friendship. We were constant companions, relying on each other’s help and encouragement, depending on the other’s presence. Finally, we were in the midst of an epic journey, moving daily under our own power across this great continent.

All of those things are now finished, and I will miss them. As much as we have been successful in reaching our goal, it’s very true that we don’t get to do those things anymore.

More reflections to come in future days.

Riding Day 57 - Yes, we made it!

Just a short blog tonight. Rich and I arrived at the Atlantic Ocean today around 1:30 p.m. after riding 74 miles from Hanover. We were greeted by Kathy, Cindy, my brother Bill, his wife Janis, and their children Rachel and Andrew, as well as several other interested and enthusiastic onlookers who were captured by the moment.

The finish was perfectly placed -- we ended the ride on a dedicated bike trail, where it entered a public boat ramp, so we weren't competng with traffic. The last half-mile or so was right along stunning Portland Harbor, with brilliant blue sky and water, and sailboats scudding about. We did the requisite dipping of our wheels in the ocean, hugged and cried a bit, and later all went out for a lobster feast outdoors on a wharf.

It's now late, and there is far too much to feel and think about and process than I can deal with right now. Thanks so much to all of my readers for your interest and support. Stay tuned in the coming days!

Riding Day 56 - Epicness

Just 50 miles today, from Colebrook, New Hampshire, to Hanover, Maine. It was great to have a short day, finished by lunch, but we certainly paid for it on the climbs. There were three of them, each a few miles long, and each with some sections at 6% or steeper. They gave us no real problems, but we were definitely in our lowest gears for some of the time.

Some of the highlights of the ride included:
· The coolest morning we’ve had in quite awhile – just 46 degrees. Definitely a morning for long sleeves, tights, and long gloves.
· Entering Maine, our 13th and final state (plus two provinces)
· Going over the 4,000-mile mark for the whole trip
· Seeing our first sign for Portland
· Riding over the Dixville Notch, with a beautiful lake near the top on the north side, and an initial drop on the south side that was so steep, I couldn’t even see the road until I was at the summit. Dixville Notch is famous for being the first place to cast presidential primary ballots. Voters gather to vote at the stroke of midnight on primary day.

So we set up camp before lunch, and then had a leisurely afternoon of blogging, napping, route planning, etc. Looks like we’re all set for tomorrow!

I realized the other day that I was using the word “epic” in my mind when thinking about this ride. I don’t know if it truly qualifies as epic (Who decides that, anyway?), but it definitely feels that way. When I think about riding 6 days a week for more than 9 weeks, about going more than 4,000 miles, about starting in San Francisco in the rain, riding over the Sierras, across the Nevada ranges and the Rockies, up and over Beartooth Pass, through rain and snow and hail and wind, traversing major parts of 11 states and two provinces, plus minor parts of two more states, it feels pretty epic to me. That’s interesting, because I haven’t done much in my life that I would count as epic. Rather, I have long pursued balance, trying to cultivate many aspects of myself in my activities, but resultantly not having a major focus on any single thing for an extended period of time. This is different. I’m not sure how much epic stuff I’ll do in the future, but I’m enjoying how it feels.

Riding Day 55 - Back in the US of A

A 93 mile day today, our second longest of the trip, took us from Granby, Quebec, to Colebrook, New Hampshire. I was very apprehensive about this day, because it was so long and also involved some of the most sustained climbing since Beartooth Pass. We were pleased to discover that the climbing was nowhere near as daunting as I feared, and another tailwind helped considerably, so we finished before 3:00, tired but still feeling good. It was good to get back to the USA after 12 nights in Canada, although we enjoyed our time there. (Those of us with less French certainly enjoyed Quebec less than the others.) We entered the US in Vermont, but were there only about 10 minutes before moving on to New Hampshire. 14 miles later, mostly riding along the picturesque Connecticut River, we were at our campground. We're in the northern end of the beautiful White Mountains, and our campground enjoys a commanding view to the south and east.

Waiting at the campground were my brother, Bill, his wife, Janis, and their children, Rachel (pictured with Ginger) and Andrew. They have come up from their home outside of Boston in order to be with us for the last couple of days of the ride. It is a wonderful gesture that I really appreciate. When we finish, we now know that someone will be there to help us celebrate!

Riding Day 54 - Certainly Not Boring!

Today saw us go "only" 86 mies from Coteau-du-Lac to Granby, Quebec. The first 55 miles was through the south and east outskirts of Montreal. It was certainly the most urban riding we've done since Salt Lake City, and had many challenges, including wrong turns, committee meetings for navigation, a tunnel, narrow bridges, struggling through conversations in French to get directions, and quite a number of miles on freeways (not the safest thing, but preferable to being repeatedly buzzed by big trucks on surface streets). The last 20 miles were much more rural, and we even got to ride on a very nice bike path for the final 8 miles or so. We are camped in a huge RV park and campground, with over 1,100 spaces.

Being in Quebec is fun, especially since I do possess some rudimentary French. It's like bicycling in Europe, but without the expense of getting overseas. Of course, it did take some effort to get here, now that I think of it.

Some highlights of today's ride included some very nice views of the St. Lawrence River, especially from the bridges (sorry, no photos -- we were in busy traffic), and seeing a freeway exit toward New York! Believe me, after riding all the way from San Francisco, that "New York" sign really lifted our spirits.

I'm realizing that I'm running out of time on this trip to dedicate some space to Kathy and Cindy. What an incredible support crew they have been! It is beyond words how grateful Rich and I are, and how amazed we are, by all they do for us day after day after day. They take care of almost all of the motor home needs every day -- hooking up and unhooking water, electrical ,and waste connections, and putting the stabilizers up and down. They find campgrounds and maneuver the vehicle into campsites, leveling it if necessary with blocks. They plan all our menus, purchase the food, and do most of the cooking of all dinners (Rich and I do the outdoor grilling, but that's about it). They almost always do the laundry. They keep things organized in our tiny home on wheels. They send us off in the mornings and happily greet us at the end of our rides. They meet us on the road for lunch. They search out local foods, which they always creatively include in our menus. When the weather is bad they keep extra close tabs on us, making sure we are OK. I can't tell you how wonderful it is, at the end of a day of biking, to have them and the motor home there to welcome us, with the canvas chairs out for us to collapse into, while they and the bikers share the adventures of the day.

I'm probably forgetting some important functions, which will occur to me after I have posted this, but suffice it to say that it is just amazing to Rich and me that Kathy and Cindy have dedicated their summers to supporting this adventure. I must add that they are both incredibly capable and accomplished people. Kathy is a retired change management consultant. Before that, she was a project manager and systems analyst, and before that she was a music teacher and choir director. Cindy is not at all retired. She has worked many hours this summer as a partner in the marketing and public relations firm of Graves-Fowler and Associates. Kathy and Cindy are also mom and grandmothers, and enjoy regular contact with their children and grandchildren while they are on the road.

I hope, after this trip ends, that Rich and I will find some ways to adequately express our profound thanks. We definitely owe them, big time!

Riding Days 52 & 53 - Nous sommes arrivee en Quebec!

It’s not often that 87 miles can be called easy and fun, but yesterday was. Also beautiful. The first 20 or so miles out of Renfrew were very hilly, but then the Ottawa Valley flattened out and we spent most of the rest of the day with the wind at our backs, traversing beautiful farmland, much of it with old gracious farmhouses, many of them brick. The smallest of towns seem to compete for who can have the biggest churches with the grandest steeples. The ruined church in the photo is St. Raphael, which was built in 1831 and gutted by fire in 1970. We crossed the Madawaska (pictured) and Mississippi Rivers (no, not that Mississippi). The roads didn’t have much in the way of shoulders, but we were on county highways with light traffic, so it didn’t matter. We did have to ride for a couple of miles on Highway 17, which we had shunned last week. Not only was the traffic still heavy, but the narrow shoulder was completely taken up by a rumble strip, forcing us out into the traffic lanes. Interestingly, we spoke with some other bicycle tourists in the Renfrew Campground last night. All of them recognized the horrors of Highway 17, but just shrugged, saying there was no alternative. We’re so glad that we found one!

Today was another 87-mile day -- not quite as easy, but still not too tough, with a tailwind much of the way again. We were finished by 2:00 and are now in the internet room, doing our blogging, e-mail, etc, before dinner. The terrain today was much like yesterday -- rolling farmland with big farmhouses. This part of Canada seems to have retained the small family farms, and they do a good job of marketing their produce locally. Kathy and Cindy are at a loss for where to stop. So many choices, so little time! (See Kathy's blog for more on this.)

We rode into Quebec this afternoon. It's interesting that, whereas in the rest of Canada the highway signs are bilingual, in Quebec they are en francais seulement. Hardly seems fair. We are near Montreal, but we decided to bypass it, on the grounds that navigating through it, either by bicycle or motorhome, would just be too tough.

It’s amazing to us how the summer has disappeared into this trip. Starting at the end of May in San Francisco, and progressing to the end of July here in Canada, we have seen the days lengthen to the solstice, and now start to shorten again. We saw corn in Montana and North Dakota that was just a foot or so tall, and now is over our heads. The wheat in the northern plains was new and green. Here it is golden. Through it all, we continue to be blessed with birdsong and wildflowers, continually changing and continually beautiful. We are very grateful.

Riding Day 51 and Layover - Seasonals

Saturday took us 83 miles from Madawaska to Renfrew, where we are ensconced in a nice KOA (on a lake, of course) for our layover today. The day started with a lot of ups and downs, and then at about 24 miles had a nice long drop into the Ottawa Valley, back into farmland after many days through mostly forests, lakes, and rivers. Near the top of the last hill we came upon a large church, St. Mary's, Our Lady of Czestochowa, Queen of Poland -- the oldest Polish Catholic Church in Canada, founded in 1875 (pictured). We had a light tailwind most of the day, and my legs are pretty well recovered form their weakness on Friday, so it was a good day. Overcast and muggy, but no rain.

Rich and I have been talking periodically throughout the ride about getting a massage, but yesterday we finally did something about it. At our lunch stop I made calls to a couple of massage places in Renfree, but could only leave messages. When we arrived at the KOA about 2:00 we asked if they could refer us somewhere local. They did better than that -- they contacted Joanne, a massage therapist who is a seasonal resident here. So she came over after our swim and Rich and I had massages on the picnic table at our campsite! Pretty amazing, and we were pretty aromatic aferward, given the mentholated "white oil" she used.

We have discovered that a lot of RV parks, especially those on lakes, have a large number of "seasonals." At many places, they represent the great majority of the users, particularly the trailers and 5th-wheels. For these folks, the RV is at the RV park for the whole summer, and is like a summer cottage, but with less expense and upkeep. Many of these RVs stay at the park year-round, but are just occupied in the summer. The retirees often spend their whole summers in them, while the working people come up for weekends and vacations. Many of them are older people, and they are periodically visited by their kids and grandkids, who stay in tents at their sites. You can tell the seasonals at a glance, because the RVs have various external accoutrements. The most common is a deck under the awning, but also included are such things as flowers, lattice skirts around the RV, signs saying things like "The Mulroneys Live Here," etc. One that is near us here in Renfrew even has a brick walkway and a hand-painted mailbox. Most of the seasonals seem to know each other and some places have community activities. They have invariably been friendly to us, providing good information about weather, roads, etc.

Tomorrow it's back in the saddle and on to Kemptville, our last stop in Ontario.

Riding Day 50 - "Will you still need me, will you still feed me...?"

OK, at least the Beatles fans among you know what birthday I'm celebrating today. Our little traveling commune did a fine job of making me feel special, including some nice slices of cake from "the best bakery in northern Ontario." (BTW, if this is northern Ontario, then what's the part north of Lake Superior? Just askin'.)

About half of our 83-mile ride from Huntsville to Madawaska today was straight across Algonquin Provincial Park. Last month we rode through Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks, and today we were priviliged to be in another of North America's great parks. In some ways, the landscape was a lot like territory we've been seeing off and on since Minnesota -- thick forests, with lots of lakes, rivers, and marshes. However, the water is much more visible from the road than anywhere we've been so far, and it's really beautiful. There are lots and lots of canoe trails available. Kathy and I are dreaming of a canoe camping trip here sometime after we move to Michigan.

Unfortunately, my legs were exceptionally dead today, almost certainly due to some "intestinal distress" I suffered yesterday afternoon and evening, so I was pretty slow. We didn't arrive in Madawaska until well after 3:00. I did perk up a bit in the afternoon, so better things should be in store for tomorrow. Better weather, too, we hope. Today was intemittently rainy and overcast all day. Pretty hilly, too, especially in the lst 20 miles.

For those of you who are tracking our route, and perhaps planning to connect with us somewhere, here is what the rest of the trip looks like, at least for now:

Sat, 7/24 Madawaska to Renfrew
Sun, 7/25 Layover in Renfrew
Mon, 7/26 Renfrew to Kemptville
Tue, 7/27 Kemptville to Coteau-du-Lac, Quebec
Wed, 7/28 Coteau-du-Lac to Granby
Thu, 7/29 Granby t0 Canaan, NH (previously listed as Pittsburg)
Fri, 7/30 Canaan to Hanover, ME
Sat, 7/31 Hanover to Portland!

This schedule is somewhat ambitious in terms of mileage, so is still subject to change, but it's what we're hoping for.

Riding Day 49 – When is a freeway not a freeway?

Route 11 was an essential part of today’s ride, and portions of it are marked on our highway map as freeway, which generally means no bicycles. However, there seemed to be no alternative, so Rich and I stopped at the corner store in Trout Creek and asked folks if they knew whether bikes were allowed. The response from the store clerk: “The signs say no bicycles, but I see people riding on it all the time.” That seemed to be the consensus of the other folks in the store, so ride it we did, uneventfully, and we saw no signs about bikes. Actually, the freeway sections have been the safest roads for cycling that we’ve ridden in Canada – wide shoulders and lots of room. I kind of hope we get some more!

Continuing our push toward the coast, today’s ride was 86 miles, with more hills than we’ve had the last few days, but nothing too extreme. Tonight we’re in Huntsville, Ontario. The weather was fine today, but showers are predicted for tomorrow, so we’ll see.

Today’s photo was taken this morning of the mist rising from the lake at our beautiful campground in Port Loring.

Riding Day 48 – Down to Single Digits

Nine riding days left! It helps to put that in perspective when I realize that nine days ago we were back in Patricia Lake, Wisconsin, but it still seems like it’s getting close. So far, the new route we put together yesterday afternoon is working out well. Today was 80 miles of good roads and much less traffic than we had yesterday. If you want to check your map, we’re in Port Loring, Ontario, in one of the nicest, prettiest, and friendliest RV parks we’ve had. No internet here, however, so this won’t get posted until tomorrow (Thursday) when Kathy can get to a hot spot. Port Loring is a nice quiet resort area with a number of lakes, and we’re right on one of them. It rained quite a bit last night, and through breakfast, but then not at all during the ride. Then the thunderstorms broke loose after we arrived and could go safely inside the motor home. Can’t ask for better than that!

It’s past time to write about bicycles. I spend some time each day focusing on the chain on Rich’s bike coursing over the rear cogs and through the derailleur, marveling at the simplicity of the system. Did you know that bicycles are the most efficient means of transportation ever developed? They do a fantastic job of converting energy into forward motion. It’s often said that it takes just 35 calories to propel yourself one mile on a bike. Of course, that depends on a lot of variables, including your size, the type of bike, speed, etc, but it’s considerably fewer calories than walking, and a car requires over 1,800 calories per mile.

The basic form of a bicycle hasn’t changed since around 1880. You have wheels, frame, handlebars, pedals, and a chain. The chain is perhaps the most remarkable component, because it performs the efficient transfer of energy from the pedal cranks to the rear wheel. I almost forgot the seat, one of the five places where your body contacts the bike, and an important control point.

Brakes have been added since the 1880s, and they are certainly a handy innovation. The other critical addition for touring cyclists is the very wide range of gearing, which makes it possible for us to conquer high mountains, yet still pedal efficiently on flat ground and even downhill. My bike, for example, in its highest gear, turns the rear wheel more than four times for every revolution of the pedals. In its lowest gear, the rear wheel makes just ¾ of a full turn for every pedal revolution. From low to high, that’s a much wider range than on any car.

All in all, our bikes are remarkably simple and effective machines, and I think that’s one of the reasons we do what we do – we really like to appreciate and enjoy this marriage of person and machine.

Riding Day 47 - Major Changes

As I reported yesterday, Highway 17 was really dangerous to ride on. Last night in our considerations I called to consult with the Ontario Provincial Police, and the officer I spoke with said that he cringes whenever he sees cyclists on that route. I told him I cringed a fair amount myself.

So today Rich and I rode about 23 miles to the outskirts of Sudbury, where the 4 of us holed up in a hotel and spent several hours on our computers, mapping an alternative routing. What we came up with will take us south from Sudbury instead of east, then cut east through Algonquin Provincial Park. We will rejoin our original route southeast of Montreal and re-enter the US in the same place in New England as before, but probably a day later. So it looks like we will finish on the 31st instead of the 30th. We hope and pray for better conditions!

Riding Day 46 – Not Our Favorite

Somehow it never occurred to me that the worst combination of heavy traffic and poor shoulders would be in Canada. The Trans-Canada Highway from Spragge to Sudbury is mostly two-lane, although there are a number of places where there are three lanes, with a passing lane on one side or the other. The paved shoulder is mostly only a foot or so wide, barely wide enough to ride in. The traffic is not continuous, but it is very frequent, and often consists of strings of vehicles. There are lots of heavy trucks. Most people move over to the left when they pass us, if they have the opportunity, but they can’t when there is oncoming traffic, or when they themselves are being overtaken. The result is a high frequency of close shaves. As is true everywhere I’ve been, the logging trucks are the worst offenders.

It all added up to a very stressful day of riding. Fortunately, it was only 63 miles. I think there was some pretty nice scenery, with woods, lakes, rivers, and farms, but we didn’t get to see much of it, because our eyes were glued to the shoulder and our mirrors.

We did have some very nice interactions with local folks. A couple of very hospitable rural neighbors graciously allowed us to eat lunch in their yards when we really needed a stop. One of them even invited us to use the table in her back yard. And a bit later, when we wanted to be sure we had the right side road to get to our campground, a man even volunteered to draw us a map. And it’s always great to hear the local accents and speech patterns,

So we’re camped in a nice rural RV park with lots of trees, a lake, and lots of long-term campers. They advertise wi-fi, but it only works near the office, so I hope this gets posted today. And they recommend boiling their water before drinking, because they didn’t pass their last inspection. Ah well, we’re one day closer to Maine!

BTW, today's photo is of Kate and Tom Stohlman (me on the right) during their visit yesterday. I tried to upload it yesterday, unsuccessfully.

Riding Day 45 - Another Rendezvous

A long day of biking today took us from Echo Bay to Spragge, Ontario. 90 miles is more than Rich and I would like to do, but sometimes circumstances require it. The terrain was pretty easy, with no major climbs; the scenery was fine, with more forested corridors, nice farms, some very small towns, and some nice lakes and rivers, including the north channel of Lake Huron; and passable weather, with lots of sprinkles but nothing to get us too wet.

After we arrived in Spragge the rain started in earnest, forcing an indoor visit from Kate and Tom Stohlman. Kate and Tom are friends of my brother, Bill, and they have been aware of our trip. It turned out that they were travelling to a summer home on St. Joseph's Island, and we determined that we would be crossing paths today. So they stopped in, introduced themselves, and we had a very chat for a half hour or so. Then they made a nice donation to Rich's Ride Against Hunger and went on their way. It's fun to know that this ride has captured folks' imagination!

Layover and Riding Day 44 – Oh Canada!

This won’t be posted for a day or so, because this evening (Saturday) here in Echo Bay, Ontario, Canada, we have no internet coverage. Yesterday we had a very nice layover day in St. Ignace, my hometown. I was reminded of what a beautiful place St. Ignace is, so blessed by its natural environment. It’s no wonder that Father Marquette loved it and wanted to be buried there back in the 1600s.

We visited Tim Harrington, an old friend of mine from childhood, whom I hadn’t seen since the early 60s. I also spoke on the phone with Greg Cheeseman, another former classmate, who just had his second hip replacement and then fractured his femur, so is in a wheelchair for at least several more weeks. One again I was reminded of how blessed we are to be able to do this trip.

Today was another good day of cycling. We rode 52 miles up to Sault Ste. Marie (“the Soo”), Michigan, and then took the International Bridge over to Canada. The bike route up to the Soo is on the Mackinac Trail, which is the former US 2, still maintained as a local highway but replaced as a major route by I-75. Traffic was very light, especially for the first hour or two. We had a significant and increasing crosswind, but it was often mitigated by the thick forest on both sides of the road.

The International Bridge was a thrilling ride. It’s considered a freeway, but it’s only one lane in each direction, and bicycles are allowed. We rode in the traffic lanes along with all of the other vehicles, so there was no opportunity to take pictures as we soared in two successive truss-supported arches over the Soo Locks and the St. Mary’s River.

Then we all (except Kathy) had a laugh as Kathy committed an immigration faux pas. She and Cindy passed us on the way over the bridge, and then while they were waiting in line for the immigration station, Kathy hopped out and ran back to take our picture as Rich and I approached on our bikes. Bad idea. First, Cindy and the motor home got to immigration before Kathy got back. Second, she shouldn’t have exited the vehicle in the first place – it makes it look like it she was trying to sneak into the country. So Rich and I were joking about seeing her in handcuffs, and then at our subsequent picnic lunch we speculated about how the trip would continue if Kathy had gotten deported. I guess she would have had to meet us in Vermont.

Tonight we are parked behind a rather funky B&B just across the marsh (pictured) from George Lake, which is part of the flowage of the St. Mary’s River as it makes its way from Lake Superior into Lake Huron. The B&B is a ramshackle building that seems a throwback to an earlier age. The hosts, Marjorie and her sister, Vicky are very friendly and gracious. One of the building’s quirks is the bathroom, which has two side-by-side toilets, one of pink porcelain and the other of blue. It brings to mind all sorts of interesting images.

Now that we’re in Canada we need to come up with a better description of this trip. We’ve been calling it cross-country, but Marjorie and Vickie wondered if we were going from Vancouver to Halifax. “Transcontinental” is more accurate, but sounds a bit pretentious. Perhaps “coast-to-coast” will work.

Riding Day 43 - Home Town

Today marked a number of milestones, so it’s hard to know where to start. First, we arrived in St. Ignace, where I lived the first 16 years of my life. It’s a city of a little less than 3,000 people, attractively situated around the edge of Moran Bay on Lake Huron. I’ve already had an opportunity to see a bit of the town and revisit some old haunts. This afternoon I even rode my bike up “convent hill,” which was somewhat of a rite of passage for young boys in town. Tomorrow is a layover day, and tonight and tomorrow we’re camped at the Straits State Park, directly across the road from the Straits of Mackinac, with a great view of the Mackinac Straits Bridge (a magnificent structure, not done justice by my photo).

This is the first time I've been in St. Ignace since 1988, and only the second time since my family moved away in 1962. Both times I've visited, I've been struck by the beauty of the setting of this town. I was not enamored of St. Ignace when we moved away, but now I see the beauty that I took for granted back then. It is truly a special place.

Second, we passed the 3,000 mile mark today – only about 1,000 miles to go! If all continues to go according to schedule, we’ll be finishing in Portland two weeks from tomorrow.

Third, we had a newspaper interview today. Yesterday the St. Ignace News (weekly) published a brief article on our trip. Today they photographed and interviewed us, and promise a full article next Wednesday. Check it out at http://www.stignacenews.com/.

Today was a long day, about 90 miles campground to campground, including the visit to the newspaper office. The ride included a number of normally spectacular miles right on the shore of Lake Michigan. Unfortunately, it was raining much of the day, and otherwise heavily overcast, so it wasn’t a beautiful as we had hoped for – and we didn’t stop for a swim, which I had envisioned.

We passed many well-remembered places along the way, and saw many mailboxes and businesses with familiar names. For a major treat, I had a pasty (a Cornish meat pie) for lunch today, purchased at a roadside café. Tomorrow I plan to look up some old friends and look around town some more. Also to get some smoked fish at a local stand. It was standby in the old days, and now that the Great Lakes fisheries have been restored, it's made a comeback.

It is a privilege to be here.

Riding Day 42 – Why Is it Unique?

On the phone with someone today I said that the Upper Peninsula (U.P.) of Michigan is unique, and I was asked what makes it so. This is a land that is very sparsely populated. It’s about 350 miles long, yet the entire population is just over 300,000. Today we are in Manistique, a town of about 3,500 on Highway US 2. Tomorrow we ride to St. Ignace, population about 2,700. St. Ignace is the next sizable town to the east. You’ll see a few other dots on the map, but they are little more than crossroads with a building or two. The U.P. is heavily forested, and hunting and fishing are major activities.

Perhaps more than anything, the U.P. is defined by the Great Lakes, which make it a peninsula. Windswept and cold Lake Superior is on the north, Lake Michigan on the south, and Lake Huron on the southeast. The Straits of Mackinac join Lakes Michigan and Huron, and join the Upper and Lower Peninsulas via the Mackinac Bridge. A vantage point that takes in one or more of the Lakes can be truly stunning.

Today’s 70 mile ride to Manistique was largely uneventful. We had a few views of Lake Michigan, but much better views will come tomorrow. A light but significant headwind for much of the day made it wonderful to have two riders together, so that we could take turns breaking the wind.

If you read the previous entry, you know that residents and/or natives of the U.P. are called Yoopers. Here is the Yooper perspective on creation:

In da beginning dere was nuttin. Den on da first day, God created da U.P. On da second day he created da partridge, da deer, da bear, da fish, and da ducks. On da third day he said, “Let der be Yoopers to roam da Upper Peninsula.” On da fourt’ day God created da udder world down below. On da fift’ day he said, “Let dere be trolls to live in da udder world down below.” On da sixt’ day he created da bridge so da trolls would have a way to get to heaven. On da sevent’ day God saw it was good, so he went huntin’.

Riding Day 41 – Say Ya to da U.P., eh?

(Written on 7/13, but not possible to post because of lack of internet access.)

For those of you who need an explanation, the U.P. is the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. That is where we now are, outside of the city of Escanaba. I am a native of the U.P., having been born in Sault Ste. Marie (“the Soo”) and brought up in St. Ignace until I was 16. Being from the U.P. makes me officially a “Yooper,” although I don’t believe that term was used when I lived here. There are a number of other famous Yoopers, most currently Tom Izzo and Steve Mariucci, both of whom come from Iron Mountain, through which we passed this morning. All of this history makes me feel very much at home here, and listening to the wonderful upper Midwest accent mixed with Canadian has me wondering if I ever sounded like that, and when I got over it.

Other U.P. terminology: If you are a Yooper, you don’t refer to the Lower Peninsula as the L.P. or any other such term. You call it “down below,” as in “I have to go down below tomorrow.” The people who live down below, since they live below the Mackinac Bridge, are called trolls.

I’m sure more U.P. lore will be following in the next few days. In the meantime, we had a fine 75 mile ride today, and we’re staying in an RV park behind a casino west of Escanaba. And not only have we arrived in Michigan, we also entered the Eastern Time Zone, so things are really starting to feel eastern, even though Michigan is solidly a part of the Midwest.

The best news is that Kathy rejoined us today! She drove a rental car all the way here from Paw Paw, and arrived at the Escanaba airport mid-afternoon. It is great to have her back in our little road community. No surprise, she immediately jumped right back in to support team activities. And there is some indication that it may be her turn to drive for the next eight days.