Missy and Shane's All Around US Tour.

We wrote that last blog two days ago and have some new news... Since we were in Michigan we thought we'd pay a visit to one of it's most famous folk... Michael Moore (Yes, thee righteous film maker!) . Here's Missy not stealing any of his popcorn:

Okay, we just happened to run into him today on the streets of Traverse City. It's their Film Festival opening tomorrow and Michael Moore is the founder and on the Board. Wish we could spare the time to see some flicks but have to keep those pedals spinning. He was very nice (no surprise really) and we gave him our 'card' so if he actually checks out the sight- Hi Michael... forgot to tell you how much we love your work and how important it is! Feel free to leave a comment =).

We just left Mackinac Island (pronounced Mackinaw) yesterday and it has been one of the highlights of our trip. We had planned to spend a couple hours or maybe the day in the town but we ended up staying the night because we fell in love with it so much. What makes the island so great? No cars! It's really a pretty amazing place. It's very touristic and has a bit of a Disneyland feel when you first get off of the ferry. It has a main street with several gift shops, fudge shops (one of the islands well known goods), bars, restaurants, and of course bike rental shops. But beyond the main street, when you start pedaling around the island you start to see the houses, forests, and of course Lake Huron that surrounds it. Some interesting facts about the island:
80% of the island is state park.
About 500 people live permanently on the island.
About 500 horses work the summers on the island (horse carts are the major transport after bikes).
Most of the horses winter in the Upper Peninsula (or U.P.) of Michigan.
The island has the most bikes per capita of anywhere West of Copenhagen.
An 8 mile loop of Michigan freewayway circles the island, with only bike and horse traffic.
There is a historic fort that dates to the late 1700's.
In the winter there ARE motorized vehicles allowed- snowmobiles.
We spent the day, the night, and a little of the next morning on the island but still had a lot more to see. It was so amazing to wake up in the morning and go for a ride to watch the island wake up and not have the noise of cars and trucks be part of that wake-up. Instead the clip-clop of horse hoofs, people talking, and the whiz of cyclists passing each other filled the air. I saw a crew of 10 painters rolling down the street on their cruisers, lunch coolers and thermoses in the big baskets, following a horse cart carrying ladders and paint. During the day I saw a UPS driver with a big box on the front of his bike riding off from a horse cart filled with boxes and another UPS driver sorting those boxes. Amazing!

Mackinac island is the transition point from Michigan's Upper Peninsula to the Lower Peninsula. If you're in a car you might miss it as you drive over the largest expansion bridge in the world (the Mackinac Bridge). That bridge is closed to cyclists so you have to either take a shuttle or the ferry. The ferry isn't direct, it stops on Mackinac Island. We recommend a visit for everyone. Book the Grand Hotel if you have the funds. If not we recommend the much cheaper Boganlane Inn. If you don't stay at the Grand Hotel, a visit to it is a must- it's the largest Summer luxury hotel in the world. We had a very spendy beer at the Cupola Bar- nice views and great to see the inside of this most amazing hotel.

We are now in the Lower Peninsula and had the most gorgeous ride since Montana yesterday. We followed Hwy 119 along Lake Michigan through the "Tunnel of Trees". A beautiful canopy of green surrounded us and Lake Michigan lay several hundred feet below us. So truly amazing. We are going to post pictures of the island and yesterdays ride later. For now here are the pictures up to that point (from Fargo to our first sighting of Lake Michigan). There are also some shots of our worn gear and some cool bugs. CLICK HERE.

Phew! Well we almost lost all contact but thanks to an express mail from home (thanks Justin!!) and a little tinkering on my part we have our computer back in order (sort of). A few days ago we went to plug it in and the adapter wouldn't go into the hole. Justin sent the 'stock' adapter instead of the iGo one I had brought for the solar charger and though something funny seems to have happened internally with the plug I wiggled and prodded it into the slot and we have power again. Now I just don't think I can unplug it again.

We've covered a lot of miles since the last time we wrote. We've come from Minnesota, through Grand Rapids, to Duluth (and our first view of the Great Lakes- Lake Superior), then into Wisconsin for a couple days before finally coming into Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Today we are in Escanaba Michigan, at the top of Lake Michigan. We'll spend the next three days near the Lake to Saint Ignace before crossing (via ferry) over to lower Michigan.

The cycling has been very beautiful. We've had roller coaster hills with major forests of birch, aspen, pine, and maple surrounding us. We spent the night by the lake last night and had our first rainy night since Glacier! The weather was hot for awhile there but has cooled down in the last couple days. I saw the weather channel the other day and it looked like we were in the coolest part of the country. I also saw my first Tour de France stage the other day- it was the day after Landis made a great comeback and it was exciting to watch a little of this historic tour. The next day I was thinking about the Tour and thought I would turn my radio on, at that exact moment I heard a reporter say that Landis had gained even more time and was most likely going to win. Very exciting.

We've just officially crossed over to the Eastern Time Zone which means it will be getting dark by 9pm or so. Gone are the nights of reading at 10 or making dinner at 9 with no headlamp. We're thinking about buying a lantern now and have started our online search.

I put new rubber on Missy's rear tire a week ago and mine just the other day (after switching the front & rear tires back in North Dakota). Our front tires are due in a couple hundred more miles so I'm carrying the spares just trying to suck every last mile out of the ones we have on. A lot more wear and tear happening on our gear (and bodies)- stay tuned to the next update for photos.
If you don't hear from us for awhile it's because we're shopping for a new computer.

We got some sad news from home today. Our beloved chicken, Adara, died on Thursday. She had been sick for a couple weeks and our wonderful chicken-sitter and friend, Roya, has been furiously trying to get her well. After lots of Vet appointments and weeks of antibiotics, our lovely and funny bird died in the Vets office. We have decided to have her cremated and Shane and I will have a burial when we come home in August for our visit. We hope she didn't suffer too much and we hope she is eating as many strawberries and worms as she can get her little bird beak on. We will miss her dearly- so today we ride for Adara!

Speaking of riding, it has gotten great. We are now fully in Minnesota with all the gently rolling hills, lakes and trees! Shade, glorious shade! After our day off in Fargo, we crossed over into Minnesota and stayed in the teency town of Callaway, "where the prairie ends and the forest begins." Sure enough, the next day, within an hour of riding, we were in the woods. By the end of the day, we were in the birthplace of the Mississippi River, Lake Itasca. As we waded in the headwaters, Shane remarked that we will be able to see the waters of the Mississippi River as it drains into the Gulf of Mexico as we cycle the Southern Tier- the beginning and end of the rivers life. It also felt like a geographic milestone to have crossed the river. The food is already better as we sit, writing this entry in an organic foods cafe in the town of Bemidji. We are hoping to make it to Grand Rapids tomorrow, where we deviate from our Adventure Cycling maps and "fend" for ourselves for a week until Escanaba, Michigan.

Shane and I are planning on visiting Napa in August and are having a "Part Way Par-tay" as in part way through the northern tier. For those of you who we don't have email addresses for, we would love to see you there. Click here to view the e-vite and add yourself to the list.

With blessings to our beloved bird, Adara, we bike on....

Another state to check off. We've reached Fargo and can literally throw a stone from our campsite and hit Minnesota. We're camping along the Red River in Lindenwood Park in Fargo. We've decided to take a rest day here. Yesterday it warmed up again after a couple cooler days but even with the major head and side winds, we had a pretty good day of riding the 66 miles from the small town of Hope to Fargo. We got an early start and had a couple nice shady breaks between there and here. The trouble was when we got here our decision making abilities went out the window and nothing was falling into place. Maybe it was being in the big city again (we haven't been in a city this big since Seattle!) or the heat finally got to us, but whatever it was, by the time we set up camp and had dinner we were both ready to say "Rest Day"! So now we plan on beating the heat in a cool coffee shop and movie theatre before finding a place with GOOD food.

We've had a tough time finding good food in the last couple weeks and are hoping Fargo will hold some treasure. Last night's dinner of a salad that wasn't all iceberg was a great start. We've had so much fried, heavy, salty, and "down-home" food that we're ready for a change. I'm starting to think that the food is the cause of all the salt stains on my shirt at the end of the day. A sample of a typical menu in N. Dakota:
Hamburger, Cheeseburger, California Burger, Chicken Strips, Shrimp Basket, Fishwich, Grilled Cheese, Hamburger Steak (that's just a big hamburger patty), Chicken Nuggets, Fried Walley, Fried Chicken, and sides of fried mushroom, cauliflower, cheese, potatoes and then maybe a coleslaw and/or macaroni salad. Missy learned the hard way that if you order a Hamburger or Cheeseburger you get just a burger and a bun. So, if you actually want vegetables with it then you better order the California Burger.... I guess that's because only crazy Californians put veggies on a burger??!! Oh, and if that's not enough starch for you they almost always put a side of heavily buttered white toast on top of the fries. It's just amazing that there can be so much bad food all around and that people put up with it. I know descent lettuce can be had (I've seen it in the grocery stores) so why can't a restaurant use it? I know there's fresh fruit, I've seen that in stores too. Whole grain breads... now come on I've seen those grains for the last 400 miles, I know they can get those! A good micro-brewed beer? Okay, that I haven't seen in any store, bar, or ditch. We've made it though, and we've heard that Minnesota could be better (food and shade wise).

We've finally put up some photos... it's been longer than we thought so we had to break it into two albums. See the FIRST ONE HERE. And see the SECOND ONE HERE. It might look like some of the shots are repeats but they aren't. Really. They could even be in a whole other state. That's just how it is.

Ok, Missy here- thought I'd add some. The last few days have made me realize that I will miss North Dakota as we get closer to Minnesota and the end of The Plains. The people in North Dakota have been so friendly, very interested in our trip and Shane's Xtracycle (which looks so giant and cumbersome loaded up that even I am still amazed he can move that thing across the country). There is a sweetness to the rural North Dakotan life- to live in such small towns, everyone knows everyone. One of my favorite small town memories is seeing a flyer posted all around the town of Towner (pop 574) inviting the entire town, in fact anyone who reads the flyer, to the bridal shower of a local gal.
Another interesting fact to note- I have never been dirtier than I was yesterday. I'm strangely proud to say it had been 8 full days since my last shower. Eyebrow raising considering the hot cycling and daily applications of sunscreen and bug juice. I had opportunities to shower but for various reasons put it off- whether I was too tired to shower at the end of the day, no showers available or, no warm water. Besides, I still can't get used to the fairly yucky campground showers. But after 8 days of avoiding them, enough was enough. Anyway, I'm now clean again and glad to have a rest day. (shane here- 8 days... I had no idea... and I was sleeping with her?!) I'm reading a great book called Going to the Sun by James McManus about a woman traveling west by bike along the same northern route, visiting some of the same little cafes and towns. Also very much looking forward to fresher food choices as we get closer to the east coast. I can feel a french fry lodged in my aorta and some iceberg lettuce stuck in my craw. Nothing a good, local microbrew beer can't flush out!

We've slowed down the pace and are enjoying the shorter days now. Today we did a total of 26 miles from Esmond to here... with a tailwind. The next camping isn't for another 67 miles so we'll cover that tomorrow.
We had a great night in Esmond. It was the "All School Reunion" for the High School there. About 200 people in the City park that we camped at (with our fellow tourer, Larry). A major storm passed through as we huddled in the picnic shelter with a couple of them- dumping rain and blowing gusts of wind at about 40 mph. It only lasted about 5 minutes and with the 100 degree heat yesterday everything dried out pretty quick. Then this morning we had a great pancake breakfast with a whole bunch of the locals at the now closed high school

Not much has changed in the last week or so, hot with sidewinds, flat to rolling hills, no shade, lots of wheat, corn, flax, and canola fields. Now we are finally starting to see small lakes and wetlands so we've seen some great birds (wish Jeanne & Julian were here to help us identify them) and more interesting landscape.
Only have a little bit before the small library here in Minnewaukan closes so this will be a short one. Just wanted to let everyone know we are alive and well. We have decided that we are for sure jumping off the assigned route in Grand Rapids, Minnesota and then hooking back up with some more Adventure Cycling maps in Escanaba, Michigan. We'll be going through Upper Pennisula of Michigan, skirting the bottom of Lake Superior, down through Michigan, then across into Ontario and finally back in the states by Buffalo.
We should be in Fargo in about 6 days and may not have much chance to update till then. Wish us good tailwinds!

Happy Fourth of July.
We've made it to the big city of Minot, North Dakota. We're both pretty beat after doing the 600 miles from Cut Bank to here in 8 days of riding (75 miles a day avg.). We pulled into the main camping spot in town (a hotel/rv park) and it was pretty bad and the rooms were even worse so we looked next door and there was a nice fresh Holiday Inn. We asked about rooms, the rates were good, AND we found out that they are shooting the fireworks from the fairgrounds that is right across the street! We got a room up high and overlooking the fairgrounds so we should be in for a treat tonight.
Now that we've made it here and seen what an average 75 miles a day feels like we've decided to slow it back down. It's been nice to blaze through some of the not so exciting parts of North Dakota but battling heat and hills for six hours in the saddle just isn't worth it to either of us. So we are sitting in our room with all of our Adventure Cycling maps spread out in front of us trying to figure out how to make it to Vermont in September (our one time-sensitive stop is my good friend Kori's wedding- Bonkaboonie the first of Sept.). We've talked about alternate routes up through Canada or even crossing the great lakes but it looks like we'll stick to the Northern Tier route. We're also planning a visit to Napa in August for a birthday celebration and some family time and are trying to figure out where we'll fly out of for that visit (looks like it might be Buffalo if anyone knows someone we can store our bikes with in the area let us know).

We've had a pretty uneventful last few days of riding. Just some sore butts, rolling hills, side-winds, fields of green & yellow, and many miles of 'nothing'. Today we plan on enjoying the festivities here in Minot, some cold beer, and more map and route planning. Tomorrow we'll meet up with Missy's Aunt & Uncle who will be passing through on their drive back from Canada to Colorado.

On a side note about the cold beer... turns out that you can't buy beer in the grocery store in North Dakota. You have to go to a liquor store (or Bottle Shop as they call them here) or even a saloon where they sell six packs from the bar. I went to a bottle shop last night to get some cold brew to celebrate our arrival and big mileage and was a little dismayed by the selection of beer. As I looked over the Bud, Coors, and Miller selections I asked the guy if they had any micro-brew and he said "micro-what"? Oh yeah. We've also been to several restaurants where there is NO descent beer selection. It's really a shame.