Michele Across America

MAA – Day 23 – Old Stomping Grounds

Thank you Indiana for reminding me what humidity is! I will never again refer to any California day as humid! Of course, the rain, first thing in the morning, and last thing on the way into camp helped cool it off a bit. I loved riding through the mist of the crop watering thingys too. (That’s the technical term, by the way.)

It was fun riding today through the area I lived in almost thirty years ago. Some things looked exactly the same. Others, not so much. The Indiana Dunes area is quite beautiful and peaceful. And since Mr. SAG calls me Wrongway Woman, I’ll let you know that I got lost in them with a friend while cross country skiing many years ago! Ahh! Memories!

I made a quick detour up into Michigan today because the roads had changed a bit. I guess that will happen over 30 years! We stayed along the Southern tier on Rt. 12 until we were past Elkhart, IN and then we swung back down into Indiana again. Much better riding than the urban sprawl of yesterday. In Indiana, we were riding mainly through an Amish community. Lot’s of buggies and a few bikes. I even drafted behind one for a while and then passed it pretty easily. Does that mean I put out more than one horse power? lol.

Not many pictures from today because the internet connections aren’t great again. You’ll have to catch up later…

Song of the day will have to be a shout out to Kathy W. She’s dying about the fact that I am riding so close – yet so far away from Purdue U.

Ride on!

MAA – Day 22 – Comfort from Dawn ‘Till Dusk

Short post today…

I made it to Indiana! This is the area where I really cut my teeth on long distance cycling. I can’t tell you how many times I rode from Hammond to South Bend and back. It was our century training ride (with Dave N). We would ride it nearly every Saturday and Sunday – March/April to October (depended on when the snow hit). We would push to make the time shorter and shorter, or race certain segments. We got the hundred miles down to under four hours at one point! Not happening today! 🙂

This post is short because I also got to hang out with my college roomie again last night. She told all kinds of stories about our college days. I told Ms. SAG that most of them must have been made up – it couldn’t have been me she was referring to! lol! Fun times, though! She even made/brought us dinner! How cool was that! Thanks Deb!!

Aside from getting to city traffic yesterday which was more nerve wracking than any day I’ve ridden thus far, I had Comfort Dog visits to see me off, and welcome me to camp! Sure was great seeing Shami and Barnabas! They calm the nerves so well! Scoobert thinks he’s a comfort dog in training! Ha!

Other pics of the day:

Song of the day (since I’m back in John Cougar territory):

Ride on!

MAA – Day 21 – Three Weeks Down

Twenty one days. Three weeks in the bag. Over 2300 miles ridden and 2.5 times the equivalent of Mount Everest climbed! Onward. Getting Closer.

Now I remember why I loved riding in the Midwest so much. It’s days like this when you feel like you can ride forever! The road surfaces were great. The temperature stayed in the high 70’s. The hills reminded you that this was work but were not enough to make you curse. Besides, the downhills were long and fun! And the corn isn’t quite high enough to make you feel like you’re stuck in a Steven King novel, but it’s getting there. Not much has changed since Iowa – except the barns just aren’t as interesting (sorry Illinois!). Most are just big and white. They are nice, just not as interesting.

The best thing about Illinois so far…no rumble strips! Thank you! And there were American flags flying everywhere! Either they are getting ready for Fourth of July early, or they are just very patriotic. I know what the Colonel would say!

All was great until the end of the day. I had been feeling like my brakes were less and less effective over the last couple of days. And today, I realized that my front break pads were all but gone (I have mechanical disc brakes). I had started searching for a bike shop a few days ago in anticipation of needing new brake pads. I sent myself some to my brother’s house, but he wasn’t set to meet up with us until tomorrow or the next day so SOL! Every time I searched, I found something 80 to 100 miles away, and not on our track. Well late today, I asked the SAG to wait ahead for me so I could replenish water. It happens that they stopped in Peru, IL. When I caught up to them, I searched for bike shops, and found Bike Works! I called ahead to see if they had brake pads that would replace mine. They did not. And there wasn’t another bike shop anywhere nearby – or even far by for that matter. They weren’t sure if they had anything that was compatible either! Since I was in town, they told me to stop in and they would take a look. It turns out they had one set of pads that would fit! They changed mine out and sent me on my way. What a difference too! They were the nicest guys and are keen on getting people interested in riding. Great Shop too. Remember – Bike Works in Peru, Illinois!

Then we got to the RV park just in time for…you guessed it…another storm! Gotta love the Midwest! 🙂

No additional pics of the day.

Song of the day – since I was listening to 80’s tunes today…

Ride on!

MAA – Day 20 – So Long Iowa

Today was another beautiful day, but it was one spent staying ahead of the storm. Luckily the roads were good and I encountered a gentler, kinder Iowa. Still rolling hills, but not nearly as steep as the last couple of days. I could easily use the momentum from the descents to get up and over the next hills. I even had a slight tail wind for most of the day. The only hard part was getting across Iowa City. Somehow I ended up going right through the University of Iowa’s campus.

Then, just as I was rolling into Davenport (about 5 miles out), the storm hit. There was a lot of rolling thunder – no lightning, thank God. And then the sky opened up and I got soaked! Glad I had my rain jacket, but my feet got wet through and through! I happened to catch up with the SAG team just as it was stopping. I decided to catch a ride with them since we were only a few miles from our initial destination anyway – and there were more storm clouds headed our way. Our first stop was on the Iowa side of the Mississippi River to meet up with Gracie Comfort Dog – perfect timing after the storm.

We left Gracie and her handlers and got back to the RV when this happened…

It lasted about 15 minutes and then we crossed the Mighty Mississippi and said “hello” to Illinois. 🙂

Thought for the day: I’m sure glad Mr. SAG decided to get that shoe dryer!

Other pics of the day:

Song of the day:

Ride on!

MAA – Day 19 – What a Beautiful Day!

Oh, what a beautiful morning! Oh, what a beautiful day! I couldn’t get that song out of my head all day. Because it was! Bright blue skies. Temperature around 75 degrees. Slight breeze. And I was on this wonderful bike trail for about 60 miles of my ride today. I’ve never seen anything quite like it. It surrounded the greater Des Moines area.

The latter part of the ride was great too. Just more hills, though. Makes it interesting!

Other pics of the day:

Song of the day, of course:

God is good! Ride on!

We Interrupt This Blog to Bring You Random Thoughts From the SAG Team (Squirrel!)

Thank goodness for checklists … So far they have kept us from leaving the important items behind, including the spare bike. We also use them every morning to “launch” Michele to make sure she has all the necessary gear and information.
Scoobert is not an RV size dog …. He takes up nearly a third of the RV. We’re sure he is thinking that “I like car rides …. But this is not what I had in mind!”
Carrying your restroom with you is handy … Now if we could just get Scoob to use it too.
Planning meets reality. Planning on a computer is good, but it lacks knowledge of the actual ground conditions. The road we thought the woman could take, turns out to be a gravel road with ghost towns along it.
Daily Schedule … Get up, help Michele get ready, lunch the her on her way, clean the RV, get provisions, drive ahead slightly, replenish her, drive ahead and set up camp, recover her, feed everyone, sleep, and repeat. We have become the living version of the “Groundhog Day” movie.
Driving on Highway 50 reminds me (Mr. SAG) why most of Nevada is bombing ranges for the military and landing sites for aliens.
Stopped in Eureka, NV and had lunch at the only open restaurant … Was not sure what was going to happen. Ms. SAG said I was being judgmental…. And I was. But out came a wonderfully spiced, pan-fried pork chop and great salsa.
The life of a SAG person is hours of waiting for a few minutes of support …. Move up the road and repeat. Fix flats as necessary. Our motto is LRRR .. Launch, Replenish, Recover, Repeat.
WIND!!!! The wind and been blowing non-stop all day. It made driving difficult and I can only imagine what it has been doing to the woman.
Do you ever wonder if God ever thinks …. “Really? Again?” when we screw up.
WIND!!! … Got up at zero dark hundred and the wind was already blowing. The woman is going to have another tough day battling the wind.
Nineteen days into this … LRRR and waiting has become a way of life.
Had a nice drive into Lincoln, NE and then drove around the town for a bit with Ms. SAG. An RV is not a good tour vehicle.
Riding out a severe thunder storm with straight line winds in an RV is not our idea of fun.
Dog barf in an RV … Somethings should be missed.

SQUIRREL!

MAA – Day 18 – Small Towns and Barns

Today was a great day to ride. The morning air was cool and fresh after the storm last night and it stayed that way pretty much all day. I love getting out there early to ride too. I had the first two hours all to my self. Well, besides the one raccoon I saw.

Iowa has been much different than Nebraska. It is all hills! Up and down again today. Another 4000 feet give or take. It’s very green too. Beautiful to look at. And there are wonderful barns scattered throughout the countryside. Iowa has the best barns! Throw in a cute, friendly small town every ten to fifteen miles, and there you have it. Iowa.

This is what the elevation profile looked like all day – except some hills were much steeper and some were much longer. And this was only at 25 miles.

The barns (click on any photo to enlarge):

Song of the day:

Ride on!

MAA – Day 17 – It’s All Up and Down

Today felt like a roller coaster. Up and down. Up and down. I climbed nearly 4000 feet today – and I descended nearly 4000 feet. Rolling hills on back country roads with 8-9% grades and a temperature of 98*F. I’ll take it any day over the wind! I drank almost 2 gallons of water too! There was some meandering along the Platte River thrown in for good measure as well.

Before I even got started – 15 miles into the ride – Mr. SAG saved the day again! Flat #4.

Camp got set up as the rain started rolling in. And then it hit! Wow! We’ve never ridden out a storm like that – in an RV. The thunder and lightning and sheets of rain, we could take. But when the wind started rocking (felt like throwing) us to and fro… Even Katie Comfort Dog’s Top Dog, to the west of us now, checked in to see how we fared! Thanks for the prayers! We were saying some too! Thanks for the welcome Iowa!

Off in the distance:

It’s here!

Pics of the day:

Song of the day:

Ride on!

MAA – Day 16 – Half Way There

Well, we’re half way there now! Wait. What? We’re only halfway there? More adventures await. Tomorrow we head toward Iowa and I have to say, I am going to miss Nebraska! For a cyclist, it’s been a dream. Good roads. Fairly flat, but with enough hills thrown in to keep it interesting.

Today we met up with another wonderful LCC Comfort Dog team. Katie Comfort Dog, and her handlers came down from Fremont, NE to greet us. We had a great few hours of fellowship and sharing dinner with them. What a fun group! I even get to be an honorary team member since they gave me one of their t-shirts and wrist bands.

I also got to see and catch up with my college roommate! We haven’t seen each other in 30 years! She hasn’t changed a bit either! She happened to be driving from South Bend, IN to Nebraska for an interview tomorrow. What a stroke of luck! (or a God thing)

Other pics of the day:

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Song of the day:

Ride on!

MAA – Day 15 – I Love Nebraska!

I never in a million years would have thought I’d say that! I’ve had my best rides so far in Nebraska, though. Today was 111 miles with 100 in under 6 hours! I haven’t done a century that fast in years! It was great! Good road. Cool temperature. Enough small towns to keep me occupied. And we’re just about half way!

I had the privilege of meeting more LCC Comfort dogs too! Moses, Eddie and Joy came out to meet us. They brought us gifts too! I received brownies, Nebraska beef (did you know that Nebraska is the “Beef State”?) and a wrist band from Eddie Comfort Dog (don’t tell Aaron). Joy’s handler has MS too. I sure hope we can make a difference with this ride! DSC01453A