May 9, 2019
Tecumseh, MI to Chelsea, MI:
Dodging the storm
While touring we monitor weather forecasts. This morning we faced this radar image.
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We didn’t want to get caught out in open country when those yellow and red cells rolled through so we waited in a McDonalds for two hours. Rhona was entertained by twin toddlers at a nearby table. The arrival of the rain band was delayed and much diminished when it arrived. We should have started in the morning and waited out the rain in Chelsea. We could then have taken advantage of the south wind and tacked on a relatively easy 45 miles. As it was with the tailwind we cruised along in top gear at 22 mph. It helped that the scenery is improving and the land is no longer pool table flat.
Coming into Manchester we stopped at the city offices looking for a bathroom. It’s the type of building you would never give a second glance at driving in a car. It turns out the building was built by Henry Ford in 1949 at a cost of $831,000 to generate hydroelectric power from the Raisin River to be used in manufacturing car instrument panels.
People in Manchester are concerned about Paul Whelan who is being held hostage by Putin in December. I hope the fact we haven’t heard much about him in the news lately is because efforts are being made behind the scenes.
We went to the post office to mail some items home including a spare tire and make room for Rhona’s new black jersey. Inside the post office was a painting commissioned by the WPA during the depression.
For some reason this caught my attention. Rhona agreed with me that the style was similar to images from the Soviet Union in the 1930’s and 40’s. Maybe that’s why they’re hiding it in the Post Office. While cycling slowly away from the post office I felt a slight bump every time the wheel turned and within 10 minutes of mailing the package already regretted sending the tire home. Rhona said it was all in my head. We'll see.
Today's ride: 26 miles (42 km)
Total: 421 miles (678 km)
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