It’s a fairly long ride today to our room in Oregon - 56 miles, but essentially flat the whole way.  The weather’s the thing though.  We get up early, about 5, so we can check out the weather report and come up with the most promising plan for the day.

It looks like the day just might work out OK for us, if we leave early and have a bit of luck.  rain is due to arrive in Ann Arbor around 8, but moving south it looks like there’s maybe a six hour window.  Ann Arbor is at the southern edge of a formation moving east, and looking south the next formation is south into Ohio.  If we start now and stay on task we should make it to Oregon by one, and just get in dry.  

According to the forecast anyway.  We know better than to trust it by now though, so we pack for rain and I stash the camera.  No photos today - we’re going to ride like the wind and hope for the best.

We leave the Graduate at 7, under overcast but dry skies.  For the next 20 miles we bear southeast, with the sky ahead looking lighter and the one behind darker.  A few sprinkles come down from time to time, but it’s so light we hardly notice.  Winds are neutral, the road is good, we’re making good time, and just ahead we can see the southern edge of the clouds just ahead of us - close enough that it seems like we’re always just about to catch it and break into the clear.  We feel optimistic.

At about 20 miles, we pull off for a loo break.  While Rachael tends to business I pull up the weather app and find encouraging news.  It’s raining back in Ann Arbor, but ahead in Toledo it looks dry until 2.  We’ve got plenty of time.

Two miles later the road we’ve been following south, Platt Road, suddenly turns to dirt.  We’ll be continuing on Platt for another five miles, so this is disappointing.  The surface isn’t bad riding though, and in fact is an improvement - Platt has been gradually degrading, and the broken pavement over the previous few miles brought the horrible city roads of Tucson to mind.

It’s a pretty road though and we’re still feeling optimistic, so I decide I can afford to pull the camera out for a quick snap.

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Five miles though.  After two miles we come to the junction with paved Milwaukee Road and decide to turn left on it and cut across to Ann Arbor Road, the next southbound road to the east.  Almost immediately we see a detour sign ahead, but we can see the barricades  near enough ahead that we (meaning I) decide that we might as well bike on and see if bikes can get through.

Bikes can’t get through.  There’s a bridge out.  There’s a plank walkway on the side that we could probably walk across if we’re careful enough, but the construction crew is on duty and nix the idea - it’s a liability issue.  Nothing to do but swallow the wasted mile and bike back to dirty Platt Road.

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A half mile later, it starts misting again.  A few miles later mist turns to light rain; and then gradually amplifies from there.  We stop to cover the panniers and stash the camera again, and then continue.  The weather gradually worsens, but it’s never really that bad - it’s so different biking in the rain when there’s no wind and it’s over 70 degrees.  It might even be preferable to hot and humid, but it’s no time to stop for photos.

Eventually we make it to the outskirts of Toledo.  We like to keep a positive blog, so we don’t have much to say about our experience biking across this city for the next seven miles.  Who wants to hear about impatient traffic and poor, shoulderless roads?  I’m sure Toledo is a perfectly delightful city to bike in once you know your way around, which we don’t.

Some miles later we leave Toledo and pass the Welcome to Oregon sign.  Interesting enough to be worth a stop for a quick photo, if it weren’t raining.  Two miles later we reach our hotel, but it’s only noon; so we stop at a surprisingly good submarine sandwich shop across the street that lets us bring our bikes in out of the rain and wait out an hour until we can check in to our room.

The Oregon Comfort Inn surprises us by what a good deal it is.  For $73 we get a surprisingly spacious and comfortable room, and there’s even a coin operated washer and drier on site!  This is really wonderful, because everything I have is damp and I’m afraid it will start mildewing.  I’ve got it all separated into different plastic bags - damp dirty laundry, damp clean laundry, damp everything else.

For dinner we walk across the street to a surprisingly good Mexican restaurant.  All in all an unexpectedly good day, considering that we were biking in the rain for the last 20 miles.

Ride stats today: 56 miles, 600’; for the tour: 1,158 miles, 32,300’