July 3, 2012
Day 18: Galesburg, MI to Saranac / Lowell MI
(By Jeff)
For me, this was probably the hardest day of bike touring ever, and that includes the day in 2008 when I crashed and was transported to a hospital in an ambulance. Today had a happy ending, but it took a long time to get there.
This was our earliest start yet. It was already nearly 80F at 5:30 when we got up and quickly packed and rode out. We got back on the North Lakes route in a few miles, and were making good time as we rode through an upscale village (lots of fancy houses set far back from the road, on well manicured lawns).
We were in this section, near a golf course, when my pedals suddenly stopped turning. I hopped off the bike, called out to Joy (who was ahead of me), and pulled into the golf course parking lot. After a brief examination (well, Joy examined the bike while I stood around), we determined that the front derailleur was broken. Joy was able to temporarily bend it back into semi-working order (I now only had a few usable gears), and we continued.
Soon we had to ride several miles on a busy state highway. Although there was an adequate shoulder, it was unpleasant riding with many cars zooming past. I don't know what Adventure Cycling was thinking with their North Lakes route. So far it sucked.
We made a breakfast stop at a convenience store which was notable for the friendly lady working there, and the unexpectedly nice (and well air conditioned) bathroom. I wasn't feeling like riding today, and had to force myself to rise from the curb where we were eating our chocolate milk and honey bun breakfast.
Back on the route, we soon got off the state road, and onto what I hoped would be the kind of quiet country roads we enjoyed in Illinois and Indiana. Unfortunately, it continued to be busy (where were all of these people going, anyway?). At one point I was about a mile ahead of Joy, and paused under some shade to wait for her. When she caught up with me, she told me that some asshole had passed too close and yelled at her. This enraged me, and the rest of the day of riding I was in a severe funk that I never recovered from.
It continued to be extremely hot and humid as we rode on oddly busy country roads. It was so hot that I neglected to eat anything, and eventually bonked. We stopped in a cemetery so I could rest under a tree for a while, but that didn't seem to help, and for the next several miles I could not keep up with Joy, who finally insisted that I eat a bag of M&Ms. That seemed to help me get to the next tiny town, where we stopped for Gatorade and more snacks. This finally revived me, but by now Joy was having trouble riding in the afternoon heat, which various people had been telling us was unprecedented for this part of Michigan.
The traffic got truly horrible as we neared the relatively small town of Saranac. The town has a population of only one or two thousand people, so I never understood why so many people were frantically rushing there in their cars and trucks. After almost seventy miles for the day, we did finally arrive in Saranac without getting run over. We immediately went to the post office and picked up the mirror I had ordered to replace my broken one.
There was no motel in town, and the nearest campground was several miles away, on what was undoubtedly a busy road. We walked into the public library to cool off and figure out what to do. The internet revealed that there was an Inn in the next town, Lowell, but it was seven miles down a busy road. I walked outside to use my cell phone, and talked to the nice lady there, who told me that there were a couple of rooms left. I unilaterally decided that we were not going to ride our bikes anymore today, and asked if there was a way for someone to come get us. It turned out that they had just bought a shuttle bus – we would be the first customers to ever use it. I walked back into the library to tell Joy the good news. In a few minutes the shuttle arrived, we wrangled the bikes on, and soon arrived at the very nice Main Street Inn in Lowell.
It was amazing how much better we felt after a shower and a nap in our air conditioned room. We walked a block to the Flat River Grill and sat at the bar, where Joy enjoyed a Bell's Oberon and I drank my usual Diet Pepsi (the bad day had almost, but not quite, driven me to drink). Later, after a nice dinner, we walked back to the Inn, where we learned that it would be even hotter tomorrow, and I immediately reserved a room for the next day.
Today's ride: 69 miles (111 km)
Total: 805 miles (1,296 km)
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