We forgot the flag for the Burley, so I replaced it with something from a gift shop near St. Ignace.
I got up early and put a liner in the bad Burley tire, and I repatched the tube. It was cold and rainy, but I did it outside the room so the kids could sleep. There was no coffee in the lobby of the hotel (more of a tiny office with a desk) -- there was a coffee maker taunting me, but no carafe. Enough about that: the tire and tube looked good. I never looked in the Burley, and didn't notice that the inside was soaked. I woke up Sue and we tried to figure out the weather report. We knew there'd be strong winds, but we didn't know which way. We called Sue's uncle Vic, who called his wife Karen, who called us back with the good news: 20 - 30 mph tail winds.
Everyone was sore and tired from the day before, and we had breakfast at the coffee shop next door. When we're in a hurry we'll throw a bagel, apple juice and fruit into the Luggage with the kids, cover them with blankets, and get on the road. This day we knew there was time, so we relaxed -- er, took our time eating at the restaurant. We cleaned out the Luggage as well as we could, made sure the kids were warm and dry, and loaded everything up.
When we eat at a restaurant it's an adventure, and with both of us working together we can keep the chaos a 1 and 2 year old can produce to a minimum. We usually eat in our room, or in a fast food place where kids don't bother people as much, but sometimes there isn't much choice. We took our time packing and getting on the road, since we knew we had time and we didn't want to stress more than we had to.
There was some fantastic scenery on the way to St. Ignace. US 2 was not as nice as it had been, but it still wasn't bad, and was certainly bikeable.
Annie learned "boat" in Sheboygan, and equated boats with "fun". We promised her that today she could go on a boat!
I show my buddy around the ship. He's making loud, annoying noises when he's happy, hurt, mad or bored, and we don't know how to stop it. Sometimes distraction works.
He had fun on the boat too.
Annie could not believe that horses made music when they walked! She danced and waved to every horse that went by.
Horses love Annie, and vice versa
This is the bike shop that fixed both Luggage tires, new tubes and fixed a broken spoke that Sue got two days before. Prices were reasonable, service quick, and we got to drink -- I mean eat lunch -- while everything was repaired.
We went on another boat, to Annie's delight. We had to wait as hundreds of bikes and cyclists came off the ferry. The seas were heavy and our bikes were soaked through and through. The Luggage was closed tight, though, so the kids had a dry place to sit. We got off the ferry and saw hundreds more cyclists waiting to get on.
We called around to hotels. The Ramada didn't have a double room, but they put us through to another hotel which did; they wanted over $100. I said it was too much, and we agreed on $69.
It had a waterpark, which capped off the day! Annie was so happy she could NOT stand it.
All in all, a perfect day, and a stark contrast to the day before.
Oh... all those cyclists were among the 3800 doing the zoo-mac, which is an endurance ride that involves 50 mile, unloaded, fully supported riding and an extraordinary amount of drinking. It was ending it's northward push as we were passing to the south.
30 miles, 641 Total
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