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7/19 99.8/2517.6 Marion, MI - Reese, MI
That's right, missed a century by 2/10 of a mile-DOH. I'm writing this on the 20th. I was too tired to do it yesterday. I got on the road at 7:30, Mary made breakfast and I dawdled a bit. I rode the 30 miles to Clare in good time. Mary met me at the beginning of a 30 mile bike trail that took us all the way to Midland. Bill rode back to meet us, we had lunch and then finished in Midland. They have something called a "tridge", a 3 way mounted foot bridge- impressive work for something not asssociated with cars.

I headed out towards Bay City. I found a bike shop on the way that had a good recumbent selection. Suprisingly, the owner knew who I was. Seems Martine AND Moni had been there within the last 30 minutes- ROFLMAO. At the shop I met George and Shary, both bent riders, who invited me to their house for the night. they gave me directions, address and a phone #. It took a lot longer then I expected to reach them, I got a flat and to make it interesting I lost their info. so I'm screaming down rte 15, its getting dark and I don't know which house is theirs. All I remembered was that his name was George, they ride bents and the front lawn should be freshly mowed. I stopped at someone's house that I thought was nearby to ask for directions when George pulled up. He had come looking for me cuz they were worried. Good thing, I wouldn't have found them otherwise. We had a nice dinner, I did my laundry (my clothes aren't used to being this clean anymore)bathed and talked with them for awhile. They were very similar to Bill and Mary- religious without being pushy, caring, well traveled people.

7/20 53/2570.6 Reese, MI - Ortonville, MI
I was sluggish and tired all day today. The hills weren't much of a problem but the traffic was. For awhile it wasn't bad, but at some point the drivers got more agressive and rude. It was not a pleasant ride. I stopped alot , I really needed a nap and didn't eat well today. I hope I didn't catch anything from Bill and Mary's grandkids. I felt no love today, I hope tomorrow's better. I plan on finishing this ride, I'll change routes and go through Ohio to save time.

7/21 49.0/2619.6 Ortonville, MI - Detroit, MI
The mosquitos were murder this morning- I was out of camp in 30 minutes. The rest of the day was just nasty. I felt tired and lethargic all day, and spent way too much time in way too many bathrooms. I went the wrong way and had to back track, I got pulled over by a cop; driving too SLOW, he said I was going to cause an accident if I didn't get on the sidewalk. I was too tired to argue, so I found another road- of course I was still driving too slow, but I guess it was ok cause he couldn't see me. The traffic was terrible, no shoulder for much of the way. By the time I hit the motor city I was wrung out. It was funny, crossing into Detroit was obvious; it went from sorta well kept streets to potholes, trash and broken glass at exactly 13 inches from the "welcome to Detroit sign". I'm going to stay over a day here and visit with my rap star nephew and his grandmother

7/24 51.3/2670.9 Detroit, MI - Leamington, Ont
I stayed 2 extra days in Detroit. I didn't feel well enough to do more than channel surf and occaisionly eat some of Grandma Aqueelah's cooking. I didn't see much of my nephew, just enough to get a picture and enough of his personal business to report back to my sister. Back home my youngest is sick with some strep like thing and a temp of 104. My husband had to take her to the emergency room. My nephew's father took me across the river to Windsor, Ontario. I couldn't cycle across. There's a bike trail that runs from there to Kingsville, about 8 km short of my target; the ferry at Leamington. The trail was tedious. Crushed gravel and not much to look at. I got off after 15 km. The roads had no shoulder but not much traffic and the added bonus of a major headwind. I ended back on the trail for the last 10 km or so. I'll catch the ferry tomorrow to Pelee Island and then to Sandusky, OH. I caught 'I,Robot'; it was ehhh, standard-sci-fi-shoot-em-up-save-the-girl fare. Not bad, but I wasn't that impressed.

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