By the time we left at 7:45 this morning, the salmon fishermen were already at their task. Though the 55° felt quite cold, there were less clouds than yesterday, so we hoped the sun would warm us.  For over a half an hour we biked the country roads with the pungent smell of oil drilling, finally confirming our scent.  The sun didn’t seem to want to break through, but the exertion from the rolling hills was keeping us warm.  Our country roads had us going in every direction today; east, west, north and south; adding distance to the much shorter straight shot.  But the scenery,lots of deer,and lack of traffic made it worth it.

M.E, this one’s for you, still looking for the tree with the full bottles.

At 40 miles we stopped for a delicious lunch and to determine how far to go, 50 or 70 miles.  Still early in the day and with no internet at the 50 miles stop, we opted for the longer of the two.  We continued to wind through villages and townships, our course becoming quite a bit hiller.  It was taking so long, the trees were changing as we biked.  We’ve seen a lot of dogs on leashes, but a cow?

The clouds were really building and we hoped our legs would hold out before the storm let loose.  By the time we dragged ourselves into the township of Le Roy, we felt much like this sign. Seventy four miles (63 as the crow flies) was quite enough for today.

A warmer (60°) humid morning. Right from the start we hit the hills and didn’t get a break for 16 miles.  As always, the country roads provided beautiful scenery, including a barn or two (dozen).Within the hour, the sky had cleared, but the air remained cool.

The fields in Michigan seem much scrappier, not as neat or expansive as we have seen in other states; probably due to the very sandy soil we are seeing.

A turn off our country road to our first flat road since our start and it was blocked by a ROAD CLOSED/DETOUR sign. The sign indicated we had four miles before the road was blocked, but no telling how far the detour would take us; we decided to take our chances.  The construction site was not the worst we’d been through and the workers waved us through; it was a good choice.  We enjoyed another six miles of flat road before returning to the rolling hills,fields and farms.An hour after the sky cleared, the clouds started rolling in, againbut didn’t mute the roadside flowers, pretty forests or continuing leaf changing.We passed several lakes loaded with vacation homes.Finally got a deer to pose.About five miles from our destination, we stopped for a light lunch,turkey and mashed potatoes on top of Texas toast and smothered in gravy.  Good thing we had an easy ride into town on a Rails/Trails path.A nice even 50 miles (40, if we’d taken the highway) completed today.

A frigid blast of wind from the north hit us as we stepped outside this morning. It was 45°, but the wind chill felt like minus 2°. We biked for a couple of miles along our Rail Trail hoping to warm up, but had to stop to put on more clothes. Took about an hour for the feeling in our fingers to return and we settled into the beautiful ride.

Thankfully, we were traveling east, so the strong north wind was just off our shoulder until an occasional gust hit us head on. Lots of barns, one with our initials. We enjoyed our trailfilled with beautiful flowers for 31 miles until we reached Midland, a delightful college townthat took us seven miles to weave through then back on straight, flat roads; though Jerry did want to stop and watch some curling.  Christmas tree farms abound in this areaNot saying it was freezing, but we still had ice in our frozen water bottles at 1:00.

We reached the outskirts of our destination, Bay City, by noon and began our quest for lunch. We followed the course weaving in and out along the Saginaw River finally stopping at 1:30 for lunch, the first place we found.

We have no idea what possessed us to even consider going further having already completed 58 miles. Maybe it was the disenchantment with the city from our ride in, cool weather keeping us comfortable or the fact that our course past Bay City turned south, putting the wind at our back. Whatever the reason, by 2:00 we were back on course. It was truly a beautiful day and great ride; have we mentioned how much we like the wind at our back?

What a surprise our final destination was.  Frankenmuth, the church and town founded in 1846, is called Michigan’s Little Bravaria, filled with all the charm (and flowers) we remember from our northern Europe ride. Albeit, hokey  and extremely touristy,it was a wonderful surprise. We arrived in town by 4:14, but chatted with Bill and Pearl from Ontario for so long we didn’t get checked in until 5:00. We were back out of the door by six.

Ironically or coincidentally there was a Brew Pub right next door and next to them a Wine and Chocolate tasting….so all was worth it.  We ate and drank down the pretty street and found dinner with waiters in full dress.Dinner was a smorgasbord of German food. We each ordered a plate, but the side dishes just kept coming, much like a buffet, except it was all served tableside.  A good thing we did 83 miles today.

We were prepared for the cold this morning, wrapped up as if we were going skiing; leaving an hour later was an advantage, too.  The other end of Frankenmuth was just as charming and we were sorry to pedal away from this hidden gem. The wind was still blowing out of the north, so just off our left shoulder.It was another gorgeous morning, with clear blue skiesand a couple of things we had yet to see.We had about six miles on a rail trail, protecting us from the wind; with no “under construction” sign, we did not expect our trail to be blocked.We managed to walk our bikes around the truck and linesman putting up electrical poles.    By mile 20, we were back out on the open road in rolling hills.An occasional turn in the road had us battling the wind, but that did not change the spectacular scenery. Definitely more difficult than yesterday’s ride, with no wind assist.  Plenty of  fields, livestock and barns surrounded by white fluffy clouds that had moved across the blue sky.  The small towns we pedaled through were dotted with neat yards, Victorian homes and the occasional church.We stopped for the evening in Yale, looking for our diploma; they promised it would be mailed.

Winds this morning were under 10 mph and out of the west, so 48° did not feel like sub-0 temps, but close. It was a nice ride this morning, but nothing really remarkable to see, not even a barn.  Just a nice day to take a ride on a flat road.  We had several sections on busy roads, then sections on neighborhood trails. In St. Claire we got our first glance of the St Claire River and cannot believe the color.But with a huge power plant and houses packed along the riverside, it is difficult to get a good photograph.  Our first potential stop for the day was Marine City at 48 miles.  Arriving just after noon, we decided to have lunch and talk about the rest of the day. Naturally, we decided to go further.  We waited for the ferry to take us across the river/borderinto Canada. Here we rode along the river with plenty of opportunities to take pictures;just could not get enough of the Caribbean blue waters.A special photograph for Bobby T.-the only person who will not appreciate this swan. Six miles from our final destination, we turned away from the river and saw our first Canadian barn….…no different then across the border.  Our last few miles were finally blessed with a tail wind.  Our short day ended up being 61 miles, we must stop doing this to ourselves.

Our extra miles yesterday resulted in a short day today and we actually stuck to that.  Not leaving until 10:30, allowed the morning to warm to a balmy 18°; so nice to wear short sleeves again. Oh Canada remember uses celsius not fahrenheit, so by U.S. measurements it was 64°.  The warmer weather today, came in on the south east breeze, though mild it was directly in our face.

Not much to see today but long stretches of flat landcorn and tomatoe fields.  Felt obligated to take a picture of a barn, as there was nothing else to see.  Canada does have slightly different ways to convey road conditionsand the first green barn on this trip.My highlight of the day was this darling little thing; she almost made it onto my bike.

Stopped for a light lunch on our way to our motel.  Not sure we even need dinner after that steak sandwich and only doing 30 miles, but when has that ever stopped us.

It’s a small town, the yards and along the street are filled with flowersbut not much else to report.

Almost 60° this morning as we pushed off just before eight o’clock. The forecast was for the NE winds to pick-up and switch to offer a little assistance for our ride, unfortunately an hour into our ride, it only picked up heading directly toward us, fortunately only 10 mph.The wind generators were a constant reminder of the wind direction.  Though we rode parallel to the shores of Lake Erie, only once or twice could we see it in the distance.  We saw more century old homes in between the barns on our very straight road.  The manicured lawns were the perfect canvas for the long shadows cast by the morning sun.We were surprised to see these large grand homes in the middle of farm fieldsand understood when some had been abandoned.

The road was not as busy as yesterday; everyone was courteous,farmers working even on a Saturday.Our straight road threw in some rolling hills, just to keep the day interesting and challenging (not what we needed).

Late morning, we stopped in a little country gas station for water and they were just taking the fresh peach cream pie out of the oven…..But the best part of the stop was the hug I got from this little kitty.We continued our roll up and down, the wind still working on us, but not without pretty and interesting livestock to keep our attention.  The earlier nondescript sky was beginning to paint beautiful pictures for us.Arrived at the edge of town by 12:30, but took us about an hour to pedal through town to the other edge where our hotel was.  Not exactly the St. Thomas of the Caribbean, but we were happy to be here after 60 miles.