Sunday, August 10, 2008

South Haven to Bar Harbor... Day 1











This morning, August 10, 2008 dawned clear as a bell in South haven. Two of our intrepid heroes (that would be Charlie and me) met at 8:00 with great anticipation for our ride north to meet the third of our band of crusaders at a Speedway near Grand Rapids (that would be Bill Binning).

The weather was spectacular... at least until about Schwartz Creek when the first rain began. Stopping under an overpass, we donned our rain gear and forged ahead in anticipation of decimating the Maine lobster population and sorely taxing the supply of drawn butter in that state.

The afore mentioned overpass was but the first in a series of the underside of bridges with which we came to know intimately. Not all of the rain was torrential of course (I add this because Charlie said I needed to find the bright side of the situation.

Each time we took a piece of rain gear off, the rain gods became offended and struck out in the only way they knew how, until finally, in an act of shear desperation, they pelted us with hail and threw in a few funnel clouds for good measure. A local woman sharing our bridge with us (she was driving a car by the way), assured us that this was very unusual weather.

We finally called it quits in Jordan, Ontario, about 15 minutes from the bridge at a Best Western. It is from this location that I write these few lines.... by the way, I am in the lobby, because the storms messed up most of the electronics in the place, and there wasn't a strong enough signal to do this in the comfort of our room. There are no pictures, because:
a. I couldn't ride the bike while wiping water from my glasses and take the pictures
b. Bonnie and Lynn weren't there to take the pictures for me
c. I can't download pictures into this "lobby" computer

That's all for now.... hope to get some pictures out soon, and I also hope to have enough time to fill in a few more details about today.... did I mention the first motel we tried to stay with strongly resembled a little place were the owner's mom passed away.... I think it was called the Bat Hotel... no, Ah! the Bates Motel.

More tomorrow if I can.








ps... the pictures on this post were added August 19

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I wrote earlier this morning, but I guess it didn't take.
Glad you guys made it to your first stop safely! Sounds like wet but safe!

Take a look at this site. I thought of you all and of course we are leaving next Sunday!

Love ya! Keep the blogs-a-comin'.
Kiddo

Http://www.youtube.com/v/scjb_f95diA

Anonymous said...

Glad you got underway, but sorry to hear of such trials already. I'm glad my dad, Charlie, always looks on the bright side of things even in the worst of weather!! Ride strong, stay as dry as you can and be safe!! I will try and send sunshine from Florida for yall.
Shell

Anonymous said...

Hi, Bill,