You rode 1000 miles to get to Freeland?

07/23/09 - Freeland at last! After another long day of 85 miles, give or take, we rolled into Freeland at around 4:30 this afternoon and were greeted by my Dad and Grandmother standing at the end of her driveway. We’re still not sure how they knew when we’d arrive, but there they were. Marc and I had some wet riding for a few hours today but knowing that we were going to have a warm dry bed, good food, and family around us at days end made it more than tolerable. We stopped at McDonalds, not once but twice, today. The first time it was for coffee and the town we were in didn’t have any other options. So we bought coffees and sat outside and ate some leftover pizza and other stuff we had with us. The second time was for ice cream. It was about 3:00 and we had been battling an increasing headwind for a while and I said “it sounds crazy but I’m hungry again.” Marc suggested that we stop for one last ice cream before the trip came to an end. We went to two stores in the town of Hemlock looking for ice cream and found none. The proprietor of the second one said that there was an ice cream parlor on the other side of town, in the wrong direction. We were kind of stunned. All I wanted was an ice cream sandwich, man. What kind of a place was this? Reluctantly, we rode across the street to McDonalds and ordered two ridiculously expensive mocha McFrappes or whatever they call those things. I do have to admit that they were delicious. Really delicious. And then, sweet tooth satisfied, we tapped out the last hour of our 14 day journey from Rutland VT to Freeland MI. The last couple of miles we had a headwind and it felt kind of sad to know that it was coming to an end as we rolled effortlessly along. Except for the chafing that was occurring from too many hours of wearing wet shorts. And the heavy legs. And the near constant hunger. Okay, I guess we were ready to get of f the bikes for a couple of days. Other notable things from the last day: At one point we were riding along in the pouring rain and gentleman was walking out to his mailbox and saw us and flagged us down. He invited us to come in and dry off and have a cup of coffee. We probably should have taken him up on it but we kind of just wanted to get home so we thanked him and continued on. This is the sort of thing that happens most every day when you are touring and one of the most special things about this mode of transportation. A woman came out of McDonalds and saw us sitting there drinking coffee and asked where we had come from. We replied that we had started in Vermont and she was like “wow, that’s great, where are you headed to?” We said Freeland and she looked completely puzzled and said “that’s not very exciting.” Marc and I just looked at each other. I suppose it does seem rather anti-climactic to ride a thousand miles and end up in Freeland. Unless you are Marc and I, and you have your reasons. Plus, the exciting part is along the way. Lastly, about two miles from home I had a yellow jacket fly into my helmet. I could feel it trapped against my head, wings beating frantically, and I knew that I needed to get my helmet off ASAP or I was going to get stung, but I didn’t think I had time to stop my bike so I managed to remove my sunglasses and helmet, while riding in traffic on a fairly narrow road, and liberate the dazed creature. I absolutely could not believe I didn’t get stung. Just lucky I guess.