Tammy and Ariann have brighter smiles today. Bock (Hubby and Dad for these 2,) is flying into Grand Rapids this morning. Tracey will pick him up at the airport and he will drive the Cargo trailer, meeting us in Petersburg. Tammy has hotel reservations in Dundee. We have been invited to share the room, and will likely do so. It will be wonderful to have a private shower, especially for Tony, who has been finding his way around a different shower room each night. I can't imagine. closing my eyes and trying to find my way around a locker room/ shower once, much less six times. It is the hardest part of PALM for Tony. God sends him helpers, but it is still a challenge. One night, after his shower, he was looking for his bag that had all his stuff in it. ) He had several guys helping him. They asked him what his bag looked like and he had no idea. (my bad, for not describing it to him.) Then they asked him what clothes were in his bag, again he had no idea. (another bad on me.) From there on, I made it a point to tell him what he was wearing each day and what clothes were in his shower bag. If we do PALM next year, we may try to sign up a list of volunteers to help Tony in the shower each day. It would make life so much easier for him.
The rain that started last night has continued, although thankfully, not as heavy as it initially was. We donned our rain gear and started out. The rain was a steady drizzle, but not cold, still, riding in the rain, isn't the most enjoyable thing, on my list of things to do.
My glasses get water spotted and I have to take them off. Can't see as well, without them. After about 2 and a half hours the rain stopped. Clouds remained, which was good, because the humidity was building. Hopefully our day will be over before the heat of the day arrives.
The next 2 days should be mostly flat with down hill grades, so the miles will be easier. Rollin is happy on this type of terrain, eating the miles up quickly with his 66t gear ring. The rain would have seemed worse if we were making the slow progress we did yesterday morning.
I neglected to mention earlier that a friend from WA, that I met on an online cycling forum, came to MI to do some riding and is doing PALM. Fun to get to know him, after the many emails we exchanged while he was planning his trip. Roger has been kind enough to haul our friends gear each day, making life easier for him. Otherwise the gear would have to be loaded on and off the truck each day, this way it is easy to find after a day of riding, and he has been camping by us. Anything that can make life simple on PALM is good.
I wondered what the history of this little stone building on the edge of this farm was. Was it used as a milk house, housing for a hired hand, or maybe with walls so thick, it was once a spring house to keep milk and butter cold.
Had a stop by the railroad tracks as the train passed by.
This old barn wasn't at this angle....it was my camera.
Not sure this picture goes with this day, but here we are, taking a break with Tammy and Ariann.
A little further up the road we saw this flowery peace sign.
The bathroom quest seems to be an ongoing thing as we ride, we pulled into a cemetery hoping to find this building open and with a restroom inside. .
It wasn't, but to our surprise there was a port-a-john nearby, not something one finds in every grave yard. We were happy to have it there, and no, it wasn't haunted.
We found a marker for a veteran who served in the war of 1812.
This also caught our attention, especially since the portable bathroom was right next to it.
Manchester
Manchester MI , Washtenaw
County MI, population 2094, is another place that was influenced by
an upstate New Yorker. In 1831, John Gilbert, who had resettled in
Yipsilanti MI, commissioned the construction of a grist mill, on a
plat of land he owned along the Raisin River. Hiram Burnham
surveyed and drew up the original plat of the village of Manchester.
The survey wasn't formally filed until March 25, 1835. The location
was chosen to take advantage of water power from the river and named
after Manchester New York.
In 1833 James Soule
purchased a large tract of land 1 mile downstream from Manchester.
There, he built a small settlement he called Soulesville. For some
years the towns competed with each other, and March 16, 1867, they
incorporated into the village of Manchester.
Manchester has 4 parks and
located just NW outside of the village is the Leonard Preserve, 259
acres that protect nearly one mile of the Raisin River shoreline. It
includes woodlands, wetlands, rolling hills, prairie, and former
pastureland. The diverse landscape makes great habitat for
wildlife.. Blandings turtles, the fastest turtle in MI, coyotes, blue
racers and other animals are likely sightings.
The charm of downtown,
preserves the charm of the 19th century, including a
historic church and several buildings of Italiante architecture.
Once again, we were so thankful that we have had no flats or mechanical issues with Rollin. last year was the year of all the chain jams. Things go smoother and our days are shorter when our trike is working well.
As the sky cleared, the day heated up and shady spots were welcome, especially the fruit stop.
This silo beckoned me to take a picture.
Dundee was a welcome sight for all of us.
The 40 miles were good today and we even had time to look around in this bead shop.
Petersburg school was about 5 miles form here. We drove back later and did our laundry, meeting Bock at the Laundromat. He said he drove through such heavy rain, that he had to pull over because he couldn't see anything. Looked like the storm was headed our way. We'll share the hotel room tonight and let Roger sleep in the trailer.
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