Sorry, this is a long one.
Once again the bike shop gods were smiling down on me. Jerry the mechanic came in to work and I was outside with my bike. He took the time to talk to me and find out what I needed before he even got in the door and then was working on my bike even before the shop was officially open. He ended up tweaking the derailleur hanger with an Allen wrench and making my shifting work with the shifter on indexed shifting! I was so happy.
A storm was moving in as I got on the road but somehow for the next 20 miles to Ashland I stayed on the edge of it. It would sprinkle and then I would ride out of it over and over again till I got to Ashland.
On the edge of Ashland when I was taking the picture below and a truck pulled up and I was pleased to see familiar faces, it was Sarah and Jeff, my Warmshowers hosts from a couple nights ago. They were going to Ashland to patronize two of the places they had told me about that I was planning on stopping to patronize also. I saw them later in the Chequamwgon Co-op grocery. I hope we keep running into each other.
I had enough time to stop by the Ashland Baking Company and relocate to the Chequamwgon food Co-op before the storm hit. They had a nice bench out front with a 6 foot roof overhanging the sidewalk. I thought it would be plenty to keep me dry while I ate my lunch but the wind driven rain found me.
I looked at the forecast and it was calling for thunderstorms till just before dark. I didn’t really want to leave the Co-op without a plan. And maybe a number of backup plans. The hotels in the area were a bit pricey, the only Warmshowers host was not hosting at this time and the campgrounds were all RV parks that coat more than I wanted to spend. So I ended up asking Michael (a Co-op employee) after he asked about my bike tour, if he knew of anyplace to camp near town or anyone willing to let me stay in their garage/shed/porch. He said he would think on it. A little later he found me in the cafe and said he does know someone who could help me out. He handed me a piece of paper with the Name Adam and a phone number on it and said just call for directions.
I called Adam and he said my place is six blocks down the street. I asked what can I pick up at the co-op for him? Coffee? Chocolate? Wine? And I showed up at his building with a bottle of wine a half hour later. Adam and his partner Kristi lived in the 2nd of the building and the ground floor was commercial and rented to the local Lake Superior Lake keeper organization. When I got there, they said they were going across the street for a little while to work on a 2nd building they had bought. It had a rented commercial space on the 1st floor and a residential apartment above. Whoever lived there (before they bought it) smoked, had cats and did not reliably take out the trash, so it needed work.
I said if you guys are going over there to work, I am going over to work too. Adam was doing some electrical work, Kristi was cleaning walls and she scrubbed an old cast iron tub to make it look as close to new as was possible. They had me measure for replacement windows and I scrubbed the walls of a bedroom.
It felt good to help them and I was inspired by their determination to put in the sweat equity to get the place fixed up. I think it will be an Airbnb so I hope to come visit someday.
We went back to their place and had a wonderful dinner that Kristi had made, opened the bottle of wine and had a marvelous conversation. Thanks Adam and Kristi, you really saved me. And they cemented in my mind that Wisconsin is a magical state.
Slow and Steady 
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