Sleeping under a bridge is overrated. But at least it was right on the bike trail and I was up and riding first thing in the morning.
I stopped for a treat before long at a trail side farm dairy store. And when I was leaving I got into a conversation with a couple, Clay and Sally, that were out for a ride on their bikes. We rode and talked since they were going my way. I told them about a problem I was having with my leather Brooks bike saddle. Five days before, when I had gotten dumped on by a thunderstorm while riding through “the tunnel of trees”, my leather bike seat stretched. It sagged enough that I had to raise my seat a half inch. But a day later I realized the agreement that my bike seat and my butt had worked out over so many miles was null and void. There is a way to adjust the seat and stretch the seat tight again but I lacked the proper tools. Clay and Sally offered to help me out. We rode to their lovely home and rolled my bike into their basement workshop and they were able to stretch the saddle for me. Thank you Clay and Sally.
I stopped for lunch at a bagel shop in Muskegon, MI and took a swim at a state park just out of town.
I was able to line up a stay with Warmshowers hosts (John and Cindy) in Grand Haven. Cindy was shaping some sourdough bread when I arrived and had bridge club tonight so I got to hangout with John. He made a wonderful dinner and we had excellent conversation. I learned he recently retired from dentistry, he has been bicycle touring since his teens, has ridden around lake Michigan more than once and rode the cross Michigan ride (155 miles in a day!).
He also told me of his plans to be part of the Edmond Fitzgerald Memorial Swim that would memorialized the 29 lives lost in 1975 when the Edmond Fitzgerald sunk to the bottom of lake Michigan. It was going to be a 411 mile swimming relay, with 68 swimmers taking a leg in the relay. They would start where the ship went down and symbolically bring a piece of iron ore ( what the ship was hauling) to Detroit where the ship was to unload it’s cargo. I have since found out that the swim relay was successfully completed. Congratulations John!
The story he told me that most captured my imagination was how in 1974, at age 20 he decided to go on a bike tour out west. He had ridden around Lake Michigan the summer before, his draft card number was A-1, eligible for selection to serve, but the Vietnam war was winding down, he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do for a career and wanted to see the country but was low on funds. So he thought, “well, I’ll go on bicycle.” He had a friend just crazy enough to join him and another one joined them last minute before they left. A real adventure was afoot.
They used road maps and knocked on folks doors for places to camp. They were met with the magical kindness of strangers that really affects you.
When they reached South Dakota they started to call their tour the Seattle Sojourn but they wouldn’t make it that far. The last minute friend turned for home in Jackson, Wyoming. And when John and his other friend made it to Bozeman, Montana, John just couldn’t leave. He got a job as a bartender and his friend stayed for a few months but John was hooked on the place. He skied, white water kayaked and eventually found a job in a dental technician lab. He stayed in Bozeman for 4 years. Eventually he left Bozeman to work shortly for a dentist in Spokane, Washington before moving back to Michigan and attending the University of Michigan and graduating with a dentistry degree. For a period of seven years he was in a residency program and owned and worked in his own dental practice in Pennsylvania before taking over his father’s dental practice. And this was the practice from which John had recently retired.
Thank you John for hosting me and sharing stories of your adventures. I hope there are many more in your future. And next time I want to hear Cindy play the steel drums!
Slow and Steady 
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