Update from Lake Michigan …

Posted by Rashmi Tambe on Aug 6, 2009 in Cross-USA, Motorcycling | 2 comments

Woke up early this morning, almost at 7 AM in spite of falling asleep very late. Felt well and truly sick but forced myself to pack up and load the bike. Fortunately Katherine’s boyfriend was up too and he drove us to a diner to get breakfast. I got pancakes as I have been doing for most every breakfast (I am out of control!) with eggs and sausages. No coffee as I never drink coffee before a ride. Coffee is usually my reward at th end of a long ride instead.

Was ready to hit the road about 8:30ish. Said bye to Katherine, who seemed to have fallen sick too. :( I had a horrified vision of me riding across America spreading my germ to al who crossed my path.

Got out onto 23N and 96W. I really didn’t care to ride slab yet again, but apparently there weren’t very many cool backroads on this route anyway.

As with yesterday, the sick feeling started to fade away after the first 20 miles or so. It was quite cool out – a welcome relief from the incessant heat of the previous day. The ride was boring but quick. I tried to stop every 50 miles this time to guard against fatigue.

I was headed to Fruitport, close to Grand Rapids, to meet Andy, Sterling’s cousin who was back home. I made it there by noon, got off the bike and gave him a big hug. I was so delighted to see him again. :)

He took me out to lunch and then drove me around the town and then over to Grand Haven and pointed out all the places they used to hang out at when they were younger. I couldn’t stp grinning the entire time and took lots of photos to bring home to Seattle. The entire situation semed so surreal – here I was in Michigan hanging out with Andy getting a glimpse of their lives from days past. This wasn’t something I had planned for this ride but I feel happy and privileged to have experienced it.

Andy also had a lot of input on my ride to te Upper Peninsula, possibly one of his favorite places in the world. I had already decided that I wasn’t taking the $140 ferry to Milwaukee from Muscagon but was heading north and over instead. I was craving the water and greenery after all the freeway slabbing of the past few days.

I left Fruitport at around 3PM, sad to say goodbye so soon. Part of me wanted to just stay there sprawled on their lawn by the lake, but I wanted to cover some more ground, so I declined their offer to stay the night and left