Eagan, MN, July 22nd
Eagan, Minnesota which is home for me and today was all about the ride along Lake Michigan and the final destination. Since I have an interview tomorrow, I figured getting home sooner rather than later would be a good thing, and no help with the phone either which just added to the frustration. Remember the problems I’m having with this so called International coverage from AT&T. No that doesn’t mean I’ve left the USA again, but they should really make sure they have the states covered before worrying about international, more on that later.
Ok, so I decided against making that trip to Mackinaw Island to watch the boat race and look for Renee, but if she would’ve offered me a room like I did her last night, well, that would’ve been a different story. I had the alarm set a little early that when I saw the sprinkles still coming down crawled back into bed for another hour and for only 10 bills more than camping, the bed and dry hotel room were much nicer than camping would’ve been in the rain. So maybe I didn’t rough it as much as I should have, but why if I don’t have to and especially when there’s rain involved it is so nice finding a dry place out of the elements to prepare to deal with the elements again.
An hour later and the sprinkles stopped, but it was still wet that it was time to pack and get ready for the days ride and according to the weather station, chances of rain most of the way to Green Bay Wisconsin. Yep, this motel had the Weather station and I didn’t find one of those porn stations like I did in Ohio. Anyway, got packed up, cleaned up and put on the gators and rain pants to stay dry figuring if it starts raining hard enough, I’ll throw the rain jacket on over top of the leather jacket, which is pretty water proof anyway, at least it keeps me dry. Got a few pictures of Mackinaw City and now that I think about it, I forgot to checkout that house I said from my last visit I’d own someday. I had thought about stopping in there on my way in last night, if it would’ve been earlier just to talk to the owners and make an offer, just to see their reaction since sometimes you have to stick to your word and mine being I’ll own that place someday. Well, today isn’t the day.
I did get over the bridge without incident and I had forgotten how most of it is steel grate that it gets pretty squirrely on a bike. Well, they have one lane each way paved so I’m wondering if they did that just for the bikes that go over it cuz when it’s wet it’s even squirrelier, isn’t that a word? Ok, so I pulled into the wrong line to pay for the toll, but I noticed how short the line was and how fast people were getting through until I realized they had tokens to toss into the basket so I had to backup, remember this bike doesn’t have reverse, and instead of going to the end of the line, someone was kind enough to let me in. I did tell the attendant to make sure she thanked them for letting me in. If she remembers, I’ll bet they’ve never heard that before. I did make a stop in the Mackinaw Bridge viewing area for pictures and they might be very similar to the ones I captured my last visit.
Ok, today was about riding along a shore of the last Great Lake for me to ride and this one, Lake Michigan which did have some beautiful scenery to see. Sure it’d make a difference for you if I rode all of these lakes clockwise because of my camera mount, but I wasn’t going to add that many extra hours doing Lake Michigan south to Chicago and back, especially if I want to make it home today. I did try to capture what I saw, but a lot of it was me just enjoying the scenery and ride myself, even if I was spending a little time working. Al, who is working on setting up this interview for me said I could think about some of my answers for the Pre-interview interview which is a lot harder than you realize when riding along concentrating on the ride, taking in the views and not really thinking about much of anything. One of the few times where you are really living for the moment and not worrying about the future or contemplating what’s happened in the past. No worries for the time being cuz I’ll deal with what I have to when I have to and after making a call, no not with my cell phone, still not working, I should have service by Green Bay that I’ll make arrangements then.
So far, out of all of the Great Lakes to ride along, Lake Superior remains best of them all with Lake Michigan coming in second, and a toss up between Huron, Erie and Ontario. It’d take a trip to circumvent each to make the final decision, but from what I’ve already seen from the shores of Lake Superior, all others would have a tough time competing. One thing I though while going thru the sand dunes is that might explain why Milwaukee has some pretty nice beaches - the same great lake on the west side of the lake, which I have no idea why that’d be sandier than the other side unless the winds normally go from east to west, which doesn’t make a lot of sense, but then again even the weather around the lakes don’t make a lot of sense.
Ok, back to the ride and with the frustration with my phone service stopped to make a call charged back to my home phone which I’ve already had to do, but this particular pay phone didn’t work that way that I stopped at the local hotel where the young lady at the front desk was nice enough to let me make a long distance call, no charge. No pictures because I was frustrated enough and could see the rain in front of me that either I’ll get lucky and dodge it or’ll get soaked. Well, when it comes to the rain I hit the tail edge and since I could see the sun coming up rode it out. Ok, a little wet, but not wet enough that I’ll be uncomfortable for the rest of the ride. On my through Wausau and since I’m only a block from his shop, I stopped in to see my buddy Chris to say ‘Hi’. Well, the ‘Hi’ turned into me telling a few stories while Chris played with my phone to see if he could figure out what was wrong with it since he has AT&T service which works, but mine, still no luck. He eventually pointed me in the direction of the AT&T store which, you know how often I might have to ask for directions that there weren’t any good look-in women walking the streets that I could ask that I just stopped at the local Best Buy to see what they could do for me. Kate got it fixed for me, but if I would’ve known that what she did is all that has to be done to get the damn thing to work, I might’ve saved myself some frustration along the way. She pulled the battery and SIM card and reinserted and started the phone which resets it, and sure enough that was the trick. Like I said, if they’d put that in the trouble shooting section like they should for PCs, sometimes just a restart will clear up all problems.
Back on line and since I’m close had to call my mom to see what’s for dinner and I knew she’d remember me once I got back into the states, cuz she didn’t ask who this was this time. Funny how you can be so easily forgotten when out of the country, but once back in, people are paying attention. Well, she was just cooking up a pork roast with potatoes, that they can wait for me to join them. Finally a home cooked meal and from the real Mother Webb instead of the one advertising in Nova Scotia Canada. Now the only decision to be made is do I make the trip back to Eagan or stay in my hometown for a night and I think my mom might’ve been getting rid of me cuz like she said, if you stay you have to unpack some and repack in the morning whereas if you go home, all you have to do is unpack. Of course I asked if she was trying to get rid of me, but like she said she’d rather have me stay, but knew I had an interview to get home for and have been on the road for awhile.
Back on the road and one of the things I was thinking traveling this road I’ve traveled hundreds of times, Hwy 29 is how this bike was just in Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Labrador, Quebec and PEI to complete its North American tour, with me on it of course. What an awesome experience or better yet, stories and I hope to make more.
Tomorrow, a little synopsis on the latest travel as well as stats which I promised from the first trip, but missed, that this time I promise and I’m not one to break promises so if there’s anyone out there who I’ve broken one with, speak now or forever hold your peace.
Lake Michigan pics
Ok, so I decided against making that trip to Mackinaw Island to watch the boat race and look for Renee, but if she would’ve offered me a room like I did her last night, well, that would’ve been a different story. I had the alarm set a little early that when I saw the sprinkles still coming down crawled back into bed for another hour and for only 10 bills more than camping, the bed and dry hotel room were much nicer than camping would’ve been in the rain. So maybe I didn’t rough it as much as I should have, but why if I don’t have to and especially when there’s rain involved it is so nice finding a dry place out of the elements to prepare to deal with the elements again.
An hour later and the sprinkles stopped, but it was still wet that it was time to pack and get ready for the days ride and according to the weather station, chances of rain most of the way to Green Bay Wisconsin. Yep, this motel had the Weather station and I didn’t find one of those porn stations like I did in Ohio. Anyway, got packed up, cleaned up and put on the gators and rain pants to stay dry figuring if it starts raining hard enough, I’ll throw the rain jacket on over top of the leather jacket, which is pretty water proof anyway, at least it keeps me dry. Got a few pictures of Mackinaw City and now that I think about it, I forgot to checkout that house I said from my last visit I’d own someday. I had thought about stopping in there on my way in last night, if it would’ve been earlier just to talk to the owners and make an offer, just to see their reaction since sometimes you have to stick to your word and mine being I’ll own that place someday. Well, today isn’t the day.
I did get over the bridge without incident and I had forgotten how most of it is steel grate that it gets pretty squirrely on a bike. Well, they have one lane each way paved so I’m wondering if they did that just for the bikes that go over it cuz when it’s wet it’s even squirrelier, isn’t that a word? Ok, so I pulled into the wrong line to pay for the toll, but I noticed how short the line was and how fast people were getting through until I realized they had tokens to toss into the basket so I had to backup, remember this bike doesn’t have reverse, and instead of going to the end of the line, someone was kind enough to let me in. I did tell the attendant to make sure she thanked them for letting me in. If she remembers, I’ll bet they’ve never heard that before. I did make a stop in the Mackinaw Bridge viewing area for pictures and they might be very similar to the ones I captured my last visit.
Ok, today was about riding along a shore of the last Great Lake for me to ride and this one, Lake Michigan which did have some beautiful scenery to see. Sure it’d make a difference for you if I rode all of these lakes clockwise because of my camera mount, but I wasn’t going to add that many extra hours doing Lake Michigan south to Chicago and back, especially if I want to make it home today. I did try to capture what I saw, but a lot of it was me just enjoying the scenery and ride myself, even if I was spending a little time working. Al, who is working on setting up this interview for me said I could think about some of my answers for the Pre-interview interview which is a lot harder than you realize when riding along concentrating on the ride, taking in the views and not really thinking about much of anything. One of the few times where you are really living for the moment and not worrying about the future or contemplating what’s happened in the past. No worries for the time being cuz I’ll deal with what I have to when I have to and after making a call, no not with my cell phone, still not working, I should have service by Green Bay that I’ll make arrangements then.
So far, out of all of the Great Lakes to ride along, Lake Superior remains best of them all with Lake Michigan coming in second, and a toss up between Huron, Erie and Ontario. It’d take a trip to circumvent each to make the final decision, but from what I’ve already seen from the shores of Lake Superior, all others would have a tough time competing. One thing I though while going thru the sand dunes is that might explain why Milwaukee has some pretty nice beaches - the same great lake on the west side of the lake, which I have no idea why that’d be sandier than the other side unless the winds normally go from east to west, which doesn’t make a lot of sense, but then again even the weather around the lakes don’t make a lot of sense.
Ok, back to the ride and with the frustration with my phone service stopped to make a call charged back to my home phone which I’ve already had to do, but this particular pay phone didn’t work that way that I stopped at the local hotel where the young lady at the front desk was nice enough to let me make a long distance call, no charge. No pictures because I was frustrated enough and could see the rain in front of me that either I’ll get lucky and dodge it or’ll get soaked. Well, when it comes to the rain I hit the tail edge and since I could see the sun coming up rode it out. Ok, a little wet, but not wet enough that I’ll be uncomfortable for the rest of the ride. On my through Wausau and since I’m only a block from his shop, I stopped in to see my buddy Chris to say ‘Hi’. Well, the ‘Hi’ turned into me telling a few stories while Chris played with my phone to see if he could figure out what was wrong with it since he has AT&T service which works, but mine, still no luck. He eventually pointed me in the direction of the AT&T store which, you know how often I might have to ask for directions that there weren’t any good look-in women walking the streets that I could ask that I just stopped at the local Best Buy to see what they could do for me. Kate got it fixed for me, but if I would’ve known that what she did is all that has to be done to get the damn thing to work, I might’ve saved myself some frustration along the way. She pulled the battery and SIM card and reinserted and started the phone which resets it, and sure enough that was the trick. Like I said, if they’d put that in the trouble shooting section like they should for PCs, sometimes just a restart will clear up all problems.
Back on line and since I’m close had to call my mom to see what’s for dinner and I knew she’d remember me once I got back into the states, cuz she didn’t ask who this was this time. Funny how you can be so easily forgotten when out of the country, but once back in, people are paying attention. Well, she was just cooking up a pork roast with potatoes, that they can wait for me to join them. Finally a home cooked meal and from the real Mother Webb instead of the one advertising in Nova Scotia Canada. Now the only decision to be made is do I make the trip back to Eagan or stay in my hometown for a night and I think my mom might’ve been getting rid of me cuz like she said, if you stay you have to unpack some and repack in the morning whereas if you go home, all you have to do is unpack. Of course I asked if she was trying to get rid of me, but like she said she’d rather have me stay, but knew I had an interview to get home for and have been on the road for awhile.
Back on the road and one of the things I was thinking traveling this road I’ve traveled hundreds of times, Hwy 29 is how this bike was just in Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Labrador, Quebec and PEI to complete its North American tour, with me on it of course. What an awesome experience or better yet, stories and I hope to make more.
Tomorrow, a little synopsis on the latest travel as well as stats which I promised from the first trip, but missed, that this time I promise and I’m not one to break promises so if there’s anyone out there who I’ve broken one with, speak now or forever hold your peace.
Lake Michigan pics
posted by Dalej Webb at 11:36 PM
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