Fellow Young Adventurers, etc.

This last week has been rather full, to the extent that it's hard to believe that only one week ago I was in Toledo writing my last entry, and that the week before that I was in Battle Creek. It feels like a month ago...

I left Toledo Sunday afternoon, with only 28 miles to the house I was going to stay at - a WarmShowers contact, of course. Heading out of town, the securing system for my rear panniers proved ineffective, and I ended up using almost all my zip ties to secure my load so I could just make it where I was going. By the way, riding a bike through a city that has 1/3 the population it did 50 years ago, on a Sunday afternoon, results in very little traffic to contend with.

Eventually I made it to the house of Gordon Hille, a teacher, who is preparing for a bike trip across Europe next year, and maybe more. We talked a little bit on topics such as theology, sociology, and psychology, 'till his daughter and her boy friend arrived.

Adam and Madelyn, 24, just completed a canoe trip of the Mississippi about a month ago. Something like 2500 miles, in 70 days. I'd actually thought of doing something like this myself, so it was interesting talking to someone who had. Comparing our trips was also fascinating. We both started out with no prior experience, and very little training. I think ultimately, however, the river is a greatly larger challenge, as in a way it's fighting with a living organism, where riding is simply pushing against a still and lifeless road.. After many glasses of wine, cigarettes, and bagels, (I consuming only the last), we finally headed to bed around 5. I think that's the longest conversation I've ever had..

Heading east on Monday, I learned that the "North Coast Inland Trail" is sometimes a bike route, and sometimes more of a horse trail. Not that I saw any horses, but the fine gravel was definitely less suited for bicycle travel.. I did see more hoof prints than bike tracks for a while, though. 

I thought it time to take an updated picture of my bike, as it looks on the typical riding day. I keep my rain covers out and on the ready, and now keep my sweat shirt up front (instead of behind, as in the beginning).

That night I slept behind a church, which I'd arrived at after dark, due to my late start. Unexpectedly, there was something going on both when I got there, and when I left. However, I found a shed out back, behind which I could sleep completely undisturbed, and undetected. 

My next stop was in Cleveland. I'd originally planned to head a little south of town, but after sending out half a dozen requests, finally decided "Hey, people live in Cleveland. Certainly I could survive riding through.. hundreds of people do every year.." So, I made contact with a bike shop owner in downtown Cleveland, who I ended up staying with. While at the shop, I got a little maintenance taken care of. Alex, a cross country cyclist himself (self supported), had the bearing of a dignified and intelligent craftsman.. unfortunately, I had a much superior description, but in the ensuing week, it was forgotten. 

Alex giving my bike some TLC.

Cleveland is the largest city I've been in, as it took me probably 50 miles from the time I entered the suburban area, till I was back into the country. In this time I went from richer, almost exclusively white towns, to poorer almost exclusively black towns. As always, I didn't feel threatened by anyone. At Taco Bell, the manager and another employee (though honestly I don't know who was who.. maybe they were both managers? or transitioning?) saw my bike, and found it hard to believe.. 

Downtown Cleveland.

Before this week I'd only heard the "dialect" known as "Ebonics" in movies and such, so finding myself surrounded by those who spoke only in this version of my mother tongue was certainly a new experience.. At AutoZone, where I stopped for bungee straps and zip-ties, I had to ask the lady at the checkout to repeat herself, and still only understood half of what she said.. I always thought I was good at deciphering accents.. I guess I got enough, though, as my money was accepted, and I left with what I came to purchase. And the amounts seemed right..

I think this church was in East Cleveland, but I could be wrong. 

By now I was behind schedule. I'd made contact with a guy out of town, but he said he had things going on and wasn't available. Later, though, he called, saying he knew the difference between sleeping in a bed and sleeping on the ground, so I could stay there the night, he'd just be busy. Then, after telling him where I was, he offered to pick me up in the box truck he was bringing home (with a Ferrari kit car body someone gave him), since there was no way I was going to make it on my own. 

This town is over 200 years old. Not ancient, but nearly so, by western standards...

Tim is a motorcycle traveler primarily, though does ride his bike frequently, but once quit his job and left his house and hitchhiked around the us for 6 months.

Reminding me of another Stateline Road, thousands of miles away...

A bean field, of some sort.

A gravel road Google Maps put me onto. I probably had between 15 and 20 miles of gravel to deal with.. Fortunately it was mostly packed well, so I was able to make good time. I almost tipped over on loose gravel once, however..

My next stop was Erie. I made contact with a young lady, who this summer rode across the US solo, with perhaps less training and preparation than myself, but she said she wasn't able to host anyone at present. However, she knew of a church I might be able to camp at. Mentioning that I was 20 changed things, however, and soon I was told I could stay there, arriving a couple hours before first anticipating. 

That should do it..

In Ohio I'd pretty much run out of things to take pictures of. Everything looked the same as it had for the last several weeks. However, scenery began to shift as I entered Pennsylvania, and then New York. 

A fresh fruit/vegetable stand outside of North East, PE where I was given grapes, plumbs, an apple, a peach, and a couple nectarines.

One thing I noticed, just inside New York - while the architecture is old, and beautiful, while the landscape is attractive, there seemed to be more obvious signs of poverty here than in most of small town America I've been through. Things like tattoos and piercings, more hollow faces and sad eyes, the way people were dressed.. Not just that I saw poor people here and there, but that the Amish were about the most dignified people in town! Even the fact that "No Alcohol to Minors" signs were much more visible than other places I've been could be seen as an indicator. It seemed so.. incongruent. I guess it's because of the grape/grape juice industry in the area, bringing in lots of low skilled workers, and also because of near proximity to the economically depressed lakes region. 

I was told that barns were built octagonally in order to keep the devils out of the corners. 

Lake Erie

This happens to be part of the Concord grape belt. Vineyards from 40-100 acres all over the place. Apparently harvest is 2 weeks out. 

Some old church, with quite a steeple system. Too bad I couldn't have gotten the whole building in the shot..

A war memorial in the middle of a Cemetery - Portland, NY. 

They say this used to be a fine dining establishment, called "The Castle". Nowadays some call it the "rock pile"..

I'd made contact ahead with Mr. and Mrs. Wahl, who gave me a place to stay over the weekend in Brocton, New York. This house has apparently been in the family for a couple generations at least. The Wahl's have grandchildren my age.

At dinner on Friday, the conversation turned to comparisons of culture - Mr. Wahl talked about how amazed he was, on a visit to South Dakota, by how well everyone knew their neighbors, even 25 miles away, and how friendly they were to him, a complete stranger. He said that other than the neighbors he has working relationships with, he hardly knows more than their names.. 

Yeah, I guess I'm in a different culture alright..

Out my window

I made a huge tactical error today.. I failed to "strike while the iron was hot" and write while my ideas were fresh, and so my train of thought got derailed. So, the last part of this entry is running towards the stale side, and there's so much I've left out. Or, at least, I'm sure there is, because I have a couple days barely covered, only I don't even know what to say about them.

I'm tired. I've got a long day ahead of me tomorrow..

Fall is coming..

This week has been quite remarkable as far as how many interesting people I've been able to meet. I only ended up having to camp once. Meanwhile, I also set a distance record, at 258 miles, plus another 20 I didn't ride. As I'm headed towards upstate New York, it looks like both the amount of people, and the distances I'll be able to make, will begin to drop..

Hospitality.. and more..

So two weeks in a row I've done average weekly ride distances, but in 4 days instead of 5. This upcoming week I'm going to attempt to maintain the same sort of average, but stretch it across 5.5 days.. My last opportunity to comfortably set distance records, as I'll be riding along Lake Erie, and afterwards will be in hills, mountains, and/or heavy traffic till about Florida.

I started out, of course, in Berrien Springs, home of Andrew's University, visiting my cousin. The first day I made 49 miles, stopping at a boat ramp next to a small local lake. I'd underestimated the volume of traffic there would be to such a small lake, and perhaps was a little unambitious on distance, so ended up waiting an hour or so to set up camp, as there were too many people around for comfort. 

Once I got set up, it was a little warm and uncomfortable, but the biggest problem was mosquitoes - the worst I've encountered to date. When I say bad, I've got DEET with me, of the strength that makes your lips go temporarily numb if they make direct contact. Well, I applied it either 2 or 3 times during the night, and the mosquitoes still never left me alone. So rude.. I got half inch welts in places..

The sad thing was, I'd made contact with someone who basically offered to come pick me up and give me a place inside to sleep, but I turned it down because it was already 9, and I thought I'd sleep better by staying put. Well, I didn't get to sleep till about 3:30...

The first of I'm sure many Civil War memorials. Most war memorials I see only memorialize the big 4 - WWI, WWII, Korea, and Viet Nam. 

Well, life goes on. For not getting any sleep I did alright the next day.

Just as I was entering Battle Creek, I was on a trail of sorts next to the road, and an older gentleman was riding down the median of the 4 lane road (one of those turning lane/emergency lane things). He called out, and asked where I was from and such, and I tried answering, but he had difficulty hearing (not because of traffic - there was almost none). So we pulled into the gas station just ahead, and talked a little. When I said I was from Oregon, Bill Bailey, as that was his name, asked if I was headed for Maine. Well, that's a first... When he was my age he said he'd ridden from Oregon to Maine, then took a plane to England, and road across Europe and Africa. He said he was 80 years old, and had ridden (if I remember correctly), 500,000 miles in his life.. Looked like he just had a couple library books in his panniers.

A bit later, I was riding through a neighborhood, and a lady working in her garden asked if I had a minute. A retired Army vet, she is planning a ride some time soon, though wasn't too ambitious (60 miles?), and asked what advice I would give. I gave the first thought to my mind, that most of it's mental rather than physical, but of course with her military experience, she knew all about that already.

Eventually I arrived at the Historic Adventist Village, a place in Battle Creek where a lot of Adventist pioneers used to live back when Battle Creek was like the Salt Lake City of Adventists. ..before everything burned down, and everyone was told to leave.

A toy boat owned by Edson White, and behind it, a picture of his mobile mission station, the Morning Star, with which he traveled up and down the Mississippi.

I arrived at about 2:30, which was enough time to get the full tour before they closed. I was the only visitor that time, so for 3 hours it was just me and my tour guide, in rapid fire fashion telling all the stories of importance on everything there was to see.

The former home of James White's parents. The log cabin to the left was a gift by the city, along with a few other buildings. 

The former home of Ellen White, and at times her 4 sons (while there were 4), and both sets of in-laws. 

The home of J.N. Loughborough was accidentally torn down, as it was mistaken for the one next to it. Eventually they might rebuild the house.

Well, if you want to hear the stories, I encourage you to read books such as Life Sketches, by Ellen White, and The Great Second Advent Movement, by J. N. Loughborough.

As the tour ended, I didn't know where I was going to spend the night yet, but there were storm clouds headed south east - where I would be if I kept going. So, my tour guide offered to let me sleep in the volunteer house, next to the house where he and his wife lived. So, out of that, I got a shower, and ate supper with them, and was told to come back over in the morning for waffles.

One of 5 pump organs in the room of the volunteer house I stayed in. I had fun playing it for a bit.

The rebuilt Battle Creek Sanitarium, built larger, against counsel. Kellogg couldn't pay his loan, and the state got the place, turning it into a Army hospital, and now government buildings. 

This house apparently has had the same family living in it for over 125 years. 

 Battle Creek got basically no storm action, but apparently they were hit hard not far ahead..

Albion, Michigan. Another Christian college town. I've never seen a completely brick Main Street before.

The storm I had evaded by staying in Battle Creek resulted in many trees and branches down, and many roads closed.

Mosquitos were a problem, even in the middle of the day, which was a little annoying. As I was headed out of town, the road my GPS directed me down was blocked by a down power pole, and tree/power trucks, so I had to backtrack and take a different route, adding a couple miles. Closed roads.. so many of them.. I'd have kept going, around the power pole, but I was sent back by the workers, and I didn't want to argue.

Lots of standing water, and a few down trees, in the city park. 

And anyway, I still had to hit my goal of 63 miles that day.. a personal record so far.

Adrian, Michigan - yet another Christian college town in Michigan.. 

Finally I made it to Toledo, Ohio, entering my 13th state, on Friday the 13th. I was warned of the danger of riding through town, by another cyclist, and saw a US flag, upside down, at half mast. If I were superstitious, I'd be worried, as Toledo is the largest city I'll have been through so far, and I've already noticed people are a little less patient on the road...

I'd made contact with the pastor of the Toledo church, who offered me a place to stay on Friday, but he'd be out of town Sabbath evening, so I'd have to find somewhere else. At his house, I met the associate pastor, a lady only a couple years older than myself, and amazingly, also from Oregon. Wow, for once I could talk to someone else who understood what it's like to hear the name of your state mispronounced, who knows about irrigation ditches, the dry side of the state, free range laws, the adventurousness of westerners, people not even knowing where the place is.. I still am having difficulty believing she's not actually from Washington (as most north westerners are..)

Well, the pastor announced up front that I was needing a place to stay, but, while many charged me with the task of being warm and fed, no one offered to take me home. One said he would if he didn't have to work that night. I got the idea that he really meant it. A few minutes later he walked up and handed me some bread.

Finally, at the last minute, a guy came up and offered to take me to his place. John Eaton also rode his bike to church - being epileptic, he couldn't drive, and someone said he probably shouldn't be walking, or riding either, for that matter.. Simply grateful for the offer, I took him up on it, even though though he was obviously "off", being slightly confused/dizzy all the time.

Well, I made it to his house, and really, was glad I did. Alright, it wasn't a house, but a 350 square foot apartment. I ended up sleeping on the 6 foot couch. As I spent the afternoon and evening with him, I gradually came to see John, not as the mentally handicap person I'd first read him as, but a rather intelligent man, quite hampered by a mental condition. Were he not to have had that accident in his last year of high school, nor wasted his mind with drugs, as some in his family, I could imagine him in a 6 digit income career. As it is, he never managed to complete his education, and can barely hold a job..

Reading - one of his favorite pastimes. Gotta keep the mind working. The Great Controversy is one of his favorite books, or maybe he'll be reading a 800 page medical sourcebook on Cancer, or...

I'm learning that while the correlation isn't always direct, there seems to be an inverse relationship between one's economic status and their generosity. More simply, people who don't have much are often the most willing to give what they have. I'm also learning of the strength of the few.. the fewer people there are to help, the morel likely someone is to do so.

One thing I'm learning from this trip - how to be generous..

A Big Lake, and Old Friends

I'll let you in on a little secret about my blog posts. I have to look at my map to remember what exactly I did in the last week.. And this week has felt particularly long.

I started in Freeport, Illinois, talking my host into giving me a 30 minute ride out of town, as I was afraid I had too much distance for one week. Out this way the ground is noticeably flatter, and wind hasn't been a problem this week, so I managed to make good time. In a typical week I have a couple high intensity days, and then a couple average or below average days, but this week every single day was over 50 miles.

I witnessed a truck and tractor pulling contest for a little bit.  

My first day out of Freeport I was passed by a couple motorcycles, then half an hour later stopped in at a gas station for something or other. A guy and his wife who had passed me half an hour before on their bike came and asked about my trip. After hearing I was a Christian, they prayed with me, then he gave me $20 and they went back to their bike. A couple minutes later, the lady came running up and handed me another $15 "from me!" she said..

Within a week, I'd been given $57, yet only spent about $25.

Flat. But even flat has little rises and dips..

Eventually I approached the Chicago area. Except, going as far south as I did, all I saw was the hour radius suburbs. At one point, due to construction, I ended up passing maybe 100 cars sitting still. As I passed one, a lady called out to me and asked where I was going and such, and asked if I'd read a book about some Appalachian Trail through hikers. I always like it when people on the road talk to me. 

Like the young man I forgot to mention from the day before, who stopped at a stop sign, and acted like he didn't have the slightest clue why anyone would want to do what I was doing. Haha, I was entertained by his incredulity at just how far I'd ridden, and would be riding. 

I had a couple intimidating left turns on main roads, but eventually got off the main road. Sleeping out in the open is something I really don't mind. ...as long as I'm in low population areas. Fortunately, the more reluctant I'd be to sleep out in the open, the more likely someone is to be available to put me up for the night.

Outside Joliet, I stayed with a guy who, the Friday after I left, was going on his own bike trip. For him, it was 1600 miles, in 6 weeks - part of it fully supported (not carrying his own gear), part lightly loaded, and the last part fully self supported. 

I spent a lot of time on bike trails that were made out of former rail lines. Here the trail dead ended, and I guess they just left the tracks for a memento?

Through the heavily populated areas, I was fortunate to spend almost 50 miles during a three day period on paved bike trails. While I was isolated from the surrounding towns by trees, being in close proximity to friendly people sharing the path (none of them talked to me, but we exchanged smiles) was nice. 

The next night I stayed with a single lady, retirement age, another bike traveler. By the way, age is no excuse for lack of activity. These people I've met typically maintain higher day riding average distances than I do, and yet are usually between the ages of my parents and grandparents.

One thing I'm realizing.. the more time I spend with people who habitually travel by bike, the more obvious it is that I had no prior experience. My habit of starting a ride so late in the day, how much weight I carry, that I don't just ride for a couple hours non-stop, that I'm unintimidated by roads others would avoid at all costs.. 

One of the best parts of riding on a bike is your extreme mobility. After foot, a bicycle gives the most versatility when it comes to terrain. In the last week I've had to carry my bike across two railroad tracks, go through several construction areas (sometimes I go up on the sidewalk to avoid the road hazard), and past two dirt closed road barricades. I've had to push my bike across grass, across highway medians (in Montana), and through a big puddle.. er.. washed out road section. Whenever I see a sign saying "local traffic only", I assume it doesn't apply to me, and keep going. So far I've been fine.

Road Closed? No problem.. I've been on many closed roads already. 

Ok.. I see why the road is closed.. How come Google doesn't know about this?

After the above picture, I met a guy, also at an intersection, driving home from work (as a nurse). He had the most enthusiastic reaction to everything I said about my trip of anyone I have ever met, or could imagine meeting. He said he did a lot of mountain biking, and always wanted to do something like what I was doing, and wished me luck.

I've never before been close enough to a coal fire plant to see the waterfall around the bottom..

 It's nice to be back in rural areas..

The area around Michigan City, Indiana reminded me of the Oregon or Florida coast.. I guess they did call Chicago the third coast.. Michigan City is a resort town. But unlike Seaside, for example, not every square inch has been turned into a 4000 square foot vacation rental home. That said, the process is under way..

Someone told me the lake gets up to 80 degrees in the summer..

Lots of construction going on along the shores of Lake Michigan - this in Michigan City.

You can barely make out the Chicago skyline, some 50 miles away..

Back inland I went. I'd once again pushed my mileage too late in the day. I had almost 60 miles to ride on Thursday, and still had 40 left at 2 pm - with my energy reduced after 3 days of high effort, and the sun going down in 6 hours. I made it, but it was a bit of a push.. 

Lots of vineyards in this part of Michigan. Interesting. Sure smells good..

As I entered the woods, three deer crossed the road, causing an oncoming motorist to suddenly almost stop. 

Another 4 lane highway I had no reason to ride on..

Finally I made it to my cousin Kyrsten's house. Or, more technically, the apartment where her aunt, uncle, and cousin, are living. I've met her aunt before, but her cousin I've not seen in at least 10 years, and I'd never met her uncle. I made it to their house on Thursday, which then gave me a few day reprieve from riding. It was great meeting up with Kyrsten again - one of very few girls I've never had any trouble interacting with.

One of the newer buildings at Andrews University.

 She took me on a tour of the University campus, and came up with the idea for the shot below, which really turned out quite well.

People keep telling me I should photoshop in an apostrophe..

Kyrsten and I 

While in town, I met up with some old friends - Kristina Stojanovic (formerly Kettenburg), who I'd not seen in perhaps 10 years, with her husband Endi I'd never met, and David and Cindy White, who I'd not seen in at least a year. I didn't know either of them were in the area, but we got in though through Facebook. It was nice being around people I knew again..

Andrews has their own water tower.

Oh, and it was nice going to a Sabbath School class that reminded me of my Stateline group. Musical people are hard to come by, for one thing..

Another apostrophe opportunity..

I've started missing my church friends a bit lately..

Four States, Distinct Cultures

Some days I just don't feel like updating my blog, and today is one of those. It's Sunday, but this next week will be one of the longest of my trip so far. Preoccupation and anticipation deprive me of verbosity.

This last week has been interesting for a variety of reasons. I started out in Rochester, one of the largest cities in Minnesota. With a population of 100,000, (200,000 in the metro), I was informed that around 32,000 people work at the main campus of the Mayo Clinic - a hospital apparently all Minnesotans are proud of.

Didn't get a story on the tower. I guess bikes are common in this part of the country.

Riding through southern Minnesota, into Iowa, I had my first real exposure to Amish culture. I must say, the paved extra wide shoulders where quite nice. I followed one buggy for maybe a mile, with a quarter mile or so between us. I didn't catch up, however, as we were traveling at almost the same speed (around 11 miles per hour). As self segregated as they are, Amish are fairly friendly folk, and I exchanged waves with a few..

I followed a buggy for about a mile, from probably a quarter mile away. He was going as fast as I was, about 11 miles per hour, so I didn't get any closer.

Dropping into Iowa, as it seems happens at most state boarders, the roads dropped in quality, and paved shoulders went to gravel. Fortunately traffic wasn't too bad, as I was now riding on the road..

Showing the wheel marks from lots of horse and buggy traffic. The section between the wheels was in many areas worn down more, by horse hooves. 

One thing new in this part of the country is fireflies. Some places they are more common than others. All you see is a little tiny green light, on for a fraction of a minute. I tried taking a picture, but they weren't bright enough, and it wasn't dark enough..

Wednesday morning I went through Decorah, Iowa, the town with the largest Norwegian-American (and for that matter, any emigrant group) museum in the United States. I didn't stop at the museum as I had a ways to go yet that day, and wasn't sure if I wanted to spend the money. But I did stop at Subway for breakfast. I'd already eaten and was about to leave when one of the staff, seeing my bike started asking about my trip, then got excited and told everyone else, which ultimately resulted in an interview with the newspaper, and a free sandwich for lunch.

Here's the link with pictures, if you want to check it out:

http://decorahnewspapers.com/main.asp?SectionID=2&SubSectionID=13&ArticleID=31826

Half way between Decorah and Prairie du Chien, I stopped in the town of Postville, Iowa, which, as it turns out, has a sizable population of Hasidic Jews, who had a school right next to the park I ate my lunch in. Amish and Orthodox Jews are similar in that they both have a different culture, manners of dress, life styles, etc., and both take a highly traditional approach to every aspect of life - with exceptions as seen necessary.  However, it would seem that the Jews in this case tend to be less friendly, having greater fears of assimilation (after all, Amish never had the world out to kill them), which, amongst other things, has lead to some clashes between the local midwestern traditional folk, and the Jewish newcomers.

One of many Lutheran churches

The weather this last week has been quite warm and humid - something new, considering how cold it was a couple weeks ago. One night it was still 80 degrees a couple hours after dark, and humidity was so high, I could barely sleep.

As soon as one crosses the Mississippi, it seems everything changes - culture is different (a little, not massively), there are more people, who give less room on the road, geography is different (more hilly in Wisconsin), agriculture is different (all cows and pigs), architecture is different.. as soon as I crossed the Mississippi I saw my first seafood restaurant.. So much changes, I have difficulty still calling it the Midwest.

Iowa side of the Mississippi.

The first of two (sequential) bridges across the Mississippi.

So far I've gone through the mountainous areas of Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming, "the West", being Montana, Wyoming, and half of South Dakota, the Midwest, starting at the middle of South Dakota and going to the Mississippi, and now I'm in the Mideast. I'm learning that out here people have no clue about things like crop circles, irrigation ditches, or dry summers. Super 1 Foods, Safeway, such are replaced by Hy-Vee and Piggly Wiggly. Shucks.. I should have written more of this stuff down. PB is the most common gas station chain (I've not seen Shell or Exxon for a while). City park restrooms are locked at dark. Churches, it seems, are on every corner. Lutheran, Catholic, Baptist, Mormon, Jehovah's Witness, Presbyterian, Methodist... Non-denominational churches appear from time to time, but are notably less common than in the Northwest (while churches generally are less common).

A common sight in Wisconsin. For the record, these silos were common all the way to South Dakota, I just never got a decent picture of them. And they certainly are more common in Wisconsin...

After a few days of heat, I made contact with a host through WarmShowers, Esther Pleva, who gave me a dark room to sleep in, air conditioning, food, etc., and set me up with a contact in my next town. This friend of hers did not have a place for me to stay, in Gratiot, but, with a friend of hers, did buy me a meal, and got me where I could camp for the night.

A flower garden made up of milk cans, wheel borrows, hand pumps, metal tubs, bird baths, etc.

On the way from Gratiot to Freeport, I stopped to help a lady change her tire. Apparently she was rather close to work, but didn't know how to change it herself. I was literally dripping sweat as I worked, even though it wasn't strenuous by any means. The jack had a weird handle that I don't think I quite figured out, but I made it work.. She invited me to the VFW that evening for supper on her, but I didn't make it.

ATV's now..

According to this sign I'm 1/4th of the way from the Prime Meridian.

In Freeport I was hoping to pick up a package, sent by UPS, to the post office. Or... Well, somehow it all got messed up. Amazon ended up refunding the money, and I'll see if I can get it to my next stop.

More windmills.

I'm getting tired of writing right now, so you're just going to have to not know of everything that happened this week. I had one person hand me $2, another gave me $20.

Freeport architecture. 

And I'm going to end it there.

This next week I'll be going around Chi-town, (around, not through), so I'm hoping that all works out.

Till next time.