Hank – I woke up at 1:10 am to a thunderclap that must have been right next to our tent. Rain started falling. Lightning–so bright I had blind spots even though my eyes were closed when it flashed–strobed intensely. I grabbed my phone and checked the weather radar. The black dot in the screenshot above is the fan. The red, orange, and yellow is the s#!+ that hit the fan. Talk about intense. The wind was minimal but the rain frll in buckets. I just kept hoping for no hail. The tent is fine in wind and rain. Probably not so much in hail. The storm passed after a couple of hours. Whew!

Since we didn’t sleep well we decided to sleep in as best as we could and ride a short 23 miles to Hart, MI. The clothes we washed and hung last night got a second rinse cycle in the storm. I wrung them out again.

We had a late breakfast at the House of Flavors, a local place that’s also famous for their ice cream. After that we stopped by a laundromat to dry our clothes. While their we ran into Steve and Cheryl of Lebanon, NH whom we had met while getting on the ferry yesterday. They were on a trip of their own although doing so in a car. They gave us their contact info and told us we were welcome to stay with them if we passed through Lebanon. How nice of them.

Our ride to Hart went pretty quickly. We decided on a direct route. Hart has a city park with a campground. We ran into Dennis, Lisa, and Elizabeth who were out for a bike ride. They’re from Canada and they’ve been visiting various rail trails to ride on. We also met Paul and Bob. They live about an hour south of Hart. Bob turned 64 today and they were out camping and riding. We got a tent site and ran off to dinner. Afterwards we showered and planned out the next few days. Tomorrow we go to Muskegon. Grand Rapids on Saturday and Lansing on Sunday. There are many more WarmShowers hosts along the way so we’re hopeful that works out for us.

There was a free concert at the commons in Hart this evening by a band named Dobrolele. Turns out one guy plays the dobrolele, a ukulele with a metal resonator like a dobro. And they have a dobro player, too. They sounded pretty good.

Kathy – The storms were pretty intense last night and a bit frightful in a tent.  Heavy rain, lightning and thunder crashed about us for 2-3 hours.  We were happy when the weather cleared.  I saw the Carter Mansion Bed & Breakfast (see attached pic) this morning as we were leaving town…apparently I did not choose wisely yesterday with opting for the tent site.

The 25-mile ride today was pretty hilly but not too hard.  The weather was 69 degrees and sunny which is great riding weather.  We had lots of headwinds and sidewinds, but it wasn’t too bad.  I am thinking I may be getting stronger after three months of daily riding.  Our campsite right on the river is pretty spectacular tonight.  A band is playing not far away in the city center which we can hear just fine at our campsite in the city park.  We had a nice dinner at a local restaurant and a drink to celebrate our three month anniversary today!  Well, three months since we rode off from Spokane, Washington.  🙂

3 Month Stats…

• Mileage – 2,765
• Elevation – 60,830
• Headwinds: Yes – 52, No – 13
• Lodging: Camping – 37 days, Hotel – 25 days, B&B – 1 day, Convent – 2 days, Friends and Family – 10 days, Warm Showers – 6 days, Strangers opening up their homes to us – 4 days.
• Flat tires: Kathy – 6, Hank – 0
• We are enjoying seeing the country by bikes, seeing unusual sites/places, and meeting so many fantastic people.  We do miss our family and friends back home.  Love to you all.  We hope to see everyone during our two week break from cycling the end of October when we come home for Josh & Amanda’s wedding.

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