74 miles

Today’s journal entry is digital because there are 8,000,000 mosquitoes ready to feast on me outside my hammock, and I can’t risk unzipping my bug net for any reason.

Today felt long. I was on the road by 7:00 am, and it didn’t feel like I made all that many stops, but I couldn’t stop thinking about getting to the campsite. I think it’s because I now have two great books I want to read, and I haven’t really done anything but ride and manage my basic needs lately. My mind is feeling kind of…empty?

I guess I’m a little bored with the landscape here, too. When we were out west, there was so much newness to take in. Here, most of it looks like Michigan. Corn fields and stands of deciduous trees turning into boggy lowlands and tall evergreens, like the U.P. I have seen some larches here, which I haven’t seen since Montana, so that has been kind of nice—there were a few lovely meadows too with wildflowers, and there are lakes.

I took a detour from the ACA map to visit a bike shop in Hayward. My chain needed a good cleaning/relube and I wanted to see if they had a Schwalbe tire. They didn’t, but they did totally clean and lube my chain. Their mechanic was from Livonia. I had a long conversation with the older gentleman who was working the counter, who had lots of energy and good questions and was a joy to talk to. 

In trying to get back to the route, Google maps took me to what it showed as a trail, but which was not at all bikeable. It was literally just a field, a meadow with flowers, tall pines in straight rows, and butterflies. It was not a road or trail in any sense, but I’m so glad the map got confused. It was less than a mile, so I walked it and enjoyed the short break from riding.

This morning feels like such a long time ago. It was cool and shady and the pavement was smooth and the hills were rolling and curvy and serene. I thought about how I like almost nothing as much as I like making people laugh.

Tonight I’m staying at Day Lake, a USFS campground near Clam Lake. There was a site with a reserved sign up and no one here, so I took it. I had a lot of difficulty trying to hang my hammock—you know when all the trees are just a tiny bit too close or too far or with stuff in between or too narrow or…?

I went for a walk to find the water spigot and found a beach instead. The lake was WARM. It made me want to take a rest day here and swim. Maybe I’ll just get up early and swim? Then do a short day? I definitely could stand to wash this hair.

I’m listening to some loons now.