Day 39: Saugatuck, MI to Kalamazoo, MI

The Homeland... Marc has arrived! Today was supposed to be a short 50 miler to Kalamazoo. Somehow, the shorter mileage days just don't turn out that way.

Our late start didn't help matters. We were so tired this morning that it was hard to get up. After being up for almost 20 hours straight yesterday, I was still groggy this morning and did not get out of bed until 8 am. Thus after packing and breakfast, we didn't get on the road until 10:30 or so.

I was in a bad mood this morning. I had just spent hours at my folks' house downloading my favorite radio talk show program and a few audio books to my phone. We've been enjoying listening to music, books, etc while on the road. It really helps to pass this time. Well my phone just wasn't cooperating this morning nor had it been working right for a few days now. Needless to say, I was ready to throw it in front of the next truck.

With my aggravation brewing, I took off after breakfast in a storm of frustration with my phone and pedaled hard, zooming on down the road. I quickly passed a teenager on a BMX bike riding to work and didn't think much of it. Well, I guess he didn't like being passed as he was then on my tail for the next mile. It was really aggravating, especially trying to cross highway on-ramps as I couldn't see anything but this kid's red huffing face behind me.

Finally I ditched the pesky kid and Marc caught up with me for the rest of the ride south to South Haven. In South Haven we picked up the Kal-Haven trail. It's a crushed lime stone bike path that runs 35 miles to Kalamazoo. The trail was very similar to the trail in Wisconsin - very shaded and flat. I like the quiet tranquility of the trail but it does get quite monotonous especially when you can't see any of the towns you are rolling through. The thick shade of the trees lining the path do a good job of blocking out any other scenery.

So I'm rolling along the trail at a good clip when suddenly my back tire locks up and sends me skidding to a sudden stop. "Whoa - what the heck was that?" I said to myself.

I looked around to see what locked up my tire and it was my derailleur. Somehow my derailleur had jammed up and was thrown forward into my spokes thus jamming the wheel. I attempted to unjam the wheel and get my chain back in place. I thought it was just an easy fix and sent away the park rangers that stopped to help. Well, I got back on the bike and two pedal strokes later the wheel jammed again.

This time I was too frustrated by the constant mosquitoes buzzing around me to stop so I just starting walking the bike down the trail. I figured Marc would stop and wait for me at some point so walking was better than getting bitten up. I ended up walking about 1/2 mile down to where Marc was waiting.

I was afraid that my derailleur ( a derailleur is the mechanism that controls the chain length and shifting on the rear wheel) was broken and that we'd have to call Marc's mom to come get me. But Marc was somehow able to salvage the damage. My chain had jumped to the wrong side of the derailleur - jamming it up. We both are perplexed as to how that happened. Marc removed my chain and bent the derailleur back into place and then put it back on the right way. Aside from some annoying clicking, the derailleur seemed to be ok to ride on. I was so grateful! Thank you Marc.

In the small town of Bloomingdale, we stopped to pick up some lunch at the local grocery store. As I ordered a pasta salad at the deli counter, the man helping me asked, "Is that Marc Leveque?"

I was taken back with his question, but managed to respond with a meek head nod. Here were are in the middle of nowhere and someone recognizes Marc - what the heck! Well it turned out that the man working at the deli counter was a former classmate of Marc's. Having been to so many po-dunk small towns across the US, I had completely forgotten that we were actually close to home for Marc.

After our quick lunch of pasta salad and blueberries, we headed over to the old train depot along the bike trail. Typically the train depot's along the Wisconsin trails housed bike services such as trail maps, water, bathrooms, etc. Well, the depot in this town housed an old museum. We were looking to fill our water bottles, but ended up getting an hour long personal tour of the small eccentric museum. The museum was filled with miscellaneous historic odds and ends. The most interesting piece for me was the vibrating chair from the Kellogg Sanitarium. Supposedly this chair was used to stimluate blood flow. Check out the photo of Marc trying it out - yes it still works!

At 5:30 PM, we finally arrived in Kalamazoo. We were greeted in driveway by mom and Sierra! I don't think she recognized us (Sierra that is...she's getting so senile in her old dog age.) We had a big turnout for our arrival (Grandma, Marc's dad, and brother Travis with wife Jen were all there for our arrival dinner.) Of course, pie was on the menu for dinner - in fact 5 types of pie! Spaghetti pie for the main course and then Blueberry, Cherry, Rhubarb and Ice Cream Pies. Wow! I chose the Ice Cream Pie and Rhubarb Pie (yes I had a slice of each.) They were delicious!

Looking forward to a few more days of rest before we head East yet again. I'll try to keep posting a bit everyday for you die hard fans (aka - those with nothing better to do.) Thanks again for following us!