Into the smoke from the Canadian fires

Sunrise in a smokey haze

We have made our way across most of Michigan, but with a couple of days of severe smokey haze from the Canadian fires north of here.  At one point I saw the air quality index was as high as 535 on a scale of 600 being the worst.  Luckily we had some rain last night and some strong winds today to get rid of some of the smoke, but it is already building up again as we will leave the area just north of Detroit and ride into Canada tomorrow.

The sun is just an orange ball in the sky

With the extremely bad air quality predicted for the next week, the tour company has agreed to let us stay in hotels for the next several days.  This has made a lot of us happy since the weather is also hot and humid for camping.  The hotels are at our own expense since we were supposed to be camping for  9 straight days, but nobody is complaining.  We are are all sharing rooms since we have become a pretty tight knit group.  I am rooming with Chuck for the next 4 days.

Me, Jocelyn, Glenn and Myles at the Glenside Cafe

We had another really good time at a local cafe in Muskegon after our ferry ride from Milwaukee.  A few of us stopped at the Glenside Cafe for dinner before heading to the hotel.  We were talking with the waitress about our trip across the country who then talked to the manager who couldn't believe what we were doing.  She gave all T-shirts and took our picture to put on their Facebook page.  

That is the second time in a week that we made Facebook.  We had stopped in a coffee shop in Jefferson, Wisconsin at the Tan-a-Latte where the same thing happened.  We had stopped there because nobody had heard of a coffee shop - tanning salon combo before.  It turned out to be the favorite local coffee shop and we talked to several of the locals who all thought we were nuts!

Route as of July 18 in Rochester Hills, MI

Current Stats:

  Location:  Rochester Hills, MI

  Miles Ridden:  3039 miles

  Feet Climbed:  112,460 Ft

Welcome to the humid mid-west...

 

Minneapolis skyline between showers as we left town

We have now hit some seriously warm, muggy weather this week as we made our way across Wisconsin.  There were a couple of days that I literally took my sopping wet shirt off and rang the sweat out of it.  Our first night of camping after leaving Minneapolis was at Mr Sippi Campground right on the Mississippi.  It was an OK campground with a bar.  Right after we arrived there was a serious downpour.  Several people had tried to get their tents up before it hit and failed.  I had looked at the radar view on the phone and saw it was probably better to wait, so several of us took shelter in the bar to wait out the storm.

Riding the Rail-to-Trails across Wisconsin

A lot of our riding this week has been on Rail-to-Trail paths that are scattered all over Wisconsin.  Beth and I have ridden on several over the years.  We rode down a section of the Elroy-Sparta Trail that we did just 3 years ago on our last vacation together.  I went and checked out the city park at Wilton where we had stayed in the van and were the only people in the park.  It was a little different scene last Saturday than when we were there.  It was packed to overflowing with visitors who had come for a big town celebration that included sand volleyball, a big cookout and I'm not sure what else.

Riding through the longest tunnel on the Elroy-Sparta trail

Sheri taking advantage of a rest stop water bottle shower to cool off

The group's moral is hanging in there, but we have lost another of our original group.  Marianne, who has been riding her electric recumbent bike, that we lovingly call "The Tank" has decided to leave us here in Milwaukee.  The battery attachment to the bike broke a couple of days ago and that was kind of the last straw for her.  She had been thinking about leaving because of the hot humid weather and some the camping facilities have been less that comfortable (no showers on site or flushing toilets), plus the mosquitoes have really increased this past week.

Again the route planning by the tour company has been less than fully thought out when it comes to a multi-week, cross-country tour.  You can put up with some less than ideal conditions every now and then, but when it gets to be 3 out of 7 days, it gets really old quick. Especially after a long hot day of riding.  A couple of days ago we took advantage of Chuck's significant other, Katy, coming to visit from Chicago.  She ferried bags for 4 of us to a hotel 8 miles down the trail from the campsite so we could avoid another night without showers and swarming mosquitoes.

Joel Pundmann came up from Chicago yesterday afternoon for a short visit here in Milwaukee.  He gave me and my broken bike a lift to a local bike shop.  The bike will get boxed up in a couple of weeks and then shipped home.  It was good to see him and catch up a little since we had been at the Masters practice day back in April.

This next couple of weeks has more of the same type of planning.  Remote campsites with limited facilities and no hotel options.  We'll see how everybody's mood holds up as we are now into week 8 with more hot, humid weather in the forecast.  But in general, still having a good time with the group of riders.

Route completed as of July 14

Current stats:

  Current Location:  Milwaukee, WI

  Miles Ridden:  2748 Miles

  Feet of Climbing:  108,110 Ft

Minnesota Nice!

 

First experience with Minnesota Nice at the City Hall Bar in Minneota, MN

We had barely crossed the Minnesota border when we had our first experience with Minnesota Nice.  Our camping spot for the night was the city park in Minneota, MN.  We weren't overly thrilled with the choice since it was a hot muggy day and there were limited facilities at the city park.  The closest shower was at the town pool about a half mile from the campground.  

Our group with one of the owners of the City Hall Bar before he left for the lake.

HOWEVER, before heading to the campground a group of us stopped at the City Hall Bar.  Being Friday afternoon on July 3rd the owners had decided to close early at 2 PM and head to the lake for the holiday weekend.  We showed up about 1 o'clock in time for a beer before they closed.  After about 6 of us showed up, we asked if they would be willing to stay a while longer so we could enjoy the air conditioning before heading the city park.  The owners are couple guys in maybe their early 40's and answer was.  "keep track of what you drink, leave some money and close the door on your way out!"  He showed Glen how to operate the digital jukebox and put in enough credits for probably an hour's worth of music (Glen was in the mood for Toby Keith in prep for the 4th).  Jocelyn, being the accountant, kept track of the beer consumption.  Needless to say we left them a very generous tip for letting us stay in the bar while they got their afternoon off. 

While we were at the bar, I went outside and was on the phone ordering a new bike from a bike shop in Minneapolis (I'll get to that minute) when a guy came down the street and wanted to know what was the story with all the bikes in front of the bar.  His name was Larry and sold insurance plus seemed to the town's unofficial welcomer.  He came into the bar and talked to all of us to get the full story and he told us about the town.  Later, he came by the campsite and talked to a few more of us and then offered to bring sticky buns for breakfast the next morning.  True to his word at 7AM, Larry walked into the campground with two pans of sticky buns.  Man, what an introduction to Minnesota Nice.

Corn to the left of me, soybeans to the right... that's been the scene for the last 200 miles

I won't spend a lot of time on what we have seen in the last few days.  Its farm country, so we have seen miles and miles of corn, soybeans, the occasional field of sugar beets and hog houses.  The weather has been in the high 80's to low 90s and the humidity around 70%, so I am sweating like a pig myself.  I'm probably drinking 2-3 liters of water/Gatorade a day.

Now, back to my bike.  About a week ago, it started making a creaking noise coming from the pedal cranks.  It became progressively louder and more frequent.  It was so loud not only did it bug me no end, but anybody around me.  I finally found the source of the creaking was the bottom bracket (the mounting system for the bearings that the pedal crank goes through) was working its way out of the bike frame.  I am not quite sure how this happened but it looks like a spacer that was in the mounting had fallen out at some point allowing the pressed in bearing assembly to work its way out.  Last fall this bike fell off a bike rack going 70 miles an hour on the highway.  There was some damage the the front and rear derailleurs that I replace, but I may have missed the damage to the bottom bracket.  Anyway, I wasn't going risk trying to get it fixed in one day and then move on, so I just bought a whole bike.  I am excited to have electronic shifting for the first time!

My new Salsa Cutthroat 1x12 with electronic shifting 

Long story short, I have been looking at what bikes might be available for purchase in Minneapolis (a few days down the road) and I found one.  The same make and model as my bike which I really like, but one size larger.  I called the bike shop and arranged to have it delivered to the hotel yesterday, just after we arrived.  I'll put my old bike on the van for a few days and at some point I will ship it back home where I'll fix it again and sell it.

We are now down to 4 weeks left in the trip.  The next couple of weeks have some long miles and not great camping locations, some with no showers available.  A couple of camping locations don't have opportunity for a motels without a 2-8 mile additional bike ride.  Our wonderful tour company won't deliver bags to a hotel... period.  Back in Huron, SD, I bought a bigger backpack so that I can ride to a motel several miles away if needed carrying enough clothes for the next day and I have already used it a couple of times.  

I am no fan of camping in hot muggy weather, especially after riding 65-80 miles without a shower.  The tour operators could use a little Minnesota Nice, but I don't see that happening.  Some of the end points for rides seem to be very poor choices where there are limited facilities.  Several of us have looked at the routes and just can't seem to find any logic in why we stopped where we did when a little route adjustment would have put us in a better location for services.  

I haven't talked to anyone on the trip that would ever recommend these guys.  Planning a cross country trip is not easy.  I did it for our trip in 2013.  Some of this just wasn't well thought out in view of the clientele.  We are all over 60, mostly well over 60 and sweating out it out in a primitive camp site when you really don't have too is not high on anyone's list of things to do.

XC50 Ride Route up to Minneapolis, MN  

Current Riding Stats:

  Location:  Minneapolis, MN
  Miles Ridden:  2362 miles
  Elevation Gain:  97,500 feet

South Dakota - Tour Company Drama, Rain, Wind, Storm Warnings, Heat, Humidity... and then a nice day

 

The Needles area of the Black Hills

A group of us went "off route" on our way from Hill City to Rapid City, SD.  Myles knew about a ride up to the Needles area of the Black Hill where there are some really neat rock formations and some tunnels carved through the rock.  I plotted out the course on Ride With GPS and distributed it to the group.  It added about 15 miles to our ride, but it was well worth it.  The rock formations in the area are really interesting. The tour company isn't overly excited about us doing this and won't support us, but we are all experienced riders and with a group of 5 there wasn't much to worry about.

Needles Eye Tunnel

The next few days were a mix of thunderstorms at night and heavy cross winds during the day.  It made for some tough rides ranging from 58-75 miles long.  

One of the most interesting of these was riding into Interior, SD.  It had been a pretty hard ride of 75 miles with 15-20 mile per hour cross winds and a group of us had stopped at Lulu's Bar in Interior (pop about 80) for a beer before heading to our campsite at the local KOA about 4 miles out of town.  We received a group text from the tour company owner that we would NOT be staying at the KOA, but with no destination listed.  A few minutes later I received a phone call from John (one of the riders) and he said we had been kicked out of the KOA for some dispute with the KOA owner.  John had independently booked a cabin at the KOA and he was welcome to stay, but his clothes were in the van with the tour owner who had already left him stranded there.  

John is a very savvy business man and had called the KOA owner and explained the situation of the 12 riders who were in route to the KOA and that he couldn't explain the tour owners behavior.  He smoothed things over so that the we could all stay there as long as the tour owner didn't set foot back on the property.  

I was getting play-by-play updates from John while I was at the bar and relaying the situation to the group.  We were discussing the possibility of spending the night on the floor at the bar.  What a mess.  Long story short, the group was allowed into the KOA (less the tour owner) and unknown to us at the time, our sole remaining guide, Susan had become ill and didn't join us either.  So Arlen, the tour company director and husband of the own and Hank, the cook had to deal with all of the camp issues that night, including cooking dinner.  In typical fashion for this trip, there was no explanation from the tour company, but group pretty much had all the details we needed from John.

The storm missed us (in more ways than one) at the Interior KOA, but we did get a nice rainbow

Myles riding through Badlands National Park

The next day we had a very pleasant ride through Badlands National Park that everyone enjoyed with a gentle tailwind to push us through.  As we exited the park and headed east, the wind picked up and we spent the rest of the day battling 25-30 mph cross winds in low 90's temperatures.  Luckily it was only a 58 mile ride, but we were all exhausted at the next KOA near Midland, SD.  

The wind was picking up to well over 30 mph as we tried to set up tents.  It was pretty much a team effort to set up camp in the wind.   Another storm passed through about 9PM and dumped a lot of rain on the camp with plenty of gusty wind.  The tents all held up and the only casualty was my tennis shoes.  They weren't quite fully covered by the tent rain fly and were completely soaked.  So I strapped them to my bike to dry them out as I rode the next day.

Improvised tennis shoe drying rack

The humidity was high as we rode 68 miles to 1880 Town, an old movie set for Dancing with Wolves and another KOA campground.   Jocelyn had reserved a cabin at the KOA with an air conditioner which she graciously shared with her 2 riding partners Sheri and Dorothy (the Amigas) and me.  I squeezed my camping cot into the small cabin and enjoyed the AC. 

We had a rude awakening at 4:30 AM when all the cell phones went off with a Severe Storm Warning.  We were all watching the weather radar on our phones as we saw the majority of the storm passing to our west with reports of 80 mph winds.  We only got about an hour's worth of rain, but everybody was up, so we had yet another breakfast of oatmeal, packed up and headed out.

The storm cleared out and it turned into a hot, very muggy day.  The planned route was to cross the Missouri River to Ft Thompson then ride on another 25 miles to be shuttled back to a campground at the MO river.  It was so muggy, I literally rang water out of my shirt after riding 33 miles to Ft Stockton's Indian casino.  Several of us called it a day, had lunch at the casino and got rooms at the nearby motel to enjoy the air conditioning.

After hauling our bags back to the campsite on the river (tour company won't pick us up at the hotel even through it is on the way) to get our daily helping of oatmeal.  We were shuttled to where the group had finished up their ride the day before.  It turned out to be the nicest day of riding all week.  A light tailwind, temperatures in the low 80's and not much humidity.  It was a pretty quick and enjoyable 61 mile ride to Huron, SD and our rest day.

Our "mobile" kitchen... I wouldn't take this trailer on a 3 day Boy Scout camping trip.

As I have mentioned, Hank, our cook, was working himself really hard the first couple of weeks.  When the head guide quit in Missoula and the owner joined the tour, Hank re-negotiated his job assignment to only cooking dinner, driving the van and helping with loading and unloading. The owner fixes breakfast (oatmeal) and lunch (cold cuts and whatever salad was leftover from dinner).  Let me correct that.... we had scrambled eggs and sausage once in the first 5 weeks of the trip. 

As you can see, it is a major task to just unload all this stuff just so Hank can use the standard kitchen stove that is buried in all that stuff.  There is no refrigeration for food storage, thus all the ice chests which leak on the baggage stored in the front half of the trailer.  We need a food truck! Hank can't wait for this adventure to be over.

Getting ready to cook dinner.  I will say the owner has brought some organization to the 6 ice chests so they can usually find what they are looking for.

Progress as of July 1, 2026

Current Stats:
  Location:  Huron, SD

  Mileage:  2054 miles

  Feet climbed:  93,900'