day 80- 85

hiding from the rain, we sit inside a warm hotel room, our bikes and clothes spread across the room, a thick musky smell rises from our feet and belongings filling the room from brick wall to brick wall. Sprawled on the beds, we mindlessly stare at the t.v. It is still a little unreal to us that Canada sits right across the river that the Inn sits on. The last half of Michigan flew by, from the Cafe in Clare (the city of the last blog update) to midland, to bay city, to a small campground near fairgrove, to Emmet KOA, to marine city. Sitting on the edge of our seventh state and staring at our first province, the excitement of Canada preempts the memories of the last half of Michigan. I will give a brief summary of our days from Clare to our comfortable hotel on the boarder.

The ride from clare to Midland was strictly on a awesome bike path called the Pere Marqutte Trail. An old railroad tracks turned into a non-motorized multi use path labeled Rails to Trails. A brilliant system sprouting all over the country. 28 miles with a nice tailwind brought us to a pizza joint in Midland, where the employs gave us each two free t-shirts to advertise on our way to Maine. Riding through town we started to notice large troll decorations placed in the gardens on every corner of downtown. We found a nice camping spot hidden a forest next to a river.

We woke up to the worst rain we have had on the trip so far. Pounding hard on our tents, we fell back to sleep. Waking up at 2pm we called a rest day. Eating alot and stretching our legs we had a good relaxing day.

Bay city sits right on Lake Huron, the largest lake in the world, if you dont include oceanic lakes (Caspain Sea would be the largest if so). At the camp we were invited over by our next door campers for sloppy joes. Later in the night one of the men brought over hot dogs, and a couple of logs to make a fire. We quickly grabbed kindling from the forest but found it useless as he rushed back with his a pair of his wifes underwear. Slightly confused, it soon made sense as he drenched the underwear in gasoline and made our fire, telling us not to let his old lady know about her underwear being lite on fire. The family was awsome, continually bring food over through the night and offering coffee in the morning.

The two days to the Emmett campground were very uneventful. We camped at a small campground the day before the KOA. On our way to the Emmet campground we meet a fellow cyclist, his only luggage was a bag on his rear rack. He was a true minimalist. Finding that he started in Seatlle a month ago, we figured he rode around the same milage as us, just didnt take the two week break in minneapolis. At the campsite we offered for him to stay with us so he would't have to pay 20 for a site.

Rain is no fun to ride in. 40 miles in the pouring cold droplets that pounded on us made for a very quite ride as we held our heads down and pedaled hard. We finally hit St.Clair and got our first glismpe of Canada. At the Burger King we called all the local Hotels, getting dry and having a nice warm shower was to tempting. And here we sit, watching South Park and ordering Pizza. (I apologize for the short posts, the T.V is very, very distracting)