Final day of riding! (6-27, Friday)

(Sam)

Well, my memory is a little fuzzy from this being one day after, but I can try.

We started the day in a moderately dry tent, with a wet rain fly from the dew. Then, we did our normal packing of luggage, filling of water, and the preparation of supplies. Our food was in the elementary school though, so we had to walk over there and eat. It wasn't that bad of a walk. I'd like to have taken the bikes, but mom decided she was on her bike too long, so we didn't. Then, we went off to do our 43 mile ride to Lexington.

Another sunny morning for our last departure.

It was pretty simple. A very small, gradual downhill about the whole way. Luckily they still had PALM personnel standing by the road, waiting for bikers to stop. The ride (get ready for some math here.) like I said before was 43 miles. We averaged our pace at about 10 miles an hour throughout the week, so it would take us about 4 hrs and 30 minutes. We left at a little before 7, so we had plenty of time to stop. We stopped at about every 5 miles, and every PALM stop. Then, we just kept going until we made it to Lexington. 

(Amy)

I'd like to say that our shortest ride of the week was the easiest for me, but it sure wasn't.  Whereas the rides in the rain were hard mentally, this ride was just hard for my body.  I think 5 days is just about my limit on a bike.  My legs, my butt, it just all hurt and no part of me wanted to pedal that day.  But, we did.  We  got an early start just before 7am and stopped every 5 miles or so just to stop and give everything a break.  It made me feel better to hear other riders moaning and groaning at the rest stops too.  I think everybody was ready to call it a week.

This is the marking on the roads that we followed all week.  

After a morning of fields and houses, we ran across a VFW with a really cool helicopter in front!

Crosswell was the first town we came to.  Apparently they are famous for their Swinging Bridge.  It's a long cabled foot bridge.  If you get on it with crazy people like we did who jumped and swayed, the bridge sure starts swinging.  I thought for sure I'd be seasick for the rest of the ride!

The nice ladies of Crosswell had a table set up by the bridge with water, cookies, watermelon - a good break.

Shortly after Crosswell, we finally made it to Lexington.  

Our last day of riding ended up at 45 miles in just about 5 hours, arriving at noon.  That have us about an hour to find our bags and look around town before the parade of riders thru town.

Just a fraction of the bags that filled the 3 moving vans that transported our stuff each day.

We made it!  That's Lake Huron behind us!

The view of Lake Huron at the end of the route!

We didn't get a picture of the parade since we were right in the middle of it, and Jeff and the boys were stuck in traffic trying to get to is, but seeing 820 people in red shirts filling the streets of a small town is just a pretty neat site.   And not until the parade did we ever see ALL those people all in one place during the week, so it was sort of neat to see how many people were actually out on the roads with you.  

After the parade, they gave us a lunch of subs, chips, carrots, fruit and cookies.  We visited a bit with people that we had met and then found Jeff and packed up to go to Sanford.  We had a Loons game to catch with my whole family that night!

We made it to the end!   We rode all 307 miles on our own.  Never had to get picked up once.  It feels good to be done, but it's a great feeling to know that we did it.  Will we be filling out an application for PALM 34 when they come out in January??  Only time will tell!

Thanks to all for your interest in and support for our trip!

Day five of riding! (Thursday, 6/26)

(Amy)

This day can easily be called the best day of the ride, even though it was the longest miles.

We started the day with sunny skies and smiling faces!

We packed up almost dry this morning. . . The rainfly is always wet from the dew.  Amazing how light the bags are when things aren't drenched!

It was a great morning ride, lots of turns to keep things interesting and beautiful weather.  We decided to take plenty of quick breaks to try and keep our legs fresh.  Before we knew it, we were crossing over I-75.

It seemed like we passed all the easy lunch spots too early, we weren't really hungry yet.  And of course, by the time we were hungry, there was not much to find.  We ended up stumbling upon the metropolis of Fostoria and found their little grocery/deli/video rental store.  A bunch of us stopped and had a great lunch of homemade sandwiches and chips.  The PALM organizers contact the towns that the riders go thru well ahead of time to tell them that there will be 820 people coming thru around lunchtime and to be prepared.  The towns we went thru today could not have been more welcoming.  Owosso, yesterday, was wonderful as well.  The grocery in Fostoria today had tables set up for us to eat lunch at.   We have passed many coolers on the side of the road full of water bottles with signs that say "Welcome PALM Riders! Free water!".  

Our favorite break stop of the whole trip was the magnificent Methodists of Mayville!  They had their church open with the air conditioning on so we could use the bathrooms and cool off.  They had trays upon trays of homemade cookies, fruit, granola bars, water for us to take whatever we liked.  

And the best part was the kids.  There were a group of little kids when we rode up to the stop with pots and pans and big spoons, and they were clanging away on them, cheering for us.  It was very cute!

And in the tradition of finding street signs from home, we found Maple Grove - the street Jeff's school is on!  Who knew it went so far?!

This is the sign we wait for all day.  It's the last break stop of the day, and they always have licorice for a snack.  It's the licorice lady!! (Sam: Notice my stance of deep thought while pondering the quality of my licorice.)

Our trip for the day.  56 miles in just under 8 hours.  And the most enjoyable ride of the week!

I'm hoping tomorrow is as much fun.  I can't believe it's the last day!  

(Sam)

Mom basically summed it up.

It began pretty dry, except for dew, and the breakfast wasn't bad. They had a lot of dinner leftovers, so for breakfast, the main course was Breakfast Burritos, which I really don't like, so I decided to have my usual bagel/cereal combo. But, they didnt have a toaster, but I made do. We began our journey, in the sunshine, and we just decided, cut the talk, and ride. And that's what we did. For the first five miles of flat road and sunshine, we just rode. And, to no offense, it was quite enjoyable, just being warm, and just getting stuff done. After that, we went through Otisville, at about 10:20 or so. I was getting hungry, and they had a Subway, which sounded like a good idea. But, It was only 10, so I thought, let's just keep going. And we did. But, personally, I got pretty hungry, with subs sounding better and better. We finally made it to Fostoria, where they had a deli/movie rental/grocery/ice cream parlor, so we sat down and had some subs, chips and ice cream. It really tasted yummy! By then, we were feeling pretty good, but then we made it to the Methodists. That's when we felt even better. Snacks of all kinds. We finally made it to the school where, we had some quick showers, and the tent was the fastest we ever set it up. That leads me to now. We didnt go to the meeting last night, due to a highly necessary Beatles Tribute concert, so I cannot tell you of tonight's dinner, until tomorrow. But, I can tell you that our entertainment is going to be some rock band, so I don't know what to expect. But, when we got here, we heard some different music.

I got to hear Beatles, and mom got to hear her weird bagpipe music. Not sure why it appeals to her, but then again, not even she knows...   (Amy:  It was wonderful!  I got to hear Amazing Grace!)

Day four of riding! (6-25, Wednesday)

(Sam)

Wow. Where to begin.

Before I begin, you must know that the wind was very strong throughout the day. It had a huge factor of pain added to us. Firstly, we began our ride off course. Apparently, St Johns didn't want so many people riding through their streets. So, we were redirected. But, that cut off our way to a nearby bank, for which we needed money for food, and the bike wheel repair.  Once we recieved it, we saw a pretty interesting sight.

The picture here (of which is terrible quality. Apple should really put more effort into their phone cameras.) is the Tiger Cruiser. Yes, the Tiger Cruiser. They used a PT Cruiser, and painted, stickered and edited the car into a Detroit Tiger themed car. Different, but still pretty cool. Dad, we're sorry, but it didn't have a "For Sale" sign.

We the continued, across endless farms and pointless signs, that almost never ended. Luckily, it wasn't raining, so we really took our time, since we sped through the courses so quickly the last two days. Finally, after countless stalks of corn and wheat, we made it to the fine city of Owosso, (which I highly recommend.) Unfortunately, we weren't in the best of moods. The day before, I recieved a bruise on my leg from hitting the frame so many times, which slowed my pedaling speed. We went really fast the last few days, so we were tired. Everywhere. And, the hills were pretty steep whenever we got to one. Or, at least that's how they felt. Anyways, we were upset. I was angry. Mom was plain tired with everything. And, the diner we were going to go to, we passed on our way to the city. Luckily, it was only about 3-4 minutes back. So, we stopped there, and I'm glad we did. It tasted pretty good.

We then continued to Lance's Bakery. The next picture will easily depict how amazingly wonderful they tasted.

Then, our last stop was a variety store.

The ad in the paper stated, "Your childhood coming back to life!" How could I pass up, N64's and Beanie Babies? So, I thought, why not? Now, going there, I realized it was probably the childhood of the kids like my mom, but I figured I liked the music and TV of that time, so why not their stuff? When I got there though, they closest they had was a Gumby toy. However, they had some nice candy I COULD'VE bought, but apparently the food I already had was enough. Darn. I was looking forward to Cherry Sours and Red Hots. After that, we continued on the last strip of boring road. By then, the strong wind frome the morning had picked up so much that you had a headwind the whole road. When we turned the opposite way, we had a head wind. I think all the blowing wind that day decided they wanted to hug us. Yay... But, we did see some interesting things. We saw that when the road company came to tar the cracks, they drew a smiley face. And, at home in the back roads, we have a road called Cronk. We rode on It a few times, but we didn't realize it's far extent.

Until after that, the Liccorice Lady was the only fun stop there was until the school. We still had a fun time though.

But, then at the school, we met some unexpected guests.

Gramma, Valerie and Rachael (two of our cousins) showed up! With them, we went to a concert by a band called Toppermost, a Bealtles tribute band, that I was especially looking forward to. They were pretty good. And Gramma bought ice cream!  Then, gramma and the others went back home, and that leads me back here! 

Since we went to the Toppermost concert, we missed today's meeting, telling us everything about tomorrow. The only thing we know, is that I will never want to see a hill ever again. The forecast also calls for very clear day, so that helps. Let's just hope the wind doesn't kill us again...

(Amy)

Well, I'd say Sam just about covered the whole day, except that besides our grumpiness before lunch, I think the rest of the day went really well!  Yes, our legs are very tired, but I don't expect anything less after 4 days of riding.  The word going around dinner was that tomorrow is another very hilly day.   That makes us very sad.  :(  But, just like today, we'll just take our time and lots of breaks.  We didn't get a trip computer picture today because the batteries conked out 13 miles into the day, so all we can go by is the official PALM map, and that says we went 54 miles today.  The last two days, we've covered that distance in about 6 hours.  Today was our "moseying" day, and we took 9-ish hours to do it.  :)  lots of breaks and it was much more enjoyable.

Some interesting facts I've discovered:

-  this is the 2nd longest PALM ride ever organized.  Sure glad we signed up for THIS one!

-  there are so many friendly, interesting people here!

-  there are also a fair share of bike snobs.

-  coffee drinkers get pretty serious about their coffee at 6am.  Yikes!

-  when biking long miles, Sam never stops eating.  Quite literally.

-  we are sure lucky to have this opportunity and blessed to have the support of so many family and friends.

Enjoying our time on the road, but I'm missing my guys at home and looking forward to seeing them on Friday!   But first, we're on to Kingston tomorrow!!

Day three of riding! (Tuesday, 6/24)

(Amy)

This photo sort of sums up our day.  Lots of rain, lots of cornfields, and a grey cloud hanging over our heads.  

Our plan was to get up early, on the road at 7am, and push ourselves to get to St. Johns since it was planned to rain and storm all day.  We actually got on the road at 7, only to have Sam's bike not want to stay in gear.  We turned around quick to hit the bike shop and get back on the road.  I'll let him fill you in on that escapade, but suffice it to say we did NOT get going at 7am. 

At breakfast, I realized that we rolled up the phone and my wallet in the tent, which was now in the moving van with countless other bags.  Thankfully, Sam still had $10 left in his pocket that would have to be enough for snacks or lunch if we could find it (we never did, not much in the cornfields!).  

So we covered our 54 miles in 5 hours and 46 minutes.  It turns out that rain is a great motivator.  I found that the best way to get Sam moving is to pass him.  He sure likes to be in the lead!

So again, another full day of rain.  I actually think we were more soaked than yesterday if that's possible.  We got to St. Johns feeling pretty low.  The last 5 miles were incredibly tough.  Tired legs, a 2nd day of being wet, and low spirits.  We got the tent set up in the rain, got some snacks and Sam headed for the pool for a bit and I hit the showers.  That made both of us feel better!  We strung up some clothes line and, once the rain stopped, thought that maybe something might dry.  Well see.  We still need to make a trip into town to find a bank, but I'm not sure that's happening tonight.  

My good ol' reliable, comfy gel bike seat has paid the ultimate price.  😥  It now has 3 holes worn in it.     Once it's completely dry, I'll attack it with the duct tape.  But once I get home, the hunt for a new perfect seat will begin.  

Tomorrow we head to Flushing.  We have declared that there will be NO more rain, so it will be delightful to have a sunny day to ride.  As long as it's dry, we're taking our time and stopping lots along the way. :)    We still have had lots of laughs, however, even in the rain.  Great people to chat with as they pass us (everyone passes us!).  And today Sam said "you know, I'm out here riding and getting rained on, but I'm still having fun!".  Truly, except for the end of the days when we are exhausted, wet, and facing a wet tent and belongings, we really are having a great time.  Sam has even mentioned once or twice that he's still thinking about next year.  The jury is still out on that for me, but it's not out of the question!

(Sam)

Today was simply bad. We woke up, to find that it wasn't raining as much as the forecast called for (but of course, the forecast hasn't been correct for months.) and we were able to get the tent back into the bag, without down pouring rain. However, it was still a tad bit wet, therefore making today a third day of putting the tent back wet. We got to breakfast, which was nothing less than wonderful. Hash browns, eggs, muffins, yogurt, sausage, bagels, assorted fruit, and leftover brownies from last nights dinner. Once everything was together, we set off. But, I knew instantly something was wrong. I went into 7th gear, and it began to skip, trying to get into 7th, but it just couldn't. I then attempted 6th, but the problem followed every gear until about the 4th. After getting back into higher gears, without any problem, I decided it was a quick problem, that couldn't have stopped us too badly. But, then after getting into 7th again, the problem occurred again, and I couldn't stop it, no matter which gear I went into. We went back to the school, and luckily the traveling bike shop was still there. We told them our problem, and he checked into it. It turned out that the freewheel that I had on my bike was simply broken in half. (The mechanic even mentioned he had never see that in his entire career!) My bike, the Trek Mountain Track isn't the newest of bikes, and apparently the freewheel I had was an older model of freewheel because the guy didn't even have a replacement freewheel. There was only one option: I had to borrow a completely new wheel, freewheel and cassette. But, there was also a problem with that. The cassette had 18 gears. My bike is capable of 21. So, he had to lock up the 1st, 8th and 15th gears. We then decided that borrowing the wheel and taking it into the shop at home to get a new cassette was much too expensive, so we bought the entire thing. Fortunately, he didn't add prices for labor, and it only cost $45. Finally, we began our journey... and it started to rain. We quickly knew that from yesterday's adventure it would get worse, and we put on our coats. (But in the back on my mind, I knew it wouldn't matter.) 

In the beginning of the ride, we were given pamphlets giving the elevation of each ride. Before we began riding, when we had the pamphlet, I listed each day for the elevation. Today was a low elevation, a day with low amounts of hills, but a lot of downhill. Even during the meeting last night, they mentioned after the one fruit stop (a small stop in the day where they give out watermelon slices) they had, there would almost be no hills. They all lied. There were many hills, not as many as yesterday, but they were there. We were extremely tired after the big lot of them, and we had to stop every few miles. Luckily, a family who was trying to raise money to see their family in Florida, were selling snacks. We got a few treats and we somehow made it to the end. I took a nice long swim and mom got the tent together, and it was a nice end to the day. 

Day two of riding! (6-23, Monday)

(Sam)

Today was definitely not as planned. We began the day, the sky only being a little cloudy, as the day called for 81 and sunny. We figured it was a quick passover of clouds. Then, at about 20 miles (2 hours) it began to rain. Once again, we thought it was a short period of rain, but, after another 36 miles (1:30) it was still raining, and it continues to as I type. (3:21). There were also many sights to see. Unfortunately, due to rain, many of the things we saw, couldn't be photographed. However, we can tell you what we saw. Firstly, there were a extreme amount of hills, which were quite tall. There was a nice little bakery, which had the most delicious pastries. There were SUPPOSED to be llamas, but thanks to rain, I was not able to see them. ;(  . There was a bridge under construction, which detoured the cars, but, the road commission allowed us to walk our bike across. Without that, we would've ended up doing 60+ miles. My chain at one point, fell off, which fortunately was an easy fix. And, like always plenty of dead animals lining the road. We allowed ourselves to continue to have fun though! 

Some of the road construction. 

The river that the bridge went over and I.

(Amy)

Hills and rain.  Yup, that pretty much sums up our day.  56 miles total and someone counted we had 20 hills that took quite a bit of effort to go up.   One of them even made most stop and walk up.  Ugh.  And rain.  If you've been to Cedar Point with me, you know I don't do the water rides.  I will gladly sit and watch my friends go down White Water Canyon over and over, but I HATE being wet in my clothes.  Today was White Water Canyon for 35 miles on wheels.  Oh boy.  

Up and rolling by 7am today.  The sunrise this morning was gorgeous!  What is it they say about "Red sky in the morning..."?  I think it proved true.

Soaked to the bone, but still smiling!  :)  Sam was a real trooper!

He really does gain major perseverance points with me. . . He was encouraging as I lagged up the hills, waited for me at the top, and didn't even whine much when he had lots of reasons to.   He's become a pro at setting up and tearing down.  Knowing just what needs to happen to make it go quickly.

Today's mileage.  12 more miles than yesterday, and only 30 minutes longer.   Our breaks were short today.  What's the point of taking a break when you're just standing in the rain?!  :)

Finally at Greenville High School, showered, warm, dry and hotdogs in our bellies - happy faces!

So tonight holds dinner for us (Philly cheesesteak sandwiches, they say), our nightly meeting to go over the day and what to expect tomorrow.  Hoping for a dry day tomorrow, Sam thinks it's a 54 mile day.  I'm hoping there is an ice cream stop somewhere along the way.  With us taking all back roads, we really don't see much of any towns.  Though we ran across Heidi's Farmstand and Bakery in Lowell today and they graciously let a huge group of us in to drip all over their floor.  Sam and I got monkey bread and a cinnamon roll. . . and they were amazingly awesome!  :)

I'll leave you with what I thought is probably the worlds biggest dragon fly.  That's a 12 oz. can of pop. He was huge and such pretty colors. . . blue and green.  

Heading to St. John's tomorrow.  What are the chances we'll pass Uncle Johns Cider Mill??  :)   

Thanks for all the support and well wishes.  All of the schools so far have Facebook blocked, so we haven't been able to post our updates there.  Sorry!!

Day one of riding! (Sunday, 6/22)

(Amy)

First and foremost, we made it thru the first day!!!  Yay!

We ended up at 44.7 miles in 6 hours and 5 minutes.  That included PLENTY of breaks. . . water (licorice at one stop!), walking, resting and snack breaks.  

After the whole night last night of rain, thunder, lightning and fireworks from the neighbors across the street, we were lucky to have a few hours sleep.  That's what I'm blaming for my forgetting my sunblock today.  My face is feeling it and my thighs are pretty pink.  Gotta remember tomorrow.  

Happy faces that we are DONE for the day!!

Lots of pretty views today - I missed a good one at the top of a hill over a valley.  The fog and colors reminded me of the Smoky Mountains, so pretty!  Here's a less than impressive view that I grabbed after missing that one.  :)

Once we got here (Wayland) for the night, we set up to let everything dry out.  (We ended up changing spots after considering we were at the bottom of a hill and we didn't want to float away if it rained.)

 Sam took off for the high school to use the pool, and I headed for the showers (that's a generous term for that trickle of water!) so I could start feeling human again.  The middle school is ENORMOUS and air conditioned, so I'm hanging out in here and keeping cool.  Dinner tonight is supposed to be a taco bar.  If it's anything like breakfast, we've got to get there early to avoid missing out.  

Thinking we should sleep well tonight.  They have a concert in town, but I'm not sure I can bring myself to bike anywhere I don't HAVE to.  Might just eat dinner, play some cards and hit the hay.  I'm betting Sam won't complain.  :)

(Sam)

We met some pretty different things on our way.

There wasn't as much road kill than our back roads we trained on, but there were still some animals that got a little too curious. Also, while we were traveling by, we could hear a distant buzzing. Not sure what it was (and hoping it wasn't a swarm of bees) we traveled a bit further, and we found high-voltage power lines, that were strung above the road. There were plenty of people passing us, and not as much of us passing them, and I was surprised to find we weren't the last people there! We stopped at a McDonalds to post, and it was highly decorated, with trees, fishing tackle, and fish. A break stop, with a person handing out Twizzler's licorice. And, I'm sure we are to find quite a bit more!

Day One - Arrival (Sam)

Well, after some three hours, we made it to Holland, our starting point. It's sorta rainy, so we're stuck in the tent, but we still manage to have fun. We began with unloading and setting up the tent, going to church (which was bi-lingual, which was different, but we could still understand most of it!) , we ate our dinner, from which we had the options of pizza, subs, or salad. Then, we said our goodbyes to Aaron and Dad, we discussed where we should stop, and we went to a very long, hot, and boring meeting, but very informative. Afterwards, we got our water, got caught in the rain, and set up the inside of the tent. I have very mixed feelings about this tour. I find that I won't mind the riding, but I mostly look forward to the rest stops! It's all pretty straightforward, but I'm mostly looking forward to it! We will be posting everyday, so be sure to keep checking up!

---Sam

Us and the tent!

Our campground, the track/football field.

A small look of the inside of the tent.

Have kitty litter, will travel!

What we need:  a set of panniers (aka saddlebags) for Sam's bike so we can carry our stuff that we need during the day - jackets, snacks, a phone, the iPad for pictures and blog updates, etc. 

Optimally, they would be waterproof since we may be in for some rainy days next week.



What we don't have:  $200 for a nice set of waterproof panniers.



What we DO have:  Free kitty litter buckets thanks to Grampa and the Midland County Recycling Center!

 

 

 

Let's get to work!!

 

 

A little Brasso, a green scrubbing pad, and some elbow grease takes the labels off.

 

 

 

 

A little spray paint to spruce them up.

 

 

 

 

We had to attach the hardware to hook them to Sam's bike rack. 

 

 

 

 

Looking good so far!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since the Midland Co. Recycling Center only had buckets and no lids, we had to go with a piece of vinyl and elastic to hold it on. We'll trim it up a bit since Sam thinks it has a bit of a Lawrence of Arabia look this way.  :)



 

 

We're good to go!

 

We had a close call with Sam's shifter this week.  He came back from a ride on Sunday saying that his gears weren't shifting correctly.  Since it was only 6 days before we were to leave, I wasn't sure how easy it would be to get fixed.  The bike shop in Coldwater said they would be able to get to it on Monday so we took it in.  They said the shifter was broken, they would order a new one and would have it done by the time we needed to leave for Holland.  Long story short, it ended up getting done on Thursday (thought not without a return to the store to fix their fixing!) and we have it home and it's pretty much ready to roll.

Now let's just hope it holds out for the week . . . and WE do too!!  :)



7 days and counting!

Today was our last "big" ride before we leave next week.  We did a 25.5 mile ride down to Reading, up to Allen and then home.    It took us just under 3 hours including the snack stop, so I think we're still averaging 10 miles per hour.  For the ride, we're thinking maybe 7-8 hour days of riding including breaks.  Hopefully the weather will be similar to today's - just gorgeous to be out!
 

We made it to Reading!!

 

Sam had to sample the lemon frozen custard.  By the end of the ride, I wished I had too!

Nope, we won't have a 50 miler under our belt before we go, but according to Denise Handy who has been on the PALM, "That's OK!!".  :)  Jeff works with Denise and she was a source of great support for me this week when we stopped by the school for some things for Jeff.  I sat and chatted with her and she had me feeling pretty confident by the end of our conversation.  Thank You Denise!!!

 

The focus this week is on packing.  I'm hoping that we'll each take a hiking backpack for our "stuff", one duffle for our pillows, bed pads, and misc. stuff, and one bundle of our tent and 2 chairs strapped together.  Nothing can weigh over 50 pounds, and they don't really give you a bag limit, but with 700 people and only 2 moving vans to carry bags, we're trying to pack light.  The good part is if we forget anything, we'll be passing plenty of places that we can stop and buy things!