Chi-town to A-squared

I left Chicago by the pleasant Lakeshore Trail which continued on through South Chicago and into Indiana. The heat and humidity was as bad as in Laos; so much for any cooling lake breeze! I arrived to the town of Michigan City as dusk fell and found a small plot of trees between a bank and supermarket. Being completely soaked in sweat and having no idea what would be farther up the shore I opted to stay put. Changing clothes was a moot point due to the temperatures being in the 90s even after the sun had set. Instead I stripped down, set up the hammock and laid down to try and stop sweating. This proved to be a faulty plan for two reasons. For one, I was so dirty and sweaty that I was never going to be able to get comfortable. Secondly, without any clothes on (and being right next to some sort of irrigation pond) the mosquitoes were absolutely devouring me. Slathering on bug spray and laying in the stifling hammock just exacerbated the heat and mugginess. At one point the bank's sprinkler system went off and I took the opportunity to have a hobo-shower. I figured if I rinsed clean I could finally cool down. Instead I just resumed sweating and had to break out the bug juice again.
The next day I awoke to more unrelenting heat and parted ways with the shore as I headed inland into Michigan. That evening I was rolling into Three Rivers as some particularly nasty looking storm clouds gathered on the horizon. For whatever reason I had assumed I was in for nothing but blazing heat and had stopped checking weather reports. I bought a Big Gulp at a gas station and pedaled over to a nearby park to wait the storm out under a picnic shelter. It was only about 6 PM so I had hoped to put in another 20 or 30 miles before finding a spot for the night. As the first drops started coming down and peals of thunder rumbled out my phone rang. Sarah, my Ann Arbor hostess, was on the other end. She seemed concerned (and rightly so) that I would be brash enough to try and ride through this storm. Unlike myself, she had looked at the weather radar and saw what I was in for. Having known me for a few years now she wasn't surprised by my bravery (although I think she referred to it as "stupidity") but she volunteered to make the 2 hour car trip and pick me up. Like two heaven sent guardians, her and Meg arrived during a lull in the storm and whisked myself and my trusty steel steed to Ann Arbor. Thank goodness they did because the front of storms rolling through all evening were much more violent than I had expected. It certainly would have been some miserable riding, if not downright unsafe. Back at Sarah's place I washed the day away, donned some clean clothes and promptly passed out.
Saturday morning Sarah went to work at a nearby farm but was sent home early because of more threatening storms. We spent the morning walking through the Art Festival that was setup downtown and met up with Meg to peruse the farmer's market. We found some nice eggplants which gave me the irresistible temptation to craft some eggplant parmesan. That culinary feat had to wait as Meg headed off to Detroit for a Tigers game while Sarah and I opted to go to an excellent draft house nearby, Ashley's. Extensive polling of the bar patrons led to the conclusion that although my beard was epic and impressed all the dudes, the fairer sex insisted that it was in my best interest to shave it. I was thoroughly persuaded but still had strong doubts about placing my beloved beard under the clippers. We agreed to postpone the beard trimming and called it a night.
I awoke to be greeted by considerably sunnier weather. We took the opportunity to hike along the Huron River up to a dammed section. As we laid back on a dock to soak up the sunshine some comic relief was provided by a group of young people attempting to portage. Afterwards we gathered a few key ingredients and I meticulously labored on the aforementioned eggplant. I'm getting pretty good at this recipe so if you house this hobo you may want to request it! After dinner the girls and I mustered our courage and made battle with the beard. I have to admit, I had forgotten just how damn handsome (damnsome?) I am.
One last Ann Arbor activity that I got a big kick out of was playing "Balderdash" at a dinner party a night or two before I left. The game is very simple, pretty challenging and extremely fun. One person picks a word from the dictionary and writes the definition on a slip of paper. After all the other players write down their "definitions" all the slips are read out loud and each person votes for the definition they believe is true. Hilarity ensues and points are awarded for correct guesses and/or number of people hoodwinked. Do you know what "pip" or "variola" means? Get your mind out of the gutter...
Finally I tore myself off of Sarah's couch and out of Ann Arbor. Once again rails-to-trails projects helped make a boring ride a little more bearable. Within two days I had covered 180 miles and wound up in my grandmother's backyard in Akron, Ohio. Coming soon: Akron, Johnstown and the luxurious Custer Ranch!