Wednesday, the 27th of June...Guelph to Ostego Lake, MI

Okay...that was a long-ish day.  I see 400 or so miles on the GPS (600 km, thereabouts).  It didn't feel arduous, as I made sure to break it up with frequent stops.  London, Sarnia, Lake Huron shoreline...Michigan side, etc.).

I think I made it through about five albums on the headset (Fleetwood Mac, Melanie Doane, Paul Simon among others).  I followed the Lake's shore as opposed to the infinitely boring I-94/-75  combo.  It added about 1/2 an hour, no distance, and was far more enjoyable.

Eventually you have to "slab it" and you see things like this:

I'm sitting at the picnic table in site 52 of the County campground in Ostego Lake.  I'm surrounded by much bigger arrangements than my 1-person MEC tent...Suburbans, 40-foot trailers, with and without the add-a-room.

Dinner and aperitifs looked like this:

With Mackinac Bridge about 1 hour away, I'm feeling like a made a pretty good dint in the distance needed.  I think that to be under big, white pines with oaks and birches around them,

it feels like I'm a long way from home.  The water in the lake smells like Muskoka though, so it's still familiar.

I lobbed a few text messages to my family while I was still in Canada, but I'm under radio silence now with the punitive rates that Canadian wireless providers charge when abroad.  It's pretty easy to drop into a WiFi McDonalds and get caught up.  There were some nice messages from friends and I'm feeling like I have a lot of supporters and encouragers on this trip.

The sun is down.  It's still bright enough to read a book here.  But, I think I will retire and resume this blog tomorrow when I can insert some of the photos I took today (note: done!).

(Geek alert...For the riders among you, I started out with the pre-load on the rear shock at 1/2 way (8 turns out of 16...I have gone to 11 full turns and the bike is not wavering in the wind blasts so much).  The brand, new chain has not budged much, but I have lubed it while hot, gave it a km or so to distribute, and then it will sit and soak all night.  I'm getting 33 mpg (US) at 75 mph cruising speed.