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Week 8: Bicycling Clam Lake, WI to Onamia, MN

  1. Total distance: 382.7 miles (slightly more than a week)

Day 50 – 64.1 miles – Clam Lake, WI to Edgewater, WI

Since our campsite was buggy, we went back out to the town and found a picnic table there to make breakfast. While we were cooking two cyclists stopped to chat with us. They were doing a shorter ride heading back the direction we had come. We swapped tips and stories for over an hour before deciding we all better get on our bikes.

Clam Lake is Wisconsin’s elk capital of the world. Shortly after leaving Clam Lake we saw a series of elk-crossing warning systems that would flash if elk were near by. We never saw an elk but we saw lots of flashing lights.

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Week 7: Bicycling Ensign, MI to Clam Lake, WI

Total mileage: 302.4 miles

Days 43 – 35.8 miles – Ensign, MI to Lake Bluff, MI

Theme: Doesn’t the wind ever get tired? Poor planning means extra miles.

Our goal for the day was a short 25 miles from last night’s stealth camping spot. Since we are so far ahead of schedule and Eric’s presentation is in two days, we decided we should stay put for a few days. Eric needs good wifi for his presentation, and once we leave Escanaba, MI, we’re not sure if we’ll see wifi again for a while. Escanaba is only about 35 miles away though, so we needed a place to spend a few nights without breaking the bank. We opted to spend two nights at Pioneer Trail Campground between Lake Bluff and Wells and then splurge on a motel in Escanaba for the third night.

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Week 6: Bicycling Manistee, MI to Ensign, MI

Total distance: 337.3 miles

Day 36 – 51.9 miles – Manistee, MI to Empire, MI

Eric has been taking every opportunity to work on his presentation, which is now just over a week away. The opportunities don’t arise that often since he usually needs power and wifi to make progress. Today his partner was doing an initial dress rehearsal to some people at work and Eric wanted to listen in. Unfortunately, cell service in the area was pretty spotty, so roughly 10 miles into our ride, we pulled over on a grassy area so Eric could be on the phone for an hour.

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Week 5: Bicycling Millington, MI to Ludington, MI

Total distance: 251.9 miles

Day 29 – 0 miles – Millington, MI – Rest Day # 3

Happy 4th of July!

Theme: Playing Wingspan, a fun game about birds that Paul and Maggie brought.

We spent the day hanging out with our friends and playing games. We interrupted a Wingspan marathon only to eat and to venture out into Frankenmuth. We strolled around the incredible Christmas shop there which sells Christmas tree ornaments of every color and theme imaginable.

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Week 4: Bicycling Hamilton, ON to Millington, MI

Total distance: 315.5 miles

Day 22 – 50.8 miles – Hamilton, ON to Port Ryerse, ON

By the morning, Jess’s rear tire had lost some pressure again, so it was clear there was, in fact, a leak. It still seemed slow enough that we decided to wait to patch it until we got to camp that night. Our goal for the day was to reconnect with the Adventure Cycling (AC) map near Lake Erie. We were using Google Maps directions since our Toronto detour wasn’t on the AC route. The day started out with roughly ten miles of the Escarpment Rail Trail which was beautiful. When that ended we were on Route 6 for the rest of the day, which was considerably less pretty and had a lot more traffic, but it had a decent shoulder, so the large trucks whizzing by weren’t too close.

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Week 3: Bicycling Rochester, NY to Hamilton, ON

Total distance: 233.75 miles

Day 15 – 0 miles – Rochester, NY

REST DAY! First order of business was our Healthy Me appointment which was scheduled for 10:45am. After getting weighed and measured, we had officially completed the most difficult step of saving money on next year’s health insurance premiums. We went in search of food and wifi and found ourselves in the cafe at Wegmans.

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Week 1: Bicycling Kennebunk, ME to Paradox, NY

Total distance: 276.5 miles

Day 1 – 51.5 miles – Kennebunk, ME to Province Lake

Biking was a success! We made it to Province Lake on the Maine / New Hampshire border. Somehow a tick leapt up and bit Jess in the thigh while she was biking, but she noticed right away and pulled it off. This was our first indication that this tick season was bad since we hadn’t even been in long grass.

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