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DAY 18 - June 13 2001
It was 62 degrees and raining when I got up at 5:30 this morning. I checked the radio forecast,
rain and thunderstorms predicted for today, this evening, and tomorrow.
David and I decided to pack up and leave the campground and head towards Gwinn, hoping the weather
might change en route. We were just east of Bessemer (our little campground) last night, and the
first little town we came to was Wakefield, where we were leaving US 2 and getting on M28. There
was a gas station with a phone, I decided to call Rodgers in Gwinn to see what the weather was
doing there.
Rodney answered the phone, said it was raining in Gwinn, and he checked the weather station. Said
the rain was going to last at least into tomorrow, that it was as far west as the Dakotas. So we
I HAD planned to bike to Michigamme today and spend the night there, and it would be an easy ride
to Gwinn tomorrow. By the time we got to Michigamme, the rain had mostly stopped. By the time we
got to Ishpeming, it had definitely stopped. When we got to Negaunee, I said to David, "Pick a spot
to stop, I'm going to bike to Gwinn."
About halfway between Negaunee and M553, he let me out, and went on down the road, I pedaled on my way.
I had a headwind the whole way. When David got to Gwinn, he called Rodgers to say HE had arrived, and
that I was biking. Rodney biked to meet me! When we got to Gwinn, it was about 1 PM, and Anita had
lunch waiting.
We had a great time talking way into the afternoon...they were 2 of my cheerleaders as I was on this
trip. I thank ALL of you who were sending good thoughts my way these last 3 weeks. David and I will
spend the next few weeks up here in the UP, our sons, their wives and children will be coming up here
to spend July 4th with us, then its back to Troll Land for us. (For those who don't know, Troll Land
is everything below "THE BRIDGE".
Final stats are below. Thanks for reading all this every day!
Joyce
| Miles driven, Gold Bar WA to Gwinn MI |
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2,031.5 |
| Miles driven, Mason to Gold Bar to Gwinn |
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4,578.1 |
| Gallons of gas purchased |
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655.2 |
| Miles per gallon |
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7.0 |
| Cost of gas |
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$1,109.80 |
| Average price per gallon |
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1.69 |
| Most expensive gas, Mitchell SD |
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1.88 |
| Least expensive gas, Gold Bar WA |
|
1.55 |
| Campgrounds, 22 nights |
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$398.51 |
| Average per night |
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18.11 |
| Total days biked |
|
16 |
| Total miles biked |
|
700 |
| Average per day |
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43.75 |
| Days of rain, spent riding instead of biking |
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3 |
| Most miles biked in one day |
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66 |
| Least miles biked in one day |
|
14 |
| Number of flat tires |
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1 |
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DAY 17 - June 12 2001
Nothing remarkable happened today. No state troopers hassled me, no rain, no headwind.
It was a perfect day for a bike ride. We had predetermined we would stay in the Ironwood/Bessemer
area tonight, not knowing for sure how far it was from where we stayed last night west of Ashland,
WI........oh, one very remarkable thing DID happen.....we crossed the state line from Wisconsin into
MICHIGAN. I would have known I was back in Michigan without seeing the state-line sign. Here we are,
the automobile capital of the WORLD, and home to some of the worst roads in the nation! Since I
started this trip, I've only biked on roads in one state with worse roads than Michigan, and that
was in Idaho. I only biked 45 mikes today, and rode about 13 miles in the car. The closer we get
to Gwinn, the more I feel I can "slack off". I had hoped to be there no later than June 29. I guess
we will more than make that deadline. Now I can relax, enjoy biking for the sake of biking rather
than meeting a deadline.
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DAY 16 - June 11 2001
Welcome to Wisconsin where frustrated unmarried women become state troopers. To make a long story
short, I'm not in jail, and I still have my bike.
Here is the long story. We left the KOA at 8 AM with me riding with David back to Duluth, through
Duluth, across the bridge, and into Superior, WI. We got a few groceries, and headed east on US 2.
When we got to the welcome center, I started biking, at 9 AM.
About 3 miles into my ride, a state trooper stopped me, told me no unmotorized vehicles were
permitted on the highway. I explained to her that I hadn't seen any signs that indicated that,
and showed her my AAA map that also didn't indicate that.
She told me I'd have to GO BACK TO THE LAST ON-RAMP, and told me for my own safety, I'd have to
take county roads, blah, blah, blah, about 7 miles before I could get back on US 2. I told her
what I thought of her directing me to ride THE WRONG DIRECTION on the highway, plus ride THE
WRONG WAY up an on-ramp. She said I could either do that, or she'd put my bike in the trunk of
her car and write me a ticket. How much arguing could I do when SHE had the gun?!
So, FOR MY OWN SAFETY, I biked the wrong way west on the highway, biked the wrong way up an
on-ramp, and got on a very narrow, two-lane pot-holed, badly broken-up old county road with
NO shoulders, for 7 miles during which I was chased by dogs and had to share this "road" with
logging trucks. FOR MY OWN SAFETY.
I finally got to Iron River WI about 1 PM where David caught up to me. He had already had his
lunch, so I had a chili dog and a root beer at an A&W, before pushing on. He caught up to me
again about 2:30, it was just starting to sprinkle. We loaded the bike on the rack, found a
campground 3 miles down the road, just west of Ashland, WI. I biked 49 miles today, road in
the car 31 miles, mostly from south of Duluth on I 35, to where I started riding at the "welcome center".
We had a beautiful thunderstorm early evening with a gorgeous golden sunset just before bedtime.
The sky was breath-taking.
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DAY 15 - June 10 2001
Today was a special day!! We took the day off from our trip, but both got up at our usual time. After
showers, I did a load of laundry and hung it on the clothesline to dry. Usually, I hang the laundry on
hangers from various hooks, handles, and knobs inside the trailer, but because we're staying put today,
I had the chance to hang things outdoors.
It rained in the night, but turned out to be absolutely gorgeous throughout the day. My best friend,
from high school, Leila Whitinger, and her husband, Dick, drove all the way from Minneapolis to Duluth
to spend the day with us.
What a treat!!
They got here about 11 AM and we talked and talked and talked. We usually only get to see each other
at our class reunions, so this was a real bonus visit. We ate dinner at a restaurant called Granny's,
and talked some more. I had offered to grill hotdogs, but they opted for a restaurant meal, and it was
delicious.
We came back to the campground after getting 3 weeks of road schmutz washed off the Suburban, then talked
some more, until it was time for them to make the long drive back to Minneapolis. Today was a special day!
Tomorrow, it's back on the road for me. David will transport me across the St. Johns River into Wisconsin
because he thinks the bridge is a NO-BIKE zone.
Tomorrow's message will come from someplace along US 2 in Wisconsin.
Thanks for coming, Leila and Dick!!
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DAY 14 - June 09 2001
It was 50 degrees this morning at 6 AM Central time. It had rained in the night, but it was a
sunny morning, and stayed sunny all day.
I called my Mother about an hour into my ride, I call her every Saturday morning while on this
trip. She told me two classmates' parents had died this past week: Carol Crissman's mother and
Bill Newland's father. She had had lunch with Uncle Rex earlier in the week, she always enjoys
being with him.
David caught up with me about 3 hour into my ride, I had a little break, juice and a power bar
and a game of cribbage. I rode another hour, and stopped for lunch...and another game of cribbage,
He had gone ahead of me after my break, so I had to catch up with him this time.
He picked me up in Proctor MN, after another hour on the road, and we got on I 35. This is the first
time we've been off US 2 since this trip started. We headed south to a KOA campground, about 10 miles
south of Duluth.
Tomorrow will be a special day. A high school classmate, Leila Whitinger, and her husband Dick, will
be coming up here from Minneapolis to spend the day with us. I'm really looking forward to seeing her...
and Dick, too!
I biked 63.25 miles today, rode in the car 16 miles. We'll be here 2 nights, I'm taking the day off
tomorrow from biking!
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DAY 13 - June 08 2001
I got up at my usual time, left camp about 7:15 AM and rode over 40 miles before David caught
up with me at 10:45 AM. There were no rest areas for my break, so I had my juice riding in the car.
In Deer River MN, we got a few groceries and ate lunch in the city park.
I biked on from there; we planned to meet at a rest area we thought was 25-28 miles down the road.
When I got there , it was only 20 miles and I had quite a wait before David caught up with me. I
didn't dare go on----plans are plans!
I biked 60 miles today, car miles were 33. We are in Warba MN tonight.
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DAY 12 - June 07 2001
I have finally made a "goal" ride after nearly 2 weeks on the road! Today, I biked 66 miles, did it
in 5.5 hours. I left the campground at 7 AM Central time. David caught up with me 3 hrs. later at a
rest area, I had coffee and a power bar, we played a game of cribbage.
Rode in the car a while, we needed to get laundry done, so found a laundromat, then ate lunch after
I finished the 3 loads I had to do. During this morning's ride, I spooked a herd of buffalo!!!
Now, picture this. Here is a herd of buffalo on a game farm, their enclosure faces the busy highway,
US 2. Ten ton trucks pound past every day. 3000 pound cars zip by constantly. Here comes Joyce, Bike
& rider weighing about 200 pounds, and all these magnificent gigantic beasts stampede just to get
away from her! Must have been the bright yellow jacket!
After our lunch, I got in the saddle again, and on to Bemidji, MN. This was an ideal biking day: cool,
rolling hills, some flatlands, no wind. NO wind....neither in my face or behind me. The last hour or
so, I was in some sprinkles of rain, but nothing to even settle the dust along side the road.
It was a great ride, the rolling terrain is more like Michigan than any of the states we've been in so
far. My car ride was 19 miles, so we have covered about 85 miles today. THIS is what my whole trip was
supposed to be like. Hopefully, It will be like this from here on out.
I haven't figured out how far we are from Gwinn, the end of my trip for now, but I'm looking forward to
how ever many days it is if they're like today. NO mountains, NO headwind, NO pouring rain!
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DAY 11 - June 06 2001
When I left the campground in Rugby, North Dakota on my bike at 6:15am central time it was a misty drewy
morning. I road two hours into a brisk wind and had only gone 16 1/4 miles when David picked me. Road
in and out of rain until 11:15am, near Larimore, North Dakota where I got back on my bike only to find it
had a flat rear tire. Repaired it and road another 2 hours before David picked me up. Stopped for the day
in Crookspon, Minnesota. I think we are out of the rain pattern so I cleaned my bike up and aired up
the tires ready for an early start tomorrow. Our little park is infested with tree worms of which we
discorved after we set up. Dinner tonight is tossed salad, garlic bread, grilled pork chops and baked potato.
I think we are going to eat inside because of the worms. Only biked 34 miles, rode an additional 145 miles
in the car. Email of days 9 and 10 are still waiting to be sent until I can find a hookup that accepts my
1010 access phone code. Happy late birthday to John and to Liala W, I will call when we get closer to Anoka.
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DAY 10 - June 05 2001
Last night we stayed in a little campground near Culbertson MT, just west of the North Dakota state
line.
It RAINED all afternoon, it RAINED all evening, it RAINED all night long. It's 6:15 am, and it is
still RAINING, and now the wind is starting to blow. This wasn't in my plan at all!
My master plan, in addition to all downhills and all wind to my back, included all sunny days.
We have a friend who is on a canoeing/tenting/fishing trip in northern Minnesota this week with
his sons and grandsons. I hope they're having better weather than we're having.
This is the first morning we will have to pack up in the rain....I should say David will pack up
in the rain, since I'm always ON the road when he packs up. Packing up includes unplugging the
electricity, disconnecting the water, disconnecting from the sewer. I do get the inside ready to
roll before I head out.
We will either drive until we drive out of the rain so I can bike, or drive until we find a
campground for tonight. There is no hurry to get going this morning as our destination for the
day is unknown, and we don't have to rush to get there.
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DAY 9 - June 04 2001
Rained and blew hard all last night, plus the trains roared and rumbled past at least hourly.
Most trains have 3 engines and 100+ cars on them. They run 24 hrs/day. US 2 runs along side the
tracks all thru' Montana, the tracks were built first, then came the road.
Because it was so nasty last night, I slept in this morning and puttered around the trailer.
Washed my hair, took a shower, ate a leisurely breakfast, called in a prescription via my 800#
prescription service, and waited for the sun to make an appearance before starting out. It was
8:20 am Mountain time when I left the campground.
The sky overhead had a few dark clouds, and to the east were more, but I started out anyway. I
had gone about 12 miles and INTO the wind like yesterday, when I looked ahead of me and saw a
solid wall of rain about a mile ahead. I turned around and headed back to a little town a mile
and a half back to the west, Chinook, and took refuge in a little coffee shop there to wait out
the deluge.
This area is in a drought situation and really needs the rain, but I wish it had waited a couple
more days until I got east of here! I set my bike near the road, put my bright yellow rain slicker
over the handlebars, and waited for David to come along. I knew he was going to head for this little
coffee shop because our thermos needed refilling. He came along in 45 minutes, had his second
breakfast for the day, loaded my bike on the bike rack, and here we are, motoring down the road at
55 mph instead of my usual 10-12 mph.
It is raining hard, looks like an all day thing, so my paltry little 13.7 miles todat may be IT
for the day. I love this little laptop Marc gave me, I can hopefully email him this info tonight
instead of calling it in to him like I have been doing. The battery is good for about 3 hours, he
said. Before sending this on to him, I'll give you tonight's destination, which I won't know until
we get there!
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DAY 8 - June 03 2001
Just baby steps today. I had a good ride going this morning with a light northwest wind but
3 hours into my ride the wind changed to the northeast about 25 - 30 mph. I continued on for
another hour when David met me in Chester, Montana for lunch. We visited with a couple from
Michigan on their way to Glacier National Park for the summer and a couple from Iowa on their
way to Alaska. By that time, black clouds gathered in the east and the wind picked up. I loaded
my bike on to the rack and we drove until we came to a campground. We are 11 miles east of
Havre, Montana. The forecast calls for wind and rain the rest of today and tomorrow. I only
peddled 34 miles and rode 71 miles in the car.
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DAY 7 - June 02 2001
Most of you know that my favorit movie is the Wizard of Oz. When dorthy first meets the Wizard he
says, "I am Oz, the great and powerful," to which she replies, "I am Dorthy, the small and meak."
The mountains of the northwest are Oz and I am Dorthy. A week ago I suffered 38 miles to an
altitude of over 4000 feet up the Cascade Mountains and was too warn out to coast down and
had to ride down with David. Today's ride up the Rockie Mountains was 60 miles and an altitude of
5281 feet at the summit which was also the Continental Divide. This time I road up the mountains
with David and road my bike down. What a rush. What a joy to be on a bike going over 36 miles
per hour. My total ride today was just 45 miles in a little over 2 1/2 hours. This was
what I was hoping my entire trip was going to be, all downhill and the wind to my back.
We spent the night in Shelby, Montana.
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DAY 6 - June 01 2001
Those of you who watch the Weather Channel pay close attention to the satelight views
of the Rockie Mountains. See that little tiny dot of yellow? Thats me in my yellow windsuit
making slow but steady progress through the mountains with the wind against me most of the way.
Today was a hard day. We are at nerly 5000 feet altitude and I think its making me very tired.
I was on the road at 6:15am PST and 45 minutes later craked into Montana in mountain time.
I biked until 11am mountain time when David caught up to me. By this time the shoulders on
US 2 were noexistance and we had been warned of road contruction so I deciede to car ride through
instead of bike ride. Good choice. We went through 6 - 8 miles of real treatchures 1 lane contruction
area and I continued in the car because of no shoulders. We stopped just west of Glacier National Park.
I only biked 36 miles today. Road with David 107 miles. The temperature at 4 pm mountain time was 92 degrees.
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DAY 5 - May 31 2001
I biked 46 miles and then road 26 miles. Got into some terrible road conditions
just east of Priest River, Idaho. Not fit for cars let alone bikes. I hitched
a ride, along with my bike, in a pickup truck from one of the construction
supervisors for the 6 miles of 'no road'. We are just west of the Montana
state line tonight in a real nice RV park. Park owner brought us a couple
tall cold ones from his restaurant. Sure tasted good after a long hot dusty day.
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DAY 4 - May 30 2001
This is a short biking day. I only peddled 37 miles but we covered 95 miles.
We are staying in Priest River, Idaho. We did errands, shopping, laundry and
lunch in Spokane, Washington. This will probably the last city of any size until
we reach Deluth, Minnesota. I wish I could take a photograph of how good it smells
up here so I could share it with all of you.
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DAY 3 - May 29 2001
Today was a good day. Last night I was ready to quit. Tonight I'm encourage.
There will be days I might be able to go 60 miles, that hasn't happend yet.
Having to hitch a ride to go to the campground isn't the end of the world. I
peddled 53 miles, no walking today. I averaged a little over 10 miles per hour
and rode in the car 10 1/2 miles to Davenport Washington to the campground.
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DAY 2 - May 28 2001
The bear went over the mountain to see what she could see. The other side of
the mountain was all that she could see. I am the bear. I biked 48.9 miles,
walked 1 mile. Ascended 1600 feet. Averaged 9.6 miles per hour. Very windy
all afternoon. Road in a car to campground in Coulee City Washington.
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DAY 1 - May 27 2001
I biked 34 1/2 miles. I walked 4 miles. I averaged 5.3 miles per hour. I started
at an altititude of 202 feet and topped out at 4061 feet and it took 8 1/2 hours.
We are staying in Leavenworth Washtington in a KOA campground.
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Pre Trek - May 26 2001 @ 7:15pm EST
We got to Seatle 3 hours ago, Everett 2 hours ago, and started east looking for
a campground. Currently 25 miles east of Everett on US 2. I have started the trip
in the car. We are in a little town called Gold Bar at a city park with a couple of
shade trees and a picnic table. I intend to leave Gold Bar on Sunday morning and
will start the trip a day early.
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Did you know?
I get 660 bike strokes per mile.
There are 422 1/2 feet between power polls along US 2.
The owner of the Davenport, Washington campground is from Escanaba.
The prairie dogs in Montana number in the tens of millions. I think most of them are along US 2.
They love to play "harem-scarem" with the traffic, including this biker. Dodging the dead ones is
like dodging the nightcrawlers along Michigan roads. I don't like animal guts on my bike.
The power poles along Montana roads are 352 feet apart......15 poles in a mile. The other power
pole statistic was for Washington. I wasn't in Idaho long enough to count the poles.
To date (6-4-01) I've found only $ .92.
I've ranked the condition of US 2 according to the 3 states I've been: Washington, #1; Montana, #2; Idaho, #3.
Washington has mostly 2 lanes, with shoulders on each side as wide as the lanes, and in excellent condition,
I'd say better than any road I've traveled in Ingham County. Montana has normal-sized shoulders, the road
surface is totally prime and seal, whereas Washington is beautifully blacktopped. Idaho is the worst, and
probably will remain in last place no matter how many states we go thru'. Mostly shoulder-less, and the
"seal" of the prime and seal is rocks rather than pea stone. Very hard to bike on.
My early morning rides are a lot more fun when the destination is Buddy Freddies Buffet in North Ft. Myers,
meeting good friends for breakfast!
My early morning rides are a lot more fun when the destination is Ft. Myers Beach for a day in the sun with
good friends.
My early morning rides are a lot more fun anyplace in Michigan where I can pick up discard bottles and cans
for the 10 cent deposit!
North Dakota power poles are every 264 feet
Minnesota power poles are every 278 feet
My pedal strokes today were 648/mile
Bud Light drinkers litter more than any other beer drinkers.
Mountain Dew drinkers litter more than any other pop drinkers.
It took me all of day 12 and half of day 13 to complete the alphabet game (It's a Cole Family thing).
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