The Lake Michigan water basin and why it matters for North Shore cyclists

I find it interesting that in Northern Illinois the Lake Michigan watershed ends just two blocks to the west of my house, on Ridge Rd. up by the grocery story.  We're so close to The Lake, yet all the water to the west of us flows to the Mississippi, even that in our storm sewers. Then too, the water that does flow into The Lake takes almost 100 years to empty out through the Straits of Mackinac.

Old shorelines make for interesting weather

If you make a study of it you'll learn that Lake Michigan was in fact much larger thousands of years ago. Shrinking to current levels, it left a series of old shorelines, now ridges in its wake. Where we live the land between these ridges is so flat and close to the water level it is naturally swampy. Native Americans used these old ridges to stay above the swamps while traveling along the lake. European settlers drained the swamps and turned the ridges into wagon trails, then roads and now expressways. 

The ridges also form natural weather breaks, trapping the cool breezes from the lake close to the shore, moderating the high and low temperatures. Our spring and summer weather is cooler as The Lake is warming up, our fall particularly nice for the opposite reason. In winter, to add to our already infamous cold, those of us close to the water can get something unique to the Great Lakes - lake effect snow. That unpredictable, localized, wet and usually DEEP stuff comes pouring off the lake, burying us in six, ten or even twenty inches.  Buffalo, NY suffers from the same effect only more so. 

When we ride our bikes to the west, we cross many of these ridges (several actually called Ridge Road - very confusing for a newcomer). Each time we cross one the weather gets warmer and often a little less humid. Around here we have a very famous (infamous?) saying "Cooler Near the Lake." That's great in the summer when in-land its 90s, but 70s at home. Not so nice in the early spring when its 60s in-land and still 40s around here. When riding from west to east we frequently cross a very definitive line, the Edens Expressway, Sheridan Road, or Ridge Road (in its various forms) where the temperature instantly drops 10º or more. A smart cyclist comes prepared for just such an event with an extra pair of socks. 

Some Glacial History

Instructive sign in Kenosha next to the 1936 Southport Bath House

While passing through Kenosha during our trial run, Will and I found the above sign posted right next to the Kenosha (Southport) bath house I mentioned in an earlier post. (If you click on the photo you can get an enlargement.) The graphic shows the impact the most recent glacier had on the Great Lakes from 14,000 years ago to almost the present. Those of us in the Chicago area can see the irony that even before the 20th century engineers set about reversing the flow of the Chicago river, from north to south,  that's the direction it flowed naturally up until about 9,000 years ago. They had a BIG job doing it, but the close proximity of our local Continental Divide made the whole thing possible. You can also see from the last panel,  the water basin is wider than the lakes by a significant amount in all directions EXCEPT for here in northern Illinois. This geological fact played a very important role in why Chicago came to be the fastest growing US city in the 19th century. Stay tuned for more on water routes and they're  exploration / exploitation by European settlers starting in the 1600s.

For now, click on the link below you'll see that for the small little area, encompassed by my zip code, there are not just two, but THREE watersheds, meaning three ways the water can flow. No wonder it tends to pool, swamp like - can't make up its mind I guess.

Multiple watersheds for Chicago's North Shore

You can also check out some interesting statistics by clicking on the page labeled "Lake Michigan Statistics" in the right column.

PREPARATION - Trail Run - Day #2

The Day's Route: Racine - Oconomowoc, WI

Headed northwest, we follow great trails through
Milwaukee and Waukesha Counties to Oconomowoc

A second day of test riding brings a few lessons. Many thanks to Jeff a small miracle worker. Great riding, long day.

Departed:	Apr 16, '15, 08:47AM
Starts in:	Racine, WI, US
Distance:	63.6 mi
Elevation:	+ 1773 / - 1385 ft
Max Grade	3.5 %
Avg. Grade	0.2 %

Total Duration:	09:28:07
Moving Time:	04:53:14

Max Speed:	28.7 mph
Avg. Speed:	13.0 mph

Disaster Avoided

Required stop in Racine for Danish Kringle

Disaster avoided thanks to Jeff - our miracle worker

Waking to a cloudy and cool day, we hope the sun comes out as we ride west from Racine and the lake. But first, a stop for "second breakfast" at the famous O&H Danish Bakery.  Kringle lives up to its reputation. Wait staff does not - too bad.

We leave town via the limestone-surfaced and rather bumpy MRK trail. After one particularly jarring spot Will calls out "I think we dropped something!" Close inspection revealing nothing, we ride on. A Little later, after leaving the trail and crossing some tracks, Suzie's back rack flops backwards - NOT GOOD - potential disaster. The bolts holding the rack in place had come loose. Must have been one of them we lost back there. But, no sooner had we stopped, propped our rigs against some trees when Jeff, a local iron worker, appears as if from no where asking if he could help. AMAZINGLY he has two right-sized alternative bolts which do the trick. Disaster Avoided. Thank You Jeff.

Finding The Wild in South East Wisconsin

The southern start to the Milwaukee County trail system

Prairie reclamation in Franklin, WI 

Root River historical marker. Little did we know we'd been following
the river all the way from Racine. 

Greenfield Park, one of may wonderful parks
 throughout Milwaukee County

From there we ride on quiet country roads through Racine into Walworth and then eventually Milwaukee County. We're riding in an area I've driven past countless times, but am seeing it now up close, noting its contours, its rivers, its prairies and wildlife. I love knowing all this nature exists just feet away from, or even under, the interstates I've covered by car. This is why I'm riding around THE LAKE not driving. It's this hidden environment I want to experience. In a way it's like being in a foreign country - turns my perspective a bit. The X-urbia of malls, drive throughs, gas stations, multi-lane highways becomes a frog-noisy pond, a black bird chirping prairie. I see the territory a-new, through different eyes.

We experience southwestern Milwaukee County by way of the Oak Leaf trail system including the Root River Parkway. Little did I realize (DUH!), but the Root River here was the same as the one which drains into Lake Michigan at Racine (French for Root)! We've been moving through the Lake Michigan water basin all day, following the often hidden path of this historic river. The marker we found said that early artifacts dating back more than 3,000 years to the Indian Copper Culture have been unearthed near here. We look forward to learning more of that era when we visit sites in Northern Wisconsin.

Greenfield Park Brings Back Wonderful Memories

For now, its time to traverse the wonderful Root River Parkway, and pass through Greenfield Park with its swimming pool and lagoon. Stopping for a quick, off the bike break, I'm reminded of Hoyt Park and the summer days of my youth. Writing this now I also realize that Hoyt Park, Washington Park and Sherman Park, all part of my family's Milwaukee heritage, were created at the same time as this park. The stonework and even the turnstiles are the same. They carry the same grandeur of that 1936 Bath House we visited in Kenosha yesterday. Must be the same era - need to check on that. No wonder my family loved these parks. They brought a respite from the city just a short walk away, a place for recreation but also JOBS during such desperate times. I look at this lovely lagoon on the southwest suburbs and really see the frozen one in Washington Park where I learned to skate. So much connection - so more heritage. Wish I had my parents around to share this with.

Postcard showing Washington Park Lagoon where my Dad
hung out as a kid and my brother & I learned to skate

Experiencing the Continental Divide

We leave the Milwaukee County Park System and head west on the New Berlin trail to the city of Waukesha on the other side of the continental divide. When we say that term, Continental Divide, we usually think of the one out west in the Rockies. But here in the upper Mid-West we have our own Continental Divide as well. All the water east of that line flows into Lake Michigan and the other Great Lakes, out the Saint Lawrence Seaway to the Atlantic. To the west it makes its way to the Mississippi down to the Gulf of Mexico. The Root River we passed earlier flows eventually to the Atlantic. The Fox, where we ate lunch in Waukesha flows to the Gulf - an amazing lesson in geography all in one day.

Last Stop - Mrs. D's in Wales
Right along the Glacial Drumlin Bike Trail

A Nice Finish

Last leg - we're getting close now -  we ride along the Glacial Drumlin state bike trail out of Waukesha, through the hamlet of Wales then north to our place in the Village of Oconomowoc Lake. Its been a great day, full of adventures, a miraculous recovery and lots of sunshine. We're pooped and ready for dinner. Thank goodness Jim and Baggins are there to drive us home.

PREPARATION - The Trial Run April 15 & 16

The Day's Route: Wilmette, IL - Racine, WI

Start at the green balloon in Wilmette and follow the red line until
its end at the red one in Racine. Those smaller, yellow balloons
indicate rest stops along the way.

Trying to see how our bikes, panniers and Garmins work. Testing our resolve to encounter history along the way.

Departed:	Apr 15, '15, 08:59AM
Starts in:	Wilmette, IL, US
Distance:	60.5 mi
Elevation:	+ 1889 / - 1821 ft
Max Grade	7.0 %
Avg. Grade	0.1 %

Max Speed:	23.4 mph
Avg. Speed:	12.8 mph

Total Duration:	08:26:50
Moving Time:	04:45:36

Highlights:

Bikes all set and loaded to go!

Riders all set and ready to go as well. Weather looks great!

Great view of Lake Michigan from the Open Lands path in
Fort Sheridan. Its going to be a beautiful day to ride!

We figured the best way to ensure we're ready for our great adventure was to load all our stuff into our panniers and set off for a multi-day, mini adventure.  Headed to my family's place in Oconomowoc, WI, we chose a route that would lead us north the first day to Kenosha and Racine and then northwest through Milwaukee and Waukesha counties the next. We hope to catch some of our Lake Michigan sites along the way. 

Bags packed. Bike loaded. Riders fed. ALL SET AND READY TO ROLL! The weather is great, the sun is shining and Will and I are in shorts. First stop, Lake Bluff and a favorite EBC stop, Bluffington's. We're in luck, the usual EBC Wednesday Fast ride is still there. We show off our rigs, wave goodbye to the group and then settle down for a second breakfast of Eggs Bluffington. Can't get a better start that this. 

Once we leave Bluffington's though the NE wind picks up and the day turns a little cooler. We're a bit in-land, traveling up the Robert McClory path, so we're sheltered from the wind until we turn east just south of Kenosha. Phew… our local saying "cooler near the lake" definitely applies.

Jacketed now, we ride past inviting lake-side homes and parks, sand dunes, power plants and a lovely 1936 WPA constructed bath house as we enter the city of Kenosha, originally known as Southport. A reminder of a by-gone era, the stately Southport bath house needs a new roof and some plaster work, but still gives testimony to wonderful hot summer days spent cooling by the beach. Funded by federal programs, buildings like this gave work to the unemployed, a boost to the local economy and enjoyment to many future generations. We wish the day were nicer so we could visit the lake ourselves.

1936 Southport (Kenosha) Bath House

Instead it grows windier the further north we ride and we're glad to move in-land once again after visiting the Southport Lighthouse and Kenosha's lake front park. 

Our destination for the night, Racine, boasts both a residential and business historical district. While stopped on a windy bluff, consulting our Wikipedia listings, a friendly neighbor approaches to see if we're lost. No, but we'd like to know a little about these historic homes. So Kathi shares some history, gives directions to a few more interesting houses and sends us on our way to the S.C. Johnson complex. Kathi is not the first friendly encounter we meet along the way, and we're sure she won't be the last. We realize that business, or rather trip cards, will be an essential part of our packing list.

A quick visit to the S.C. Johnson complex is all we can muster. We're cold, tired and more than a little bonky for having been on the road now almost eight hours.  Frank Lloyd Wright designed the buildings, interiors and even furniture. The Rondelle reminds me of Wright's Greek Orthodox church in Wauwatosa which I passed frequently on the way to high school. We'd love to come back for a tour but, I think that will have to wait until we're done with our Lake Pilgrimage.

1886 Southport (Kenosha) Light House

First test ride successfully completed. Bikes, panniers, and even gamins performed well. Having found several historical sites and met a few interesting people we're ready for warm showers, a few beers, dinner and a well deserved night's rest. Another test day tomorrow - Racine to Oconomowoc coming up. 

The Golden Rondelle, the S.C. Johnson exhibition
at the 1964 Wold's Fair in Seattle, moved to Racine afterwards. It
now houses a community theater in its space-ship like space.

On this, the 150th anniversary of Lincoln's death
we pass two Lincoln statues. This one's in
Kenosha's Library Park. the other's in Racine.

My Love Affair with the Bicycle

Our 2014 steel SEVEN bicycles loaded with gear posing in the dune grass of Gilson Park

[Note to reader: I fully intended this post to be about the equipment we'll use on our ride around The Lake. Instead it turned into a musing on my love affair with bikes. Now I understand how mystery writers feel when their characters take over the plot. Some day I hope to get back to the topic of equipment. For now you're stuck with this.]

I must confess, I LOVE bikes as well as maps. That, I suppose, is a good thing when you dream of being a bicycle tourist. Loving bikes also means KNOWING bikes, understanding how and why they work, always wanting to know more. Now, don't get me wrong, I am not a techno-freak about most things. Won't spend hours and hours researching the ins and outs of computers, or cars or even programable calculators (sorry inside joke). For most equipment in my life I'm perfectly content assuming that its going to function or calling in the experts when it doesn't. There is no urge within me to actually understand the inner workings or the mind of the inanimate objects in my life - EXCEPT when it comes to bicycles.

An Affair Begun Decades Ago

My 1980 Proteus - now red and decked out for our
2014 self-supported ride to Door County

Last night I was thinking back - when exactly did this bike love affair begin? Sure, I had bikes as a kid. Even earned the money for my own Schwinn sometime in late grade school. In 1973  along with just about everyone else I got my first 10-speed, a "serious" bike for "serious" riding. But, I think I didn't REALLY start being interested in the workings of bikes until I bought my first custom designed Proteus in 1980. It was then, when I had to pick out every piece of the machine from the type of steel to the lugs, the bottom bracket, the drop outs, the cables, the breaks, derailleurs, chain, gears as well as the blue paint, that I began this now decades-long love affair with the bike. Robert Penn's recent book, It's All About the Bike, The Pursuit of Happiness on Two Wheels, captures my love affair with bikes as well as his own. In it he explores the history, lore and culture of the bike as well as its technology. To him its clear, the two parts, the technical and cultural are inextricably intertwined. And that's how I feel. To understand a bike is to understand the whole sweep of its history, human as well as machine.

Simple and Complex at the Same Time

I also love bikes because of the yin and yang of their simultaneous simplicity and complexity. Bikes are simple say when compared to cars. A few parts, a human motor and you're off. Put in enough fuel in the form of food and water and you can go for days. Yet, on closer inspection bikes are ever so complex. As I'm fond of saying, they're a game of millimeters. The smallest adjustment changes everything. Move your saddle up a smidge and your back hurts; your handle bars forward and the pain stops. Make a small adjustment to a spoke or two and a wobbly wheel come true. Understanding all this can take a life time and consume endless hours of conversation over coffee or beer. Tinkering becomes the past time of the real enthusiast.

And that's how someone like me, who's passionate about human history and culture gets sucked into the science of ball bearings. You never know Frodo where that road is going to take you.

The first HOW of Riding around the Lake - ROUTES

My Collection of Lake Michigan Bicycle Maps

Now that I’ve covered the WHY of my trip around THE LAKE its time to move on to the HOW component. Visions and dreams are all well and good, but there needs to be some practical planning and organizing before dreams take on real form. And a big dream, such as my 1,350-mile trip, requires a lot of preparation and planning. Today I’ll start by talking about routes.

Criteria for a Good Bike Route

Choosing a route for self-supported touring starts with the same major criteria as developing a good day ride. First, and most importantly, you need a safe route. Sometimes that involves bike paths, but not often. Paths are relatively few in number, don’t often go where you want to go and frequently have a bed of crushed limestone making riding far less efficient. So, a good route planner searches out lightly traveled but good surfaced roads with controlled intersections to cross major streets and highways.  Then you need to identify where you can refill your water bottles, visit the restroom and, at least on Evanston Bicycle Club rides, where you’ll have lunch. (We of the EBC are very big into eating mid-ride).

I love maps so much I even take
photos of ones I find along the way.

In addition, a good self-supported touring route involves finding a place to stay for the night with a restaurant nearby. After a day of riding that far, no one wants to clean up and then get back on the bike for another 5-mile trip. This daily end-point must be within a target distance from the start-point. Because we want to stop along the way to visit parks, museums and historical markers I limited us to a target of 50 – 60 miles riding each day. We’ve chosen NOT to camp, which saves our backs, but hurts our pocketbooks and limits our options. Given that we’re passing through popular tourist spots we decided to make reservations ahead of time. Finding out there are NO rooms at the inn at the end of a long day is not acceptable. But, this also means we’re locked into making each day’s destination regardless of weather, state of mind or soreness of body.  Having a nice cozy room with a warm shower to look forward to certainly helps with the motivation.

Sources for Routes

So, you ask, how does one find a safe route with a good surface, frequent rest stops, a cozy room and good food at the end?  Good question! The short answer: lots and lots and lots of research.

The internet, the internet what did we all do before we had the internet? For route planning purposes the internet is an essential, but insufficient tool. You can go on Google maps or Map My Ride, or Ride with GPS or Garmin Connect, select your destination, click on a bike icon and the system will plan a route for you. Yet if you do that in your own neighborhood, where you know the good routes from the not so good, you find that these digital sources often pick the less desirable ways and ignore your favorites. If they do that at home you can be sure they’re doing it in the places you want to go but haven’t been to yet. So, to be sure a good bike route planner needs to consult other sources of information when laying out a route.

Maps, Maps and More Maps 

Map of Root River bike trail - Racine, WI

For my route around THE LAKE I’ve been lucky to have several great mapping sources. You can get a full list by clicking on the “Bicycle Maps” link on the right side of the blog. Each state we’re passing through has a different approach to bike transportation, but they’ve all provided some guidelines. My vote though for best bike planning resources has to go to Michigan. The Michigan Department of Transportation, The League of Michigan Bicyclists and Adventure Cycling’s USBR #35 are “the bomb” as my friend Will would say. Between them I found routes, checked for convenient parks, identified towns with accomodations and restaurants. I could easily identify the low traffic roads, the paved bike paths, and even some intriguing historic sites. Adventure Cycling USBR #35 and LMB also provide turn-by-turn directions border to border on the lower peninsula. Another wonderful, highly detailed source are the cross-country maps put out by Adventure Cycling. I used a portion of their Northern Tier route – North Lakes Map #2 for getting across the Upper Peninsula (UP).  It provides turn-by-turn directions, locations for food, accomodations and even sites of interest – especially useful in this very sparsely populated territory. The statewide user friendly website  “Michigan Pure” helped me identify places to stay with nearby restaurants. 

I found other state resources to be much more spotty. Wisconsin does have a set of printed bike maps, but they’re not nearly as detailed at Michigan’s. Fortunately, I’ve traveled much of that territory before and relied on routes from SAGBRAW (Scrams Annual Great Bike Ride Around Wisconsin) for Marinette to Sheboygan. My all time favorite map, "Milwaukee and SE Wisconsin bike Map" from Bikeverywhere.com provides great detail, but only covers the portion of the state south of Port Washington to the Illinois line. Northern Indiana’s map is good, but again, I relied on internal Evanston Bicycle Club sources for route suggestions there (so much industrialization to avoid).  The Active Transportation Alliance’s map of the Chicago, one of my local staples, wasn’t needed much in this planning because we’ll again, be traveling on known territory for this trip.

Bottom Line: I LOVE MAPS

All this discussion about routes reminds me how much I really do love maps in paper or digital form. I love pouring over their representations of reality. I love studying their icons for all the detailed information I can acquire. Mostly I love visualizing the reality underlying the map. When I finally get to see the real territory I’m usually surprised – things are never what I imagined them to be. Although with satellite views now possible, real images of confusing places help with landmark identifications. Still satellite images are not reality. Thus explains the pull of the open road within me. All these hours and hours pouring over maps, making routes, selecting motels must lead to an ADVENTURE!

Maps and route planning, essential as they are, are just the beginning of the HOW of riding around THE LAKE. More to come about training, equipment and packing in future blogs. Stay tuned.

Why Lake Michigan? Why Pilgrimage?

Most of my life spent on the Shore of Lake Michigan

I just realized that I’ve spent most of my life residing within 4 miles of the western shore of Lake Michigan. Over that time I came to anchor my internal compass on THE LAKE.  Its always east. Even if I can’t see it, THE LAKE secures that part of the dial. I can navigate from there. I noticed this for the first time when I tried to find my way on the west coast of California; water is not supposed to be on the West. My internal map had been turned upside down.

Despite that proximity, or maybe because of it, I grew up taking THE LAKE for granted – its beautiful blueness, its limitless horizon, its fresh waterness, its fishy smell, its clean drinking water. The first time I visited New Mexico I was appalled at how dry and treeless it was. How could anyone live in a place like that, with no lake for comfort? But, at least the mountain was on the east. My internal compass functioned very well in Albuquerque.

Have known little of its history - until now

I grew up learning a small amount of THE LAKE’S history, both natural and human – enough to be in

Doing Lake Michigan research
during February snow storm

awe of the Big Water, freighted of the shipwreck history. I’ve traveled some of the lake shore, particularly from Chicago north to Door County, a little bit north of that to Marinette, a little on its eastern shore up to Warren Dunes, and then a big leap to Mackinaw Island. But, there’s a big swatch from Marinette over to Mackinaw through the UP (Upper Peninsula of Michigan) and down the west coast of the state of Michigan that I’ve never seen, much less understood.

A "Green" Pilgrimage to THE LAKE'S Sacred Places

But, now in the last few months, in anticipation of this trip, I’ve done lots of reading about THE LAKE both its natural and human history. When we did our bike trip to Door County last year I lamented not knowing the histories of the towns we passed through. I knew even less about the geology. Now I know a little more and want to give life to my newly acquired book learning. I want to ride the roads and put real places into my maps. I want finally, after all these years living so close by, to take THE LAKE into myself, and put some of those history pieces together. I could say that this will be an odyssey of discovery: “an extended adventurous voyage or a spiritual quest.” But I prefer pilgrimage: “a journey made to a sacred place,” because to me THE LAKE is truly sacred. 

Wikipedia mentions a new, Green Pilgrimage Movement, one focused on minimizing the impact of vast numbers of pilgrims on the very sites they revere. Thus, to do this pilgrimage to the sacred sites of Lake Michigan by bike is a fitting and proper fulfillment of my obligation to care for the current environment of THE LAKE as well as to learn its history.

Encounter Lake Michigan's History with me as I ride

On this pilgrimage I intend to pay homage to the whole gambit of Lake Michigan history: from sand dunes and their environs, to abandoned mining towns and smelting factories, to shipyards and shipwrecks. I want to learn some about fruit growing and forest fires, to put my hands on ancient rock and to trace the Niagara Escarpment outcroppings. I want to visit fur trading sites and the forts of Mackinaw and St. Ignace, to learn more about Father Marquette & Joliet and walk through Indian mounds and Ojibwa settlements. I also want to see the current state of industry and commerce. Now that the woods, the iron and the fish have been decimated what’s left? Who’s surviving and how are they doing it?

I've pulled together a bibliography of Lake Michigan history books and articles you might like to consult if this whole idea intrigues you. You'll find it on the right side. Click on the link and check out the list. Unfortunately, the very best source I've found appears to be out of print, Margaret Beattie Bogue's 1984 Around the Shore of lake Michigan: A Guide to Historic Sites. Ms. Bogue was a history professor at the University of Wisconsin - Madison and her professional discourse is a nice change from the usual local histories I've read. I found the book at the Milwaukee Map Store last November when I went looking for a Lake Michigan Map. It contains a great but simple map of the lake with its historic sites numbered and catalogued. In addition to the site references Ms. Bogue also gives us 100 pages of professional historical writing about The Lake from geology to glaciers to Native Americans, French fur trappers on into and through the industrial age. If you're a history buff as am I, buy it when you can find it. Or check for it in your library. I'll be referring to many of her references throughout the trip. A slightly new book, Lake Michigan: A Guide to all towns, rural areas and natural attractions by Donna Marchetti , 2000 is still in print and contains many of Ms. Bogue's referenced sites.

You'll also find a list of Lake Michigan sites we hope to visit in the right column. (Those of you reading this on e-mail will need to log into the actual blog to pick up these extra bits if you're interested.) I've listed them in the order we'll be riding - counter-clock wise starting in the Chicago area - and separated them into the Stages of our journey. As much as I'd like, I know we won't get to all of them, but I hope to hit the highlights. If there are other, less obvious ones you think we should check out, let me know. Hopefully each day's travel will include one or two. 

Through these visits I hope to soak in their meaning, absorb the history a little, feel the pull of nature. I’m willing to hold sacred both the human and environmental history.  I’m willing to work through what should be several levels of paradox. I’m trusting that somehow, experiencing THE LAKE up close I’ll see some confluence.

Why Now

A Little Nudge from my daughter Elise

For Christmas 2012 Elise gave me a nudge out the door as it were. She presented me with a copy of National Geographic’s Journeys of a Lifetime; 500 of the World’s Greatest Trips with the note “I hope this adventure book gets the ideas going … who knows where you’ll have been by this time next year!” I consumed it in one sitting, annotated the places I’d already been, tagged the places I still wanted to go and, being the organized type, made an ordered list. Since then we checked off China and then Cuba, which had not even occurred to me at the time. And so now I’ll get a chance to do “Around Lake Michigan by Bike” see page 59.

I wrote the following in my journal before visiting China in 2013.  It applies very much to this new adventure as well:

“Somehow I’ve always had it in my mind to visit China – exotic, far away, ancient China; the destination of Marco Polo, the mysterious “East” of spices, silk, culture & chopsticks.  I’m pulled there as I’m pulled to go on long distance bike rides. The adventure and other worldliness of it all intrigues me…. Now, before my life slips away, before I get too old to do this or enjoy it – NOW is the time.” 

“Elise’s global adventure in 2011 made me take note. Three major things I wanted to see since the days of travel logs with my Grandma Elise – three things my daughter Elise got to first: The Pyramids, the Taj Mahal and the Great Wall of China. Grandma’s love of geography and desire to travel passed down to me. I want to see those things for myself. Up close I can feel things I cannot see. I sense the place somehow. I understand something more by seeing the thing in its entirety.” 

"My Younger Self Cheering Me On."

My younger, thinner self the day I rode over the
Silvretta Pass 1980

As I wrote in my previous post, I’ve been pulled by the open road for a long time and had been seriously considering a journey across the country. But, some unexpected health issues got in the way.  Being diagnosed with A-fib simultaneously revealed the problem and presented a possible solution. Now more than a year after a successful ablation surgery I’m anxious to get on with it. A strong riding season last year, a 5-day, self-supported bike ride to Door County and now a willing companion have all convinced me that the time is NOW. The challenge needs to be met. 

To top it off, about the time I started dreaming of the ride, Jim brought home Loreen Niewenhuis’s book A 1,000-Mile Walk on the Beach: One Woman’s Trek of the Perimeter of Lake Michigan (Chickhollow Books).  To say it inspired me is understatement. She gave words to my longing, purpose to my quest. You’ll hear more, much more from Loreen in future posts, but a few quotes here are sufficient.

“This was the perfect time in my life, I thought, to be here doing this. It was necessary. I felt my younger self cheering for me.” Pg 56

Meeting an older man somewhere north of Milwaukee she quotes his lament; “Then years ago, I thought I’d bike around Lake Michigan,” he says. “Haven’t gotten to it.” Pg 155

I will not give voice to his lament. This year I will have My Month with THE LAKE.