90 miles ridden – 958 feet climbed

Despite the somewhat gloomy weather forecasts we did not see any rain today. The temperature peaked around 27C/80F which was great for distance cycling. However, we had a headwind for all but about 20 miles and the road surfaces were generally poor. Remember what I said – you can never enjoy all four elements of a good ride at the same time.

Today we started seeing a number of brick built houses – we have rarely seen them so far. Additionally in contrast to most houses which have shallow pitched roofs which encroach on the upper floor these are often English style with a steep pitch roof on top of the upper floor and if the roof space is being used there is a dormer window like we would see in the UK. No one knows the reason for this change because there are plenty of trees, but these houses tend to stand out.

In Brown City we visited the 911 memorial which the town, led by local fire department, had built. It was really quite striking and included a piece of the Twin Towers within it. All the local residents and businesses had contributed time and/or money towards it which gives it significant meaning.

Darin, Heather, Murray and I had decided to stop in Brown City for lunch. However as it was only 10:30 we had another breakfast since the hotel buffet breakfast was so poor. The pancakes were brilliant and in a departure from our normal cycling focus we (Darin, Greg, and I – NOT Murray as he was sitting next to Heather) noticed the waitresses were quite pleasing on the eye too. We were encouraged at this rediscovered ability to multi-task.

Motivation for the next 31 miles was a double whammy – a) we would turn south and get a tailwind, and b) at that very junction was a very good ice cream shop. And very good it was too – I can recommend the Key Lime Pie milkshake.

Within a few miles we found a beach on Lake Huron. There were waves coming in and an endless horizon so it was difficult to grasp that it is a lake.

Tomorrow we will cross the bridge below into Ontario province in Canada. Such is the welcome we can expect the Canadian authorities are closing the bridge to traffic while we get a police escort over! We have 3 days in Canada before crossing back into the USA at Niagara.

Day 39! – Time is flying past.