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Report 4: MI to VA

Subj: Java Geno's Dream Team--Report #4
Date: 96-09-19 03:18:03 EDT

On the road again with JGDT.......

Continuing to make their way southward through Michigan, the Dream Team learned some of the regional terminology. Residents of the Upper Peninsula are called Yoopers (right, for U. P.). Lower Peninsula people are known either as Lopers or Trolls -- because they live below the (Mackinac) bridge.

Robin (on right, with Eric) joins the Dream Team near Lake Michigan
South of that bridge, the Team rode the M119 highway, a most scenic route right along Lake Michigan. In the Carmel-like town of Harbor Springs, on the M119, the riders made the serendipitous acquaintance of a Mr. Huffman. Turns out that Gene knows his son Steve, who lives in Sacramento. Perhaps of more interest to Wheelmen readers, the group learned that Mr. Huffman's father founded Huffy Bicycles! Plus...having discovered the American River Bike Trail on one of his visits to his son's home, Mr. Huffman was so impressed that he spearheaded the development of a similar 26-mile bikeway in his hometown of Dayton, Ohio. Small, small world.
A traveling minstrel group?? (See paragraph below)

After meeting up with Eric's friend Robin and Robin's sagger, Bruce, the Gang of Temporarily-Eight continued across big hills and rollers to Interlochen. Classes were out at the local Center for the Arts, a school for performing, written, and visual arts, so the Gang was permitted to eat at the employees' cafeteria on campus. Because they were wearing their matching USA jerseys, however, other diners mistook the riders for a traveling minstrel group. Hmmm, maybe I shouldn't believe EVERYTHING Gene tells me.......

In hard rain, the Team continued on to Howell, where they stayed overnight at Robin's home and enjoyed a delicious spaghetti-and-ratatouille dinner prepared by his wife Sue. The next morning, after a hearty, home-cooked farmer's breakfast, the Gang of Six-Again boarded the van ("sardine-like", per Robin) for the southbound trip to Kentucky. Traveling though Ohio, instead of Indiana as originally planned, the group caught a glimpse of the Huffman Bike Trail along a river in Dayton.

A haven in Howell
In the bluegrass countryside of central Kentucky, the riders resumed cycling on Adventure Cycling's middle tier route outside of Lexington. They stopped to visit a Shaker Village in the picturesque, pastoral Pleasant Hill/Wilmore area. They also spent some time in Berea, the arts and crafts capital of Kentucky. At Buckhorn Lake, they admired a rustic state park lodge. They ate homemade chili, apple dumplings, and genuine Kentucky fried chicken (though not the Colonel's recipe).
Buckhorn Lake

As the Team entered eastern Kentucky, the elegant, tidy farmlands receded. In the region bordered by Virginia and West Virginia, the riders encountered unfriendly coal trucks and were chased by mangy, flea-bitten dogs. There was trash everywhere. The weather was drizzly.

Having survived that grimness, though, the group has just reached Virginia. They are beginning their ascent on the Appalachian Mountains, and are looking forward to riding on the Blue Ridge Parkway. The weather is autumnal. The mile count to date is approximately 4,300. The end of this happy journey is near, but we should have time for one last update next week.

- - patti masuda
OR to MT --> MT to ND --> ND to MI --> MI to VA --> Road's End --> TransAm home