Day 30 - Standish to Caro

Tuesday, July 24.  Hard to believe we have been been on the road 30 days.  Fourteen days from today - our adventure will come to an end.  Such fun stories.
Today seemed pretty straight forward.  Except for that portion of the map that we couldn't really tell how we were going to navigate around the northern edge of Bay City - straight south on M-13, a few jogs here and there, cross over a river - shoot, where are those guys?  My phone locked up, my GPS is taking me on the wrong road - harumpf :)  Never mind - just go.  Okay, found the guys, then stair step on 25 to 138 to24 to 81 - pretty simple :(    As we were circling around an intersection in a small town - Tom (yep, Tom) stopped and asked directions.  Brenda got us on the right road, in the right direction - and, oh by the way, she says, I have a restaurant in Caro - stop by for lunch. 
Well, what a find - the State Street Diner!  Great food, cheery and family friendly.  Thanks Brenda for the lunch - it was fabulous!

Patty going in circles
P.S. - on sign patrol - I just couldn't pass this one up!

Notes from Tom:  Yesterday was tough--riding about 12-14 mph into a 15-20 mph wind.  What's so hard about riding in the wind is the noise.  If you want to get the feeling we had all day yesterday, get somebody to drive a car at 30-35 mph and stick your head out the window or sun roof.  Then do that for about 5 hours.  That's what our day was like yesterday.  Add to that the fact that there was really nothing to see--a lot of residences, cottages, cabins, and small resorts--for 30 or 40 miles.

Today we had good weather, cooler temperatures and mostly good roads, and a tail wind.  So if riding into the wind is noisy, then riding down wind is really quiet.  You hear the tires on road, and cars coming behind you--today after breakfast I heard Jerry belch, and I thought he was right behind me.  Turns out he was about 30 yards behind, but with the tail wind I could hear him.   With the good conditions and roads, we actually rode 25 miles past our hotel, so instead of having to ride 96 miles tomorrow, we only have to ride 71--that's a big difference.  This is when having Patty around gives us the flexibility to take advantage of good conditions, and it's the reason we're just about two full days ahead of schedule.

Notes from Jerry:  Today worked out well except  for a minor glitch at the start which delayed us getting on the road.  When I repaired the flat yesterday the valve stem basically broke off, yet held air and even took air after meeting up with Patty.  No such luck this am, as the tire would not hold air added to it, so it was time for another tube change. 

We made good time and were able to take advantage of a tailwind by deviating our route more to the south than to the east. We ended up riding 87 miles instead of 60, which will help us considerably tomorrow.

The highlight of the day was meeting Gwen and her friend Karen at the end of our ride at the motel we had booked.  Karen drove Gwen all the way across the state.  Thank you Karen!  It has been a month since I have seen Gwen and we are eager to share our adventure!

Onward to Canada either tomorrow or for sure the day after.

This is a picture of "Mater" that was sitting outside of a junk yard on the outskirts of Caro, MI.  Tom and I stopped for the day in a little park across the street.