Zero miles today! I think my body was a little surprised at the relative inactivity — but grateful!
On this day off, here are a few facts and reflections:
I was supposed to have ridden 225 miles over the past 5 days. With mistakes and misdirections, it’s ended up being over 232. Those “oops”es add up.
Last time I checked, people have donated $995 toward the Sayre Fund for Nature in honor of this ride. I’m really blown away — thank you all so much!
Every day on a trail, I have seen items like water bottles, dog leashes, and gloves hung from fences or placed prominently and obviously on picnic benches. My read has been it’s the result of people finding lost items and putting them somewhere to make finding them easier to those who have lost the items. There’s something about simple hopeful kindnesses like these that almost make me believe in the basic goodness of humans.
The many “Fuck Biden” flags in central Michigan (flying proudly under the American flag) somewhat undercuts that belief. Oh, and the very occasional Confederate flag…in Michigan. I mean, there’s a veneer of hiding behind “Heritage, not Hate” in Virginia. Here, what can that be about other than racism?
There have been a dozen times, I’ll pass a street or landmark and the name of it sticks a song in my head for at least the next hour, if not the whole day. In Port Huron, there was “Electric Avenue.” Outside Jackson, I saw the Stone Soap Company, misread it as Stone Soup and was singing the theme song from one of Holly’s kids shows all day. The sign above prompted me to think “Stop, look around…” leading to a couple hours trying to remember the lyrics to this:
The biggest anxiety of the trip has been imperfect technology (i.e., my phone’s been acting up). Note to self: paper maps don’t need to be charged…
April’s last book to be published, coming out this past March, was “Happy Sloth Day!” It’s a testament to her photography skills, the number of fun shots of sloths included. I wasn’t exactly a sloth today but I did take it easy. April’s book validates sloths for their slow-moving but still fascinating lifestyle, and I’m taking that as a validation of a good day of rest!
Sent from my iPhone
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