South Haven, Michigan

We underwent 2 major changes today: state and time zone. At about 9 this morning we entered the state of Michigan, home of the majority of the American riders, and with that came also a change in time zone, from Central to Eastern Standard Time. We were in the state we left behind, Indiana, for less than a day. That’s just how it works geographically.

About half of our travel today was close to or alongside Lake Michigan, and I offer the following shots taken at a variety of different places, but all of them with a Lake Michigan theme…


Because we traveled alongside the lake, we also had an opportunity to see how the wealthy lived. Yesterday we spent time in the rundown neighbourhoods of Chicago South; today we viewed the exclusive homes of the rich. It was quite a contrast. While there were some “ordinary” lakeside homes lining the route, some were obscenely large and obviously expensive – mansions! There were also signs alongside the route suggesting that these roads were private and that unless you lived there you should turn around. We ignored these, of course, and cycled on through.

When we weren’t beside the lake – there weren’t always roads – we traveled on tree lined country roads, with the trees forming a tunnel. The picture below gives you the idea, and you imagine what it might look like when fall colours kick in – beautiful!

My ride was mostly without incident - mostly. I got stung by what I thought was a hornet, right on the right arm below my armpit. I stopped the bike immediately, and pulled out my epipen (I’m allergic to hornets/bees), ready to stick myself. Oddly, however, there was no reaction except that I could feel the stinger, and still can 3 hours later. But there is no swelling and all the usual reactions, so we’re wondering if it really was a hornet that stung me. Sure looked like one. Another rider, John Vandersteen, got the same sort of sting, but just above his eye.

The weather lately has been cooling off, by the way. It was sunny all day, but very breezy. Some of that is due to the lake effect, and the last 30 kms or so we had to fight a very strong headwind. Finally we arrived in South Haven, and below is a shot of the inner harbour. Looks a little like some of the ports you see in the Netherlands.

Tonight we are not in a park by the lake, however, but at a middle school. Diane is napping, our clothes are drying on the line, and I am hungry, a pretty constant thing. Tomorrow and Saturday will be short days – less than 80 kms – with a lot of hoopla, I’m sure.

Today’s stats:

Distance: 130.16 kms
Average speed: 23.0 kph
Maximum speed: 45.0 ph
Time in saddle: 5.39.25