Cycle Across America – Day 62

Hayward to Clam Lake

33miles / 1,060ft climb

A very short cycle today in comparison to what we have been doing. This was due to trying to avoid excessively long days and having to find suitable accommodation along the route which are few and far between. It is of course also an opportunity to relax a little and enjoy some down time at our destination.

The ride was along the highway but it was relatively quiet for the most part and made for fast, easy cycling.

We are in Wisconsin and back in bear country and we hear reports from locals of recent sightings. We have seen Elk and Deer but no bears as yet!

Our accommodation for tonight is at Clam Lake Junction. We had low expectations after our experience at Biggs Junction but we couldn’t have been more pleasantly surprised. The rooms are large, nicely furnished, quiet and comfortable. But it was the customer service that sold it to us.

We had to check in at the gas service station and the guy at the desk could not have been more helpful. It often is the small things that make the biggest difference and using the staff laundry room to power wash the contents of our pannier bags was so very welcome.

Over dinner tonight, we were sent a round of drinks by Lyn, the guy who had served us at the gas station earlier. As the owner of the business, Lyn had lots of interesting stories, including some video footage of a recent bear sighting. He also listened with interest to our story. It is the people we meet and the kindness of strangers that will feature highly in our memories of our this incredible journey.

A bottle of wine and a few games of cards and we are ready to retire.

We have travelled northeast over the past few days. We are now south of Lake Superior and surprisingly close to the Canadian border already.

So where do we go from here?

We used the American Adventure Cycle Association maps to plan our route and Minneapolis signified the start of the Northern Lakes series of maps which will take us north-east through the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest, around to Escanaba where we will follow the shoreline of Lake Michigan to Manistee and then head east and follow the northern shoreline of Lake Erie. From here we will follow the southern shore of Lake Ontario into New York State. From there we will make our way to the Atlantic coast but we still have yet to decide exactly which route we will take.

Caroline and Paul will ultimately end up in Virginia, where they will meet up with their son Mark and his wife Megan.

John and I will head for the Atlantic around Portland, Maine on a route yet to be determined. Our routes split at Wallaceburg on the 9th of August and we will go our separate ways from here.

We are delighted that Steve and Lori Iseman will meet us in Wallaceburg. It will be a joy to see them both. We also hope that Steve and Marianne will be able to join us for the last few days. It will be a real treat to cycle with them again but it’s hard to believe we are already talking about the latter few days of our adventure. Another 1,900 miles and we’ll be there!