It's been an eventful couple of days. When we awoke near Albion yesterday morning — Tuesday, September 19 — it was raining and the radar promised not only rain, but the possibility of thunder storms on our journey toward Manchester. With a late afternoon appointment there and the desire to see another bookstore or two before the event, we decided to take a "safety day." OK, you can call it a wimp day if you wish, but with wet roads and lots of traffic, it's my story and I'm sticking to it.
We did get to Nicola's Bookstore in Ann Arbor and had a chance to meet Megan, the new store manager. Here's a photo of her with Richard and me.
And, here's a photo of part of the store.
We also got a chance to have lunch at the famous Zingerman's Deli. We were too hungry to take photos, but if you're ever in Ann Arbor, don't miss it.
Late in the afternoon we went to Literati Bookstore. It's been around about three years, and it's a terrific store. Here's a photo of one section with a quote I absolutely love.
In the evening we met with the folks from the Book Industry Charitable Foundation for dinner (they're based in Ann Arbor). Here's a photo of their Development Director, Kathy Bartson with me and Richard.
Here's a photo of a presentation of a check to Binc from Richard, on behalf of his company, AdventureKEEN, through a special promotion they did with bookstores. The folks in the photo, (L to R) are Richard, Kathy Bartson, the Development Director at Binc; Joan Noricks, the Office Coordinator at Binc; Deb Leonard, the Executive Director of the Great Lakes Independent Booksellers Association; and Pam French, the Executive Director of Binc.
Last night we were graciously hosted by Pam French, the Executive Director of Binc, and her partner, Lisa Brown, in their home at Manchester, MI. I would be remiss not to mention their lovely dog, Lilie who we wanted to take with us. Here's a photo of Lilie with beautiful raspberries and tomatoes from their garden.
This beautiful morning Richard and I rolled out shortly after 9am, heading for Ohio. Our first six miles or so were on very quiet, packed dirt and gravel roads, and it was very pleasant. Much of the day was on quiet country roads, and occasionally on busier highways, with pretty good shoulders.
One of the interesting inexplicable sights (even to two guys raised in farm country) was this striped field. Is it a difference in fertilizer or herbicide spray? Different hybrids? Does anyone have an explanation?
In addition to running the AdventureKEEN publishing operations, Richard also operates Roebling Point Books & Coffee in Covington, KY. So, he had to attend to business at one point today. Here's a photo of him paying his bookstore bill online to the Ingram Book Company. We're both certain that no Ingram bill has ever been paid from this spot before.
Lunch today was a picnic from Zingerman's that Richard purchased yesterday when we ate lunch there. I would love to share a picture of the great salami, bread, and cheeses we ate, but we were so hungry there wasn't time for photos.
Mid-afternoon we were blessed with being able to ride the Wabash Cannonball Trail — a wide, smooth paved trail that was often shaded in spots. We were thrilled. Here's a photo of Richard riding the trail.
One of the signs along the trail had us wondering if we should drop in and give some advice to President Trump.
A short distance before the end of the trail, and a rendezvous point with Dee, Richard discovered that there was a place called Freeze Daddy, that served ice cream, malts, and shakes. Here's a photo of us arriving and the place.
And here is a shot of Dee and me going in.
We exited refreshed (partly from the air conditioning and partly from the sugar high) and resumed the ride. We were mostly on the shoulders of roads from the end of the trail to our campground in Perrysburg. There was one interesting sight, and I wished we had been closer to see this beautiful mosque.
We arrived at our campground, had a great dinner (thanks to Dee) and sat outside on a beautiful fall night, in spite of some mosquitoes. It's been a great day. Tomorrow morning, shortly into the ride, I'll hit the 1000 mile mark — half way to Bar Harbor.
Ride Day Sixteen by the numbers:
71 - miles ridden
610 - feet in elevation gained (it's pretty flat here folks)
6625 - calories burned
0 - falls
1 - dog (sweet Lilie, who we wanted to kidnap from Pam & Lisa and take on the rest of the ride)
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