No, not those Two Towers. Not the other Two Towers, either. I’ve stopped at the other Two Towers, of the Irish Hills area. I was considering coming by here on today’s trip, but it was detouring a bit north of my destination. But with my new plans, it’s right on the way. Which is good, I guess, because they aren’t all that impressive. They probably offer a good view from the top, but they’re closed to that now. Too run-down, I’d guess.
I just hit all 1s on the odometer, just east of Britton MI. To be a complete geek, I tried to go an extra 58 feet and 8 inches past 11,111.1, so that it would be 11.1(repeating) kilomiles.
I slept OK… at least comfortably last night. I woke around 7 again, and with less to do and less incentive to loiter, I’m ready to go an hour earlier than usual: about 8.
The scooter’s still there. I’ve never left it in a parking lot overnight before.
There’s a line of rain showers coming across Lake Michigan. If I stay south enough it might miss me. Since staying south was the original plan, I’ll sort of follow that route, at least until the rain passes or it just makes more sense to turn northwestward toward home, regardless. I have rain gear and/or I can find a place to wait for it to pass.
I have a few stops planned along the way, and 160 miles or so shouldn’t require excessive time in the saddle. I’ve gone further in a day, and I’ve done close to that a few times.
OK, a little more tine to reflect on the missing tent. I still can’t decide which is the more likely explanation for its disappearance: neither falling off nor being taken off seems probable. But as my old friend Sherlock Holmes used to say: once you eliminate the impossible (e.g. spontaneous evaporation, or, I sold it for crack), whatever remains – no matter how improbable – must be true.
I’d just finished an ode to the tent, saying how much I liked it (except for its limited headroom) and bragged about it to my lunch companions (which is how I’m sure it was on the bike then). It was a good tent. But as I’d also noted, it was showing its age. One thing I am resolved about: it WILL be replaced. This has NOT been my last scooter road trip, nor was my latest backpacking trip a few years ago my last. I will require another tent.
I also require sleep. And this motel room will just have to suffice for that… tonight.
After checking in to the Motel 6 {sigh} I rode in to Monroe itself for dinner. Of course I got lost right away. But I managed to find my way back to the designated Street Where Stores And Such Are Still In Business, and saw the place I needed to go for dinner. It said so on the sign: Beek’s Bar and Grille. For those who don’t know me from my early college years, that was my name then (sometimes extended to “Beeker”). One or two of you might know that I cohosted a college radio program called “Beeker & Rottin’s Bar & Grille”.
Combined with the fact that I needed both food and a drink, this was about as clear a sign as I needed. OK, it’s basically a sports bar, with little TVs at each table, and a row of them above the bar, and 2/3 of the patrons are wearing shirts with big numbers on the back. So it’s not exactly “my” kind of place. But they have Molson on tap, and a nice-sounding chicken Philly sandwich on the menu, so who cares what’s on the TV?
I’ve arrived at Sterling State Park and my tent is gone. I know I had it at lunch, so it must have either fallen off or been taken off at one of the various places I stopped for a while and left the bike out of my sight. For the tent to just slide off (bungeed/tied down) is pretty damn unlikely. but I never left it alone for very long either. Who knows.
At this point I just don’t know what to do. There just isn’t enough daylight left to get home from here. I guess I find a motel here and ride home tomorrow.
[profanity deleted]
