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]

Rockwood, Michigan lies on Lake Erie at the mouth if the Huron River, which I have followed (more or less) since leaving Ann Arbor. It’s just a bit south of Detroit, and on my trip down the east coast of Michigan I stopped and turned homeward just north of Detroit. Nothing against Detroit; I just don’t enjoy riding thru cities, especially big ones I don’t know my way around. I get lost enough on country roads.

Rather than going directly from Portage Lake to Ann Arbor, I steered northward a bit, taking in more of the Waterloo area, including the town of Waterloo itself, which is little more than a large bunch of neighbors. I tried to take a look at the other campground in the rec area, but a dirt road stopped me. I’ve ridden on them, but I don’t like to. I didn’t get as far north as Hell, but I’ve been there before and once you’ve been there, there’s not much point in going again. Unless there’s an biker rally or something.

On the way thru Chelsea I texted Jason, a fellow scooter forum member at ModernBuddy.com, to finalize our plans to meet for lunch. He suggested Bagger Dave’s a sandwich place he likes, and I met him and his wife Jen(?) there. I’d allowed some extra time for figuring out missed and wrong turns in the city, and got there on time. We had a nice conversation about scooters and travel and Michigan. We agreed that we live in two different states with a common government. He complained about the secret pockets of conservative prejudice in SE Michigan, and I told of the pockets of liberal tolerance in West Michigan. It was cool to see a forum regular in person; I shall have to think of more tattoos when I read his posts… I don’t know what revisions he will envision reading mine. 🙂

I forgot to ask them for pointers on how to get out of town, and found myself on a route which not only required doubling back a mile, but also dumped me on a dirt road. It was a reasonably hardpacked dirt, but I’m pretty sure one of the bumps I hit are when the key to my scooter got bent; I must have hit it with my knee. It still fits, but the handle is at an angle. I’m hesitant to try to bend it back, because it would be a major headache if it broke off. Even so I now have to be extra careful with it.

Note to fellow travelers: a “metropark” is open to the public but charges admission. So much for the scenic riverside route I’d hoped to take part of the way down the river, and the first place I tried, to get a view of Lake Erie. Fortunately Wayne County has a small rundown park where I can stop, snap a couple pictures of a crane (the bird kind) and bring the blog up to date.

The image upload has been really unreliable the last several tries. I’ll keep trying it, but if there’s a shortage of photos, that’s why.

For some reason, hitting 11K miles isn’t as exciting was hitting 10K was.

I did NOT stay here last night.

There’s a classic scene in the TV series “All in the Family” in which Archie observes Meathead putting on his socks and shoes, and with his trademark curiosity and wisdom, tells him he’s doing it wrong. Meathead puts on one sock, the corresponding shoe, the other sock, then the other shoe. Archie illustrates the folly of this with the example of a house fire, in which case Meathead might be interrupted and run into the street with a bare foot, hopping around on the other. Meathead counters that if it’s raining Archie will be standing there with two wet feet; his will both be dry.

When using the wet-floored showers at a state campground, Meathead is correct.

My sleep last night was interrupted briefly when I woke with my left arm tingly-numb. Which is just similar enough in sensation to the symptoms in my left fingers before my recent surgery to cause a brief half-awake panic. I rolled over, restored circulation to my arm, and went back to sleep.

It’s a pleasant sunny morning, and I’m slowly breaking camp.