Back in the U.S. of A.

To Imlay, Michigan -- 51.0 miles, 13.0 mph, 1025 ft

“Sorry, we only take cross country cyclists.”  So said the woman on the Canadian side of the Blue Water Bridge when we showed up looking for a ride to the US side. Hmm, I'm not sure what we looked like exactly if not long distance cyclists!  I guess it was the kids that threw her off. Over ten years she had never helped drive children over the bridge.

Fortunately, she quickly got over her disbelief and, after admonishing us for not calling ahead, said she’d drive us across in a half hour or so. Perfect. This would be a huge help and keep us from having to ride the extra 20 miles south to the ferry, just to turn around and ride back north again. In the meantime, I took advantage of the handy S&S couplers on the bikes to remove the front section of each in order to pack them into the short bed pickup. Ta dah!

Once we got across the bridge, our repatriation into the States took only a few minutes and we were rolling again by 1:00. The weather today was all over the map. When we left Camlachie a cold rain had just begun to fall and we had a slight tail wind. By the end of the day, it was 80 degrees and we had all stripped down to shorts and T shirts.

Once again we found ourselves on dirt roads. It's always a surprise when the pavement ends since a paved and dirt road happen to look identical on the phone (hear that Google?). Fortunately, the surface on Imlay City Rd was hard packed dirt and with almost no traffic, we could easily avoid the small potholes all the way to the Super 8 Motel in Imlay.

It didn't take long after arriving before our appetites forced us out in search of food. Across a small field was Bob's Big Boy with the famous fiberglass mascot. When I was growing up, Bob’s Big Boy was my parents go-to restaurant for the occasional weekend dinner out. Our table-full of food was cleared in nothing flat.