Day 115 (9/8): Vassar to Yale, Michigan

Mileage: 58.3; 3,570 total

Sometimes when people start talking to me I get concerned about "wasting time," and the thought crosses my mind that I should be somewhat uncommunicative so that I can avoid getting bogged down in conversation and can get back on the road. But then I usually remember that the people I meet along the way, and the conversations that I have, are what make this trip so great. So I quit worrying abou the time and enjoy the talk.

This morning I was all set to get off to a reasonably early start, but during breakfast I got caught up with talking to Dave, at the next table. He is a railroad engineer, and travels the tracks all around Michigan; the high gas prices have been great for the railroad business, and they are moving a lot of freight by rail. After Dave left I started talking to a friend of his, Don, who was a retired tree surgeon and a current minister. The discussion turned to politics, and I was struck by the perceptiveness of Don's observations -- at least, they seemed preceptive to me because they matched my views about 100%.

As I was pedaling out of Vassar someone shouted "Have a safe trip to New York." I turned to see who had said this, but didn't recognize him. He said we hadn't met, but he had been in the restaurant where I had eaten the night before, and had overheard someone else talking to me about my trip!

After 10 or 12 miles I stopped at a little general store to get a cold drink. In addition to the standard store items, the owner also had a collection of old tools, cars, tractors, and other knicknacks that he sold. I puzzled over some of the tools, and had to ask what they were: a hog scraper (used to scrape the hairs off a hog's carcass; but if you are trying this at home, don't forget to first dunk the carcass in boiling water); a tool used to wean a calf (this was a metal thing, with long protruding spikes, that somehow fit on the calf's face; when it tried to suckle its mother would kick it away -- what mother wouldn't, with those spikes?); a boot jack (for a no-hands approach to removing your boots). I also admired the owner's oil paintings, three landscapes that he had hanging on a wall; they certainly were not really any good, but I would have been proud of them if they had been my work.

After all this poking around, I hadn't made much progress and there were dark rain clouds on the horizon. In Brown City I stopped at a little convenience store/restaurant, and got inside just as the rain started pouring down. I waited out the storm for about an hour and a half (while having coffee and ice cream and talking with the two women who ran the store). There was no place to stay in Brown City, but I made reservations for the Yale Hotel in Yale, and finally rode the last 15 miles or so to Yale in a moderate rainfall. I was glad to have a place to sleep, but the Yale Hotel has to rate at the very bottom of the places I have stayed: an old hotel with about 20 rooms on the 2nd and 3rd floors, but I think it is rare that anyone stays there -- the active business seems to be the bar on the 1st floor. No TV. Somewhat dirty room. No hot water in the shower (the hot water supply line didn't work)! But I was able to sleep well, and I should be able to get to Wallaceburg, Ontario on Day 116!