Day 103

Saturday, July 25, 2009
- Start: Wakefield, MI
- ATW: Bergland, Topaz, Matchwood, Ewen
- End: Bruce Crossings, MI
- Day Miles: 42.9 Ride Time: 3hr 45min Total Trip Miles: 3145

We would have preferred to wake to an alarm clock but anything would have been better than the screaming that jolted us awake at sun up. Dave described it as sounding like a woman opening a can with a spring loaded snake inside. In reality it was a crow being pecked at by some tiny bird. The crow was on a branch over our heads and for some reason would not budge as it was continuously dive bombed. Fully awake we cleaned up our gear and just in time, rain was beginning.

We lounged around the covered shelter dreaming of the hot chocolate we were out of, if it would only lighten up a bit we could make a dash for the grocery. Instead it poured so hard that the town shops on the opposite side of the lake where lost in a wall of water. Perhaps today should be a rest day.

Just after 10 we got a break in the rain. Under heavy clouds we raced to the library but our luck held out and it was closed. Every tiny town we end up in is an off day for the library. At the post office we'd mailed out a completed journal for Dave and the postal clerk offered her computer later in the day if we were still in town.

Following a trip to the grocery and a pot of soup under the picnic shelter the rain had ended and the wind settled in a constant direction. The sun burned through the clouds and we had managed to catch up in our journal writing. "Do you want to go on today?" "I don't know, do you want to go on today?" "I don't know." Our wonderfully witty indecisive battle led us to packing up and heading off.

The wind was from the west and sent us 20 miles down the road into Bergland. Not worn out enough we ate a couple ice cream cones and were off again for the next town of any significance: Bruce Crossings. Behind the grocery store was a "tourist trail court" with showers and RV hookups. We sheltered our tarp behind a log cabin concession stand and then washed off the road grime.

We'd been warned that we were now in bear and moose country so the showers we'd used became the store room for every bit of smelliness we had except for ourselves. We had showered!

The wind battered our little shelter through the night and rain soaked everything around. You'd think that would keep the mosquitoes down but instead it drives them under shelter... our shelter. Luckily we'd taken the time to kill several while sitting at a picnic table and sewing the screen to the top of the sleeping bag. We hurried under cover and in a dramatic moment raised the screen over our heads. Making sure it was tucked down just right we slept a bite free night.