day 14: bloomfield hills, MI

tom and i are at the library. this one is particularly beautiful, and apparently designed with the weary traveler in mind: we made our noontime PBJs in the little cafe area just inside the door, then walked across the expansive fiction and magazine section to the circular computer kiosks where we now have come to rest in office chairs with lumbar support.

since leaving rochester 5 days ago, we have ridden to tom's cousin katie's in buffalo, where we consumed untold and regrettable amounts of pizza, wings, and labatt blue light. the allentown arts fest was less than 50 paces away, and in the party atmosphere our bodies found that which they desired: more or less organic material to consume, in quantity. we left the next morning and rode up to niagara falls, and into ontario, CANADA. the toll was 50 cents per bike, and the canadian customs officer was much more excited about the idea of a bike trip than he was about searching our panniers, so it was smooth sailing across international borders.

sunday night (15 june, day 11) will surely be one of the highlights of the trip. looking for a place to camp along the road, we were directed by a kind dutchman to the house next door. "they're nice. it's two guys, but that's fine." fine indeed. we knocked on the door and jay, a burly bearded dude in jeans and a harley cap said "what can i for you?!" we asked if we might pitch a tent on his land. he said sure, he used to be a cyclist himself, clasped our hands, and shut the door. we were pumped. 10 minutes later, jay comes out, asks if we need to fill up our water bottles. he takes the empties into the house while we set up camp. comes back out after 5 minutes with water and 3 bottles of coors light. cheers to you, jay. we talked for a while about what we were doing, jay's cycling career in college, his farm, and the harley-davidson rallies that he goes to every friday the 13th in port dover, year round.

so then tony comes out, wearing birkenstocks and a golf shirt, clasping a big glass of merlot in his ringed fingers. he's british, a golfer, a doctor, a cancer specialist in hamilton. tom and i talked with him about the london theatre scene while jay hustled back to the house for a map and more beers. all in all we chatted with this amiable and generous fellows for about an hour before they went inside and we made some couscous.

about 45 minutes later, jay brings out some bug spray and two MORE bottles of the silver bullet and says if any weather comes in, just knock and there's a spare bedroom just inside the front door. and then 10 minutes later he comes out and says he doesn't like the look of the clouds to the east, why don't we come in and sleep in a bed. we did, and missed a killer T-storm that shook the trees.

the next morning we left a note of profuse thanks, which still fell short of the mark. given how psyched we were simply to have a place to pitch a tent, how could we express our gratitude for beer, good fellowship, and a four-poster bed?

day 12: cayuga, OT - port stanley, OT
day 13: port stanley, OT - ferry at sombra, OT/marine city, MI - algonac state park, MI.

we're heading for chicago, and hope to be there this weekend.