A final detail. The total distance was about 4260 miles.

Also, I am looking forward to shopping in grocery stores that do not advertise "night crawlers" in the window.

August 22 Day 83 Boston 40 miles

Scary riding. All the roads into Boston are commuter arteries with grim-faced drivers alternating stomps between the gas and the brake. The road surface on Highway 9 is terrible, so we are steering around potholes while watching the drivers in the mirror. We eventually turn onto Highway 30 for some improvement. We finally reach the bike path along the Charles River. One guy is picking up the office mail on his bike. He guides us through tricky parts of the bike path for a few miles before turning back to deliver the mail. At long last, Boston! We decide the ride is officially over when we reach the Boston Public Garden. We celebrate with lunch.

Time to start wrapping it up. We pedaled to the UPS Store and stripped everything off the bikes. The UPS Store gave us a plastic bag to hold the stuff we will retain. All the rest went into a pile for the UPS people to stuff into boxes and ship home. Two blocks farther to the bike shop where they will break down our bikes to fit into boxes and ship them home. Our daughter Nicole met us at the bike shop to escort us to our motel near her new apartment. Tomorrow Roy will take the train to DC to visit his daughter and then fly home. We will help Nicole move stuff into her apartment and fly home in a few days. And then it's over.

I would like to thank those who have taken an interest in the ride and supported us with your good wishes. Roy did all the map work, watching for the left turns on Pickle Street and the concealed entrances to the bike paths. We would never have made it without Roy's navigation. Michele did a multitude of tasks that should be recognized. A few demand some comment. Michele alone suffered continuing mechanical problems with the bike. She put up with very frustrating gear shifting conditions without complaint (well, with only a little whining). She kept me organized and on task. She put up with my sulking. And me? I contributed our closing limerick:

Three friends got a strange notion

Of what might be done with wheels in motion.

On the 83rd day

I'm proud to say

They rode from ocean to ocean.

August 21 Day 82 Worcester MA 63 miles
Another cold day. Some sprinkles in the afternoon.
We had ten or more miles on the rail-trail from Hadley to Amherst and beyond. Once the rail-trail ran out, the road was all up-and-down for the rest of the day. Narrow shoulders. Bad road surface. Hard riding.
We passed through Ware. The town advertises, "Nationally known as "the town that can't be licked'!" on the Welcome to Ware sign. I think I'd find something else to say.
Our motel is the seediest we have ever stayed in. Bulletproof glass in the office. The door frames to the rooms are chewed up where people have tried to jimmy the doors open. Bars on the windows. A rat scuttling in the ceiling. Roy wedged a chair under the doorknob overnight.
Tomorrow's the day!

August 20 Day 81 Northampton, Massachusetts 77 miles 7:07 riding

New York's parting gift was a big dose of Dr. Hill's medicine. We climbed over 1500 feet just to get to Massachusetts. Not to be outdone, Massachusetts added lots more during the day. We're not accustomed to hills anymore.

Roy's brother Lee has been planning for months to meet with us along the way. Lee lives in Paris. The connection finally happened at the edge of Pittsfield. Lee drove up, hugged Roy, gave Michele some imported chocolate, took a few photos, and drove off. Ten minutes and it was over. Lee's rental car is labeled "Voiture Balai", the Tour de France expression for what we would call the "sag wagon", the vehicle to pick up any riders who are too tired to go on. We don't need no sag wagon.

Another motel adventure. All the motels in Northampton, save one, were hugely expensive. We figured we would go to the one inexpensive motel. We rode into Northampton and found the road. We pedaled and pedaled and pedaled to get to the motel. The reason it's cheap is that it's miles out of town. We ordered pizza for delivery.

August 19 Day 80 East Greenbush New York 64 miles 5:34 riding
Our last day on the canal. We watched a guy bowfishing, trying to shoot a fish with an arrow with a string attached to it. He missed while we were there. More excellent riding along the towpath or railtrail until the end of the Erie Canal trail at Albany. Roy had a near-death experience. A largish pre-teen was riding with his family. The kid was sulking, pedaling while staring down at his wheel. Immersed in his musings on how awful it was to have to bicycle with his parents, the kid paid no attention to Roy screaming as the kid drifted into Roy's path. Roy managed to squeeze by the kid.
We stopped in Michele's father's hometown of Cohoes for lunch. Michele devoured an entire twelve-inch sub sandwich. Then, in a fit of shame and remorse, she limited our dinner to fruit from the fruitstand next to our motel. At least it was good fruit.
The computer connector for my camera is no longer working. I am reduced to using only those photos Michele takes. She generally orients her camera up and down instead of side to side, so the photos come out sideways on the blog.

August 18 Day 79 Fultonville 63 miles 5:45 riding

Lots of people talk to us about our ride. Most of them seem to get into the spirit. The locktender came back to us with a gift of Erie Canal souvenir pencils and a little history of the canal.

We saw the home of General Herkimer, the "Hero of Oriskany". Oriskany was one of the bloodiest battles of the Revolutionary War - the general died of wounds. It was a turning point in the war, we are informed. I don't think I ever heard about the battle before. I'll have to look it up when I get home.

More good riding along towpaths and rail-trails. The terrain is getting rockier.

The armaments industry was one of the first in the Northeast. It's still there. The Remington folks have some advice for us.

It's always a problem to find a motel on Saturday night. This Saturday night, the problem is the Saratoga racetrack. Big spenders stay in Saratoga. Penny-ante players drive to Amsterdam, where we intended to stay, filling the motels. We have to continue on to Fultonville. Drivers are roaring around a dirt track across the river in Fonda until ten o'clock. We hit a new low for dining in Fultonville. We do our best not to eat in chains, but we are cornered into eating at the TravelAmerica truckstop all-you-can-eat buffet. Mac-and-cheese was probably the healthiest item at the buffet. To add insult, for the first time in my short life, I qualifed for the senior discount. At least the waitress carded us. With Roy, it was just a formality.

August 17 Day 78 Lock 20 State Park (near Oriskany) 61 miles

Excellent riding along the towpath all day. Pasta for dinner. A local pair performed a free oldies concert across the lock. Cool, threatening weather kept the crowd to a couple of dozen.

I'd like to say a word about bugs. When you drive, bugs splatter on your windshield. Fortunately, they do not splatter when they hit your face while bicycling, but they can have quite an impact. Grasshoppers are the worst. They are large and they are clumsy flyers, so we have a lot of collisions. I have had a couple of feathery butterfly impacts.

Big storm during the night. Lots of rain. We saw branches or trees on the ground for many miles afterward.

August 16 Day 77 Rest Day Syracuse, New York

Ann is, among other things, a docent at the Syracuse zoo. She gave us a tour of the zoo. We shopped at Wegman's supermarket. The Wegman's format is a larger store than Safeway's; Wegman's is nicer. Lunch at the Dinosaur Barbeque. Terrific food in a fun atmosphere.

Roy's cousins John and Peter and their mother, Roy's aunt Ruth, arrived from Bingingham for dinner, bringing "speedies". Speedies are a Bingingham specialty, chunks of marinated meat grilled and served on white bread rolls.

August 15 Day 76 Syracuse NY 51 miles
We visited the National Museum of Women's Rights in Seneca Falls. They have a surprisingly effective movie about the history of the struggle for women's suffrage, among other displays.
In 1917, a man tried to commit suicide by jumping from the Seneca River bridge; another man died in saving the other.
Local legend has it that Frank Capra was getting his hair cut in Seneca Falls when the barber told him the story of the bridge. The end result was "It's a Wonderful Life", set in "Bedford Falls". The woman who played Zuzu in the movie comes the town's festival every year.
We passed an Amish fruit stand. The surface of the towpath trail is less satisfactory today. The gravel is a little deeper, harder to pedal through. The towpath is still a terrific ride, but whining about the surface from certain quarters led to riding on the roadway where the roadway was parallel with the canal.
Syracuse is the home of Roy's cousin, Anne, who graciously invited us to stay with her. Anne has a marvelous home on a hillside. She grilled steaks and mushrooms and ice cream sundaes. We are in love!

August 14 Day 75 Seneca Falls NY 68 miles 6:00 riding
Another day of excellent riding. Frederick Olmstead of Central Park fame designed the Rochester parks. We rode for miles through the parks along the Gennesee River and the Erie Canal. We watched dredgers getting ready to clear the channel. They use a boat with a crane and a clamshell scoop to excavate silt and drop it into a special barge. The barge has hatches in the bottom to dump the silt. I'm not clear where they dump it.


Dust from the towpath surface covers our bicycles, our gear, us. We are grey.
Deli sandwiches in the park at Palmyra. Palmyra was the home of Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saints. Instead of viewing his home and the Sacred Grove, we chose to detour to Seneca Falls, home of the women's rights movement in this country. The route led south through Amish farms and more lovely country on tiny backroads.
We called for a motel reservation near Seneca Falls. I asked how much the rooms would cost. The proprietor replied, "I'll give you a really good deal!" That put us on alert because the first motel we pedaled to a few nights ago clearly offered rooms either by the night or by the hour. We spent an hour after we got to Seneca Falls trying to find an alternative place to stay. Everything was booked. Eventually, we gritted our teeth and rode the mile or two out to the Starlite Motel, expecting the worst. The place was great. Somebody should tell the proprietor to put less personality into his telephone calls.

August 13 Day 74 Rochester NY 66 miles 6:43 riding
Our first day on the canal. We are riding the towpath where the draft animals used to walk to pull the barges along the canal. The riding conditions are delightful. The path is almost perfectly level. The surroundings are fields or forest on both sides with the green and placid canal between.

A pleasure boat motors by now and then. There are small towns at frequent intervals. For the most part, they have preserved their 1900's-style architecture.
The towpath surface is packed gravel. The pedaling is a little slower than we are accustomed to.
Now that we are off the roads and on a bicycle path, you would think we would be safer. In fact, we had our first unscheduled bicycle/rider separation. There are posts in the path at the intersections with roads so that cars can't drive down the towpath. Just as I passed a barrier, I called attention to a tugboat working on the canal. Michele directed her attention to the tugboat instead of to the barrier. She hit the barrier absolutely square. The bicycle stopped; Michele continued her previous trajectory, unencumbered by the bicycle, landing on one thigh and one elbow. She has a very colorful bruise on the thigh and some scuff marks on the elbow. Otherwise, she is unhurt. She got right back on and pedaled away. She's tough!

August 12 Day 73 Lockport NY 24 miles 2:13 riding
A semi-rest day. We had originally intended to take a rest day at Niagara Falls, but the crowds overwhelmed us. We decided to go on to Lockport instead.
Lockport is Roy's ancestral home. He's never been back in the approximately one hundred years since his family moved away. He found his childhood house. We talked with the current owner. Roy checked out his school and the plant where his father worked.
Roy's father had some involvement with the First Presbyterian Church at Lockport. The stained glass windows are from the Tiffany workshops. I've never seen anything like them. They are the most beautiful glass I've ever seen.
Lockport is the beginning of the Erie Canal for us. We inspected Locks 34 and 35 on the canal. We watched some boats descend through the locks.
Our motel has some memorabilia from a friend of the owner. The friend was one of the last people to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel. It was actually a rather elaborate barrel with padding to protect the occupants. The friend and his girlfriend went over the falls together (makes the 30,000 foot club seem pretty tame!). The police do not care for this sort of thing. They both went to jail. Somebody bailed out the girlfriend promptly; the guy spent two weeks in jail. Since then, a man attempting suicide went over the falls unprotected and survived. That took the challenge out of going over in a barrel so nobody does it anymore.

August 11 Day 72 Lewiston NY 60 miles 5:39

A marvelous day altogether. We started out with several miles of rail-trail bike path through forest and farm. At Ft. Erie, there was a War of 1812 re-enactment going on. US troops attacked British troops defending the fort. The vastly outnumbered defenders negotiated a withdrawal. We learned from the re-enactors at lunch that Britain played up for many years the threat that the US would seize Canada as a British tool for controlling Canada. Did you know that one of the demands the US made on Britain following the Civil War was to give Canada to the US as reparations for support the British gave the South during the Civil War?

Here's another chapter of American history that may not have been covered in your high school text: the Battle of Ridgeway. In April, 1866, Irish-American supporters of Irish independence from Britain invaded Ontario from Ft. Erie to strike a blow for Irish independence. The Fenians, as they were known, defeated the British troops sent to repel the invaders. The Fenians then withdrew to Buffalo. There was a similar invasion in 1870 from Vermont.

We pedaled along the Niagara River toward the falls. The views were superb. Once we reached the falls, we had to dismount and walk through the crowds. What a variety of people! For those of us who have lived pretty much in isolation for two months, it was overwhelming. I greeted a Japanese man wearing a Cal t-shirt with a hearty "Go Bears". He was clearly clueless, but I think his wife eventually got the idea.

Getting back to the US was a challenge. Bicycles are not allowed on the Whirlpool Bridge. We intended to take the Queenton-Lewiston Bridge. Construction kpt us from taking the route described on our map. We pedaled into a prohibited area to find someone who could explain how to get onto the bridge. She directed us to the temporary route. Good thing it's temporary because it involves pedaling across five lanes of traffic. We clung to the right edge of the bridge until we got across. Now what? There were lanes for autos/RVs, backed up, and a lane for commercial trucks, empty. Michele always finds a way to rationalize her own self-interest. She shouted, "Take the truck lane - they'll want us out of here." At the Immigration post for the truck lane, the officer yelled something about how he wouldn't deal with us. Roy and Michele seized upon this as permission to proceed. The Immigration officer went nuts. I explained that he meant we had to go back to the auto line. In the end, he processed us anyway just to get rid of us while the commercial trucks backed up behind us blew their horns and shouted.

I have been taking my immunity to flat tires as proof of my moral superiority over Michele and Roy and further evidence of God's justice on earth. Regrettably, divine intervention ceased just as we rolled down into Lewiston. We pulled into the first driveway. Two ladies were sitting on the porch. They turned out to be Doris and her 92-year-old mother, having their nightly manhattans. Dois gave us water and counseled us on motels. It turned out that Lewiston is having it's annual art fair - all the motels for some ditance are booked. Michele wheedled permission to camp in Doris' back yard. (Photos to come

August 10 Day 71 Port Colville Campground 68 miles 5:49
A day of frustrations, misunderstandings. Roy took off early to get breakfast in Port Ryerse some miles further on. Contrary to what was shown on our map, there is no cafe in Port Ryerse. Meanwhile, as is customary any time Roy is not doing the navigating, I took a couple of wrong turns, so we caught up with him late. In general, I was mistaken over almost everything all day. Bicycling all day gives one ample opportunity to brood upon the problems. Roy was ahead of Michele and me at the end of the day. I was mistaken about the distance to the campground, so I wasn't watching for him. If Michele hadn't spotted his bike outside the check-in station for the campground, I would have pedaled on eight more miles before realizing my mistake. Grumble, grumble!

August 9 Day 70 Turkey Point Provincial Park 59 miles 5:31 riding
The terrain is generally level except where the plain is cut by a river. In and out of the cut is the steepest pedaling we've seen in weeks.
Rain began at Port Bruce. The rain was a deluge by the time we got to Port Burwell. We took refuge in a cafe. Hot chocolate and food. We passed the time shopping for paperbacks at $0.25 each. Apart from books, Canada seems astonishingly expensive. I refused to buy a can of soda at one point when the cashier called out the price as $3.14!
The rain relented. We were pretty dry, except for our feet, by the time we reached the campground.

August 8 Day 69 Port Stanley 50 miles

Fair weather, variable winds. Occasional views of Lake Erie.

Milkshakes at the first break.

Port Stanley's Stork Club had the biggest dance floor in Canada in 1926. Americans would cross the lake during Prohibition to party in Canada.

August 7 Day 68 Near Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario 38 miles
Rain all day. Few choices for anywhere dry to stay. Community discussion of the possibilities among the operator and customers and postman at the store in Kent Bridge. Michele and I ate homemade butter tarts and coconut raspberry tarts. There is one B&B which no longer operates for the general public, but does take in bikers and bird watchers. We head there. The B&B turns out to be near Rondeau Provincial Park. We do our best to dry out, but everything is beginning to smell of mildew. Fortunately, there is a restaurant not too far away for dinner. Our hostess drives us over; we walk back during a break in the weather. Lightning in the distance during the night.
This area was one of the endpoints for the Underground Railway. There are still communities of the descendants of black who fled to Canada.
To my shock, this is the southernmost point on our trip! Check it out. We are at 42 degrees 20.3 minutes north latitude. Boston is at 42 20.6. They grow tobacco here.
A parting note on Michigan - you hardly pass a driveway where there isn't something "for sale by owner". It's often the house. Otherwise, it's a car or a boat or an ATV. Some people explain that it's because the car industry is hurting so bad. I wonder if there isn't something deeper in the economy.
Throughout our time in Canada, we are surprised by the number of homes flying Canadian flags. Is this different from before 9/11, for example? Is there some statement here that "We are not US"?

August 6 Day 67 Wallaceburg, Ontario 50 miles

There was inexplicably a live peacock on the road today. Update on the roadkill count. Michigan is the dead porcupine state. Also opossums and raccoons. Minnesota was the frog state.

Ferry ride across the St. Clair River at Marine City to Ontario. Lunch along the river. It`s a national holiday (Midsummer day), so not much is open. Excellent milkshake at the ice cream store in Wallaceburg.

Aman is the wonderful young lady who permitted me to use her brand-new computer to update the blog.

August 5 Day 66 Capac (Emmett KOA) 64 miles 5:40 riding

Overcast all day. Sprinkles in the morning, turning to rain while we lunched in a cafe. Rain pretty much quit by the time we finished.

We saw moorhens along the road. No groceries or anything else available in Capac on Sunday. We cooked some sort of rice product from our emergency supplies.

In answer`s to Roy`s daughter Taylor`s question, the reason that Roy appears to be wearing the same white (turning to spotty beige) t-shirt in all the pictures is that Roy has worn the same t-shirt every day I can remember. Roy insists that he wore a different shirt once or twice in the early days while I wasn`t looking. Once he figured out that he could rinse out the same shirt every day and the restaurants would still let him in, he said `What`s the point of changing`. I`m not in a position to criticize this strategy much because I`ve worn one of two shirts every day for at least 50 days.

Here`s a photo of Roy stylin` with a plastic bag on his head under his helmet for riding in the rain.

Amish country, though we haven`t seen them. On a related note, the Manistique Museum had a note about its building. 110 years ago, a local person formed a socialist utopian society. Everyone would live in equal housing. But the building the museum is now housed in was an existing building. Why tear down a perfectly good building. I`ll just live in this building, said one member. Litigation ensued and the whole community collapsed in the wake.

August 4 Day 65 Caro, Michigan 67 miles 5:37 ridingA Michigan

I was warned to avoid Bay City when planning our route. We wound up there anyway. It`s a charming place.

Nice new library. We took lunch at a cafe.

Great ice cream served in generous portions at Fairgrove. The Fairgrove Bean Festival is coming up. We are out of the trees, back in cornfields. Also soybeans. You can buy stoves that burn corn kernals for fuel.

August 3 Day 64 Standish, Michigan 68 miles
Roy had another flat - same wheel. He`ll replace the tire when we get the chance. I need to replace the batteries in my odometer.
I found the library in East Tawas in the hope of updating the blog. Michele and Roy browbeat me into postponing the library visit until Tawas. At Tawas, we discovered that the one and only library is in, tah dah, East Tawas!
Flat road. Some headwind.
If I were a teenager in Standish, I`d run away with the circus. If I were an adult in Standish, I would move somewhere they`ve never heard of Standish.

August 2 Thursday Day 63 Harrisville State Park 80 miles 7:03
A long day. Breakfast at an old-timey cafe. Should I be ashamed for having a vanilla milkshake for breakfast.
We made a detour to enjoy Presque Isle. Unfortunately, the view is the same as elsewhere - scrubby little trees screening the lake.
Dedicated readers may recall that we met Fred Werda riding west just as we crossed the Mississippi (July 18). We stopped at Alpena to deliver greetings to his hometown bike shop. Michele had her handlebars retaped. The owner expressed the opinion that we would have to walk the bikes up the hills leading to Harrisville. I guess he hasn`t seen Montana.
Roy had the fourth flat right after lunch just as we crossed the 45th Parallel going south. He had another on the same wheel some miles later. One is forced to suspect operator error on the repair.
Another difficult night. Teenagers in the next site partied until Michele got up and told them to shut up.

August 1 Day 62 Hoeft State Park 53 miles 3:55 riding
Hot and humid. The road follows the shore of Lake Huron. Views of the lake are rare because there is a thick growth of scrawny trees on either side of the road. We could be anywhere in Wisconsin or Michigan and have much the same view.
Discussion at lunch - how hard should we push to finish the ride sooner? Everyone agrees we want to finish before the end of the month.
Hoeft State Park has a sandy beach. We all went swimming. The rest room has a secure box for needle disposal - is this to accommodate diabetics? Corned beef hash for dinner. One of the other campers, John, is a custodian at a county jail. He says he made the coast-to-coast ride many years ago. He drove us into Rogers City to buy us a round of ice cream. He's an interesting individual. He's an avid reader, eager to check the facts he learns from one source against what others say. At the same time, he's into some sort of unorthodox spirituality and practices "energy healing". He knows his ice cream, though! Raccoons kept us awake much of the night. They got away with Roy's energy bars. Roy insists that the bars were in a zipped pocket and that the raccoons unzipped it.

A dog chased Roy. He turned and snarled at the dog, stopped the dog in its tracks.

July 31 Day 61 Mackinac Island Rest Day
Beautiful ferry ride over to the island. No motorized traffic is permitted on the island - one walks or bicycles or uses horse-drawn transportation. One good part of this is that no one is afraid of cars. One bad part is, no one is afraid of cars. Cars provide discipline for bicyclists and pedestrians. Without cars, pedestrians and bicyclists stop suddenly in the middle of the street or make unexpected u-turns. It's terrifying to bicycle in the chaos! On a hot day, the smell of horse is pretty potent.
Most of the island is a state park. A highway follows the eight-mile perimeter of the island. I wonder if it is the only state highway with no cars. Lovely views across Lake Huron. There's an old fort above the harbor. Costumed re-enactors demonstrate life at the fort. The fort is impressive. Its cannon commands the harbor. Unfortunately, there is a design defect. Another hilltop overlooks the fort. The one time the fort was the scene of a possible battle, during the War of 1812, the British dragged two cannon by night to the top of the overlooking hill. The next morning, the American garrison surrendered the fort without a shot.

July 30 Day 60 St. Ignace, Michigan 38 miles
Michele had our third flat tire just outside St. Ignace. Camp at Mackinac Straits State Campground. Some place names are spelled Mackinac, others Mackinaw. Regardless of spelling, all place names are "Mackinaw". You will be regarded as having fallen off the turnip truck if you say "Mackinack".
Interesting Ojibwa museum. There's a great film on the process of making a birchbark canoe.
The Mackinac Bridge, at one time the longest suspension bridge in the world, celebrated its fiftieth anniversay last week. Our campground had a great view of it.

July 29 Day 59 Little Hog Island Campground 52 miles 3:53 riding

Susan at the UP Sugar Shack sold us a sheet of maple sugar shortbread and a maple sugar cinnamon roll. The cinnamon roll was a killer. Michele begged the recipe.

Camp at Little Hog Island State Campground. We swam in Lake Michigan. Roy met Bill and Kay in a nearby campsite. Bill cycled coast-to-coast in 1999. Now he's driving a cute little camper-van coast-to-coast.

In conversation with Kay, Michele discovered that Kay knows Michele's brother's former girlfriend, Teri!

July 28 Day 58 Manistique, Michigan, 61 miles 5:03 riding
We met Charlie Lundberg at the Manistique Museum. In 1943, his sister was national secretary of the youth hostel association. The sister and a friend were to inspect the youth hostels around Lake Michigan. When the friend backed out, the sister drafted Charlie to accompany her on a bicycle circumambulation of Lake Michigan on a one-speed bike.
We watched part of the salmon derby. The leader at the time we left was a 21-pound salmon.
Camp on the lawn behind a motel under renovation.

July 27 Day 57 Escanaba, Michigan 41 miles 2:54 riding
Cool and flat - one of our fastest days.
I was bitten or stung on the shoulder by something on the way into town. Impressively painful. If you stand on grass here, some sort of bug immediately starts biting your ankles. I've scratched mine bloody in response.
We took a half rest day. Michele did laundry and cleaned the bicycle chains while I updated the blog. I have invited Michele and Roy to put in their own commentary for the blog but they decline.
I'm sorry to have left everyone hanging for news for a while. By the time we get into town and get set up, it's generally too late to get to a library. Lots of towns, if they have a library at all, have reduced the hours to save money. I recall in Hope, Minnesota, the library was open a total of one afternoon per week. My companions are more purposeful than I am. If I suggest stopping at a library midway through a day, they pelt me with Gatorade bottles. Because of the especially shameful way they treated me yesterday, they relented today, thus the opportunity to update the blog.
Pasties are very big in the Upper Peninsula. Pasties ("pahsties") are different from pasties ("paysties"). The former are little meat pies, a cultural remnant of the Welsh and Cornish miners who settled here. The latter, of course, are worn by strippers. We were sent to Grams for the edible pasties. Truly dreadful - there's a place in Alameda that makes much better ones.
I meant to mention that the ice cream store in Mora goes back to the 1920's. There's a picture on one wall of four teenaged waitresses in outfits that mark the date as the 1940's or perhaps the 1950's. I asked the cashier if anybody knows what happened to those girls. The cashier replied, "Well, one of them still works here."