Day 46 Chesterton to South Haven

Today was a continuation of sweep duties. I did manage to get in a walk over the dunes to a viewing point to see Lake Michigan (pic). The day started out cloudy but fairly warm but got sunny by 10.

After clean up and loading the gear truck, I left as part of the final sweep team at 8:45. With me were Gerry K (WA), Kees V (MI) and Russ J (MI) (pic). This is our last sweep ride as our next sweep duties fall on a Sat night/Sunday.

Our ride took us along Lake Michigan. I had no idea it had such a nice sandy beach. (pic). It's like White Rock, Lindell Beach, OK Falls, Deception Pass etc. Lots of nice "shacks" along the way to look at too.

We caught up to Bill V (MI) (aka Tricycle Bill) just before New Buffalo (35 k) so we stopped there for lunch at Rosie's Cafe (pic). We caught up to Bill an hour or so later, so we took a break there as he rolled on. We came through another town called St Joseph, but didn't see anyone there and were surprised not to have caught up to Bill yet. After halfways being done, we ran into Gayle H (ON) who was taking a break with her cell phone. Once we got going, we went at a slower pace with Gayle until we got to Walter's SAG with about 40 k (24 mi) to go yet. So back to Bill V, turns out he had pulled into a gas station in St Joseph, but we never so him there. He ended up getting SAGged in from there. Russ J got going with Gayle while Gerry, Kees and myself waited by Walter's for another 1/2 hour or so waiting for some other cyclists to come by (fast ones who had detoured). When they came by we also left and went at a good clip until we caught up to Russ and Gayle just at the beginning of South Haven. We got into camp at Baseline Middle School at 5:00 PM (actually now 6 PM as we have entered into Eastern Time Zone now). This paragraph is a typical day on the road for the final sweepers on their sweep day ride.

So all in all it was another nice day. We passed into Michigan from Indiana in the AM (pic), our 11th state. (The scenery along the lake was great. (pics)

Totals for day: 135 k (80 mi), 5:41 on the saddle, 23.7 kph (14 mph).

PS Happy Birthday Ryan. I hope you have (had) a good day and wish you God's blessings for the year ahead. I look forward to seeing you soon. Love Dad.