On a Scale from One to Leper Colony...

Fueled by peanut butter and jelly and ibuprofen, we left early for Alpena this morning, and we made it there in record time with no flat tires. We arrived at the bicycle shop in plenty of time, got a puncture resistant tire and a heavy duty inner tube for my bike along with some more spare inner tubes. The owner of the shop also worked on my bike's alignment, so now it doesn't get all squirrelly on me at higher speeds. The moral of the story? Take your bikes in to the mechanic for a checkup before you go for a big ride.

It was a perfect  ride between Harrisville and Alpena. There were some huge hills in the first 16 miles out of Harrisville, just in case you're interested in riding this route, but we survived these without having to stop and push the bikes up, and the rest of the ride was pretty flat. As excited as we were about our pace, in the distance I noticed the skies darkening. Since I've started writing this, they've opened up, and we've huddled into the tents. It'll be a rainy night, but at least it isn't cold.

On a scale from one to leper colony, I'd score this campground a solid "People of Walmart." Everyone needs a vacation, I suppose. The campground is populated with strange, irritable children with fallen faux hawks and some long-bearded guys in overalls I think I recognize from Bugs Bunny. Even some of the dogs are a little off.

I overheard some people solving a math problem that seemed appropriate for the venue. "There's only two beers in here." "Well that means twenty-two  of 'em's gone."

The neighboring camper came over to talk about biking while we set up camp. He's here with a big church group this weekend and invited us to join them later for some singing. Alex wanted to respond with, "You'll definitely hear my voice stand out. I like to think of myself as a modern day Frankie Valli." I'm mostly glad he didn't say this to a stranger.

Tomorrow we set out, hopefully not in the rain, to a new destination. I'm feeling confident in my improved ride. By the way, for my visual friends, I am unable to upload my pictures to blogger from my iPhone (I thought I had this worked out), so I'll be adding pictures when we get home. Meanwhile, I'll continue sharing pictures on FB.