Day #27: Draft Day & Frog Feet

Today's Route: Escanaba, MI to Blaney Park, MI (86 miles)
Total Trip Miles: 1238

Today we decided to stick together as we rode. We knew we had a lot of miles ahead of us, and so we figured it would be most efficient if we were to take turns leading and drafting off of one another.

An awesome sculpture, just outside of Escanaba.

The most popular road kill for today was the porcupine. We saw four of them. I've never seen a live porcupine in the wild. I figured they'd be a wee bit bigger than a hedgehog. But holy smokers, these porks were humongous!

Remember the streets names with fractions from Wisconsin? Well, it turns out that Michigan has some interesting street names as well.

At they corner of 1.75 and 13.75.

Seems like this should be a bible verse.

As the boys enjoyed apple pie in Rapid River (no siree, no pie for me at 9am), I ran across the street and photographed the below. I wonder how business is doing!

Well, this apparently is a good year for skeeters.

Since our rain storm from two nights ago, the boys have taken to checking their brainy phones a few times a day to compare notes of radars and forecasts, trying best to plan for impending doom.

Me? I prefer to just take it as it comes. I've heard the below quote time and time again, but I thought it a timely reminder when I saw it hanging on a restroom wall this morning.

It's the truth!

Since we're on the subject of dancing, now is probably a good time to discuss bicycle touring footwear. Cuz, that footwear would also be used for dancin'. Um. Yeah.

My bike touring shoe of preference is the Teva sandal. Although I've used special biking shoes with pedal clips in the past, I find Tevas to be most versatile. They are über comfortable. They are quick-to-dry after riding in the rain. They can be worn in yucky public showers. They can be worn into rivers and lakes. And they make for comfortable camp shoes.

Now that we've talked about Tevas, let's discuss accessorizing with colorful socks.

My main reason for wearing socks is for sun protection purposes. I wear only wool socks, because they are cool enough to wear in the heat, warm enough to wear in the cold, and they dry quickly should they become wet.

Up until two days ago, I wore only the blue striped socks. I washed them every few days. It's amazing how dirty they got with road grime, and it's even more amazing how clean they became with a decent washing in the sink.

Blue stripes and frog socks.

Let me tell you about the the green pair. The "frog feet." So...

Back in March, Jake and I went to see "The Doubleclicks," a talented sister duo from Portland that sings adorable geeky songs.

Here's one of my favorite songs of theirs. It's called "This Fantasy World," and it's based on the super dorky video game of the same name.

Anyway, The Doubleclicks were just one band playing that evening. There was also another band that played, as well as some comedians that performed their skits. The whole evening was entitled, "Nerd Night Out."

At this Nerd Night Out, they were holding a haiku contest. Winners of the haiku contest would win a gift certificate to Sock Dreams, a socks-only store in Portland. Given that I am a sock fanatic, and particularly a fanatic of wool striped socks, I was motivated to win this dang contest.

The haikus had to be written about one of three subjects: middle earth, [a second nerdy thing - I can't remember], or [a third nerdy thing - I can't remember].

Jake turns to me and says, "Do you even know what the middle earth is?" Uh, no. But thanks for the inspiration!

Here is the haiku that I wrote:

Middle, middle Earth.
I do not know what you are.
I am not a nerd.

And that friggin' awesome haiku won me the "This Person Doesn't Belong Here" award. And into my hands was delivered a Sock Dreams gift certificate! Woohoo! Holy Moses! I am a poet. And I didn't even know it!

I went to the Sock Dreams website in search of some Teva-friendly wool (preferably striped) socks for my bicycling adventure. Alas, I didn't find any. But, I did find the fancy wool frog socks.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the story behind the frog socks.

After a long day on the bikes, we hung out on the dock of Lake Milakokia.

The frog feet get a foot rub.

It's windy on Milakokia Lake.

Me and Andy, catching up on our journaling.