Day 5 was literally a turning point; I was at the top of the "Arch" and soon I'd be headed south and back toward home. I was up at dawn and lumbered around rounding up my gear, the cows were still mooing in the distance. I was definitely feeling it but I was ready for more.
I ate the last protein bar, drank some flavored caffeinated water and charged my phone while packing up the KLX. I love that bike. Onaway was less than 20 miles away so I'd be eating 'good' soon enough.
I started a small fire to warm up and dry my socks.
I quickly realized that the socks were a lost cause.
I'm lucky that I stopped for the night when I did. If I had pressed on to Onaway this is what I would have been riding through while super tired and in the dark.
Of course, just as I finally start posting the next chapter two months later we get a power surge here at work and it takes down the server. Stupid work.
ETA: I was having PTSD and flashbacks to the previous server failure. It turns out that the CMOS battery is dead and the boot sequence reverted back to default so it couldn't find the boot disk. Once I got that solved I then I plugged the Ethernet cable into the wrong port so the server and it was using the default network settings so nobody could connect to the server. I got that solved and catastrophe has been averted. Anyhow back to this...
12:48PM, 75°; It was warming up and the trail was very demanding in this area. There was deep sand two track with banked turns. Going slow on sand is a lot of work because the tires plow through it instead of riding over it. Going fast is a lot of work and riskier. I was getting really hot and finally decided to trade the protection of my jacket for staying cooler.
1:41PM, 76°: I was still overheating. I stopped to hydrate and decided to trim the tops of my socks off. That 2" strip of my leg was much cooler now!
The leaves where really falling which made it hard to see "trail trash" that could cause problems. It sure made it beautiful though.
2:40PM: I was moving along pretty well and came to a trail crossing. I glanced down and noticed a Red light on my cluster; I've never seen that before! It was the "Temperature" warning so I killed the engine immediately and coasted to a stop. It didn't take long to find the problem:
My tool kit was packed deep in my saddle bag so I had to unpack a bunch of stuff to get to it:
I have no idea how that popped off. I was hoping it wasn't a leaking head gasket pressurizing the cooling system or a sign of something worse that could end my ride. It took me about 45 minutes to get moving again but I needed more water. I filled it most of the way out of my hydration pack but didn't want to leave myself with no water. I headed to the nearest road and down to Atlanta. By the time I got back to the trail I'd spent about 1 hour and 42 minutes. Not too bad but I was still worried that the bike had a bigger problem.
4:58PM: I finished Sector 11 & started 12. I took a break for a few minutes to nav and drink. A couple came along on a side-by-side and stopped to warn me that they had seen bears in the area. They were out trying to spot Elk that are in the area. I never saw any bears or Elk.
5:38PM: Michigan is generally pretty flat so it was neat to be able to see where I was headed way off into the distance. This is a good example of the variety of terrain that the MCCCT offers.
6:39PM: The trail crossed County Road 612 and Lewiston is only a few miles to the west. There's a couple of motels and restaurants so that's where I was headed for the night. I saw that I missed a call from my dad. He never calls me for no reason so I called him right back. It was weird at first because he didn't have a lot to say. I asked him if Mom put him up to calling to check up on me which she did. We talked for a little bit and I told him about the ride and how much fun it was. I told him to tell Mom not to worry; that I was staying away from the Elk herds that run rampant in the area, that I was warned and aware of the bear danger and that I'd only crashed 5 or 6 times but I didn't get too hurt yet. Okay I didn't really tell him that; I told him to tell Mom that I was on a fun "Autumn Color Tour".
Lewiston is a great little town. I stopped at the first motel but I didn't like that I couldn't leave my bike directly outside of my room so I continued on and I knew that the Sheridan Valley Motel was the place for me.
They still had their Covid virus decorations up!
The woman who owns it is very nice. She asked me where I was riding to and I explained a little bit. It turns out that we grew up in the same town and she went to the our rival high school. Small world. I didn't ask but I got the feeling that Jim is out of the picture.
I unloaded my bike and then took the side cover off and topped off the radiators.
I was starving and ready for a hot meal so I headed back east to the Lewiston Motel Bar & Grill for dinner.
I'm going to recycle my fictionalized and embellished dinner story I wrote for a different thread.
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Lewiston Hotel Bar & Grill.
This was 5 days and 562 miles into the most grueling ride I've ever done. I was filthy, hungry and exhausted but mostly hungry. Despite having somewhat of a biker bar look and feel to it, I was definitely out of place here. Generally I like to be the 'grey man', blending in and being low key, but I've gotta admit I kind of enjoyed that feeling of being out of place; it reminded me of an old western story.
It felt like all eyes were on me as I waited for my grub, but it was probably 'cause my table was almost directly under the TV and the big game was on. I put my nose to the bag with only my fingers, no wastin' time with them fancy eatin' irons. I chugged down plenty of Adam's Ale, keepin' mind to steer clear of the prairie dew. I had to stay sharp lookin' for anyone looking to kick up a row and, besides, with a long ride still ahead of me I had no time for the barrel fever. Apparently I looked rugged enough because no one challenged me to a duel, no lead was slung and my talkin' iron never got unshucked. I did get a big (mostly) toothy smile from a jingled looking biker chick near the door as I was leaving. I gave her a small smile and nod but kept movin'. I ain't lookin' for no left handed wife and I definitely ain't looking for no trouble... just a hot plate and somewhere to rest my head for the night before hittin' the dusty trail in the mornin'.
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I got back to the motel at about 9PM. I spent some time reviewing my maps, organizing my gear and was sound asleep in no time.
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