This morning there were some pretty views of the lake (and no fog to obscure it today), but my much else. When I reached Cedar River, the only spot to get food or use the restroom after a 30 mile stretch of mostly nothing, I came on three other bike tourists stopped outside gas station there. I of course went up to them and asked the usual questions, where you from, where you going. Two (a couple riding a tandem) were from Europe, the other from California. They'd met touring years ago. They were now touring around Lake Michigan together, starting in Chicago. The crazy thing was that suddenly in the course of talking to me they asked..."Are you Eli?" It turns out they met Scott, my host for tonight outside his school, and having had them talk to his students about touring, he had told them about hosting me tonight. He's asked them to say hi if they ran into me. Funny how folks always seem to run into each other on tour.
Things got rougher on all fronts toward the end of the day. The south headwind picked up something fierce, the relative security of highway 35 turning into the city traffic and busy madness of 41, the threat of a storm looming in the dark clouds overhead. I managed to negotiate Menominee and then Marinette right across the river from it (there crossing the border to Wisconsin). I messed up and missed my turn to get off 41 (as I really didn't want to be on it for the stretch to Peshtigo) and had to turn around. It gave me a lovely chance to have the wind with me for just a moment and see how fast I could be going if only it were from the other way, zipping along at 20mph effortlessly. ...Then it was right back to slugging at 11. I followed the Old Peshtigo Road and it kept me away from most traffic on my way into town.
Nearly there at last, I couldn't help stopping in at the Peshtigo museum (mostly going over the town's famed fire that burned it all to the ground). I figured I had only half a mile to go if the storm hit. It wasn't anything spectacular, but well worth the short stop.
Then I was here, greeted by Scott, his wife, and his dog. They're great people, lots of fun. We snuck quietly in to my room for my night to drop off my stuff, so as not to wake their 22 month son. Scott has done Peace corps and has been accommodated by other families through that work, but this is his first time hosting through Warmshowers, and he was full of excitement and questions. I haven't been the first guest for very many people (three others I can think of?) so that's always a fun change in pace. It makes me being there an adventure rather than just routine. When their son did wake up he took my presence almost perfectly in stride, not afraid or upset at all. Seeing him made me miss my nieces. He's just barely older than Clarity...which it took me a moment to realize she had gotten that old. Time flies by. And just like Clarity, he loves to help. He helped make the pizza for dinner, up on his stool, spreading ingredients about. It ended up really good pizza, and the beer Scott brews himself went perfectly with it.
Of course, after all that concern about the coming storm, it simply didn't come, the evening as beautiful as could be. I feel a little bad, because while I know Scott would have liked to visit more, after not sleeping the best last night, I crashed out around 9:30. Which in my defense, I realize would have been 10:30 for me up until crossing back into Central just today. Now I'm briefly awake in the night as I usually am, finishing this entry. I feel sleep coming on again. Which is good. Tomorrow (today?) will be long and (supposedly) stormy and windy.
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