Days 16 & 17 (The Finish)

Day 16: We see the finish in sight. Only 110 miles to go but be will take it in two days as we are going through Amish country and it was one day I got to pass something...buggies and wagons. This country side was probably the prettiest of the trip as we wove our way among the Amish community. We did some shopping and sightseeing as the Amish are the premier wood craftsmen here. All the building that they build are fit together, tongue and groove and all joints are kegged together...no bolts, screws or nails. The roads are great for bikes here as the buggies need a shoulder and a large amount of the area has a six foot, paved shoulder. We had to press on and leave Indiana and into Michigan's Amish communities and our eighth state. Once as we were checking our maps an Amish buggy came up the road and before we could get our camera it was out of range...a buggy with two men with a boat and trailer hooked to the buggy, with an outboard motor too. Too many memories of this idyllic life style to tell. We did encounter our fifth day of wind out of the East. Our day ended at a campground on a lake at Colon, MI...The Magic Capitol of the World. We tried to find Henry Blackstone's grave stone for a picture but couldn't find it. There were many headstones of famous magicians with funny last words engraved on them. Colon, MI apparently supplies the magic supplies to most of the U.S. magicians and of the world. We met up with my brother Rick and wife Donna in town, for lunch. We ended this wonderful day at Clancy's for diner.

Day 17: The final assault of the trip.
We can't believe it but NO WIND today. The last 55 miles was too easy and went by so fast. We took all back roads and rarely saw a car let alone a truck averaging 20 mph. We had to stop and waste some time as we approached too soon as a small group of family, friends came to cheer me over the finish line, a piece of toilet paper streched across the road, in Concord, MI. They had flags, signs...but no Cowbells and we need more Cowbell! We all had lunch at the local restaurant, The Silver Spoon, compliments of my son Joby and Karin who drove over to see our arrival/finish. I was presented with a shirt that said on the front "BIKER BOB" and on the back was "I BIKED 1400 MILES IN 17 DAYS - MORRISON, CO TO CONCORD, MI"

I had a safe, blessed trip, with no cramps, falls, close calls and only one person cussed at me and he was going the other direction. My Giant Bike performed flawlessly and never skipped a beat and I only had one flat tire from a stone. I found a few new muscles that developed over the 17 days but my weight stayed the same 173# start to finish. Sherrie deserves the most credit for constant support as well as many friends and family and wellwishers via this blog. I was quite supprised that I didn't get any cramping, swelling of knee or ankle joints except for a sore neck occassionally.

Thanks again for your Habitat donations and to the Canyon Courier Newspaper for the terrific article that was writtten perfectly. A Special thank you to my daughter, Nicki who blogged many of the days and supplied all the know how for this Blog Site, Habitat entries, maps and city and local info along the way. What a memory. Bob Clark and Sherrie