Day 39 journal Birch Run, MI to Port Huron, MI

I rode 87. 67 miles today. It was a WONDERFUL day! I just love to be on my bicycle. The roads today were overall much improved over yesterday's. We only had one section of about 3-4 miles of choppy roads. The riders seem to be riding closer to each other now. There aren't the big 'gaps' between the small groups of riders. Everyone is getting so strong we are closing in on each other. Still the "Final Four" are out there coming in last everyday. They have a blast though, stopping lots of times to take pictures, go on little side excursions, talk longer to the 'locals', stop to eat more and chat with each other along the route. Then there is the 'Wolfpack' who think everyday is a time trial! But they have a grand time too. Sometimes they are speeding along so fast that they tend to miss the turns. There wasn't much to look at today, just farmland all along the route. It was great to come into Port Huron and ride along Lake Huron shoreline. There are some mighty fine lakefront properties. Today Chuck and I stuck together and a couple of times we latched onto the wheels of two different groups and got "pulled" for many miles. Once it was Bob and Tom, and another draft was behind Leslie, her brother Gary, and Michael was in the line for a while too. I arrive into the city limits about 12:20 PM. We had another 5 miles to go along the shoreline before reaching the hotel. The traffic in that area was pretty heavy, but we held our line good and the drivers were considerate. If we ride and act like a vehicle (as the law says we must) and make sufficient communication with the drivers it helps a lot. I turn my head back and it notifies the vehicle behind me that I'm aware of them back there and I wave my arms in big circles when I see a car pulling up to a stop sign on my right. They sometimes only look one way and start to pull out -- and by waving and pointing my hand/finger straight ahead it lets them know our direction. We stopped at Tim Horton's cafe across from the hotel for some lunch and finished our route and into the hotel by 1:00 PM.
Tomorrow morning we will wear our America By Bicycle official jersey and cross over the big bridge into Canada all as a group. We have to leave very early so that the morning traffic going over the bridge won't be held up too much.
It is the Country Buffet for dinner tonight. I'm going to have a rude awakening when I get home -- this buffet grazing will have to come to an abrupt end!!! Right now we are burning those big meals off everyday. Quite a few people are reporting they have have lost weight. I haven't found a scale to step on. Guess the exercise rooms of some of the hotels have had scales. I'll wait until I get home to find out the plus or minus of this trip!
God is great and has blessed us all.