Day 40 Midland to Caro

Day 40 (12 Sep 09) Midland to Caro 67 miles

Toby joined for his first day of riding, a mostly flat ride with variable headwinds and a few miles of early morning ground fog. The route directions and map are nearly useless for getting us through Bay City and even though Jim spent a lot of time with the mapping program on the computer the night before, we still managed to get lost. The first person we encountered on the serendipitously discovered bike trail gave us incorrect information. After following his directions for awhile it was obvious we weren’t going to get to where we wanted to be so after inquiring of a more knowledgeable person we crossed the Saginaw River, only to become lost again. This time as we were reviewing the map, a very nice 77 year old Hispanic man came out of his house and told us to go to the 7-11 up the street where we were sure to get good instructions. He was right.

Even though he could not tell us the directions he had time to tell us about his 20 brothers and sisters. Leonard asked him if he was a local and he thought Leonard was saying “loco.”

Even better, we encountered Truman Johnson, a 61 year old retired auto worker whose sister “Neophus” wrote two of Little Richard’s most famous songs, “Long Tall Sally” and “Good Golly Miss Molly.” Truman had on 2 tone shoes, tan pants, gold teeth, gray beard. His belt was on the tightest notch, but it still hung down 3 inches. He told us he worked out and liked to swim.

Truman was a no nonsense kind of guy, just like the president for whom he was named, so his story was entirely believable. During the course of our conversation with him he mentioned how the UAW had messed up a really good thing by making it too easy for auto workers to get paid a lot of money for doing very little. He also made a joke about throwing an occasional new carburetor over the fence for a friend.

Truman put on his baritone voice and started to sing. “I am going up yonder.” We asked whether he was going to heaven. He said yes and showed us his cross. His father was a preacher, healer and prophet and Truman said he had some of the preaching DNA. He met Little Richard who gave him some pomade to process his hair just like Little Richard. Truman’s father was not pleased about his son and processed hair. He told us Little Richard’s name is Pitman and that he was just crazy as can be. All this happened in Louisiana. Truman warned us it is the end times. We asked him to sing, “Long Tall Sally” as we rode away. He did. If he had a bike we think that he would have come with us. He just did not want to let us go. He did have an appointment to get a shave to clean up his Van Dyke.

My only regret is that we left before Toby could get his camera out of his bag to take a picture of Truman with me (Jim) and Len. Truman ranks right up there with Dan the Clam Lake ATV man as a unique and unforgettable character.

The remainder of the ride produced more corn fields and the discovery of yet another broken spoke on the drive side of Jim’s rear wheel. Burnett’s Bicycle and Mower in Wallaceburg Ontario (the closest bike shop) does not sound like a very promising spot for getting the wheel fixed yet again. It may be the end of next week before we find a place that can fix the wheel. Right now, the wheel is almost true so as long as no more spokes break, everything will be fine.