Days 36 & 37 Shawano to Manitowoc to Ludington

Day 36 (8 Sep 09) Shawano to Manitowoc 114 miles

Long day on the bike.

Evening before as we returned from the grocery store in Shawano, the clarion in the cemetery serenaded us with the Beatles “Something in the She Way Moves.” Seemed appropriate.

The ride produced another broken spoke on Jim’s rear wheel - 70 miles out. Didn’t slow us down by more than 5 minutes now that we’re veterans of this problem. Out with the spoke wrench, ¾ turn to loosen the adjacent spokes and ¼ turn to tighten the next two and we’re off with an almost true wheel.

The afternoon produced a lot more wind and a small flock of Sandhill Cranes in a field next to the road - Len’s first sighting in the wild.

Following a quick shower we were off the the Globe Laundromat - another 6 miles round trip to bring us up to 114; hopefully the longest day on the ride. The Globe, reputed to be the “nicer” of the two Laundromats within a few miles of the hotel remineded Len of the bar scene in the first Star Wars movie. I can see that.

At dinner, Jim calls neurosurgeon friend Joe Walker to inquire about some strange symptoms he developed suddenly in his right had a day ago. He has weakness only, mainly involving the small finger, but to a lesser extent more medial fingers. Joe isn’t sure what it’s all about because there are no sensory symptoms - no pain, numbness, tingling, etc. Next morning Jim checks email and Joe has sent an abstract describing a rare syndrome in cyclists that results in exactly the symptoms Jim has. Symptoms are the result of injury to the ulnar nerve in the palm of the hand. Gotta Love Joe. Hopefully, a day off from riding and Advil will be enough to at least partially heal the injury.

Day 37 (9 Sep 09) Manitowoc to Ludington, MI 6 miles riding, 60 miles by ferry

First breakfast, then Lowe’s (Jim’s looking for some sprinkler risers and pipe connectors to build a “Stick,” a device to massage sore muscles) and a replacement for the flashlight left who knows where (maybe Williston, ND), a stop at Starbucks and then the bike shop to catch the 10 AM opening and get the spoke fixed. After fixing the spoke, we have a long conversation with the shop owner who tells us about a group of 4 people who started a ride like ours and showed up at his shop SEPARATELY over several days. Seems they didn’t get along too well.

Len left the shop for a while to check out the Wisconsin Maritime Museum and the submarine parked at the dock. At one time there was a large submarine construction facility in Manitowoc (pronounced by the locals Mani-two-wok with emphasis on the last syllable). The subs got to the ocean via the Mississippi River through the Chicago ship canal - no guns, no fuel, no torpedos, etc. so draft was only 18 feet! He also encounters a retired fellow who used to work on the SS Badger (boiler cleaner), upon which we now travel. He learns that the Badger is the last steam ship operating on Lake Michigan.

We’re celebrities in downtown Manitowoc. Len walks out the door of the bike shop and a guy stops him to talk about our trip. We get directions to the nearest coffee shop and the young guy at the shop wants to know all about our trip and then tells everyone who walks in about it. Len goes next door looking for a Manitowoc souvenir and the store owner wants to know all about what we’re up to. At any moment we’re expecting a visit from a reporter for the Manitowoc Herald!

At Starbucks we saw an article in the Herald about a windmill tower that was being transported from Manitowoc. When we arrive at the Badger, they are being loaded on the ferry! There are four tower segments, up to 91feet in length and 15 feet in diameter. Two are already on the Badger and one is loaded as we lash down our bicycles. We capture the 4^th on film as it is being loaded. The trucks carrying each segment are impressive.

We arrive in Ludington and head directly to a nearby hotel. Short day on the bike.