Day 97, friends in Rochester

Today I pedaled hard - 93 miles to be exact.

I messaged a family I met at the Devil's Tower letting them know I'd be in the area. Julia, Sean and their two sons, PJ & Jack, were climbing when I showed up at the tower. I thoroughly enjoyed talking with them and they offered to let me stay with them when I passed through their town.

At the moment, they were touring universities in the area for Jack, but said show up at our house, here is the garage door code, we'll see you around 9pm.

Nearly a century ride later, I found their house, parked my bike and took a shower.

They showed up about an hour after me, and we spent the entire evening chatting in the kitchen.

I asked lots of questions about my route, and due to my current time constraints (catching a flight out of Cleveland for a family event), they suggested taking the ferry.

The Lake Express travels from Milwaukee to Muskegon, and should shave a whole day of riding. When planning my vacation in late May, I timed my flight out of Salt Lake City perfectly. I booked the flight two weeks in advance, found an amazing cyclist to stash my bike with and took off.

This vacation is a bit different - I booked the flight earlier (close to a month in advance), but feel more pressed trying to make it. At the time, I felt like I could make it easily to Cleveland, but now, not so much.

We'll see how it goes.

Regardless, Julia & Sean gave me countless suggestions of routes to ride or places to stay in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. For that, I am extremely grateful.

Julia & Sean, thank you so much for everything - your family is incredible.

Joe