86: a powerpoint should suffice, old bag of nails, grindhrs, murals, pigs fly, dickens' new line of work, state #11, pneumatic post, michigan highway, field of bliss, drag and drive, sprinkling, green light house, home cooked gizzards, do not cross - My Midlife Crisis - CycleBlaze

July 22, 2025

86: a powerpoint should suffice, old bag of nails, grindhrs, murals, pigs fly, dickens' new line of work, state #11, pneumatic post, michigan highway, field of bliss, drag and drive, sprinkling, green light house, home cooked gizzards, do not cross

Oregon to Adrian

While eating breakfast, Bryan came over and asked where I'm heading. Because my bike was loaded and sitting in the lobby, and I was wearing biking shorts and a jersey, it wasn't too hard to determine whose it was.

As are a few people I've met, he's riding for a cause. He's a civilian now, but was in the army, and told me how there wasn't any buffer between the time they're in combat and the time they're  back in the U.S. One minute people are shooting at him, and the next minute he's in a grocery store deciding which cereal to buy. Well, I say "no buffer," but that 20-minute PowerPoint should suffice.

That's the reason he's riding to raise awareness about veteran suicide. Having worked with veterans, we both understood the depth of the issue: Seventeen to twenty veterans commit suicide every day.

The timing of meeting him was fortuitous. Because he's planning on riding the North Coast Inland Trail, I was able to let him know about the part that's nonexistent. Also, although he told me he rides 50-70 miles a day, I think he was just being nice because I had just told him about my mileage. He had a 150-mile day.
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MMMMmmmmm.... sounds tasty.
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Karen PoretIf you happen to “end” up at this “point”, you may need the building to the upper left.
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5 months ago
At first, I thought this coffee shop had no idea about Grindr, but when I looked it up I realized it was intentional.
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Toledo has a lot of murals.
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Karen PoretNow that’s a true “face lift”…
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5 months ago
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The murals, in a lot of instances, are an attempt to beautify certain areas.
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Karen PoretWow! Pigs really DO fly! 😀
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5 months ago
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Wanda JenningsReminds me of Des Moines!
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1 week ago
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There were a lot of signs like this, as well as ones for personal injury lawyers and who to call for getting a bail bond.
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Once out of downtown Toledo, I rode on the University Parks Trail for a while.
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I hope I like Michigan, because I'm going to be in it for about the next 1,200 miles. There was no border sign for Ohio, either when I entered or here, so Nohio.
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Carl B.As a born-and-raised Michigander, I'll have plenty of thoughts. I hope Michigan is good to you!
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5 months ago
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another detour from RideWithGPS, but brief
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This grain elevator is massive, the largest in Michigan and almost twice as large as the 2nd-biggest.
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This most likely has a pneumatic post which goes up when the mail carrier approaches.
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This is what a "highway" looks like in Michigan....
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Berkey Highway
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A town championing education over sports??? Sounds blissful.
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...and it just gets better.
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No Gun Club? Motorcycle Sales? What kind of place is this?!?!?
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I stopped at the Subway for lunch and chatted with Adam for a few minutes. His hobby is “Drag and Drive,” something I’d never heard of before. Apparently, it’s 5 races in 5 days, and you drive from race to race (you don't race to get to the races, it's just a lot of driving). He just completed 1400 miles in order to be the “copilot” in a car that goes 165 mph. His real love, though, is snowmobiling, and typically flies across the lake at speeds of 80-90 mph. I believe it. I drove a snowmobile once, in Minnesota, and after skimming across the frozen ice for about 30 seconds I looked down to find I was traveling 90 mph. It was so smooth, and because I was out in the open, not passing anything, I had absolutely no idea of my speed. I throttled back and kept it at a safer speed after that.
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Karen PoretSo, is the green light on, along with a (?) sensor light near the front door..What about the garage? And, how did they get these in the first place? Work for county or city? Yard sale? That is just puzzling…and, the chickens( roosters) atop the stoop-are they the sentry?
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5 months ago
"Gizzards" and "Home Style Cooking" Whose home?
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There's actual "Do Not Cross" tape on this, although it's a "Fire Line," which I've never heard of, instead of a "Police Line."
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Karen PoretIt needs “do not cross” in this condition, because the pole was already the first thing hit.
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5 months ago

The temperature is holding:  it was 60F/15.5C when I left, and 72F/22.2C when I stopped riding.

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Today's ride: 44 miles (71 km)
Total: 2,233 miles (3,594 km)

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