Day 40. Otter Lake, MI to Sombra, Ont. Canada

Breaking camp in overcast skies that would be with me all day, my destination is Canada, which is Southeast of my starting point.  Seems odd but true.  

I made my peace with the wind last night.  Our deal is that I will stop publicly complaining about it, and she will calm down a bit.  After all, the wind is only doing its job, and it has been mostly helpful to me these past weeks.  As a matter of fact, I love the wind.  (Was that rushed?  The last part seemed rushed).  

I am certainly wind-aided for the first 30 miles and the crosswinds that I  encounter are less than 10mph, more than manageable.  

The early part of the ride is right back out into the fields, farmlands and homesteads of the country.  The crops increase their variety with tomatoes, cucumbers, various greens, beans and of course corn.  The fauna is bountiful and has been for much of the past few days with deer and turkey being prevalent in the early mornings.  The turkey have been present each day since Midland.  Often they have been gathered at the sides of the country roads within a several feet of my passing bike.  They are alert to my approach, but only shoo away when I come to a stop, in an effort to photograph. When I elect to simply pedal by, they just remain alert until I pass.  So I did not get any good pictures.  At some point I figured why bother them, just enjoy and pedal on.  

Within the first 15 miles I happen upon North Branch, a proper Midwest small farm village, complete with feed store, farm equipment shop, garden center, bakery, cafe, barber shop and park.  All aligned down main street with Lutheran Church at its center.  Originally established in 1854, many of the surrounding houses were built turn of century and this town in particular seemed to have taken great pride in their preservation and restoration. I have seen many similar houses such as these along the way, but this particular village stands out among them. 

My younger brother went to Yale.  I now can say I went there was well.  The township of Yale, MI was on the route today. It goes without saying, but their Mascot for the local school is the Bulldogs.  It is a nice place to stop, and has great history as well, including the Yale Hotel.  Unlike North Branch, however, this town more dollar stores competing for space and attention than mom and pop stores.  There is a small bakery in town where I take a break.  With the cooler winds and overcast, I am looking to get warm for a minute.  The bakery has a tempting looking apple fritter of odd design the beckons to be tried.  As I want to help the local shop (my pure motivation) I decide to try the fritter with a cup of coffee.  There is no seating inside so I find a place out of the winds on the sidewalk to test.  Outside of the apples, perhaps, there's nothing good for you in this fritter -- and it taste like it.  It was scrumptious.  I only eat half, enjoying sips of my coffee.  Then I eat the other half along with the remainder of my coffee and head down the road.  

St Claire and Marine city are the towns the route takes me on before I cross to Canada.  St Claire has beautiful old estate homes on small rise overlooking the river of the same name.  Some of the newest homes may even reach mansion status and are built right on the banks.  Impressive, but ostentatious at some point.  Marine City feels like an older fishing village that is still active, but with a tourist destination flair of BnBs and restaurants.  

I cross the river at Marine City on a small car ferry that cost 2 bucks for my bike.  My journey officially covers two countries as I clear customs in Sombra, Ontario, Canada, short one small pepper spray bottle.  

On my way to the campsite for the night, a policeman pulls up alongside.  Many thoughts go through my mind, including wondering if they take US dollars for bail money.  As it turned out, he just asked me about the trip, with what eventually seemed like genuine interest as he was a weekend cyclist.  

Moose Search: 0

Song in my head: Stompin' Tom Connors; The Hockey Song,   Rush; Tom Sawyer.