Day 2--Allegan, MI, at Suz's Son's in-Laws

Day 2, Tuesday,  June 15
St Charles MO to Allegan, MI
433 miles

It was raining when we awoke, so we pulled the car under the hotel portico to load the bikes. The bike rack straps are rubbing on each other, causing them to fray. With so much rain, we protect our underseat bags and bike saddles with plastic bags. No matter how many rubberbands we use to hold them down, the bags are usually shredded by the time we reach our destination.

Breakfast at the motel was meager to say the least. To say the most, the biscuits were hard as rocks, they had little selection, and though we filled our thermoses with coffee, it was undrinkable. We threw it out later.

We got off at 8:30 am. I drove all day—mostly metro driving north through Bloomington and around Chicago, etc. It rained most of the route, and then we had lowering storm clouds and were in and out of rain splatters the rest of the day.

Though we stopped and ate lunch of cheese and crackers and got out of the car a bit, I was very tired at the end of the day. I am standing and walking with much pain and look like a ninety year old getting into and out of the car or a chair.

We arrived in Allegan about 6:30 pm. Our hosts Paula and Ryan Mintek, Suz’s son Austin’s in-laws—were not due home until 1:30 am, thus we unloaded our stuff and then drove into town to find some supper. I was too sore and we were both too tired to ride our bikes.

Paula Mintek and Suz  before the Mintek's large home

Everything was closed. We ended up having blah spaghetti at a Pizza Hut—the only place open in the little Kalamazoo River town—and then going to bed as soon as we got back.