Day 1

I began today, June 1st 2011 at 7:15 am Eastern time.  My best friend matt, his mom, my mom, and my dad were all waiting for me.  Matt had been home on leave from the marines for 13 days so it was a pleasure seeing my childhood friend whom I do not hesitate to call brother.  I headed north in my Dragonmead Jersey and Black Bike shorts.  It took me about 3.5 hours so go from Grosse Pointe Park to Marine City.  Not bad timing considering I am on a touring bike and carrying about 50lbs of gear.  When I hit marine city I asked a woman where I could get a good breakfast.  She recommended me to The Riveriara, right next to the USA/CANADA customs ferry across the river.  I immediately said "yes" partially because I felt as if I was starving and partially because The Riveriara or "The Riv" as it is known, was my girlfriend and my favorite bar in East Lansing, MI where we went to college together. In fact that is where we met.  I'll tell that story another time.  Although it has nothing to do with this trip, it is one for the books.  Anyway I called my girlfriend although I couldn't hear her. Because of the terrible cell service I was able to make out 1 out of 5 words.  Texting became the fallback.

After breakfast (2 scrambled eggs, 2 sausage links, 2 pieces of bacon, American home fries, 2 slices of ham, Pineapple, two pieces wheat toast, and all swished down with a small glass of OJ and water. mmmmmmmm.  It was called "The Skipper".  They had one called "The Captain" but even after 50 some odd miles I didn't think I would have been able to eat that.  I was right, although three men sitting in front of me ordered "The Captain" and guaranteed they weren't biking 100 miles that day.  Hey, America's Fat what can you do.  It's who we are.  But I digress.  I crossed the ferry and was pleasantly surprised to meet a fan of Dragonmead
and his friend "A new MSU father sporting a Michigan state "S" hat.  His daughter is attending this coming august.  The two men, let's say Bill and Ted (no relation to the movie), were crossing into Canada to get their muskie license for the up coming tournament. They both though I was crazy but applauded my goal and were envious.  One other man however standing next to them thought I was crazy and swore I am doing this because I lost a bet.  He then said "And you trained for this....On PURPOSE?"  I pleasantly laughed.  Hey, I mean I have to be a little to moderately crazy.  Don't I?

So, as I got off the boat and uneventfully passed though customs (the guy wasn't phased at all about my journey, but I guess that's his job) I headed through Canada.  Heading east was probably the best thing I could have had that day.  There were 20 knot winds from the west with gusts up to 28knots.  IT WAS HEAVEN!  I've only cycled into the wind or w/o wind at all so it was a true gift.  The small miles I headed south or north I had that same wind causing me to cycle on an angle.  It would have been funny had it not been me pedaling my ass off, although I did have a laugh about how ridiculous it was when I felt as if I was taking a turn on an Olympic downhill going dead strait.

My first stop was in a town called Dresden.  I went to a banks ATM and took out Canadian money.  Yes in Canada if you go to an ATM it spits out Canadian Money.  I had that conversation a week prior with one of my close friends.  Pretty funny, but if you have never done it before it makes you stop and marvel for a minute.  Anyway after I got the cash I went to a convienence store to get some more water, three liters to be precise.  I had already drained two liters in the states, filled up one, but drank it fast so I only had one more.

Walking out of the store a woman that was walking in and out and looking at the shelves looked at my hand, which was equiped with a power bar.  11 grams of protein.. bla bla bla it doesn't mater.  She then looks at me and says "I'm power bar".  Of course, like any sane person I thought I must have heard her wrong,
so I didn't think anything of it and I said "Excuse me?"  Her reply was "I'm power bar"  SHE SAID IT AGAIN!  As I was about to walk away in utter confusion she follows up with "I work for Power Bar"  "Okay", I thought.  Thank makes sense although it is a weird way of stating that you work somewhere.  What if I was at Dragonmead Microbrewery and walked up to a total stranger carrying a 4 pack of Final Absolution and said "I AM DRAGONMEAD!"  In a zeus esq voice.  Yeah.  That person would have dropped the 4 pack and ran away. We then began talking about the new products and what not and we went on our seperate paths.  But Evan, You are a marketing major. You are cycling around the United States and parts of Canada Go talk to her.  She's a rep.  Who knows where you will be in a year from now, you could have made a made a contact.  I know I know just wait!  As I was riding away I thought of that and turned around.  I walked up to her, told her my story, gave her my name, my blog, and she gave me a few free bags of the new power energy bites!  She was very enthusiastic about my trip and was blown away by it.  It felt so good I needed to tell someone, but again No Service!  So I told myself and a few farm animals as I passed.  They looked at me with a blank stare while following the 20 bites-of-their-grass-before-swallowing-rule, but I know they were excited for me. I only wish I had gotten her name.  That was dumb.

Continuing on I made a correct turn which I though was wrong, stopped, backtracked, turned back on my original route and realized that the road changed into another road, then continued 5 miles down that road. Get it? Me neither. Thanks Canada!  Anyway I continued on and made it to my first weird encounter of the trip.  My goal was to camp in Clearvill, at least that was until I did another dumb name mistake.  As I was
resting in Morpeth. I was greeted by four people. Three of which were a mom and her two kids.  The Boy kept saying how much he liked my handle bars.  That was nice.  I like them too.  The mom laughed and the little girl was interested in how much water I was carrying.  We exchanged our goodbyes and good lucks and off they went.  This is where I met the fourth person and the reason why I didn't stay in clearvill.  After the family left I looked to my right to see a man driving up in a golf cart.  Now I didn't find anything weird about this.  My family has been going down to Boca Grande, Florida my entire life and the most popular mode of transportation on Boca is by Golf Cart.  The weird thing about this golf cart was that it was supposed to be on a golf course.  The divot repair sand was still on the side, and there were straps on the back meant to carry golf clubs.  I'm pretty sure he stole it.  As he approached closer to me I tried to look away, but my lazy attempts to avoid him did not work what-so-ever.  When he was about 10 feet from me, he parked his stolen cart at the abandoned gas station to my right.  His hair looked as if he had just woke up (5:30pm) and he was wearing an xl short sleeve, gray shirt when he could have fit into a medium just fine.  He was also wearing ratty cargo shorts.  Big surprise.  When he opened his mouth to talk I noticed he only had about 7 teeth.  Most of which were molars.  He began talking to me about how he is used to seeing cyclists and asked where I came from.  I said I was from Detroit, MI (bad idea) and where I was headed. Niagara Falls (even worse Idea).  He then asked me if I was camping along the way.  This is where my brain failed at all defense measures.  I told him I was planning on staying in Clearvill at the camp ground.  WHY ON EARTH  I told this strange, decrepit, borderline homeless looking man where I was staying...ALONE I have
not the slightest idea.  He said he has never heard of one there and that I should stay at the rv park in Morpeth.  Something had  told me that is where he lives.  It could have been the fact that he told me "I have tried them all" confirmed that feeling.  He then said something I really didn't expect.  He said, "Hey, why not come back with me? We can bunk together!".  That's when I got the fuck out of there.  He told me he would come with me, but my bike was probably faster.  Jesus Christ!  And here's where my brain failed me once more.  To make it not seem so obvious that I thought he was a deranged x-con who probably been to the county pub then to the jail and back, I politely said "I have to get going, what was your name again?" (Idiot)
He told me his name and asked for mine.  "Evan" I responded.  Dumb.  "What's your last name" he continued.  Feringa.  WHY WHY WHY WHY? I knew it was a bad move but I couldn't stop myself.  Thankfully he said Meringa?  And I said "Yes, Meringa. Thats it"  Then I left with him telling me he is going to
tell his friends about me.  Christ.

On the road again and scared he was going to get a truck from one of his homeless murderer friends I booked it.  Wind at my back I kept on going and blew past Clearvill, past Another 2 camp grounds, past another city and ended up in New Glaslow and down to Port Glasgow where I made camp.  I figured the golf cart wouldn't have been able to make it 20+ miles.  Knowing I had pasta I stopped at this fresh food stand and got some of the best nectarines and tomatoes I have ever had. Along with white onion, green onion, and baby carrots.  Yes, I still eat better than most people even when I am camping.  My mother made sure of that.  I made a stew with those ingrediants, using my camping knife to chop every thing in my hands and then cooked the pasta in it.  So good, I just needed salt.

My first day I met such nice people.  Being from a city I never thought I would have been treated so kindly by complete strangers.  It was really amazing and I can't wait for tomorrow.

Oh yeah, I was the first cyclist of the season.  Boo Ya!

Good Night.