Bridges & Borders

Before driving into Michigan we spent the night in a very odd border town in Wisconsin. Marinette looked nice on the surface but the downtown area turned out to be empty and boarded-up. We wandered a few back streets but all doors were shut and nothing moved but the blowing leaves, swirling in sudden mini-squalls. Just when we were wondering if we’d entered the Twilight Zone we passed the big picture window of a lively bar and restaurant. Inside it was modern and cosy and full of all the people who’d been missing on our walk so far. It was very odd, completely out-of-place in the town we’d seen so far.

The drive around Lake Michigan was beautiful in the morning sunlight. Little jungles of still green foliage gave way to white sandy beaches and glittering water beyond. Well-kept homes with sweeping lawns showed a very different picture to the news stories on Flint and Detroit. Setting-off again after fueling we looked back to see a grandmother holding her white fluffy dog up to the pick-up window. Its paw was waving good-bye, like the Queen Mother on parade.

We stopped in St. Ignace on the lake for three blissful days. It was the end of the season and we had sunshine, blue water and….empty streets. For once we were glad of the loneliness. There’s nothing like having a picturesque village all to yourself. We took long walks along every edge of the lake, sneaked through private gardens to lonely beaches and enjoyed the same spectacular view of Mackinac Bridge as those in their prime plots in the hillside cemetery. It was the closest thing we got to a vacation on the trip so far. (Retirement can be bloody hard work, who would’ve guessed?)

Leaving was hard but the early morning ride over the Mackinac Bridge was exhilarating. It’s five miles long and even though I wore a helmet I could swear I felt the wind in my hair and I wanted to whoop out loud.The whooping didn’t last long. After one more day along the windswept lake, we drove on to Saginaw in the pouring rain. We didn’t even know how wet we really were until we arrived and started to peel off the layers. My uncle was looking at us like we’d come from another planet. The water had leaked through every seam in our jackets, as well as Fran’s pants and shoes. They were dripping and drying out for days. In spite of the weather we spent a very pleasant week watching the deer wander into the garden and getting to know Michigan thru the eyes of the hospitable locals. And once the sun came out a visit to Frankenmuth brought more pretzel-tastings (those Germans are everywhere).

I managed to bake 6 loaves of bread before saying goodbye to the Wolverine State, then it was Hello Canada. We only spent one night, in London, but the countryside was unmemorable once we’d got over the excitement of crossing an international border. Flat, agricultural roads with no landmarks. We got lost and it cost us an hour but we were in no hurry. The upside was the exchange rate which turned out in our favor.

Crossing into Niagara Falls was the best immigration encounter in all my years coming into the United States. A young officer greeted us with a grin and his friend in the next booth shivered visibly when he caught sight of the bike. He couldn’t believe we’d come from California and only remembered at the last minute to ask Fran to take off the helmet to check his face against his passport photo. The falls were more impressive than I’d expected. It was hard to imagine such powerful forces of nature right in the middle of two cities. The bad weather ensured we had the place pretty much to ourselves and even the rain couldn’t take away from the winding walks above the water. But I didn’t like the town. It had that forlorn air of seaside streets in winter; stores with shuttered doors and restaurants with dark windows, staring like vacant, blind eyes. We’ve had better evenings.

Even though we are now in the North East, in my mind we are still straddling the central US. We were now in upstate New York, it’s Halloween and winter caught up with us. It took 3 days to get to Massachusetts and we saw a New York that nobody ever thinks about when they hear those words. Miles of country roads with small, pretty towns. Some were quite prosperous but a lot were more than a little worse for wear. Homes with sagging porches and closed stores had a sad air. Both days we had to stop early due to snow. I thought it was just heavy rain because my visor fogged up and the windshield blanked-out but it turned out to be the white stuff. I have been wearing 6 layers on top and 3 on the legs since Montana. And I have a heated vest. I hate going to the bathroom, it takes ages. I’m so top-heavy I can’t see the buckle on my pants. I’m a black Michelin Man with sticky-up hair when I take off my helmet. And I’m a baby tethered to the womb too. I usually forget to unplug myself when we stop so the vest cord stretches when I climb out and the coil threatens to lift me off my feet and spring me back.

We stopped at a gas station and a guy hopping out of his pick-up said “I feel terrible but I have to take your photo” and out came the phone. At another stop, looking for a motel, a lady came up and apologized for not bringing us home with her but she lived 100 miles away. Even dripping puddles at the convenience store counter people were kind and helpful and the ‘Good Lucks’ rang repeatedly in our ears. In Batavia Fran was so cold we stopped for lunch in a pizza place, not something we usually did. That meal will be forever etched in memory. The place was warm and dry and we were served steaming meat soup and calzones so overstuffed they threatened to escape off their plates altogether. New York is definitely the place for Italian food and I spent the rest of my time there trying to recreate the experience.

A second day with a very early finish had us racing to make up time thru rolling farmland in the direction of Massachusetts. More white churches and orange pumpkins. And lo and behold, the weather started to get warmer. By the time we stopped to call Great Barrington and tell them to open the wine, I’d shedded my jacket. And we were a day ahead of schedule!