On to Tomokamai

June 29, 2023

Humid, windy…..

We had a pretty good night sleeping in our tent. The campground was very quiet and the lush grass under the tent kept us comfortable. The only issue was not having access to a shower after a day of riding.

Michi and Tonchan are delightful hosts…we wish them well.

The amenities at the campground are pretty minimal…bathrooms need updating, showers please, a charging area for devices and e-batteries and more available at the shop. Nonetheless, the grounds were beautiful and quiet and it is early days for this campground.

Farewell…we are on our way to Tomokomai where we will take a 2 night ferry to Nagoya in a few days. The oppressive humid heat has really affected us, especially Mary Ellen…nasty headaches and the ever present allergies. We will stay in a hotel as we need showers and air conditioning.

Colourful animated creatures are so popular here and from what we understand, they rarely have any connection with what is done at the business. That doesn’t seem to matter.

We were initially excited to see a Shimano sign, but soon realized that it served a different passion….fishing.

This was a massive factory…the home of Cup Noodles. The aroma as we rode by was unmistakable.

Oh dear, we will have to merge on the upcoming overpass with the right lane as our route is taking us past the new airport. Just as we set out, of course, the traffic picked up.

Our bike route was weird today…in order to get us off route 36, we were taken by the new Chitose Airport and some of its was a bit gnarly. We met this man, James from Taiwan, who had just arrived at the airport and he was on his way to a campground in Chitose.

We took his photo to send home, so he did the same for us.

The airport has recently opened in Chitose. In reading a review of a nearby campground, the comment was that you can lie by your tent and watch the belly of a plane overhead. What’s good for the local economy may not be so good for nature lovers.

This will be us, but at Itami airport, flying home in a few weeks. Yikes.

Lake Utonai is a shallow fresh water lake known for migratory swans, ducks and geese.

There is a shoreline observatory which provides great bird watching and views of the Lake.

It was unexpected to come upon a Michi-no-eki at the lake. It is newly opened and not yet on Google maps.

There is a hockey team in Tomakomai and this is their mascot.

Swan mates with their young enjoying the lake.

Generally, the trucks we see in Japan are well maintained and freshly polished, but this guy takes his truck to another level. Blinged out with oodles of shiny chrome and custom painted.

Indeed, this guy loves his truck and takes great pride in maintaining it.

We like to try locally produced food when we visit a Michi-no-eki. A local farmer provides the pork, potatoes, dairy for ice cream etc and his daughter runs the cafe. Mary Ellen had a steamed bun with pork filling, Hokkaido fries, pork sausage….tasty.

And then we see this modest, understated wee mobile home. It would be fun to have one of these.

This guy has the right idea…napping in his hatchback.

Trunk rooms are a way for people to store things they don’t have room for at home. In Japan, space is an issue and these are useful. It was suggested to us that a small one could be used to store our trikes, but as a non- resident, you need a resident to vouch for you.

A bike lane takes us into the port city of Tomokamai.

Sapporo makes several types of beer, but they reserve the Classic exclusively for Hokkaido. Kind of cool that they give their local consumers a unique special brew.

The convenience stores are everywhere. When Barry went up the observatory, there it ws.

We have found Hotel Wing Hotels to be very accomodating and able to think outside the box. When asked about our trikes and storage, they promptly said to bring them in to the lobby. That is a rare option to be offered in Japan.

Today's ride: 50 km (31 miles)
Total: 2,286 km (1,420 miles)

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