Day 146 - Chelsea to Adrian - Two Far 2021 - Sooo... Far

September 1, 2021

Day 146 - Chelsea to Adrian

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Today was fun. We had good roads, bright sunshine and a tailwind, and on top of all that, we were well fed!

We slept in this morning and didn't leave until after 10:30. Our Comfort Inn had a hot breakfast, so right away, it was a better day than yesterday.

Leaving Chelsea, we rode by this Chrysler Proving Ground. There wasn't anything to see but big buildings.

Down the road, Kerry pointed and said "Take a picture of this." I have tried to tell him that when he points at something, his hand and arm are between me with the camera and the object he wants me to photograph.

I've had too many pictures like this during the tour.

This row of old tractors is what he wanted a picture of.

This is something we've not seen before. Kerry says that it is an old steam roller.

At our first stop, we met Dave. His wife's family settled Mackinac Island. He enjoyed talking as much as Kerry does!

We rode through Manchester, another nice small town. Someone told us later that it is a bedroom community of Ann Arbor. I made a comment recently that this part of Michigan had not much to see, but I think I spoke too soon. Once we left the area between Flint and Detroit, we have seen lovely small towns and farms.

Manchester has a cool looking bike shop, but we didn't stop.

Interesting old building. The whole downtown was very attractive.

We've seen a few oil wells since we left the Thumb. I finally got a photo.

One of our smooth roads today. We didn't have any rough pavement on our route.

We visited this winery/brewery for a tour and lunch.

It's called Aeronautique because it was founded by an airline pilot in his hanger. Three years ago, the Blue Skies Brewery was added to the winery.

This is Heather. She took us on a brief tour. It was brief because this place is very small - and very friendly!

Here is the whole line - from the right - bottling, corking, labeling and packing.

This is the dining room. Food service starts at 5PM. Oh no, not again!

We ordered this flight of 6 beers to sample.

We didn't complain at all when Heather told us that food wasn't served until 5PM, but she was very kind and asked the kitchen manager if she would fix something. We were offered pizza and happily accepted.

Our made from scratch vegetarian pizza. We were so excited to have it that we forgot to take a picture before we started eating. The chef makes it all herself, including the absolutely delicious crust.

This is Fredii, who manages the company's social media and the chef, Nikki.

We had such a good time there we felt like we'd been to a party. Thanks to everyone for a memorable visit.

There was only one negative thing about our stop at the winery/brewery. After enjoying our fill of pizza and beer, we rode along Sand Lake. The shoreline is very hilly and we had several short 7%-9% grades to climb in the next two miles. We pedaled up all of them, but it probably would have been less difficult without the full bellies!

We've seen several small pumpkin patches in Michigan, but this is the first big pumpkin field we've seen.

The pumpkins are growing, but hard to see in this picture.

Here's a view with some pumpkins visible.

We're in Adrian, MI tonight. Our motel is across the street from a large shopping area with several restaurants. Kerry brought us an excellent dinner from Bob Evans. I think our food deficit is corrected now and we'll be ready to make the crossing into Ohio tomorrow.

Today's ride: 40 miles (64 km)
Total: 5,479 miles (8,818 km)

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Dave CardarellaWe almost connected, we rode thru Adrian only 5 days ago.
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2 years ago

Jeanna & Kerry SmithTo Dave CardarellaSorry we missed you. Where are you headed?
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2 years ago