Time: 5h44m58s
Distance: 141.45km
Avg Spd: 24.6km/hr
Climbing: 475m
Today was a great day. It all started with a solid night sleep on the floor of Brandon's living room. We were back at the high school by 6:30am for pancake breakfast, which was done in style with plenty of food for everyone. And there was the added bonus of Gatorade to fill our water bottles as we left the school. Brandon's parents were of course around to see us off and take some pictures.
Our route was meticulously created by local Lansing-ers to keep us off busy roads, and it was very well prepared. We ducked and dodged and turned through numerous subdivisions as we went on our way. We again had a good ten miles of paved bike paths that were green and well cared for.
As evidenced by our average speed for the day (24.km/hr), we took our time. Something about cruising on the bike paths really slowed us down. Or maybe it was the mountains of food we ate the day before... But it was nice to take it easy.
We were in three states today... yes, three. Starting in Illinois, we quickly crossed into Indiana, then on into Michigan later in the day. As we were on side roads and bike paths, the organizers spray-painted the pathways for us to alert us to state lines.
The highlight of the day was riding along Lake Michigan. I've long heard people say that Michigan has nice beaches, but I never believed them. Today I saw the truth. The water is clear and blue, and the beaches are sandy. The lake extends for so far that it really looks like the ocean.
We spent at least two hours rolling along the waterfront and checking out the fancy houses. It was awesome.
Tonight we are staying at Lighthouse Ministries in Benton Harbor, Michigan. We were told it is the poorest town in the USA. I don't have Internet access to verify that fact, but it certainly does not feel like the richest neighborhood in the USA (that might have been Sturgeon Beach that we rode through this afternoon). Lighthouse owns an old, run-down church (that's massive, and crazy confusing to navigate inside) right on the main drag, and does outreach to the locals in the area. We arrived in camp a little late today, so we missed a bunch of the info about the area and what the church does.
Our camp is a little odd-feeling tonight... we're on some decent patches of grass outside this older, run-down church. There are new houses across the street, right next to old, boarded up homes. There's not a lot of stores or commercial building nearby, but there's plenty of foot traffic at 11pm. It's predominantly an African-American neighborhood, and without the strength in numbers of our Sea to Sea camp, I'd think twice about pitching my tent here.
My tent is 5' off the sidewalk and I'm sitting in it typing this blog. And as if to emphasize our "out of place-ness", a group of guys just walked past and one said to his friends, "y'all are crazy, tenting in the m'f***in' hood, man."
I think it's excellent that we are staying here tonight, and that we got to hear some stories of the local church staff and Christian school principal about what God is using them for in this part of town. It's encouraging to hear stories of how God led them to this place to work, despite them having different intentions for their life, and that lives of the locals are being touched in positive ways as a result. As an organization that exists to end poverty, we as cyclists with Sea to Sea are seeing glimpses of it first hand tonight. I sincerely hope that Lighthouse Ministries and River of Life School will be recipients of some of the grant money that will be distributed at the end of the tour.
So much more I could talk about tonight, but it's late - especially with the time change (we're now on Eastern Standard Time - EST). It's now after 11pm again, and I'm beat so I'll call it a night.
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