July 21 – 15 miles around Manitowoc, WI, then a ferry ride
across Lake Michigan, and then a 3 miles to our hotel in Ludington, MI. Manitowoc was a lovely place to
spend the morning, with a nice bike path along the lake and a surprisingly good
(and free) art museum in an old mansion.
The best thing I found in Manitowoc was the “West of the Lake” gardens,
also free – established by a local resident, Ruth West, in 1934, maintained by
her till her death in the 1990’s, and now endowed by her estate. Pretty, extensive gardens on the lake
shore, in full bloom.
The ferry ride was fun. We took the S.S. Badger, the last coal fired ferry in the
country, built in 1953, which does a good (or bad) job of polluting the skies
with coal smoke. I never
appreciated how big the great lakes are until now – we sailed across the lake
the short way, at 20 mph, and it took 4 hours, with no land in sight for most
of that time. Along the way, I
took out the guitar and we had a songfest for several hours. I was joined by a mandolin player part
of the time, and then a crewman with his accordian – so we played polkas on the
starboard deck. We got a little
crowd, and lots of singing.
July 22 – 114 miles to Mt. Pleasant, MI, in the middle of
the state, followed by 6 miles around town looking to buy a cell phone charger,
as I had left mine in Wisconsin.
The scenery changed from corn and soybeans to the north woods – thick
hardwood stands and tannin-brown streams, plus some areas where the original
white pine forest is returning.
Lots of lakes, cabins and hunting camps. Cool, cloudy weather, reasonably favorable winds and the
forested roads made this long day, the last century ride of the trip,
pleasurable.
July 23 – 76 miles to Birch Run, MI – a small town with an
economy based on outlet stores, north of Flint, MI. Back in farm country today. This was by far the flattest day yet, and with tail winds
part of the time (the times we were going south rather than east), the ride was
quick – 17.8 mph average, and in before 1 PM. But frankly, with more corn and soybeans and long flat
roads, the riding was pretty monotonous, so there was little to do but push
ourselves hard.
Thoughts:
Roadkill Update:
To pick up on a previous theme, Michigan introduced a new
critter for the leading roadkill – the racoon. Very few rabbits now, and no snakes, but still some deer,
and, to prove we are in the east, sometimes a porcupine. Saddest of all is to see turtles on the
road. By the way, there were
no prairie dogs on the road in South Dakota. The little rodents, besides being insufferably cute, also
have perhaps the best sensitivity to motion of any mammal, so cars have no
chance to get them.
Apparently an evolutionary response against coyotes and hawks.
Roadkill, of a different kind:
Commonly, our dinner meals are at low priced buffets and
“family” restaurants, of which there seem to be many along every franchise
strip outside of every small city in America. Examples are Ponderosa, Golden Corral, Panda Panda, Pizza Hut,
Sizzler, Country Kitchen, Bonanza, and most commonly, Perkins. There were also local equivalents. As the title of this blurb implies, the
quality has been pretty dismal – sometimes we it was hard to distinguish what
we were eating. Of course, to make
up for it, the portions are consistently large or all you can eat.
A few observations on the American family restaurant fare:
- Salad means iceberg lettuce. If you are lucky, there may be some cabbage or a tomato, but
it appears, at least to this point in Michigan, that other greens, such as
arugula, spinach, or watercress have not been discovered. Needless to say, the salad is
consistently completely flavorless – we eat it because we need the roughage.
- Salad dressing means French, ranch, Thousand Island, or
Italian (pronounced “Eye-talian”).
Hard for me to believe, but the most popular dressings in New York City
– balsamic vinagarette, honey mustard, parmesan peppercorn, even plain old oil
and vinegar – have not been discovered out here either.
- Veggies means corn or mixed steamed vegetables, all cooked
to death. No vitamins or flavor
here, so what is the point?
- Chicken or “steak” (if that is what it is) are over-cooked
and flavorless.
- Pasta – don’t get me started
It is easy to get pessimistic about American taste based on
mass market restaurants. Coming
from New York and a family that really appreciates well cooked food with
variety, flavor and originality, it has been somewhat of a surprise (or needed
reminder) how bad restaurant food can be.
America has such a rich cuisine, and so many excellent chefs and great
restaurants, why do so many people settle for roadkill? Certainly it is not simply economics –
these people could eat better and cheaper at home, with only a small modicum of
effort and some basic education about cooking skills. Besides, well cooked food does not have to cost more – it
just takes desire on the part of the restaurant owners to provide quality. Have we become so addicted to
convenience that we have lost our tastebuds? Are so many people ignorant of what good cooking is? Are the restaurant owners (both the
franchisees and franchise headquarters) only concerned about money and not
about quality? I don’t have
answers – just making an observation.
I now have a whole new spin on the old PT Barnum adage “there is no
underestimating the taste of the American public.”
Oh, and as I said above, to make up for quality, these
places are either all you can eat or the portions are large to gigantic. So predictably, the patrons are often
large as well. The American
obesity epidemic is in glaring evidence.
There is decidedly a health crisis out here in the heartland, and it is
cultural in nature. I suspect it
does not matter what anyone does to improve our health care system – the state
of American health will not change and likely will deteriorate until we get the
obesity epidemic corrected - until people exercise, eat reasonable portions and
balanced diets, and lay off the sweets and junk snack food. Of course we all know this, but as far
as I can tell, there is no sincere effort to address this, as there is money to
be made in supporting our unhealthy habits.
Oh well, enough pessimistic musings for the night. Tomorrow looks to be another fine day
of riding, and it is indeed a beautiful country, rich in resources and friendly
people, and we are reasonably free (including free to over-eat lousy
food.) The glass is much more than half
full, literally and figuratively.
