We thoroughly enjoyed our nice hotel room last night and I almost managed another 10 hour slumber, but soon enough it was time to get up. After taking advantage of the free continental breakfast we headed back to the room and started getting organized for the day.

Jodi has been having problems with the shifting on her rear derailleur so we decided to google the closest bike shop and we left our bags in the room and headed back over the Saginaw River to Jack’s Bicycle Shop. What a comfy, cool little bike shop this is! I could have easily spent the day hanging out there. The mechanic spent a good 20 or 30 minutes working on the derailleur trying to get it into adjustment, and in the process discovered that the B screw is messed up and is not holding its adjustment.

In short, Jodi needs a new derailleur. Unfortunately they did not have any long cage 9-speed derailleurs, but they did call a shop a few days ahead along our route, up in Rogers City, and explained our problem. That shop is looking for a derailleur that will work and will hopefully be able to replace Jodi’s derailleur when we get there on Friday or Saturday.

What with our little bike shop expedition, it was pushing noon by the time we finally set of from Bay City. It’s amazing how quickly we were out of the city and into the rural countryside. I suppose countryside is a bit of a misnomer as it’s actually farm after farm after farm, with houses mixed in here and there.

We rode mostly quiet back roads with very little traffic. Me being me I was greatly concerned that “Oh man, it’s after noon. Where are we going to eat?!” But eventually the road we were on crossed Rt 13 and there at the cross-roads was Sporty’s, sort of a biker bar with a bunch of Harleys and pick-up trucks in the parking lot, and we went in and sat at the bar and ordered lunch. Jodi thoroughly enjoyed the hot wings she ordered, and I put away a great burger served with homemade chips. When we finally left Sporty’s, we rode about another 2 hours to reach this city park that has a campground. It’s a really nice, quiet place, the weather is absolutely ideal, and there’s live music over at the pavilion 40 or 50 yards from our site.