Slept late, feeling secure in my spot on a disused railroad bed by a stream where a bridge once stood. Cooked oatmeal on the remains of the bridge.

Got reacquainted with the hills into Traverse City. My bike tire was back ordered, and had not arrived. I found Dewey’s sculpture and appreciated the succinctly titled “River Guardian”. She truly is the image of a guardian, from the different perspectives one might view a guardian.

A cyclist from Georgia named Jeff came in the Subway while I ate and introduced himself. Again-the relief of someone interested in the tour and not the bike. I joined him while he waited for his tofu, and gave him my copy of “On the road. ”

He alerted me to a book about a perimeter tour-“Changing gears,” and recommended “Miles from nowhere. ”

At the Interlochen bookstore I’m unable to find these, so I pickup “The Sun also rises” as this has popped into my experience numerous times the summer.

It’s hot and so humid – working up the last Hill before Beulah I’m drenched in sweat. Down and down, all the way into crystal lake. I dive again and again to the bottom to study the sand while the luscious water soothes me. I groan with pleasure at the surface.

Not hard to find Dewey’s, and soon I’m frolicking in his universe of ideas.