Time in the US

Day 11 - Petoskey to Dimondale June 21, 2009
Today was a bit of a blur (at least at the time of writing this ;) ). My friend David had suggested a route through the region and I was trying to follow it but I came across several areas where my GPS was calculating different routes than what he intended. I cruised down the western shore a bit, hugging it where possible before cutting inland. I passed cute little community after community enjoying the new, warm weather.

My main goal for the day, other than getting to Dimondale, was to pass through Ithaca, MI. I got here and found plenty of references to my namesake. The rest of the ride was uneventful and I got to Scott and Terri's safe, sound and sweaty.

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Day 12 - Putz around Dimondale - June 22, 2009
By the time that I woke up and got moving today I wasn't going to have much time to wander around the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn Michigan. I took this opportunity to take a day off from riding and to take care of some errands.

After talking to some people online I was able to fix the front tire alignment and put the fender back on the bike where it should be.

I looked up a couple motorcycle shops that carried the Scorpion EXO1000 helmet and ventured out to replace my damaged one. The first shop I went to had told me on the phone that they didn't have the sixe I needed but when I got there they had two sitting on the shelf. THey were a little expensive and I didn't care for the graphics so I went into Lansing to check out the other shop. They had the size I needed and in plain silver so I was all set to buy that until I noticed a couple of indentations in the foam on the inside of the helmet. That's a bit scary to see in a new helmet. Back to the original store to pay too much money. On the way out of the final shop I noticed the bikes they had for sale, a lovely 2009 Ninja 250 and, next to that, a 2008 Hyabusa with a stretched swingarm and 330mm rear tire! Talk about stark comparisons.

On the way back to Scott and Terri's house I stopped by the post office to mail off my faulty GPS and my damaged helmet. One thing to note is that in a small town most shops have awkward hours of operation. This is true of small town post offices... The Dimondale post office closed at 4:30 and I showed up at 4:45. What do the locals do if they work until 5pm?

Another good dinner and the day is done. Tomorrow I'll be heading back into Canada.

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