Here we are, arrived in Michigan, crossing the Michigan Lake with the ferry.
We have cycled more than 3000 miles (4700km) so far and have about 1300 (2080km) to go! This week we will cycle into Canada for a couple of days and I don’t have to forget to bring my passport with me on the ride! 6 weeks are gone and only 3 are left: it’s quite crazy how fast time passes (not always when you are cycling) 😅
I would like to thank all the people that are supporting GRADE’s research on my blog, buying the kit or the t-shirts. 🙂

As you can see from the picture, I saw the most beautiful sunset on the Michigan Lake today, where the sun went all the way down to the horizon!

What a lovely ferry ride across Lake Michigan! We had to cross the lake to get to the other side, and believe it or not, the ferry itself is considered as part of the highway that connects Wisconsin to Michigan. It takes 4 hours to get across this immense lake and I had to keep reminding myself that it is a lake and not the sea, since it is so big!! On the ferry I met Paul and his nephew Bruce from Chicago, who were were very kind and friendly, telling me all sorts of interesting fact about the lake and their local area! 🙂

The miles before the ferry I rode with Scott (different one) and George, and I have to say that it is pretty funny riding with them, stopping at every single possible coffee shop or gas station, racing over hills and going downhill spinning and using he breakers to see who has the highest average cadence. I won that one, with an average of 97 rpm over 40 miles! 🙂

This is Nick and Scott who decided to generously support GRADE’s research. Nick is from Australia, and he has been kindly teaching me all about cycling and how to approach it in the best possible way. Scott is from Boston and he is doing his coast to coast to raise money for the Cost Guard association, which he served for more than 20 years. They are just incredible people and incredible friends and I am very lucky that I had the chance to meet them riding across the United States.

My legs felt a bit tired today, probably because it has been constantly going up and down for the past 3 days. We were very lucky because we missed the rain this morning, although the sky did not look promising. We also crossed Lake Wisconsin, which involved a very short cable-ferry ride. When we arrived at the ferry dock, the ferry had just left: what a pity! 😅 It’s like when you run to the bus stop and the bus doesn’t wait for you, but the only difference was that I was kind of happy about it, because it meant that we had a good excuse to have a nice break: 10 very appreciated minutes to regain our energy.

Today we mainly rode on a gravel bike trail, which was really nice but made my legs very tired. We also had to pass threw a couple of tunnels, which was very creepy since there ware no lights, just the sound of the water dripping from the walls, bouncing on the ground and creating some heavy fog. One of the tunnels was a mile long, so we got off our bikes and walked, avoiding to crash against the walls. It was interesting to observe how no one was really taking, respecting the mountain’s silence. It felt like being in one of those Harry Potter places.

Watch a nice reminder of home today: two very nice steep hills with green threes and no cars! It was another very nice day, a bit harder and longer than yesterday, but still 92 quite easy miles.
This is Hilary, and amazing woman and cyclist from Australia who is supporting GRADE’s research! Thank you Hilary!

I wish every day could be like today. It was just incredible. I don’t think cycling can get much better than that. But if every day would be like today, I’m sure many more people would do a coast to coast on their bicycles.
We rode on a very silent and beautiful side bike-path for 30 miles, then we crossed the Mississippi River, crossing meanwhile the State line of Minnesota and Wisconsin. We rode along the river and the railroad for the remaining 45 miles 🙂 it was really beautiful and surprisingly nice and easy.

Today was our day off and I was so lucky to finally see, after 14 long month, my amazing friend Heidi, who is from Minnesota! She showed me around Minneapolis and thought me many things about her State. 🙂
I also cleaned my bike, put some oil on my chain and looked at the routes for the next week. Tomorrow we’re back on the road and hopefully without rain. 🙂

Thank you so much to all the people that made my birthday so incredible and special today!
Thank you to those that support me and love me from far away, like my family and friends! And thank you to all those that were around me today, like Scott, Nick, Ilene, Kelly and many others that were cycling, smiling and making sure my birthday would be perfect! The whether gave me a really nice birthday present too: a nice strong headwind, storms and pouring rain for about 89 miles! … at least…I won’t forget my 21st birthday! 🙂 🙂 When we arrived in Northfield, soaking wet and about to fall apart we stopped at a gas station to get a bear and to celebrate in the most unique way.
What a day!

Today we saw lots of corn. Corn on the right, corn on the left, then corn on the left and corn on the right…oh, and I nearly forgot to tell you that we also saw some soybeans and then…some more corn!!!! Who uses and eats all this corn?!?! I presume, we do… most of it is used for gas, some of it is fed to animals and a small part of it is eaten by us. We stopped for lunch at Olivia, and guess what: it is “Minnesota’s Capital of Corn” I swear, I would never have guessed that. 🙂 I am just joking; it was a pretty long, hot and windy day today, so we really had to find something to cheer us up a bit, and since there wasn’t too much else other than corn, we thought, oh well…let’s appreciate it!