Slight schedule change for the final days

There are some very slight changes, highlighted below, for the final few days of the run to Petoskey.

• July 29: Hwy 2 to Cut River
• July 30: Hwy 2 from Cut River to Mackinac City.
• July 31 a.m.: Mackinac Island
• July 31 p.m.: Mackinaw-Petoskey trail to Pellston
• August 1: Mackinaw-Petoskey Trail, Hiawatha Trail & Little Traverse Wheelway from Pellston to Petoskey

Random thoughts along the lake shore

Paula & Kendall at the end of today's run (Manistique, Michigan)

Another day of running Highway 2 along the north shore of Lake Michigan. There's a fair amount of traffic so not much time for day dreaming. Nonetheless, the thoughts do tap dance through the brain. Some from today:

• I've got new music playing in my brain! In Nebraska, Iowa, and the early days of Minnesota, the theme song from the Beverly Hillbillies was firmly planted in my brain's sound track. That was replaced by "mama makes shortenin' shortenin' shortenin', mama makes shortenin', shortenin' bread" which made it the rest of the way through Minnesota and Wisconsin. Crossing the state line into Michigan, Sousa popped into my brain and I am quite delighted. Perhaps it's in homage to my high school band teacher, Max Smith, who had our marching band high stepping to Sousa marches whenever we took the field.
• Last night I dreamt I was running...in my sleep. And I was wondering if the mileage would count if I was sleeping while I ran.
• I chatted a bit with a couple of cyclists at a rest stop today (btw: there seems to be no rest stop that I won't pause at these days). They're riding from Washington state to Bar Harbor, Maine via Canada, Montana, Idaho, and are heading back into Canada until Niagara Falls. What a beautiful trip!
• Light rain seems to be my favorite running weather. I had a couple days in Wisconsin that started in a light mist/rain and ran very well. Today started in fog/mist which developed into rain, then mist then fog (before getting warmish and humid with no mist in the afternoon) and the morning miles just flew by. Bets on how long it takes my shoes and hat to dry out? 'Tis just a tad more damp here in Michigan than in Colorado!
• I find myself talking to myself...not all that unusual. But now I even talk out loud to myself on occasion. Especially if a word is fun to say. In Nebraska I would often burst out with "rumble bars" - pretty much whenever a sign appeared announcing the rumble bars. Today I announced to the world "It's a cannon!" - when a truck went by pulling a trailer with a cannon.
• Paul accompanied me for a couple miles today (the guys had to take a detour that I was allowed to run through; Paul came back and found me). He said Kendall was at the outskirts of Manistique where there was an Arby's, a Shell station, a car wash, a Burger King and "other random stuff". Paul is now hereby dubbed King Random Sharbyash.

hmmm....perhaps it's time to wrap up these many days of many hours of solo running.... ;-)

We're spending the night in Manistique (where I finished running today). So far the schedule published yesterday still holds!

Michigan schedule - the final week!

For those of you curious about when I'll be where these final days of the run, here's the estimated schedule (as usual: the schedule can change at any time for any reason!)

• July 26: rest day in Gladstone
• July 27: Hwy 2 ~30 miles to Manistique
• July 28: Hwy 2 from Manistique to ~30 east of Manistique
• July 29: Hwy 2 to Cut River
• July 30: Hwy 2 from Cut River to St Ignace ferry docks
• July 31 a.m.: Mackinac Island
• July 31 p.m.: Mackinaw City ferry docks to Mackinaw-Petoskey trail, then the trail to Pellston
• August 1: Mackinaw-Petoskey Trail, Hiawatha Trail & Little Traverse Wheelway from Pellston to Petoskey

Michigan Michigan Michigan

I simply cannot convey how excited I am to be in Michigan! And I actually ran here! Who'd've thunk?! I think there's magic in the lake breeze as I seem to be running stronger and faster and my stomach is settled and my feet aren't so achey....or maybe I am finally beginning to believe that I will....never mind...don't want to jinx it!

A bit of catching up:

• A couple more days on Wisconsin's Mountain-Bay trail. Very nice to watch the wildlife and eat wild raspberries while on the run and not worry about traffic!
• A farmer chatted with Kendall while the guys were waiting roadside for me in Wisconsin. He offered his field for us to park the motorhome in that night - but said what we really should do is go to Pulaski for their Polish Days festivities. That's just what we did and what great fun! Polka music everywhere including two stages right next to the field where we were able to park and camp for free. I've never seen so many twinkle-toed polka dancers in my life - literally hundreds packing both dance floors. Not much sleep with all the music and revelry, but a very entertaining evening!

• From polka to the bay. Yes, the next day we got our first glimpse of Lake Michigan (specifically the great Green Bay). And we were able to get right up close to it thanks to Len and Jen who invited us into their front lawn for photos and cooling my heels in the lake. Seeing the lake was a Very Big Deal for this Boulder-to-Petoskey runner!

• A day after our first glimpse of the lake (and after a lovely run along county roads, glimpses of the lake, an Ostrich Ranch sighting, and finding an excellent alternative to busy Highway 41 via Old Peshtigo Road), we crossed the Marinette-Menominee bridge and found ourselves in MICHIGAN! We even got a fly by of 12 airplanes in formation as we crossed the bridge (Paul ran across with me). I'm still quite mind-boggled by the entire phenomenon of running from Boulder, Colorado to the Michigan state line. When Kendall first pointed to the bridge as I made the last turn in Marinette, Wisconsin, I burst into tears. By the time I reached the Menominee County sign in the middle of the bridge, I was high-fiving my son, and at the Welcome to Michigan sign, I was all smiles - and am still smiling.

• Bonus feature for our first day in Michigan: we found a campground right on the lake. Yes!We're now on Highway 35 which has been awarded the PJ's Run prize of busiest two-lane highway of the trip. But the lake on my right is doing a fine job of making up for the traffic nuisance. I'll be moving off Highway 35 and onto Highway 2 tomorrow. Highway 2 will pr'y still be busy but is a wider, better-shouldered road. I'll be on 2 all the way to St. Ignace - then it's onto a ferry to Mackinac Island, run around the Island, then hop a ferry to Mackinaw City. From there, I'll be on trails for 24 miles to Petoskey! Just a little over 200 miles to go!

She's in Michigan!

Devon reporting again. Today at roughly noon Eastern time, Paula Vaughan ran across the state border from Wisconsin into Michigan and is now entering the final leg, and state, of her journey!

She's at the Great Lake!

Devon A. VaughanMiller reporting. My mom just called and she's made it to the shoreline of the Green Bay of Lake Michigan this morning. Next step: follow the western shoreline, then the northern shoreline, then the eastern shoreline to Little Traverse Bay and Petoskey! Just ~270 more miles!

Wisconsin has been very very good to me

The trip through Wisconsin has been absolutely fantastic so far! A look back over the past six days:

• The first full day in Wisconsin took us along the Great River Road then up out of the Mississippi River Valley through little winding canyons - stunning scenery all along the way. (Picture below: Lake Pepin along the Mississippi River)
• I did have a very upset stomach and headache as I started that first day and ran for the first hour or so just sipping iced tea. Then Kendall and Paul made me a bit of oatmeal; it seemed to settle things down. Kendall next stopped at a bakery in the little town of Maiden Rock where he found cranberry wild rice bread. Delicious! I nibbled on that for the rest of the day and felt better and better with each nibble. This experience has really changed how I eat during the run. I think my stomach was simply rebelling against my six-days-a-week diet of gu and clif shot blocks. Now I do take a gu about an hour into the run, but after that I nibble on bread. The Great Harvest Bakery of Longmont has been supremely generous throughout my run, sending bread, cookies, rolls, homemade energy bars, brownies...you name it, they've sent it from their bakery. One of their breads, "Happy Whole Grain" is my favorite. So now my most frequent request when I come up to my support crew is for "Happy Bread." Consequently, my stomach is the best it's been for this whole trip.
• After climbing up out of the Mississippi River Valley, my next road was Highway 10. I've been worried about this road ever since I finalized my route. With over 60 miles scheduled on Hwy 10, it was going to be an aruduous stretch if the traffic was heavy and the shoulder was dicey. It was not that bad of a road - but certainly too busy for any kind of daydreaming to take place. However, Kendall and Paul came through once again! After reaching Mondovi (30 miles into the Highway 10 portion of the run), they spotted the Buffalo River ATV trail paralleling the highway. Upon checking our Gazeteer (a must-have map book for anyone doing back country exploring through the states - Lysa introduced us to it in Nebraska), the guys discovered that I could run the trail for the rest of the planned Highway 10 distance. So, Mondovi-to-Fairchild was 33 miles of cinder/dirt trail with only a couple dozen ATVs the whole time. Fantastic!

Turkeys clearing the road next to the Buffalo River Trail

• The ATV trail was followed by lovely little county roads and a most generous display of hospitality. Running buddy AndyE's wife Sandy is from Wisconsin. It just so happens that Andy and Sandy are in Wisconsin bopping around to various family gatherings. And it just so happens that Sandy's brother lives on a farm very near my route. And it just so happens that he recently renovated the farmhouse and put in a guest quarters. And it just so happens that he invited us to stay in his guest quarters. And it just so happens that AndyE volunteered to be my support crew for a couple of days while Kendall and Paul took a break at Mike's farm. What a grand couple of days it was. Absolutely beautiful countryside with heron, sandhill cranes, turkeys, deer, singing bull frogs, woods, rolling hills, lakes, Amish horses & buggies sharing the shoulder with me, and AndyE providing stellar support. (It's not every day that you can climb a hill with a little subaru putting along next to you belting out Willie Nelson tunes!) And each night we spent in the luxury of Sandy's brother's home with a whirlpool bath, comfy bed, TV for my teenaged-tired-of-the-RV-with-his-parents son, delicious food, and cows and sheep to keep us entertained out back. (By the way, if you're ever in the Marshfield, Wisconsin area and are in need of comfortable quarters to stay in, I highly recommend "Anna's Inn" at Mike Albee's farm. Mike is just now getting it ready to rent out to guests.)

AndyE, Mike, Paula & Paul at Mike's farm

• The two days with AndyE also underscored how lucky I've been with the weather. The first day it was pouring rain as we set out from the farm. We got to my starting point, stepped outside of the car, and the rain stopped. At noon, we took our midday break, it started raining again, we went back to my starting point, and within a few minutes of the afternoon run, the rain stopped. All the while it stayed cool. The second day offered up a cool foggy morning. It moved into the upper 80s for the afternoon, but being only half the day and with AndyE offering drinks every mile along the way, the heat was quite manageable. However, the dingbat who laid out the daily route is going to need a talking to. For some inexplicable reason, she (me) decided 32 miles would be a good idea for this day. It probably had something to do with wanting to finish on the east side of the Wisconsin River, which is just how I ended the run on July 17 - which also happens to be the day I topped 1000 miles for the trip!

• Yesterday (July 18), was the day I ran from Mosinee to the Mountain-Bay trailhead in Weston in the morning then met up with a gang of folks to start off the afternoon on the trail that will take me most of the way to Lake Michigan. Valerie Parker, a runner who works for the Village of Weston and who helped me out with my route through this part of Wisconsin, had organized this gathering. It was quite a treat to have so many folks meet up with us. The gathering included reporter Keith Uhlig and photographer Butch from the Wausau Daily Herald (check out www.wausaudailyherald.com for July 19), Barb Schira (president of the Wausau Area Runners Club) who enthusiastically accompanied us for a few miles, Helen Pagenkopf (president of the Marathon County Friends of the Mountain-Bay Trail) who rode with us for several miles sharing a wealth of information and history about the trail all along the way, and Valerie who ran with me for 11 of my afternoon miles filling me in on all sorts of tidbits about the area. Great company!

Helen, Valerie, Paula, Barb & Paul at the Mountain-Bay trailhead

• Another weather luck phenomenon: as we finished up our midday break in the parking lot of the trailhead, a storm blew through with rain and wind. As the gang arrived, we learned that golf ball sized hail had hit the town about 11 miles east of where we were. And as we got about 5 miles down the trail, we started encountering trees that had been blown over....literally dozens of trees. It was quite the challenge for a few miles, lifting the bike (Paul was riding with us) and climbing over the trees. It was dumb luck, and just a matter of an hour, that we weren't caught in that storm. Whew!

Helen, Paula & Valerie and the newly wind-blown trees
of the Mountain-Bay Trail

Numbers and such:

• Today is our 44th day on the road.
• PJ Run miles-to-date: 1049.5.
• Three bottles of sunscreen emptied.
• One pair of shoes retired, with a second pair on the verge.
• An estimated 2.5 days of running to get my first glimpse of Lake Michigan and three days (starting tomorrow) to get to the Michigan state line!
  

Wisconsin Schedule (subject to change)

A number of folks have said that they want to meet up with us while we're in Wisconsin. Here's our schedule as it stands today - but it could change at any moment for any reason.

July 14th: ~Durand to ~Strum/Osseo via Hwy 10.
July 15th: Strum/Osseo to Fairchild via Hwy 10, then NE on county roads.
July 16: county roads to Spencer.
July 17: Spencer to Mosinee via county roads.
July 18th: Mosinee to Weston (midday break).
July 18th (pm): Mountain-Bay trail to Eland.
July 19th: Rest Day.
July 20th: Mountail-Bay Trail - Eland to Shawano.
July 21st (am): Mountain-bay trail to Bonduel.
July 21st (pm): Bonduel to Hwy 41/141 via county roads.
July 22: Hwy 41/141 to Peshtigo via county roads along Lake Michigan!
July 23: Peshtigo to Michigan via Hwy 41.

Cannon Falls - to - WISCONSIN!

A quick post 'cuz today is turning out to be a very busy day off in Red Wing Minnesota: laundry, lunch & visit with friends from Boulder (complete with care packages, news from home and great conversation YAY), a movie, shopping, a visit with a friend/former co-worker - yep yep busy busy!

If you ever happen to find yourself in the Cannon Falls-Red Wing area of Minnesota, I highly recommend the Cannon Valley Trail - the loveliest trail of the trip so far: a canopy of trees, the air filled with birdsong, wildflowers galore, a doe and two fawns, the cry of the eagle (and an eagle's nest), the river meandering nearby. A great day of running to finish off my running week.

And! The yesterday culminated with a zigzag through Red Wing to the bridge over the Mississippi River and on into WISCONSIN! I must confess to being a bit numb by the time I got to the land of cheese curds and brats, but a brief rainstorm invigorated me, and the rainbows that filled the sky overhead as I finished my last six miles of the day/week added a smile to the early evening.

Minnesota - a bit of everything

Big tractor, little runner, Minnesota county roads

Such variety in Minnesota:

• Corn! Soybeans! More than I ever knew existed in Minnesota.
  
• Lots of pig farms (noisy), lots of turkey farms...one turkey barn that was, literally, .2 miles long (measured on my GPS).
  
• My first bald eagle sighting of the trip.
• Yesterday: the first jet sighting/hearing since the fourth day out of Boulder.
• A dry summer - so, fortunately, very few mosquitoes so far. Only one day with a major buzzing, biting bombardment of bugs.
• A campground adjacent to a replica of a pioneer village in Butterfield - with a tour offered by the campground manager. General store, giant tractors, broom making, copier lathe, miniature railroad... All done by volunteers, all for the threshing bee in August.
• The hottest, most humid weather of the trip. So much so, that I took the afternoon off this past Saturday, opting to drive to the Twin Cities to visit my cousin rather than continue to run in the 99 degree high humid day. The morning's run seems to have had a lasting effect, though, as running on Sunday and Monday (still in the 90s, still humid) was a struggle.
• Quiet county roads for the road portions of the trip.
• Extensive trails: so far, the Red Jacket Trail (~6 miles) and the Sakatah Singing Hills Trail (39 miles). Refreshing shady bits along the way, cornfields shifting to thick foliage, tall trees, lakes, ponds, rivers, and creeks. Paul typically rides a fully-stocked bike along with me on the trail portions of the run. I learn all kinds of interesting things this way. For example, yesterday Paul explained the interrelationship of sugar tariffs and the price of corn.

Paul & Paula starting the last 27 miles of the Sakatah State Trail

• My first "meltdown" of the trip - after the third consecutive hot, humid day (yesterday).
• A fantastic day of running today: temperatures 10-20 degrees cooler, light cloud cover, tailwind whenever I was east-bound, iced before I ran, used the stick before I ran, ate well during the day - and was joined for the last several miles by a former co-worker/long-time friend who now lives in Minnesota (he on bike and with lively conversation). Today's run of 31 miles took 7 hours 47 minutes, whereas yesterday's run of 27 miles took 8 hours 18 minutes (note: I start my watch with my first step of the day, and stop it with the last step of the day - and only stop it mid-run for midday break...so all walking, drinking, eating, chatting, sightseeing detours, etc. get timed). Today, blissfully, I actually felt like I was running, not just slogging through the miles. What a difference a day - and improved weather and a visitor - make!

Bob Kulus, Paula & Paul finishing up July 10 at the Cannon Valley Trailhead

Numbers:

• 35 trip days (including days off)
• 836.5 miles run
• One pair of shoes retired (after yesterday's run) - out of four in rotation.
  

Tomorrow: the Cannon Valley Trail to Red Wing!