No Jobs, No Home, No Worries. A Shared Journey by Bike and Support SUV Across the U.S.

Day 34 miles: 74

Total miles: 2,129

By bike:

So most of my excitement today was getting to Jackson, MI and meeting up with Lauren so we could go to Ann Arbor. I did take some bike trails through Battle Creek which itself was a cute town.

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I enjoyed biking out but 10 miles later I really started enjoying Michigan roads…meaning major bumps. I could feel every one and remember how poorly this state maintains its roads. Just after passing an Army reserve base my front fender made a huge pop and broke. I chucked it in a dumpster at a Carhartt outlet and kept going.

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I passed through more tiny towns and then got closer to Jackson. The roads got worse but I kept going. I got a great view from the small road I took.

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However, Google decided at this point to bomb my trip as it said “turn right onto Martin Luther King Boulevard.” Thanks Google for letting me take the safe route. I immediately said “Oh God no!!!” and kept biking hoping to not stop. Immediately someone yelled from their yard, “GET THE FUCK OFF MY STREET! YEAH YOU! KEEP BIKING AND DON’T COME BACK.” I respectfully complied. I biked until I got out of the city and chilled out at a Subway before Lauren picked me up. No photo evidence. I simply was not able to stop.

Ann Arbor was a breath of fresh air. It was so great to see old residency friends both at night and the next day as well as see my old stomping grounds in Depot town. While the Bay is nice, my favorite restaurants are still in Ypsilanti.

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I ate a full meal and a whole serving of fried cookie dough at Aubree’s. The next day we went to Cultivate and visited Lauren’s old coworker friends at Garden City.

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By car

While Matthew was biking to Jackson, I made my way over to the hospital I used to work at hoping to surprise some people there. Maybe it’s because this is the one job I’ve held the longest, but everyone I saw there made me feel like a celebrity! I miss my Garden City family, and I truly felt missed by them.

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It always feels like I pick up where I left off with the nursing staff and of course rehab team. I was told that one of the nurses was keeping others updated on our bike trip and sharing photos I’ve been posting! Unfortunately she wasn’t there when I showed up– Lynn I hate that I missed you!

I was able to surprise the secretaries down in rehab (Carol and Leslie) by sneaking up on them. I wanted to do a prank call, but whoever originally answered my call was from another rehab department and hung up on me.

It was so wonderful catching up with as many people as I could in the limited time I had. I often had to look at my google maps to see where Matthew was so I could time my departure. After many hugs and life updates, I had to leave to Jackson. I decided I would come back tomorrow to finish seeing as many people as possible!

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Once Matthew completed his less-than-welcoming portion of his bike route, I picked him up at a Subway in Jackson and we drove into Ann Arbor. I have a friend from grad school, Danielle, and her husband Doug who invited us to stay at their place. At first we thought we’d stay close to the bike route in Jackson, but we agreed that Ann Arbor needs to be an off day because of all of the good people and memories we have there! We gladly accepted their kind offer.

Also, how could we say no to a temporary roommate that looks this cool?

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We had dinner at our favorite restaurant with Doug, Danielle, and my GCH bestie Maria! This was of course followed by our favorite dessert: fried cookie dough with ice cream on top.

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Matthew later went out with a good friend of his from residency. The next day I took Matthew back to GCH and we finished our rounds of hugs and hellos. People were interested in hearing about his journey and curious about our next step in life.

I got another award winning hug from Carol.

I still didn’t get to see everyone I had hoped to see, but it was enough to give me a great boost in energy! Unfortunately I didn’t get pictures with everyone.

After my second family reunion at GCH, we headed back into Ann Arbor to visit our good friend Grace and her newborn daughter, Rose. Grace’s husband, Mike, is one of Matthew’s closest friends from residency. The four of us would usually find some fun cheap adventures in Ann Arbor to survive the winters.

The day off with friends was needed more than we even realized. Matthew was debating whether or not to bike even a short distance, but I talked him out of that 😉 This is an important part of the journey- we’d both regret just blowing through it.

Tomorrow is an early day for us both. I’ll be driving Matthew back to Jackson where he left off. We’ll be cruising into Ohio! There’s really nothing there for us, so we’re hoping to be in and out of that state as quickly as possible.