First of all, it's really hard to take a picture of yourself with a tripod and timer that doesn't look goofy, and then especially hard to do it at 4:30 in the morning. We went much farther today than originally planned, which is good because the first two days on the trip plan are boring. Nothing but long stretches of interstate. We had planned to get to somewhere in the middle of Michigan, and we blew by that destination mid-afternoon and kept going. All told, I rode nearly 850 miles today. The bike held up very well, and it wasn't as hard physically on me as I thought it might be. Michael texted me with his new phone all day, what a treat that was!

Now we are settled in for the night, but not without some challenges. The first campground we went to had no shower facilities, do we decided to go to another. However, we had parked our bikes on a hill in that campground, in the grass, and had to turn around to get out. Did I mention that my bike, with luggage, weighs over 800 lbs? I almost got it turned when the front tire got caught in a rut, and the bike rolled over on its side. I tried to stop it, then tried to get off it, but it rolled onto my foot, pinning it. It took two of my fellow travelers to lift it off my foot, and the three of us got it righted. The bike and I both suffered only minor scratches. All in all, that was the worst of day 1, so I'm fine with it.

Off to sleep now.. Iowa and South Dakota tomorrow!