Across

The wind was still going our way, and we were still wind flying; but now that we were among these wonderful clouds my entire being: body, mind, and soul soared. I felt like an eagle, soaring among the mountains in the warm brilliance of the afternoon sun. I had never felt this richly alive before. I knew I was high on life! For at least a few golden moments I had broken out of the invisible cage each human being lives within. My spirit was soaring among the clouds. It was suddenly clear what my father had found in the mountains and sky. I was indeed like him.

I was jolted back to reality when Jim yelled to me, demanding I watch out for a pothole just ahead. It's lucky he did, or I would have hit the pothole straight on, and probably been thrown over a guardrail dividing the road from a cliff.

We were already at the Hesperia village limit. I looked over my shoulder and saw a sign that indicated White Cloud was already 13 miles behind us. I hadn't even been aware of those miles. It was like they passed in just a moment. "Wow!" That was scary! When we left Hesperia, Eddy said he wanted to lead the way because he had the map, and because my pace from White Cloud had been just too fast. Jim chimed in to say, "Steve you were going so fast Eddy and I nearly lost you. You were averaging 35 m.p.h." I told them I was sorry and I didn't realize how fast I was going. I didn't tell them what I had experienced in those 13 miles.

The delivery man planned a good route for us. All of the roads he suggested were paved and there was very little traffic. At one four corners an Amish girl was selling fresh corn from a wagon. We bought some partly because we liked corn, but also because we decided she had almost no customers on her little corner in the country.

Farther along, Eddy broke a spoke. We had to go to a farmhouse to borrow a big wrench to fix it. Only an older lady and her grandson were at home, but they found us a big crescent wrench in the barn. As we fixed the bike, they asked us all kinds of questions about our trip.

Before we left, they gave us a whole quart of fresh red rasp- berries to have with supper. They were really nice folks. They even offered to let us camp at their place for the night, but we told them we wanted to get into Ludington so we could catch the early morning ferry to Wisconsin.

We reached Ludington about the supper hour with 130 miles behind us. It had been a wonderful day, but suddenly it became a terrible day.

By the time we reached Ludington, the clouds were no longer beautiful. They were black and threatening. Lightning and the ensuing thunder erupted over nearby Lake Michigan. The wind raced through the streets carrying bits of paper and other litter along with it. Large drops of rain now sporadically fell from the sky and stung our faces as they were whipped by gusts of wind.

We had picked up some food, and had gotten directions to a campground down near the waterfront. We were racing the storm to the campground when it happened. A passing car grazed Jim's left pannier and he was thrown to the pavement just as a torrent of wind and rain were hurled down upon us. I didn't know how bad Jim was hurt, but I could see blood on the pavement. As the car raced away in the rain, I hurried to Jim's motionless body, suspecting the worst.