Day 38: Newaygo, Michigan USA

Leaving Mol and the travel home was definitely the toughest day. We finished packing and breakfast at Molmento around 8:15 AM. Happy teary hugs with Kristien and we were off the Mol train stations with two cars (Theo and Peter) to transport our always awkward bicycle boxes. The train trip to Brussel’s airport involved one train switch, which is always challenging to move the boxes and making sure we get the correct train. The wheels I invented and we carried 1800 miles to make moving the box in the train station and airport easier worked great! All the little stresses of the day compiled to make this an exhausting day. Check-in was about 1.5 hours with the attendant telling us we hadn’t paid for our bikes yet. The flight to Iceland was 3.5 hours, and in Iceland we were randomly chosen for additional TSA screen were somehow I tested positive for an illegal chemical on a swab wipe of my clothing. 😏 Everything got sorted out and we made or connection with a few minutes to spare. The 6.5-hour flight to Chicago involved a large man sitting next to Lisa with poor body awareness, a restless kid who kept messing with the back of my seat, numerous coughs and sneezing throughout the plane, and what sounded like a 10-year-old girl’s birthday party happening behind us. Immigration, baggage claim, and customs at Chicago O’Hare took over 1.5 hours. I then got an Uber to Paul’s (Warmshower host who let us park the Subaru at his house,) and talked with Paul for a few minutes before returning to the busy arrival area of O’Hare to get Lisa and the bikes. By about 9:00 pm we were on the way to Lisa’s mom’s house in Michigan with an ETA of 1:40 AM. The dive through Chicago was terribly busy and a lot of construction. The tiredness was hitting me hard, and Lisa amazingly made the final 3 hours of driving to end our hardest day of the tour! ❤️Special thank you❤️ to Paul and his family for the car parking in Chicago it was a great stress reliever, and saved us over $600 in airport parking!Read more