We talked to Woody this morning while we had breakfast, we took his suggestion to alter our route because it’s predicted to be so hot today, and because it’s Sunday and traffic may be better. On our route we went through Marlette where we found the second to last Carnegie library built in the United States. It’s a beautiful building and still serves as a library. 1689 Carnegie libraries were built in the United States between 1889 and 1919, and about half still serve as libraries. Most Carnegie libraries were unique structures but the funding was according to a formula. Usually a women’s group was formed that would demonstrate a need for a public library, then they would look for a building site, then they would demonstrate that the community was willing to support the library through taxes – the community had to provide 10% of the construction cost annually for maintenance. Finally, the library had to provide free service to all. While taking a break today we talked to 2 motorcyclists, Stan Pobe and Paul Smith, automotive design guys, who were returning home from a road trip. We compared notes on bicycling and motorcycling similarities, and they also had a suggestion for an alternate route for tomorrow. We got to Imlay City (that’s pronounced Em lee) early afternoon, 50 miles and too hot to ride any further.
Greg