He's Got a Ticket to Ride

Doon at Green Mountain Bikes, Rochester Vermont

This was a tough decision. The bike mechanics who helped us solve various problems all along the route were outstanding. Dean, the irrepressible 'host with the most' we met along the Pere Marquette Bike Trail near Midland, Michigan, not only fixed Jean's slipping gears within a matter of seconds, but proceeded to invite us to a swim and cookout in his back yard bordering a brilliant green corn field, then spent the evening entertaining us with stories of his years as a DJ. The shop that takes the prize, however, belongs do Doon---Green Mountain Bikes in Rochester, Vermont is simply one of a kind. When we reached the college town of Poultney, Mike realized that the wheel he'd had built in Fargo was beginning to disintegrate, literally, not-so-tiny cracks were beginning to spread like spiders. We sat in the garden of a lovely little cafe desperately making phone calls to shops all over the state, none of whom were willing and/or able to build a new wheel for the Sojourn; that is, until we found Doon, who knows the bike, has the tools and loves to build wheels.  Miraculously, a wonderful pair of nearby diners who also happened to be bikers happened to overhear our dilemma, and in the end offered to drive Mike and the broken Raleigh the 50 miles across the mountains to Rochester and back, while Jean set up camp on Lake Ste. Catherine. He was back in no time with a beautiful, sturdy new wheel, which has yet to drift out of true.  We were then treated to an evening out with our son's friends Kyle and Dawn listening to Kentucky (Vermont style) bluegrass on the deck of the Poultney Pub.  Another cool thing about Doon's shop is that he uses as roll of movie admission tickets as his business cards. Good old Vermont.