Day 15: (90 km) ? - Iwaki
(08/13/06)

For anyone touring Japan, the michi no eki is a beautiful thing. It basically means road station, or highway rest stop, but bears little resemblance to its counterparts in the U.S. Instead of McDonalds and subway, one finds shops selling local specialties. Rather than a gas-station convenience store, there are small veggie stands. And the soft cream, oh the soft cream. Since we're eating vegetarian for the duration of the ride there are a lot of local foods we have to pass up. But the soft serve is always there for us, with each region having its own specialties. Fresh Milk in Hokkaido, Apple in Aomori, even Yaki Miso and Soba-cha in Akita-ken. Yep, that's right, miso soft serve. Not as bad as you'd expect, but it's a bit of an acquired taste.

Michi no eki are fun places and western Tohoku is full of them. Today we woke up at one, only to stop at another around nine AM for more snacks and free sake samples. Always the trooper, Amy cheerily tried most of them, working up a happy little buzz before riding on.

This evening we made it to one right on the coast, complete with onsen and plum soft cream. Mary, Amy, and I made a dash to get some icy goodness before the shop closed while Chay sat outside eating a peanut butter and cheese sandwich. We made the tastier choice. Later, I hopped into the onsen, soaking as I looked out over the one clean section of beach and watched little moths flicker like ice in the floodlights.