Observation:  This morning’s ride only covered 12 miles, but it was packed with visual surprises, most of it starting with the Lincoln Street Art Park.  The park is an old abandoned industrial site turned sculpture park, with graffiti & art made from recycled materials.  While exploring around the park, I also ran into a couple who had just completed the third edition of a famous book series in Detroit called Essay’d.  Each book includes 30 short illustrated essays about Detroit artists, written by a team of different writers.  They were just out walking their dog, but we both got wrapped up in listening to each other talk about our respective projects.  Just goes to show you, you never know who might meet while exploring in the city.

Distance:  11.94 miles

D-Fact:  Lincoln is the only U.S. President to ever apply for a patent, and his inspiration came to him while traveling on the Detroit River.  After witnessing a stranded vessel on the river, he designed a device to lift boats over shoals.  While the invention was never manufactured, there is an actual replica of his scale model at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.