Happy birthday Florene! This morning as we were crossing the Liberty Bridge over the Saginaw River a 2 masted sailboat was approaching. We were just in time to see the drawbridge open to let it pass through, finished crossing, and then started riding the bike path through town. We stopped to ask directions from a woman on a bicycle named Barb, then stopped to get something to eat. It turned out that Barb lived just a block away from where we were, and she was curious about our trip, so she joined us for lunch and conversation about our trip. Before lunch was over, a second woman sat down to join the conversation. She was 89 and said it was the kind of adventure she would enjoy. We spent the afternoon traversing the Thumb of Michigan. If you look at a map of the lower peninsula it looks like a left hand facing palm down, and we are now crossing the thumb. The Thumb is rural farmland flat, flat, criss crossed like a checker board with roads about 1 mile apart. When we stopped at Caro, our destination, we were sitting down in the shade of the grocery store when a guy in a pickup drove up. He asked where we were going. We told him we were looking for Woodyzzz Motel. He said he was Woody, told us where to find the motel, drove away, then circled back and said, ‘If you want you can use my truck to get to town to get something to eat there tonight’. The mexican food at Antonios in town was very good, just like Woodys daughter at the motel told us it would be.
Greg
July 16
Our bike ride today took us along the Pere Marquette Rail Trail for about 30 miles of our day. This paved trail is absolutely deluxe, with bathroom/rest areas that even have air stations to pump up tires. The trail originated in Midland Michigan, the home of Dow Chemical, and one of the top 10 towns in the US in which to raise a family. In the afternoon it started to get hot, but it wasn’t intolerable. We are stopping for the night in Bay City Michigan. Once again we are in a place that claims to be the true origin of a historic logger who inspired the mythical Paul Bunyan.
Greg
We left Wolf Lake and rode 12 miles, an hour, to breakfast in Luther, population 339. We usually have breakfast sooner in our day. Even though we are on an Adventure Cycle route people seem fairly unaware of the bike touring passing so nearby. At breakfast there were about a dozen people who all listened quietly as we answered about our trip. We are in the heart of the lower peninsula of Michigan. The terrain is gentle rolling hills with a lot of deciduous trees in the national forest, with farms raising a lot of hay. At one point today 2 deer bounded beside us, one darted across the road in front of Randy, the other veered off away from us as I slowed down to avoid a possible collision. Today was overcast, lower humidity and cooler. Tomorrow heat in the mid 90’s and high humidity are forecast. Our strategy originally had been to ride just 2 of the next 3 days. Now, due to the heat, we will get up early and ride shorter distances, quitting riding earlier each day. And not taking a day off.
Our trip is sometimes brightened by what I think of as bicycle angels. Today we rode over 70 miles from Traverse City to Wolf Lake. At noon we realized we could make it to Wolf Lake so Randy phoned and made a reservation with Lisa from the Day Star Motel. When we arrived at the motel there was a note on the office door that said the key was in the door. Lisa came to the door though, and said she would drive us somewhere to dinner, because it was a long bike ride. So she loaded up her 2 grandkids and dropped us at a very nice place for dinner that was 8 miles, about 50 minutes by bicycle, then brought us back to the motel. She then offered to wash clothes for us so we wouldn’t have to hand wash them. Lisa is definitely on my list of bike angels.
We have been following Adventure Cycles Great Lakes route, tomorrow we leave that route and begin following the Erie Connector route. The route begins near Wolf Lake Michigan. I’ve asked people here what the connection is to the Erie connector and get a blank stare. The most plausible explanation I’ve heard is that there used to be a lot of railroad tracks around here. It’s a mystery.
Greg
Our campground along the shores of Lake Charlevoix just happened to be in a campsite surrounded by 4 families group camping. They were amazed that we just camped there with no reservation, they had reserved the sites 6 months earlier. They were all most cordial, offered us chairs and orange juice and lemonade, made us feel like part of the group, then sent us off in the morning. Our ride today was through rural areas and farm land. Michigan was a heavily exploited area when first settled. Large areas near water were clear cut and the lumber floated downstream. Although we saw Paul Bunyan back in Minnesota, Michigan really claims Paul as their own, starting with anecdotes of the exploits of a couple of historical lumberjacks. The French and English both had influences in this area with the fur trade. Now it is definitely a prime tourist area. Last night in Boyne City we asked someone where to have dinner. They said the best place in town was the Red Mesa. We ate there and it was very good. Tonight we stopped at a Motel 6 and asked where was a good place to eat. The motel clerk said the Red Mesa. It turns out that there are 2 Red Mesas and we just happened to be next door to the second one. It was good last night, so we did it again tonight. The waiter said Randy was the first person he had ever seen finish the Vegetarian combo plate! We do tend to eat at times. You were probably wondering about laundry. What do those guys do about laundry? Well we have either shampoo or Wilderness Wash and we wash 1 or 2 things most nights, the next day we dry them by strapping them on top of our bags in the trailer. There, now you know.
Greg
2guysbiketrip 