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| Pretty wildflowers lining the trail |
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| A rest stop on the GAP trail |
Well, we did it. We biked 51 miles yesterday to a campground about 17 miles south of Grand Rapids, Michigan. It was another nice biking day with quiet roads shaded by lots of trees. Almost everywhere we stop, someone will ask us where we're from or where we're going, and when they find out, they want to talk about the trip, and end up wishing us a good and/or safe trip. Yesterday morning while we were eating breakfast in the restauant owned and run by the B&B owners, a man sitting in the booth next to us heard us talking to the our B&B host who was also our waitress, and he started talking to us, and asked if he could have our blog address beause he was interested in following our trip. This is the second person that has asked for the blog address! Anyway, going back to our 51 mile day yesterday, we - especially I was pretty tired the last ten miles, but I seem to get a second wind sometimes, and I was feeling tired but good when we arrived at the campground. Shortly after getting a site, Bill started setting up the tent while I ordered pizza, and about 30 minutes later it was delivered to our campsite! They had bathrooms with showers and flush toilets, and a washing machine and dryer next door. so we were able to wash a couple days worth of clothes. Washing clothes is almost a daily chore. You can imagine the shape our bike clothes are in after a day of biking in hot weather - even if it isn't so hot. I didn't sleep as well this time camping as I did the firtst time. My shoulders were hurting, and I also had some kind of allergic reaction to something. my nose and chest got congested so I had to get up and medicate myself with an antihistamine and asthma inhaler. Once I fixed tha problem, I finally went to sleep.
This morning we contemplated another 50 mile day if we stayed on the Adventure Cycling route, which would be necessary to have a place to stay, which again would be a campground. This was ok, but we were both reluctant to try another 50 miler with a lack of a good night's sleep. Besides that, the AC trail took us a little further east than we really wanted to go at this point, as it was headed to upper Michigan, and not the ferry at Ludington, which is where we are headed. Also, my bike needed a derailleur adjustment. Part of the reason for this might have been that I fell over on my bike yesterday afternoon as I was trying to start out from a parking lot that we had stopped in to check out the map.I won't try to explain how that happened, but luckily I fell on the grass rather than the asphalt, and I came out of it without a scratch. In fact I fell on my back in such a comfortable position that I just stayed there for about five minues and rested while Bill picked up my bike, Anyway, someone whom we asked directions from told us about a bike shop in Grand Rapids and gave us directions as to how to get there. Then a truck driver who backed his 18 wheeler in a space by the side of the road where we were resting started talking to us and it turned out he lived a few houses down the road and knew an even better way to get to the bike shop on roads with less traffic, so we followed his directions instead and they turned out to be very satisfactory. Turns out one of the guys who was working at the bike shop was from Searttle. I got my bike fixed, found a pair of bike shorts to buy (finally!), and the Seattle guy showed us the best way to get out of Grand Rapids, and also told us about a 25-mile long bike trail that will take us to Muskegon. So that's where we'll be going tomorrow. We thought we may have to sleep in a park or someone's yard tonight, because when we started calling motels here in Grand Rapids, they were all full. Turns out there is a state high school track and field, volleyball, and some other sports meet here this weekend. We finally got a room - the last one - at a Best Western.
Well, it's getting close to 10 o'clock, so I've got to get to bed. We're starting early again tomorrow. We're only two days away from the ferry across Lake Michigan which will take us to Manitowac, Wisconsin, and then it will be almost a straight shot across to Minneapolis.
Riding on....
Carol & Bill
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