Montague,MI - Ludington, MI 43 miles

What a great ride we had today! 22 miles of paved bike trail starting right in front of our motel, and 21 miles on a great road. We rode the first 10 miles of the road in 45 minutes - some kine of speed record for us!! The trail went through some very pretty farming country and past several little towns with a lot of agricultural industry activity going on right next to the trail. We biked through several "tree tunnels" that provided lots of shade. I liked this trail better than the Muscetawa Trail, which we were on the day before yesterday and went from Grand Rapids to Muskegon. One of the downsides of rail trails is that they are so flat and straight that they can get monotonous. The trail today had a little more small ups and downs and curves in it.
We raced a big black cloud into Ludington about the last half hour of our ride, and made it to a motel about five minutes before a short-lived thunderstorm hit. Not a huge amount of rain, but it was enough to make us thoroughly wet if we had been out in it. Now we're cleaned up and presentable and about to go out and have some dinner.

Bill said this afternoon that he has come to terms with our change in plans. He was struggling with it a little last night. I'm just happy that we had the option to ride a ways with Margit. It's amazing tha her plans put her close to the same route that we are on at just the right time.

Well, the thunderstorm is over, and the sun is out again, so we can walk to a restaurant for dinner. We're starved! (We both think we've lost a little weight, but not nearly as much as we think we should have!)

Riding on.....

Carol & Bill

A rest and food stop in a Grand Rapids park

A  bridge on the Musketawa Trail