Day 57 Lake George, MI-Bay City, MI

Click here for more photos

Jo Day 57: In the morning the Lake George Campground was drying off, and it turned into a nice day of riding for Kevin, Alan and John (70 miles). Janut, Bob and I drove into Clare, MI, where there's an Amish community. The local hardware store has a special covered parking stall for the Amish horse buggies and there's a nice wide shoulder on the road to accommodate the buggies. We stopped at a roadside produce stand and chatted with a guy named Skeeter and his neighbor. The cauliflower was bigger than Janut's head, so we bought it, along with sweet Michigan Red Haven peaches, Yukon gold potatoes, zucchini, a red onion, a sweet yellow onion, and cherry tomatoes. We walked the streets of downtown Clare and did our civic duty (supported the local cops) by having a donut (just an ok donut, nothing special) at the Cops and Doughnuts Bakery (owned by cops). Then we went to an Amish bakery called "The Country Cookstove Bake Shop". A little shop behind Bob & Mabel's farm house. There was a separate building where the women were doing the laundry by hand. There is no electricity and they bake in wood burning stoves. Bob wanted to know how we knew about his bake shop, so I showed him my iPhone that had the directions and great reviews, Bob just shook his head, waved his hands and said "I don't know anything about those electronics, and I don't understand how it got there because I didn't talk to anyone." I explained that someone came to his bake shop, liked it, and posted a great review about it for others to read. Bob shook his head again ... I said, "well, it got us to come here to buy your baked goods!" He smiled and said, "Yeah, that's good. I have buses that come by, one's coming tomorrow with 35." Bob & Mabel's bake shop is doing good business. Oh, and Bob sounded a little like Mrs. Doubtfire. 😊 We went a little crazy and bought , bread and butter pickles, buckeye candy (like a Reese's peanut butter cup, but way better), breakfast crunch (slabs of granola that you break and crumble), egg noodles, peanut butter cookies, and a triple berry pie. So far, everything is awesomely delicious! We wish we could have bought more, but no room in the van! We stopped in Midland, MI to see the "Tridge", a three-way wooden suspension footbridge spanning the confluence of the Chippewa and Tittabawassee Rivers. It was pretty cool! It is also the location of the beginning (mile 0) of the nice paved "Pere Marquette Rail Trail" that Kevin, Alan and John rode on today (30 miles from Clare to Midland). Dow (as in Dow Chemical) is all over Midland (the high school's name, parks, ball fields, farmers market, etc). Camping tonight at the Bay City State Park, MI. It's sprinkling off and on, but it's nice & quiet.

__________________________________________________________________
Kevin Day 57. Lake George to Bay City MI. 70miles. After a very rainy night, we hit the road again expecting a wet rainy day. But, no rain all day! We have had great weather throughout the trip; I attribute that to clean living on our part! The first few miles were on the road through the town of Farwell and then to Clare. We stopped for doughnuts and coffee at the world famous Cops and Doughnuts- decent, but not great doughnuts. The shop is "100% Cop Owned". At Clare we picked up the Pere Marquette Rail Trail- 30 great paved miles to Midland. A lunch stop at Oscar's Downtown-Great food and friendly bartenders. Midland is corporate headquarter for Dow Chemical -the local high school is Dow High School, and they call themselves the Chemics. Our bartender was lamenting how expensive it is to live there, as Dow employees push upthe cost of rent, etc. She said she rents a 4 bedroom house for $1,000/month! It's all relative, I suppose. After lunch we were back on rural roads, heading for the night's camp at Bay City Recreation Area State Park, on Saginaw Bay on Lake Huron. We stopped for an afternoon break at Mort's Northern Bar, where I tried the exotic beer the locals liked at Mort's. Then to camp. Jo and Janet and bought a bunch of produce, a berry pie, and some other treats from some Amish along the way, including a cauliflower that was as big as Janet's head! Tomorrow we continue southeast, heading to Lake Erie.