Day 59 North Branch, MI-Kimball, MI

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Jo Day 59: Woke up to a chilly 48 degrees in the Sutter's Recreation Campground, North Branch, MI. We warmed ourselves up with hot cream of wheat, cinnamon toast, and coffee. One of the campground sites had a ray of sunshine hitting their solar powered hummingbird, too cute! It was a nice quiet campground with two ponds, one has an island with goats on it (chomping away at the grass). Kevin, Alan and John had a short ride day...only 53 miles. We ran into many road construction detours today (no worries, we have the iPhone and Garmin), we even passed by the guys who were waiting at one. Janut, Bob and I drove to Croswell, MI to walk on their famous swinging bridge over the Black River. It was built in 1905 as a more convenient route for the sawmill and sugar factory employees to walk to work. Originally it was just two cables with wood planks...thank goodness they added two more cables and the railings (a significant safety upgrade that met my standards). It is the longest suspension foot bridge in Michigan. We got caught in a surprise down poor at the bridge and saw funny Halloween decorations along the main drag (a lot of these small towns decorate the streets for Halloween). Since it was a short ride day, that was all the time we had for sight-seeing...until we arrived at the Port Huron KOA in Kimball, MI (Alan and John are in a cute little cabin). OMG! 309 sites (tents, campers, motor homes, cabins, deluxe sites with gas BBQ grills, glider chairs, covered dining tables, and KOA fire rings). It's akin to Wally World! Giant water slide, batting cages, train, bumper boats, go carts, gold and rock mining sluice box, tennis courts, amphitheater, basketball courts, jumping pillow, water balloon war zone, pavilions, community outdoor kitchens, ice cream palor, gym, pools, bike trails, mini golf, in-line skating rink, volleyball courts, livery (look like for pony rides), bike rental, Wild West stores, general store, game room, golf cart rental, laundromat, ATM, chapel, free wifi, horseshoes, shuffleboard, playgrounds, and a $10 doggy wash station (Bob was happy that he did not have to take a bath)....all this behind security gates...you have to have a security card to come and go. It's all decorated for Halloween and the place comes alive on the weekends. We are very lucky that it's a weekday and the place is almost a ghost town. Janut, Bob and I walked the perimeter, it took us over one hour! Geez, I'm exhausted, not from the walk but from writing about it - LOL. A storm just hit us big time (it's 8:26pm), heavy rain, 40 mph gusts, and pea sized hail. Good thing Janut decided to rent a cabin for Alan and John. Everyone is nice and dry. Yay!

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Kevin Day 59 North Branch to Kimball, MI. A short 53 mile day. A chilly start, but breakfast in Brown City (birthplace of the motor home!) warmed us up and gave us renewed energy. Soon we came upon some roadwork which required is to wait for a while, but conversation with the flagged kept us entertained and soon we were back riding. No lunch break, but we did stop at The Tavern in Yale for a beer-they had a reasonable selection of micros on tap. We got some local info on the nearby Wadhams Avoca Trail, and decided to leave the Adventure Cycling route and save a few miles. The trail was fun-a crushed limestone surface (Strada Bianca) which was firm and pretty smooth. The high point of the trail was the Avoca trestle, which gave a nice view of the river below and the valley around. Horses are allowed on the trail so occasionally we would have to take evasive poop maneuvers to avoid the horsepoop along the way. The trail had some nice amenities-bathrooms and the occasional bike repair station with air pump, complete with both presta and Schraeder valve heads. Tonight we are camping at the Port Huron KOA in Kimball. We got a cabin for John and Alan, which was a good thing, as a pretty good rainstorm came in after dinner-the radar screenshot captured the first squall with gusty winds and pea sized hail. Tomorrow we cross the St Claire River on a ferry and into Canada.

Day 59 - Sutter RV Park to Wadhams

Explorer Link: http://cyclemeter.com/a0571f7a21831ccb/Cycle-20160928-0857
Ride Time: 3:46:48
Stopped Time: 2:55:41
Distance: 52.88 miles
Average: 13.99 mph
Fastest Speed: 19.31 mph
Ascent: 68
Descent: 259
Calories: 3329

http://www.cyclemeter.com

Day 58 Bay City, MI-North Branch, MI

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Jo Day 58: It was an Amish triple berry pie breakfast at the Bay City State Park, MI. Yum! An hour after Kevin, Alan and John took off for their 67 mile ride, Janut, Bob and I walked around the Tobico Lagoon and saw a family of mute swans (they have a black mask and are native to Eurasia and each male will take over a 25 acre territory and will evict or kill native birds and threaten endangered wildlife...a beautiful beast). We also saw wood ducks and learned that wood ducks nest in trees (there are man-made nesting boxes around the lagoon). On the other side of the Tobico Lagoon is a short walk to Lake Huron (Saginaw Bay). I watched a blue heron take flight over the water. Unfortunately, animals are not allowed on the beach so Bob took out his frustrations by digging holes in the sand. Our next stop was the Bay City Riverwalk, a long wooden walking bridge that spans across the Saginaw River. It was very windy and my hair flew all over the place...one time I looked a little like the Wolverine from X-Men. The Riverwalk is nice place, but stinky (smelled like Fife, maybe a paper mill). After our walk we ate lunch out of the van. Then we drove to the tourist town of Frankenmuth, "Michigan's Little Bavaria" (it's like Washington's Leavenworth). Fifteen German immigrants founded Frankenmuth in 1845. We walked down the main drag (everyone liked Bob, can't count how many times we heard "what a cute dog"). The Cass River flows through town...looks cool because big boulders have been placed in neat rows in the river for a flood control project. We saw an enormous pile of hubbard squash next to a building (we have no idea why it was there, maybe for some kind of fall decoration). People kept going into a place called "Zehnder's Famous Frankenmuth Chicken Dinners", so I had to stop and check it out...I came out with a to-go plate of fried chicken, spätzle, grandma's dressing, and a dinner roll. Uh, I'm a little embarrassed to say that Janut and I ate a second lunch today. It was yummy. When we drove pass the "road closed ahead & local traffic only signs" to get to the highway, we ended up at Bronner's Christmas Wonderland at 25 Christmas Lane. Unbelievable! We did not go into the store (it was massive), we were running late so we just drove around the giant parking lot that had nativity scenes, polar bears, penguins, various Santas, reindeer, snow men, elves, angels, candy canes, gingerbread people...almost anything you can think of that's related to Christmas was in the parking lot...I can't imagine what it was like inside the store...crazy! We finally made it to the Sutter's Recreation Campground in North Branch, MI. When we arrived there was a happy old man walking around the campground pushing a lawnmower...I think he was using it for his walker. Oh, Janut and I did not eat any dinner (leftovers), hmmm I can't imagine why. LOL!
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Kevin Day 58 Bay City to North Branch, MI. 67 miles. Another start to the day under cloudy, threatening skies, but no rain! It's due to clean living, believe me. We navigated, with some difficulty, the bike paths through Bay City ( signage was nearly non-existent and the ACA maps just said to follow the bike paths through the city). There was a cool board walk bridge over the Saginaw River , and then we were back on the streets following USBRS 20 east to Frankenmuth. From Bay City to Frankenmuth was around 25 miles, and was into a 20mph headwind. We we glad to stop for lunch at the Frankenmuth Brewery (established 1862). Backroads took us to Millington, then we hopped on another paved rail trail that took us to Otter Lake and an afternoon break at the Otter Lake Bar for exotic, local beers. We are about halfway across the thumb now. One more night in Michigan.

Day 58 - Bay City to Sutter RV Park

Explorer Link: http://cyclemeter.com/a0571f7a21831ccb/Cycle-20160927-0833
Ride Time: 4:57:52
Stopped Time: 2:58:59
Distance: 67.70 miles
Average: 13.64 mph
Fastest Speed: 25.44 mph
Ascent: 334
Descent: 149
Calories: 4229

http://www.cyclemeter.com

Day 57 Lake George, MI-Bay City, MI

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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.

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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.

Day 57 - Lake George to Bay City

Explorer Link: http://cyclemeter.com/a0571f7a21831ccb/Cycle-20160926-0859
Ride Time: 4:39:46
Stopped Time: 3:01:53
Distance: 71.65 miles
Average: 15.37 mph
Fastest Speed: 23.70 mph
Ascent: 113
Descent: 674
Calories: 4503

http://www.cyclemeter.com

Day 56 Wolf Lake, MI-Lake George, MI

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Jo Day 56: This morning we had a nice chat with the new owner of the Day Star Motel at Wolf Lake, MI.  Kevin, Alan and John took off for Lake George, MI.  It was slim pickin's for sight-seeing, so we embraced the postings on the Roadside America app.  Janut,Bob and I drove to Baldwin to visit the "Shrine of the Pines" a collection of craft furniture made by Raymond Overholzer over the course of 30 years.  Sounded interesting, but we got there too early (imagine that) and we weren't going to wait around 2.5 hours for it to open, so all we saw were carved pine trees hanging from the closed wire gate.  Our next scheduled stop was the Rambadt Park in Reed City, MI where they claim to have a wooden replica of the Mackinac Bridge, it's called "Little Mac" Bridge.  What a riot, it's just a rickety old wooden suspension bridge...now we can say, "been there, done that."  Down the street was "The Old Rugged Cross" a memorial and museum about some old hymn written by Reverend George Bennard in 1912 (a drive by photo op while Janut played the song on the iPod).  We passed a logging mill, and then passed Kevin, John, and Alan on the road.  On our way to Lake George, we passed a farm with neat stacks of corn drying in the fields, so we turned around to take pictures (we do that a lot).  We had no idea that a guy named Jason in a black car was watching us...later on he pulled up next to us and asked if we were lost because he saw us twice (turning around) and thought he'd stop to see if we needed any help. Janut thanked him for stopping and for checking up on us, and told him we were not lost, we are traveling with cyclists and just like to take lots of pictures.  We continued on our drive and found the "Tice Trail" road, so we definitely had to take some pictures of the sign with the sprinter van.  Now, remember the nice guy, Jason?  Well, we were trying to drive around the perimeter of Lake George (sight-seeing), but the roads turned into narrow dirt roads, so at one point we had to turn around.  We pulled into a driveway with a black car to turn around, well, as we started to back up...what a shocker...we saw Jason get out if the black car, look at us, smiled and said "What are you doing here? Did you know this is where I live."  OMG, what are the chances of that?  We laughed and replied, "We had no idea, what a small world...and by the way, we are not stalking you!" We all had a good laugh!  We ended up chatting with Jason for half an hour, another nice guy.  We gave him our trip card so he could follow our adventures. Tonight we are camping at the Lake George Campground (very friendly new owners - according to Jason, the new owners fixed up the campground and the increase in campers has been very good for the local economy).  After laundry and dinner, we devoured lemon custard and creme de mint ice cream from the Jones' Homemade Ice Cream Palor in Baldwin, MI. Mmm...mmm...good!  The sunset?  Well, you could kind of see a little bit of it through the trees.  It's raining now, I hope the rain doesn't stick around.
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Kevin Day 56 Wolf Lake to Lake George, 60 miles. Today was fairly uneventful on the road-rolling hills through farmland. With only a couple of towns, we stopped only for lunch at a motel/restaurant/bar somewhere, and in village of Temple at the Buck Wild for an afternoon break. There's a significant Amish community in this part of central Michigan, and we saw some folks driving their carriages to town. Beyond that, just another low traffic day riding in rural Michigan. Tomorrow we ride to Bay City, which puts us across the mitt, and begins our trek across the thumb. It looks as it will start off rainy, hopefully is dry out during the day.