Day 5 - Hart to Grand Haven..
I woke up in a bed and thought I was still dreaming and pinched myself then reality took over, time to get going. It was nice to sleep in a bed instead of sleeping on the ground for the last 4 days. Packed up and got on the road at 8:15. One my goals was to get on the road before 8:00am everyday, so far I have not yet met that goal. Since I did not have breakfast in the Motel room, decided to get on the road and search out for a place to eat. Today will be mostly rail trails, I started out on the Hart-Montague rail trail and about 2 miles I hit a small town of Mears, found a Antique dealer that served a few breakfast items such as bagels, donuts and coffee, I went for the bagel and coffee, had good conversation with the lady who owned shop.
Back on the rail trail around 9:30am, the rail-trail was built in the early to mid 80's, I remember living in Michigan and riding this trail around 1984-85, so its almost 30 years old. So it is interesting to see how new tails have advanced in construction and design since this one was built. This trail is narrower than new rail trail systems and I see no drainage on this trail. Some sections have lots of cracks and buckling protruding at least an inch upward, which makes a very bumpy ride. This is probably because too much water build up underneath and the freezing and thawing . While riding my side view mirror attached to my lower handlebar fell off where the screw came loose and fell out, I stopped to retrieve the mirror, but could not find the screw. Luckily I have my helmet mirror as a backup. As the bumpy ride continued I then lost one my water bottles, turned around to pick it up. I finally came upon a new section of the trail and now was smooth riding.
My plans for the day are to meet up with my Cousin Bill in Muskegon and have lunch with him around 1:00pm. I called him and asked him for a good place to meet up and I gave him some road names I will be ridding through town, then he came up with a place to meet up at the Olive Tree Cafe. While on route through Muskegon I come upon another bicycle tourist, I slow down to stop and say "Hi" but he passed right on by and kept going. I thought it was customary to stop and exchange general information about your tour with your fellow cycle tourists, but I guess that's not the always the case. I then continued on a trail that took me along Lake Muskegon which was a real nice view all around the lake, then ADD set in and I was not watching my route on the phone to get to the restaurant and missed a few turns, had to re-route my Google maps. I wish Google had auto re-route feature for bicycling as they do for car driving. So finally I arrive at the restaurant around 1:00pm, had a Gyro and had good conversation with my Cousin for about an hour.
Around 2:00pm I got back on the road where my next stop is to meet up with my Brother Rich at his vacation bungalow in Grand Haven. I give him a call around 3:00pm to tell him I'm a half hour out, but the phone rings twice then stops,.hmm maybe is on his boat way out on lake Michigan out of cell range I try a few more time but no avail. I arrive around 3:30 and no one was home, but the door was unlocked, so I opened it yelled if anyone was home but no answer and then proceeded in. Just to make sure I'm in the right place I look down and see size 13 shoes on the floor, that's a good sign that I'm in the right place. I proceed to look around for more evidence, I see a picture of my Bro and Kathy together and said "Bingo" and head straight for the fridge for a beer. Went back outside and had a cigar and drink a few more beers. I tried to call again but no avail. About 4:30pm my bro shows up he was at the store picking up a few boating items; come to find out I had his old cell phone number in my phone.
We then took a ride to the marina where the boat is docked and to fix up some things. Kathy and her kids and my Niece Meredith also meetup with us on the boat where we disembarked around 5:30 to go tubing on lake Michigan. This is what Michigan is all about in the summer, a beautiful large lake where water temperature was 76 degrees and the air temperature in the 90s and sunny. What a way to cool off after riding 60 miles. The kids all went tubing and had a blast flying through the air. Then it was the older crowd to give it a try, so Kathy and I jump on, my bro said he would take easy, but he fibbed and floored it. I was hoping maybe since I was a lot heavier than the kids, the boat would be slower, but my fat ass was no match for twin V8's. We stayed on the tube for about 10 minutes, I saw Kathy fall off so I let go as well, I was getting too much water up my nose. Overall it was a fun to see how long I could stay up on the tube. No pictures to busy meeting up and getting around today.Tommorrow I have a day off to relax and go back out on the boat.
Google Map of today's ride http://goo.gl/maps/DNm03
Stats:
Avg 11.8Mph
No roadkill..rode mostly rail trails
Temperature was mid 90's but humidity was lower than yesterday
No comments:
Post a Comment