When I was packing for this trip I kept thinking about the MUP tour in 2019 when I was so cold at night (in late July, in the Upper Peninsula) that I was wearing most of my clothes in bed to get warm enough to sleep. Not so on this trip.

It was so hot and still last night that I couldn’t sleep down here in the Lower Peninsula either. Had to leave the tent door open; it was just too warm otherwise. Around 10pm a strong wind picked up which helped, but it remained bad sleeping weather. I didn’t get very good rest, and woke up a lot. It thundered quite a bit in the middle of the night, and there were a few rain patters, but I heard today that the major weather missed us.

After breakfast and a rather inefficient time packing up and preparing to ride, I rolled out around 8am and enjoyed a couple hours of quiet Sunday morning riding. Went through quite a bit of farmland, which transitioned to deep green forest, with some sporadic prairie patches thrown in. The roadside wildflowers were beautiful, different types in white, pink, purple, and yellow, and I saw some nifty small, quick, bright yellow birds I’d never seen before . It was a nice was to start the day.

Our first point of interest was the Cherry Point Farm Market. I really wanted a bowl of deep red cherries based on the name, but didn’t see any. They did have a bunch of Michigan-themed merchandise, and also baked goods. I had some old-fashioned donuts. I have zero food guilt on a bike tour.

Unfortunately, the riding became less enjoyable as I pulled out of the Cherry Point Farm Market. From out of nowhere it seemed came ALL the recreational vehicles. Big manly pickups towing apartment-sized campers, and house-sized busses towing little cars. We were approaching Silver Lake, everyone crawling along at bicycle speed on a narrow curvy road until the next RV could pass.

I have to wonder at some of my fellow riders. Even when we had a nice, wide, beautiful shoulder on the right of the white line, I saw many riders a foot or two (or more) to the left of the white line, well into the traffic lane. I get that we are legally allowed to ride over there, but I feel much better riding as far away from the irritated drivers as I can. And nothing irritates a driver more than a bunch of bicycles. Men in large manly pickup trucks are especially irritated. One man scowled at me as he went by. Bicycles must offend his manly sensibilities. It’s funny, he’s dragging around a damn house, but I’m the problem.

Silver Lake has a nice name but isn’t my kind of town. The entire economy appears to be based on catering to people who want to drive around on the sand dunes. It reminded me of Myrtle Beach, except focused on sand dunes and not the ocean. Added to the various campers were many lifted trucks and Jeeps with their tall, little orange flags. Shows you’re in the “dune life” club I guess. I saw one Jeep with a large “Got Sand?” decal on the back window (still less annoying than the ubiquitous Salt Life decals in Florida). To each their own.

Riding away from there, we reached an intersection where almost all the traffic turned right, and we went straight. Things got much nicer after that. Back to the woods and prairie patches and the occasional body of water.

The weather was pretty much in my favor today. I encountered a lot of wet roads, but I missed the storms. I got sprinkled on (once a little more than a sprinkle), but nothing like I had been picturing based on the talk at dinner last night. It was much cooler today, but super humid. The cloud cover was nice; no sunscreen needed.

The Michigan roads did live up to my low expectations today, with some stretches made up entirely of what I think of as blob patching, accompanied by some ruts and holes. Sage the gravel bike handled it all beautifully though. Sorry, Bianca.

The next town was Pentwater. It was a cute lake-themed place featuring a busy main street lined with shops and Sunday pedestrians. I didn’t bother stopping though. I wasn’t hungry and didn’t need any souvenirs. Plus, I was starting to feel the late-ride determination to keep at it.

A few miles after this I managed to miss an important turn, and things just started to feel wrong. As I was pedaling over a major highway I really began to doubt myself and stopped to look. Fortunately we tour riders have access to the routes on the Ride with GPS service, so I was able to get back on track.

I had downloaded all the routes last week to my Garmin hoping to avoid this situation, but today’s course directed me wrongly pretty early on, so I gave up on it. I’ll try again tomorrow. Contrary to what you might picture, I ride by myself a lot on these tours. I prefer that actually, until I need reassurance that I’m on the right road.

The last 15 miles were nice riding. Going around Bass Lake was especially pretty and enjoyable. When we turned west towards Lake Michigan, I had to stop at this roadside attraction:

Just around the curve and up a hill was the last SAG stop, where I downed an entire bottle of Gatorade in about two minutes (guess I was thirsty). Only 7 or 8 miles to go and time for the hilliest hills of the day. No big deal to some, but on tired legs I could have done without them. My two years riding here in Michigan have definitely improved my climbing abilities though. Moderate hills are not nearly as hard as they used to be.

I arrived in Ludington around 2pm, gratefully wheeling in to OJ De Jonge Junior High School. I grabbed a nice spot near a sappy Pine tree, my back to the rest of the camp so I can leave the door open without having to pretend to ignore passers-by.

Nothing ever felt so good as today’s shower, after a sweaty, damp, dirty day. Once I was cleaned up I napped for a while, a nice cool breeze coming in the door, the cloud cover keeping it around 75 degrees. Quite pleasant.

Dinner was good, and I was ravenous. Had nice conversation with some new people, and now I’ve retired back to my tent. Going to read for a bit (a book; I’m challenging myself to avoid my usual web wasting and doom scrolling this trip). I’ve checked in with Karlene and the kitties are hanging out with her, so while there is a definite lack of cats in my life right now, I’m glad to know they are happy (I’m going to assume they miss me though, ha!).

Going to shoot for an 8am departure again for tomorrow’s 64 miles to Frankfort. They’re forecasting rain again, but I’ll worry about that as it comes.

Ride on!