Days 40 & 41

JULY 18 Ludington to Pere Marquette State Forest, MI

Riding in Michigan, we soon discovered that it was a flat state... even when compared to North Dakota. The scenery was interesting: at times it felt like Oregon (a very hot and humid Oregon) minus the mountains; at times it felt like Ohio, corn stretching on forever, with the occasional barn or cow pasture; and at times it felt like Louisiana, the marshy creeks and deciduous forests conjuring images of the bayou. But despite the ever-changing scenery, the pancake flat miles wore on us, numbing our minds; each pedal stroke became more and more difficult as we drew slowly closer to our campground.

Sunrise Lake Campground was nearly deserted when we got there that evening. There was no real running water at the campground (beside an old metal hand pump) which meant no real toilets and no real showers. But, because the campground was mostly empty, dad decided to make due with the hand pump. I walked over to him to ask him something, figuring he was just filling the pots, to see him wearing only his t-shirt and scrubbing busily at his legs. I gasped and spun around, heading back to the campsite. A few minutes later, dad returned, smiling at my embarrassment, "Looks like I have some pretty amazing timing!" he said, nodding at some cars just now driving into the campground, "I just beat the rush!" By comparison, my 'shower' was much more modest, but much less cleansing, as I only dabbed above my waist with a wet towel.

After dinner, as I climbed into my tent, I discovered that the slugs at Sunrise Lake Campground decided my tent made a good jungle gym, slithering all over the inside of my rain fly! Luckily, these were only tiny ones, no more than an inch long, but I was still flicking them off my fly all evening, shivering at the thought that one might discover how to get into my tent.

JULY 19 Pere Marquette State Forest to Sanford, MI

I woke up the next morning to find three new slugs staring at me through my tent's mesh ceiling. Horrified, I raced to pack up my sleeping bag and thermarest, then ripped off my rain fly and shook it out, hoping to dislodge my unwanted guests; in the end, I had to resort to prodding them off with twigs. We ate breakfast, then left camp around 7:30, riding off into our first foggy morning since Washington.

Forty miles into our day, we stopped in the town of Clare, and made the mistake of shopping for lunch on very empty stomachs. We came away from the grocery store with tons of food; lunch that afternoon was a feast. The last 30 miles of our day were on a beautifully kept rail-to-trails path, possibly some of the best riding of the entire tour: there was no traffic, smooth asphalt, and best of all, no raccoons smeared halfway across the path, reeking for a quarter mile radius (roadkill has become a growing nuisance the farther east we get... I'm not really sure why.) In Sanford, basically our final destination for the evening, we asked a couple unloading bikes from the back of their truck for directions to a grocery store. We got to talking, as the woman, Sharon, quizzed us about our ride. "Well, thank you for the directions!"dad said, "we'll let you two get off on your ride."
"Not much of a ride compared with you two!" Sharon said.
"Hey, you're riding bikes. That's what counts!" dad told her.

We stayed in Black Creek Campground, another state campground, meaning great scenery, but no showers. Since this park was more populated, dad had to leave his clothes on , but we both rinsed off at the spigot, wearing only our bike shorts. Dinner was noodles with tomatoes, veggies, and sausage, and we decided to get fancy for dessert, stacking our pots together to use as a double boiler (a trick Pat showed us) so we could cook a blueberry cake (yes, out of a box mix, but still....)