Grand Rapids Again.

We decided to get a room Saturday. Rose and I met up around noon at the motel. It was super conveniently located. Rose only had to ride 3 miles. She was loaded down from the box of food Mom mailed us. We sure appreciate it. It was a big box of non-perishables that we bought at a discount store before we left. There was over 15 pounds of food. That will really help our budget! Thank You Mom! We were like children at Christmas and couldn’t wait to open the box. We couldn’t remember what all we packed so it was exciting to go through it. It didn’t take long until every available surface in our room was cluttered up as we repacked and organized.

We only got halfway through repacking when it was time for a nap. Rose had been up since 3am and was very tired. She slept around 3 hours. I dozed off a little but mostly looked at maps and read. It was a restful day.

We were up way to late last night. I guess the naps did their job too well. It was after midnight when I finally fell asleep. Still though we were up by 6 and took full advantage of the breakfast. We were on the road by 10:30. There were some interesting things that we went by. One was Moosejaw. Moosejaw is a outdoor sports equipment store. I have only ordered gear from them online. I was really surprised to see one, of course we had to stop! It was fun looking at all the latest and lightest camping equipment. But I kept our budget in mind and did not purchase a single thing. That took will power! Shortly after that we went through what I assumed was a city park. It was a park but it is also where President Gerald Ford is buried. It was a nice day for riding but I was ready to leave the city behind.

Around 2 o’clock we got on the Musketawa Rail trail. It was paved and peaceful! We continued at a leisurely pace. A bit before sunset we came across a picnic pavilion. We hung our hammocks under it and made it our home for the night. Dinner was whatever we could find. Neither one of us was hungry enough to feel like cooking.I had yogurt, cheetos and some scrabled eggs with sausage gravy leftover from our motel breakfast.

We packed up and were on the road by 9 am today. We are headed back to the shore of Lake Michigan and then up to the Upper Peninsula. Even though its not the most direct way, We chose this route because so much is on bike trails. Also it’s close to water and I love to swim. The only place that we will have rode twice is the 30 mile section from Muskegon to Hart. Looking at a map we made kind of a square when we had to back track to Grand Rapids. I have really enjoyed Exploring Michigan and don’t mind the extra miles.

There were a lot of apple trees along the trail today. We stopped and ate several and picked a few to go. Also wild grapes. We ate a few handfuls of grapes but decided to leave them for the birds. They were very tart and after spitting out the two or three seeds in each o e there wasn’t much left besides the skin. I also found two small puffball mushrooms. About the size of baseballs.

We met another cyclist, Ben riding from Wisconsin to Rochester, NY. When the subject of foraging wild food came up, he traded us some lemon grass for one of the puffballs. Good luck and tailwinds on your trip Ben.