Day 37. Ludington, MI to Leroy, MI

The light day and the ferry ride yesterday were a welcome change and I truly enjoyed the boat trip. However, I was hoping I would feel more rested than I did when I retired for the night.  My legs felt like they were full of a couple of thousand miles and were not as fresh after a light day as they had been. 

Ludington was quite a nice town, with active farmers markets and active Main Street on a Friday night.  Just beyond the restaurants were lines of several old historical homes, many that had been converted to Bed and Breakfast.  Further down the road was an Inn that I stayed in for the evening.  Ola Kvalaag, originally, was the Innkeeper that greeted me and showed me to my room.  There are scant few things on this trip where my wife would want to join me.  This would be one of them.  Charming and cozy are words that spring to mind and certainly well beyond the campgrounds, recently. 

Ola allowed me to put my bicycle in the garage and informed me that breakfast in the morning is typically served at 9 am, but there will be some fruit, cereal, coffee and juices out by 7am.  He showed me to my room as we creaked our way up the wooden stairs.  There were other guests and no one could come and go quietly.  

After a restful night, breakfast was indeed ready to go as I heard them and smelled it early.  The "pre-breakfast" assortment consisted of fruit dishes, blueberry muffins, cinnamon rolls,  fresh homemade bread (mmm), Ola's grandfather's oatmeal recipe that had to be seen and tasted.  Along with juices, coffee and tea.  Oh yeah, there were small plates of eggs and bacon, before breakfast.   I literally stuffed myself and decided to rest a bit longer, simply for my legs that I was whining about, of course.  Not because of the accommodations.  Nope. Not at all.  


The route today was literally on a designated US bike route.  Much of it was bike lanes on the road, but most of it was just the regular county roads.  It is great that there is work done on designated bike routes.  Many cyclist out this morning using the route and one such group came at me and gave a raucous cheer of encouragement.  It worked. 

After about 18 miles outside the town, the woods and forest turned angry.  There were signs literally on every third tree or so warning of no trespassing and keep out.  Some were of the mass produced signs, others on old siding and plywood were hand spray painted in red the same succinct warnings.  The latter certainly gave the feeling that more severe consequences would befall those that crossed the warning signs, perhaps beyond what the law allowed.  Trust me, I did not venture off the road.  

The ride was good and my legs did feel better with the rest, after all.  The scenes were not spectacular, as the more majestic farms and homesteads of the previous day were replaced by simply a more rural setting near the woods.  It was a beautiful day for riding however and that is what I did, simply enjoyed the bike ride.  

There always seem to be a peculiar event each day.  Today a Harrier swooped down the  trees, turned in front of me and escorted me for a hundred yards or so before flying up into a leafless, dead tree and stared back at me as if to say, the coast is clear.  Have a good ride.  It was not the first time a bird had flown along with me.   I have had a killdeer fly sporadically with me for nearly a mile in North Dakota.  Swooping back and forth in front of the road in a combination of running and flying fits and starts.  One particular, peculiar Canadian goose did the floppy running attempted take off for several yards in front of me one day.  Only to stop and start again a couple of times before taking off for good.  

I reach my destination just outside of Leroy, MI.  I am at the Sunrise Lake State park where it is as quiet as you could want. I showed myself to my tent site for the evening and explained to myself that Quaker Oats Instant Maple and Brown sugar oatmeal will be served from the Jerboil at around 6:30 or 7 in the morning for breakfast. 

Moose Search: 0.  
Kevin Conner, my friend, did some research and found out there were rare few moose in Wisconsin.  They have spotted like 3, or something.  He informed of this a few days ago.  While yes that news was dispiriting, spotting one in Wisconsin would have even been more note worthy, so I charged on. Ah, to no avail, I of course did not see what did not exist. The moose that were spotted by others in Wisconsin were  believed to have been from those in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan where there are hundreds of Moose. I am in Michigan now, so the search continues. 

Tomorrow is off to Midland, MI.  They are predicting rain tomorrow, so I will get the rain gear ready.  

Song in my head. Smokey Robinson/Temptations: My Girl.