Yes, dear reader, water does, indeed seem to be the theme for this trip. But, today’s water was nice, well-behaved water. Water that flowed down rivers. Water that travelled down creeks. Water that made lots and lots of small inland lakes (although ponds might be a better name). And water that made big lakes. Now, we haven’t gotten to one of the great lakes, but, definitely we visited water today. I sssssooo much prefer when I can visit water on my own terms, eh?
The day started by exploring Big Rapids. It is a college town and a tourist town. The river front is lovely and we took our time leaving town. Okay…we should have visited it on the way into town yesterday, but….as I might have mentioned, maybe just a little bit crankily, yesterday’s water was not polite well-behaved water and by the time we reached town the priorities were clean up and warm up. So today, we made up for it and explored before we left town.
The road today was 100% paved rails-to-trails…and that means flat, flat, flat and no gravel today (happy dance). Sure we gained 1200′ in 40 miles but when the maximum gradient is 1.5% it really doesn’t matter. I was so very, very glad to see no gravel today. Still, I picked up a piece of glass and put a hole in my new tire. Sigh…but, that’s the first on-the-road flat in several thousand miles. I cannot be blamed for it…although I did hear one or two disparaging words from the humans. Sigh….and all that I do for them.
But, it was an awesome day, dear reader. If we could be so lucky as to have days like today for the rest of the trip, I might actually stop being a snarky bicycle…naw…that’ll never happen, will it?
Travels With Edwina 