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| Elusive wild Michigan Peacock |
My Michigan tale begins in Marine City. This is where my blue water ferry deposited me after spending a few days in Ontario. I had a warmshowers all set up for the day, so I spent some time wandering the city after being treated oh so nicely by the border agents. Marine City, as I had and have seen, has been hit by the poor economic times. I have biked through countless small towns that have boarded up stores, for rent signs, or sometimes simply abandoned shops. It's sad in a way to see this death, but it also reminds me of the transient nature of life, and the bloated ego of humans. We care so much about these things we create, we fight and die over them. But they are nothing. They come, they go. The Earth could care less. So as I pass through small town America, sometimes busting, often not, I don’t feel sad but I feel humbled and happy that I am doing what I am doing to see what really matters, the Earth. Though what I have seen for most of my trip is farm land. Lots and lots of farm land.
From Marine City I went north towards Bay City where I camped a night at the Bay City State Park. Like in Ontario, I sadly wasn't able to pay for the pleasure of sleeping on their hallowed ground. I then went to Midland, a city too but more importantly the trail head for the Pere Marquette Rail Trail. The Pere Marquette Rail Trail is a 30 mile paved trail from Midland to Clare. It has tons of signage, 10 foot wide, well maintained pavement, rest areas, bathrooms, even free air along the way for bikes. It's a perfect example of how to take a non functional rail road and make it a multi use recreational path.
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| Warmshower host Dean wrenchin on a bike |
The path ended in the city of Clare. It was a cloudy day, but the jazz was flowing out of a nice coffee joint. A few stores down is the world famous, or so they claim, Cops and Doughnuts. I was compelled to purchase a ½ pound cinnamon roll which ended up fueling me sugar wise for the next several days. It was on this day that I also hit my first 1,000 miles, only two weeks after leaving Burlington. I ended the day at the Pere Marquette State Campground by Sunrise lake. This is where I set up my hammock for the first time. It took some fanagling, but I got in it. The mosquitoes ended the affair rather quickly. From Coleman, where I had stayed the night before, to the camp ground the terrain finally changed. The farms receded and the rolling forests came. It was such a nice change of pace, and my legs were screaming for some real riding.
(An aside: I am listening as I type this to Regina Spektor. She's good and writes really well. What she is singing about now is about loving yourself, and from there loving someone else, fully. And if that doesn't work out, you pick up your pieces and love yourself again, and work to love someone else again. There are many ups and downs, not just terrain wise, but in my head and heart as I bike. For these next four months, at least, I will more or less be alone as I travel. At times, this isn't a factor. Other times, it's hard. At times, my heart aches for what, and more importantly, whom, I have chosen to leave behind to venture into this unknown. I am supported by them as I travel, but that doesn't stop me from missing them. The people I meet along the way, the wonderful warmshower hosts, all of these people help fill the little voids in my heart, and help propel me forward. We all have our own issues, our own dark clouds that hang above us. And sometimes it pours, and it doesn’t seem like it will end. I can bike each day with a heavy heart for my friends and my family, for the life I ended to begin this one. Instead, and it's not always easy, I use the love and memories I have to help me even when its pouring to be able to look into the rain, and smile. This is winded and long, but its not just about the bike. I am 32 years old. Unsure of the direction I am heading, of the paths that I will trod down. I am trying to live a free and open life, at least for a while, to see where the road may take me. As always, thanks for coming along for the ride.)
Finally, after nearly a week in Michigan, I found the oft spoken of western coast. And it is all they said and more. I have left the barren, wasted farmlands and have entered the magnificent rolling hills, forests and woods, sweeping views of the Lake Michigan coast line, and I have even entered, officially, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lake shore. I have camped in two states parks, Manistee Forest and Orchard Beach, and as I sit next to Platte Lake, I look forward to my dune hike tomorrow. Its a 1,024ft sand dune that takes HOURS to hike up. Amazing.
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| Sunset over Lake Michigan |
So I made it east to west. Now I will follow this little peninsula for a bit till I curve around towards Traverse city, then head north again towards the 12th largest suspension bridge, the Mackinaw and begin my upper peninsula bike ride.As always, check out my picasa web albums (https://picasaweb.google.com/rossbikepics) as I keep adding more pictures. Till then....
3 comments:
I think you may have set up the hammock incorrectly, it's supposed be mosquito proof. The sunsets along the great lakes are some of the most beautiful out there.
Thanks for sharing the "long" and "winded" ramblings about the life you left behind to embark on your current journey. It adds real human emotion to the blog - and makes me more convinced than ever that you should write a book.
We miss you in Burlington! :)
You're a good writer, Ross. And your comments about travelling at 32 reminded me of our own travels, which began in earnest when I was in my mid-30s. You can probably do it almost without thinking if you travel right after graduation, but in your 30s, you're leaving behind so much more accumulation - career, people, stuff - it's a much bigger step. But as Evan always says: When you're lying on your deathbed, you're never gonna say, "Gee, I regret all that travelling I did." It'll become part of who you are.
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