i left my wonderful pine forest camp in the morning, 47 deg at 7am, so i wore my long sleeve shirt and the jacket. 25 miles along the pere marquette trail and i ended up in midland. the trail terminates/starts at 'the tridge'. that would be an interesting three directional bridge, pedestrians and cyclists only, thank you. and the wednesday farmer's market was going on.
the pine river and chippewa river join together on the southwest side of town. less than a mile downstream they join the tittabawassee river in the heart of town. the city has built a beautiful park around the rivers. there is a circular, covered farmer's market, a chippewa nature center, and 'the tridge'. 'the tridge' spans the three different branches of the river at the fork, connecting the chippewa trail and the pere marquette. cool.
loni was selling her fruit pies and jellies on the outside of the ring. she stopped me to talk and offered me a taste of her apple sauce. she uses cinnamon more than sugar to bring out the flavor. she's quite proud of using only 1/2 to 1/3 of the normal amount of sugar in her pies et al. i had to tell her about the time i made an apple pie and left all the sugar out by mistake. that didn't work. according to loni, a report said that midland was the third best farmer's market in the state.
after midland, i made a mistake. rare, i know.
i didn't have a fixed route selected, but i needed to get to the east side of saginaw and bay city. i consulted the oracle, and google maps indicate riding through bay city and down. going through saginaw is shorter, cuts the diagonal, and there were some greenways, so why wouldn't i go that way? well, now i can tell you. saginaw sucks.
the countrside was pretty getting there, riding through corn and soy bean fields. one of the things i love about the midwest, is seeing steeples in the distance, rising above the fields and tree lines. the lutherans and catholics could teach the baptists a few things about the relationship between architecture and the soul.
but saginaw sort of begins the industrialized portion of michigan. the roads are vicious. local highways with narrow lanes and no shoulders. drivers do not give you a warm and safe feeling. the automobile is king, but the roads are pretty shoddy kingdoms and riding the sidewalks threatens to rattle your bike into little pieces.
i failed to look far enough ahead and notice that the river gives limited opportunity for crossing, but i made adjustments and carried on. one thing that google does not show, unless one uses 'streetview', is what kind of neighborhood to expect. with the auto industry and the recession, came economic colapse, and saginaw has had it's share. i was lucky to ride through some of it. we're not talking the projects, but mostly single family housing. nonetheless, i didn't really think it was a good idea to stop and look around. it was here that i got yelled at for the first time on the entire trip. an overweight woman driving a minivan was having a bad day, i guess, and felt i was taking up too much of the road. horn honking and some verbal abuse followed. i moved over a little and didn't pay her any mind, she turned at the corner and went on. a couple of people glanced over to see what was hapenning, but they were disappointed in the end. i rode a little more determined to move along, crossed over a highway, and the world changed. i was back to german corn and soybean farms and another paved bike trail. interesting how a single road can draw such a line.
i passed up the chance to go to frankenmuth, the german christmas theme town. we've been there before with greg's family. i headed into vassar, down route 15, so called 'state historical route - recreation'. decent shoulder on a 2 lane, but a lot of vehicles. things were definitely starting to get more populated. drank a quart of chocolat milk and reached milligan, where the 10 mi. 'southern links trailway' begins. ate dinner at a small family diner in the four block downtown before heading down the rails to trails looking for a place to camp for the night.
just before dark, i reached the little hamlet of otter lake and a few hundred yards pass that i saw a house tucked in the woods with a sign 'bike depot' and lots of lawn space. who better to ask for a place to pitch a tent? so i did. ended up talking with joe for about an hour while the mosquitos warmed up and started feeding. he told me all about the history of the area, how otter lake has fallen off economically, and how he'd love to bring back some commercial enterprise built around the recreational opportunities there. his house apparently was the original train stop in the old days. he considers the house and the 7 acres he owns as a little piece of heaven. i certainly enjoyed the night, tucked in under the trees.
in the morning, i was up and running around 7:30. seems like the eastern time zone has set me back to a later wake up time, or i'm getting tired. either way, i had only 35 mi. to go to greg's home. i stopped in lapeer for breakfast. the only cafe i could find was a tim horton's. tim horton is an ex canadian hockey player who started a chain of stores similar to dunkin donuts. they do serve chai lattes, but in a way i've never had before. they put chai bags in hot water, pour in the steamed milk, ask if you want sugar, and serve it to you. you take out the bags.
from there, it was a simple ride down baldwin road. since leaving the bike trail, the terrain was rolling hills. i'm not sure what the parameters google maps uses to choose bike routes, but one of the things you can't be sure of when you consult the oracle is whether the roads are paved or not. the first section of baldwin is paved, the middle section is not, the last section was. if one is not in a hurry, dirt roads are fine. michigan's dirt roads are rough, but if you go slow and pick the way, it's okay. there was a pleasant little cemetary to stop at for a short break.
by noon i was pulling into my brother's place, by 12:30 i had a shower and was settling into tea and cookies.
No comments:
Post a Comment