No Room at the Inn

To Lowell, Michigan -- 65.0 miles, 12.2 mph, 775 ft

Dex and Kylie were super excited that we finally decided to camp. Guess we’ve just been lazy… and tired… and it's been cold… and, besides, there have been tons of generous and friendly Warm Showers hosts to take us in! They were so excited, in fact, they even volunteered to set up the tent, not unpacked since camping in Gloucestershire last August.

All in all, it was really a beautiful ride today, probably one of our best. We were paranoid however looking at the PredictWind app to see continued strong southwesterly winds turning to full westerly later in the day. We figured the best solution was to get out early (not our strong suit) to get down the road and beat the wind.  And, at 7:10 a.m., we were rollin’!  Fortunately, I decided to trust Google today and stay off of highway 21. The Fred-Meijer-Clinton-Ionia-Shiawasee Trail ran pretty much all the way from Owosso to Lowell. We tried to avoid it at first since it was dirt and gravel, but, in the end, it was a godsend. Thanks to the nearby trees on each side, we were generally shielded from the worst of the wind… and no cars!

Since we wanted to be closer to our good friends, Ben and Lydia in Grand Haven, we planned to keep our final destination open. We made it to the first possible destination at 1:45 p.m. where we revived ourselves with cheese sandwiches (the kids), lemon meringue pie (Meg) and a chocolate malt (me). Kylie was not particularly interested in continuing, but she eventually gave in, persuaded by the hope of an earlier finish tomorrow.

Flags a blowin'

The Grand River

Second lunch in Ionia

She seemed to be in high spirits for the last sixteen miles.  She and Dex were busy finding shapes in the clouds and making trades with their considerable candy supply. No reasonable parent would permit such excess, but sugar is one of our main staples these days. And, hopefully, a happy and hyper kid translates into a good stoker!

Our flexible-destination plan had one tiny flaw. We didn't actually book a room, so the one and only Inn in Lowell was full. No campgrounds or B&Bs were within the distance we still wanted to ride (that is, about a hundred feet!) Fortunately, Mike at the General store made a call and confirmed we could camp at the fairgrounds. Yippee. As long as the wind doesn't blow down the tent, we’re golden.