I went through areas like Frankenmuth, which is a neo-Bavarian tourist town. Lots of nice shops and restaurants along the way. I skirted Bay City and made my way over toward Bad Axe where I spent the night. Lots of heat and humidity. The roads were great except for the small portion that turned out to be gravel for about a half mile. Sometimes the map isn't very clear about stuff like that. I like to tour with an open agenda and little formal planning. Just ride and end up where you end up. I stayed the night in Bad Axe because I like the name of the place.
Day Two: All went well until I experienced a catastrophic drivetrain problem in a little town called Unionville. At this point I was only 35 miles from my car, so I stayed with my gear and my friend Mark peddled on to get the car, and then drove back to get me. Note to self: Get your derailleur and cables check over before the ride, especially on a 10 year old Bianchi with 10,000 miles on it... Otherwise the Bianchi did great.
This scenic river flows into Lake Huron.
On a whim, I took a side road into this park and was glad I did. I sat there for a while beside the still waters and restoreth my soul.
Here is Pigeon, Michigan which, like the namesake of the town itself was a great place
to roost for a short time. I sat on the bench in the picture, fluttered around a bit, made a lot of noise, annoyed the passers-by and talked to locals about the humidity. I'm not sure a pigeon would do the latter, but I did. I refrained from pooping on any statuary, which was also very unpigeonlike of me. Overall a scenic little town with friendly folks.
Next year I will do another ride somewhere. I have all winter to plan it. And maybe do some bike maintenance. New cables, derailleur tuneup. And definitely take less stuff with me. I must ask this question of everything in my panniers. "Do I really need to peddle this?" Every ounce takes energy to move it.
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