Day 8

Friday, September 7, 2012

Ludington - Holland
108 Miles

Ride Data

After yesterdays tough hot day I slept like a rock on a bed that felt like a cloud.  But, in the morning I awoke to cloudy gray skies and a forecast that called for a 70% chance of rain.  The morning was quite chilly and windy so I zipped the legs onto my shants and headed out to grab breakfast. While walking up the street I looked out over the lake and saw black clouds slowly moving in toward me and knew that I was defiantly going to see rain today.  I thought to myself that after 7 days of perfect weather I wasn’t going to complain about one day of rain.

Just getting ready to rain at the start of Day 8

I went to eat at this little diner uptown and had a great French toast breakfast but after I polished off that first one I was still so hungry I ordered another French Toast breakfast and ate that entire thing as well.  As the days passed I certainly seemed to be developing quite an appetite.  But as I dialed in my nutrition I realized that the on bike nutrition was just as important as the off bike nutrition which I hadn’t really planned for.  So, with two great breakfasts to start the day I walked back to the room and got ready to head out.  Setting out that morning there was a chilly breeze and the clouds continued to increase off to my right over the lake.  After only about an hour the slow drizzle started.  I was still detouring around gravel roads and trying to avoid dead ends which were becoming more common.  As the rain picked up I took the lenses out of my glasses so I could see but, still wear my rear view mirror which was clipped to the side of my glasses.  The rain was really coming down now and I was glad to have a built in rain cover in my little trunk bag.

Dark clouds moving in

I rode along quite content in the rain with no problems for another hour or so.  During this time I was climbing a hill when I felt a little pop in my left ankle.  I didn’t think much of it and I was able to continue but it was sore and would continue to bother me for the rest of the trip.  I’m not sure what it was but possibly the cold weather tightening up my muscles or maybe I just pulled something?  I’ll never know.

I rode through the rain until I got to the town of Mears, Michigan where I was to pick up the Hart Montague Bike Trail that would take me all the way to Muskegon.  I detoured for a mile or two to meet a friend at a restaurant outside of town.  Actually I had never met the person before but the woman was the step-mom of a coworker of mine and owned a restaurant there.  I debated stopping because it was cold and rainy and I just wanted to keep going.  But, I stopped in to say hi anyway, unfortunately it was only 10:30 am and the restaurant wasn’t open and the friend wasn’t there.  However, I did meet a really nice old lady who was waiting for the restaurant to open.  She asked what I was doing and we sat on a bench just inside the restaurant and talked for a while.  I told her about my World Bicycle Relief fundraising efforts and she insisted on helping out.  She wrote me a check right then and there and passed along some words of wisdom.  “If you see any other little old lady drivers out there… WATCH OUT!” We both laughed although I think we both knew she wasn’t kidding.

Canopy of trees on trail to Muskegon

I backtracked to the start of the trail and picked up my ride south to Muskegon.  The trail was very pleasant and the rain was tapering off a bit.  It was a little hilly but the trail was mostly shrouded in trees on both side with a dense canopy of green leaves overhead to block lots of the wind and rain.  It was a very pretty ride and there was absolutely no one else out there, which wasn’t surprising for a rainy Friday morning.  I cruised through the woods for at least two hours more.  The rain picked up again but would tapper off just as quickly as it started.  I rode through the town of Whitehall where it was raining pretty good.  There was a river with a wide wooden bridge that I rode across.  I stopped to see if there were any fish in the shallow river but I couldn’t see anything.  It was really starting to get windy and cold at this point so I kept on moving to keep my heart rate up and stay warm.

Pancake trail and turkeys running into the ditch

Stopping on bridge for a picture. Now its raining good

Not long after passing Whitehall I hit a really long stretch of newly paved, pancake flat, trail that went straight to Muskegon.  I saw numerous flocks of turkeys along this route and the rain continued off and on.  Finally I got off the trail and detoured to the highway which took me into Muskegon.  The road snaked along and crossed a couple more rivers.  There were huge factories and power plants along the lakefront making the town look really industrial.  It was exciting because I knew this was the town that my dad grew up in and also that I was getting close to Grand Haven.

Coming into Muskegon

As a kid growing up in Iowa my brothers and I didn’t get a chance to see my Michigan relatives much.  Usually twice a year my dad would load us up in the car and drive to Grand Haven to visit my grandpa.  I have great memories of this part of my childhood and was getting really excited to ride them on this trip.  I breezed through Muskegon after picking my way through some shady looking downtown neighborhoods.  I got on a windy back road that went right along the lake and started the next leg of the trip into Grand Haven.

Grand Haven boardwalk at the harbor

Peter Pup stand

The Grand Haven channel

The rain was tapering off and as the sun started to peek out I got really excited to get there.  I flew through the next 20 miles or so and made a right turn that took me to the drawbridge over the Grand River and Spring Lake.  I remember going over this bridge as a kid and there was a harbor in Spring Lake that my grandpa took us fishing out of one time.  I found a bike trail over the bridge and rode into downtown Grand Haven.  Here I split off and rode to the docks on the Grand River where we used to go as kids and eat corn dogs.  They called them Pronto Pups but we would call them Peter Pups. I laughed because the stand was still there and exactly as I remembered.  The docks were crowded with boats and I stopped at the fish cleaning station where we would watch the fisherman clean fish as a kid.  It was really fun to reminisce at these old places from my childhood.  I rode slowly down the boardwalk past the musical fountains, the Coast Guard Station and the beach. 

The bike in front of the Coast Guard Station

Me on the boardwalk with the pier in the background

I stopped to have my picture taken in front of the pier and the coast guard station.  I chatted briefly with a couple ladies who took my picture and although they were really interested in my trip and wanted to hear more I was excited to get to the pier.  Finally, I rode to the campground we used to walk through as kids and stopped in front of a bench to eat a Jimmy Johns sandwich I had bought coming into town.  This was the only day I actually stopped for lunch but I wanted to relax and look at the pier and reminisce.

I sat and ate my sandwich overlooking the lake and the pier and remembered coming here as a kid and fishing off the pier with my grandpa and riding in his huge car through town.  My grandpa had a big Cadillac and whenever he would give us a ride he would constantly tell us not to touch anything.  One time we kept pushing the window button up and down until it finally broke.  I remember he was so mad; Funny, that is the last memory I have of riding in his Cadillac.

Stopped at this bench to eat a sandwich and look at the pier

By-De-Zee

After a nice little lunch and a rest I got going again and rode on past the beach and the By-De-Zee hotel we stayed at once with my dad.  It looked pretty much the same only someone had painted it brown instead of the blue it was when my dad and brothers and I stayed there.  A funny memory I have of By-De-Zee was when we got there and checked in my dad ordered a roll away bed for my brother.  A minute later we see a guy struggling up the stairs with a giant queen size mattress.  That was the “roll away” bed.  He set it up in the living room of our room and it took up the entire room.

I was feeling great leaving Grand Haven not just because of the rest but because of the great memories I was reliving.  As I left town I spotted the big old church that was just down the street from my grandpa’s house.  So I made a detour and rode by his old house which looked about the same as I remember.  I laughed thinking of the time my grandpa rented a pop up camper for us three boys to stay in rather than have us stay in the house.  He would say later that during the night he looked out the window of the house and the camper was just rocking back and forth and all he could hear was laughing and yelling coming from it.  The next day when he went in the trailer it was full of half empty pop cans and candy.

Grandpas house in Grand Haven

Feeling better than ever, I pedaled on into the afternoon and onto the last leg of the trip into Holland.  The afternoon had cleared up and become dry and I rode along some back roads headed down to Holland.  I ran into a few more roads that turned into gravel and had to adjust my route again but in another hour I arrived at Aunt Terry and Fred’s house in Holland which was only a block away from Lake Michigan.

Crazy waves and sky in Holland at sunset

When I got there no one was home from work yet but I had a code to get in the garage and I went in and made myself at home.  Their home is beautiful in a wooded area and the inside was immaculate.  I unpacked and took a shower and put my bike kit in the laundry.  It was really nice for a change to not have to wash it in the sink.  Before they got home from work I was able to sit in a chair and get a little nap in before dinner.  I had never met Terry and Fred before but they welcomed me into their home as if we had known each other our whole lives.  Terry made a fantastic manicotti dinner and I ate until I was about to pop.  We talked and talked and just as it was starting to drizzle outside we decided to walk over to Lake Michigan to see the sunset. 

Me on the beach at the end of Day 8

View of the lake coming out of the tunnel

It was cloudy, windy, and spitting rain but we weren’t detoured.  We walked up the street and through a park to get to the lake and had to walk through a tunnel which went through the huge sand dunes to actually see the lake.  Coming out of the tunnel the wind hit us hard and the waves were crashing all around.  It was an amazing scene with the rough water and wind and rain.  We walked along the beach for a bit then climbed the stairs going to the top of the tall dunes.  At the top was a park where a small scale map of Lake Michigan was tiled into the concrete.  I put my flip-flop where Chicago would be then climbed on top of a rock and took a picture of the lake map on the ground to see an entire view of where I started and where I was.  It was really cool to see how far I’d come.  I also started to realize that I only had two more days left.  I started to believe that I was going to make it.

Stairs up to the top of the dune

Last glimmer of sunset at the end of Day 8

Going home I was getting really tired and my ankle was bothering me.  It seemed to get worse and worse throughout the day and after dinner started swelling up pretty bad.  I took some ibuprofen and went to be early.  Before turning in I looked ahead to the next day which would take me to New Buffalo, Michigan and would be my last night on the road before getting home.  I wasn’t really that excited and didn’t feel anxious to get home. I was worried about my ankle and about the route and just wanted to focus on one day at a time.  This is what had gotten me this far and I didn’t want to get distracted by the end when I was so close.