Starting the zig zag through Michigan
/Jul 8 - Yale MI to Otter Lake MI: 41.6 miles
This is the day following our epic evening in Yale (see July 7 post) so by the time we've left, its mid-day, and we've even eaten a partial lunch on the porch of the Yale hotel already.
Desite the guidance of Angel and Tim during our planning session at the bar the night before, we are unlikely to get too far today. Frankenmuth was their guess but we're thinking more like Otter Lake, just a bit over 40 miles. Then we'll see how we feel from there.
My morning session in York with the gentlemen's Red Dog Cafe coffee club discussing the route generally resulted in each consultant proclaiming a variant of "oh, you're doing the zig zag across the state." And today, indeed we are. Six mile due north, then 10 miles due west, then a fraction north, then 15 miles due west on another road, then a fraction north, then a final 10 miles into Otter Lake. Riding the grid.
Hmmmm. I might need some entertainment. I was certainly thinking in Ontario that I could be listening to something while cycling on the long 'boring' sections through miles and miles of farmland on straight roads, at least with one ear. Heather has been doing this pretty regularly. I've deliberately not done this to let my brain go where it will. Generally I'm thinking about all the information I should be sharing on the blog. Too bad that speech recognition is just not anywhere good enough for writing while cycling.
I could do something else productive. I buy a Spanish lesson on Audible. It doesn't get any playing time today though.
There are only two towns before our destination. Town one today. Brown City: birthplace of motor home!
This was a surprise turnoff in Brown City - there was a small sign "9/11 memorial" on the main road and I had to check it out. This is a piece of the towers here under the US flag. Far from NY.
Town two today. Each town has a water tower with the town name, and a Dollar store; North Branch is no exception
oh so true! .... on the road to Otter Lake
Plenty of this. Our sunshine when we left York is now mostly cloudy.
When I do reach Otter Lake, I find that the lake is mostly fenced off! Its privately owned, you must pay to access the beach, and our target campground is filled wih RVs sitting side by side. Argh.
I confess that I have a moment of despair. We've so far avoided private camping, and stayed on State/Provincial/National parks on beautiful lakes or streams. I really want to push on to go further in hopes of something better. But, Heather is behind me and we really need to consult.
So I hover outside the closed library using their wifi and watch the goings on of this small town. I see the police multiple times, visiting homes. Hmmm. Many tired cars go by.
When Heather finally arrives it is actually getting late. I make my case to push on, but Heather talks me down from my despair, and I concede to stay in the end.
We get our sad little RV site (the only site left) at the far end of camp next to the wire fence for $20. Well, at least its cheap, especially compared to the $40CDN Provincial park sittes in Canada. And we catch up on chores: do some laundry in the sink, take showers, do some convenience store shopping in town for our baked bean and tuna dinner. The neighbors offer us beer and use of their grill which we decline. They are planning a week here, and its evident that the others around us are all here for multiple days as well.
Each to his own.
Clean-ish clothes in our RV camp site
Not all is lost - the sunset over Otter Lake is gorgeous.