Blue Boat Home

[posted to the Wheeled Migration Yahoo Group on September 4, 2004]

A few stories to share:

[sent to the Wheeled Migration Yahoo Group on September 2, 2004]

Hi, folks! I'm safe and sound in Ann Arbor, MI, where I visited with some college friends last night, and where my sister will meet me for the next few days.

Battle Creek is much the same as when I interned there 7 years ago; the biggest change is that Kellogg's and Post have moved a lot of their manufacturing overseas, most notably Kellogg's Corn Flakes, which are now made in Mexico. That shook people up a bit.

September 2

I hung out at Bill & Anne's this morning while they got ready to leave for Worldcon, then headed into downtown around noon.  I ran some errands, then hung out at the library for most of the afternoon.

I woke this morning to find that a heavy dew had undone all of yesterday's careful drying. I knew it would be a short ride into Ann Arbor, so I got coffee and waited for the sun to rise and dry the tent again. Got on the road around 10:00.

The ride into Ann Arbor was fairly quick and uneventful; I got in a little after 3. Stopped to use a phone book and was able to get my bearings very easily; found a library, a bookstore, and a photo shop to make some postcards, and I still got to the Murphys' house early.

I was pleased to have found tonight's campground while I was doing research at Keith's... it's a private campground right next door to W.J. Hayes State Park, which my DeLorme's Gazetteer notes is in the "Scenic Irish Hills" and has hiking trails. I called the campground from Battle Creek, and they said they'd charge me $17 a night, which is a bargain by Michigan standards. So that's part of why I went so far yesterday: to get closer to tonight's stop so I'd have time to hike.

I headed southeast out of Battle Creek toward a campsite I had called yesterday and found to be $18 a night for tents, which is cheap by Michigan standards. However, I got there by 2:00 and decided to keep riding to another place that also looked good. I figured if it was too expensive, I'd just keep going all the way to where I planned to stop tomorrow night ($17) and spend two nights there instead of one.

[posted to the Wheeled Migration Yahoo Group on August 29, 2004]

Hi, folks! I'm writing from Battle Creek, Michigan, where I'm staying with a friend for the weekend. Here are some notes from my journal from the last few days.

A tremendous thunderstorm passed through overnight, but again none of my gear got damaged.  When I took down the tent I found it was covered with slugs, though!

I rode into Kalamazoo and visited a bike shop, where I got a new mirror to replace the one that broke yesterday, and the People's Food Coop.  I had been looking forward to visiting my first actual coop since the Twin Cities, but it turned out to be a little hole in the wall place without much selection.

I left Holland this morning and headed south, electing not to continue following the shore since that would take me back west and I wanted to go east to Kalamazoo. I followed back roads south until I reached the Kal-Haven trail (which goes west as far as South Haven on the coast), then followed the trail into town.

After two free, paved state trails, I was expecting Kal-Haven to be free and paved, but it was crushed limestone and cost $3. Still it was a good trail and got me to the western edge of Kalamazoo about 6:30.

I had a strong headwind all day, and the road from Montague to Muskegon was pretty unfriendly to cyclists, so that I was tired and discouraged when I got to town. I tried to get info about the trail to Grand Rapids, which would have shortened the distance to Kalamazoo, but what info I could find just pointed me more toward my original plan, to continue south.