Rollin’ On Down the Road

Last night Rhonda’s sister Laura, her husband Dave and their friend Eli rolled into our Petroskey State Park camp around 7 last night. They drove two days from Houston in a van loaded with bikes and camping gear. Once camp was set, we ate a late dinner and returned to camp. 

Even after a long drive, Dave awoke and treated us to a fine camp breakfast and camp coffee on his white gas Coleman stove. While digesting we broke camp, set up the bikes, and loaded our gear. Dave would spend the day exploring northern Michigan in the van. Laura, Eli, Rhonda and I started pedaling out of camp and rode a bike trail that traveled through Petroskey along the shore towards Bay Harbor.  At one point the trail turned into a wooden boardwalk. After 20 miles we entered the popular village of Charlevoix where we found lunch. After Dave’s breakfast we all opted for 1/2 sandwiches. Something we all would regret 30 miles later. Escaping the traffic we left town and our route took us inland along farm roads. The roads undulated up and down reminding me of Wisconsin a week ago. We also lost some of the tree canopy that protected us from the sun’s direct heat. The route finally turned west back towards the lake’s shoreline as we neared Eastport. We found a market that provided us with needed food and some Gatorade. By now we were wishing we each had a full sandwich at lunch. And we still had 30 miles to go. The road continued its undulations and at times the grade jumped above 12%. It was turning out to be a banner first day for our newest riders. There was a nice easy ride along Torch Lake that had one rude climb out as we made it into Elk Rapids where Dave,who's smile indicated he enjoyed his drive over Mackinaw bridge, met us for dinner and shuttled us to camp.