Memoirous

 Eagle Lake Beach to Lansing--well, that didn't happen Wednesday July 6, 2022, 45 miles (72 km) - Total so far: 251 miles (404 km) The plan was to ride home to Okemos from Eagle Lake Beach, but weather set me back. AGAIN it stormed all night long. I checked my phone in the a,m, and it said ending by 7. Nope, then 9. I got started at 9 with my taillight blinking and being extra careful. There was an overgrown trail that bordered busy M-96 past the Fort Custer Armory and Veterans Building. After that I picked up Battle Creek Linear Park. AGAIN beautiful, by the river. So many rivers! I rode through the trees, on planks over ravines and waterways (I was careful as everything was wet and slippery). The North Branch of the Kalamazoo River runs into Battle Creek. Once I left Battle Creek I was on roadways with moderate hills. Humidity if not 100% was close. I could not stop sweating. My cycling gloves were white from salt. EVERYTHING was wet. At least the day was overcast, so no in...

 From along Lake Michigan to Eagle Lake Beach, Fort Custer Rec. Area Tuesday July 5, 2022, 68 miles (109 km) - Total so far: 206 miles (332 km) Well, more than fireworks lit up the sky--add thunder and lightning. It stormed all night long. I stayed dry in my tent and the rain stopped around 7 allowing me to get going at 8. Yet everything was clammy. Humidity fogged my sunglasses so I took them off--as well as the speedometer/computer on my bike. The Ironhorse is a piece of junk. It doesn't stop adding miles--even when I've stopped!! I didn't need it as the Google lady directed me to the Kalhaven trail where I cycled to the end where I met up with the Kalamazoo Valley Trail. The heat was again intense once I finished the shady parts through the woods. As the Kalhaven came to an end it was uphill and the trail was wide through the trees. Very beautiful. At the end is a little park with a caboose. I kept following the KVT through Kalamazoo and along the River to the east...

Grand Rapids to along Lake Michigan Monday July 4, 2022, 63 miles (101 km) - Total so far: 138 miles (222 km) I was still wasted and exhausted from heat and dehydration in the a.m. but got going around 9 a.m. I soon found it hard to breath I was so dehydrated. I had to stop every so often and rest. I made it south of Zeeland to a Mooville ice cream shop where they were offering $2 all you can eat sundaes. I took Market Street out of GR as it was a holiday and no traffic, Market ran into the Kent Trails. So beautiful! After that there was a series of street cues to Fred Meijer Kenowa Trail. That trail continued onto Upper Macatawa Natural Area--another natural wonder, very curvy with some ups and downs. After that it was streets using Google maps and my phone talking me through Holland. I stayed south of downtown. Eventually I connected to Beeline Trail. Again, super nice. I was just soo soo tired. Gatorade just wasn't fixing me. Saugatuck and Douglas were quaint and touristy....

Since my cross-country bike extravaganza in 2020 I've been hard at work. There have been some weekenders and day trips, plus a whole lot of moving around and getting settled. I wanted to do a ride just to see if I still have it in me--to be seen. I'd planned to do this trip mid-May, but came down with Covid and so had to cancel, losing hotel reservations and getting some Amtrak train money back, but not all. On top of that my friend who was to go with me couldn't do it any other time. I decided to use the holiday plus 2 days off to string together 4 days for the ride. Starting in Owosso-Grand Rapids-Holland-South Haven-Kalamazoo-Lansing, not quite a loop. Owosso to Grand Rapids Sunday July 3, 2022, 75 miles (121 km) - Total so far: 75 miles (121 km) The day started at 9 a.m. getting a ride to the trailhead via my son-in-law. It was kind of him to take me, but he was a bit out of it attaching the bike rack--at one point we looked back and saw the bike dangling. We pu...

I’m off for a week at a conference in Grand Rapids called the Festival of Faith & Writing. This is my thing. I never knew how much I looked forward to FFW, but now it is a part of my spring ritual. (Actually it’s held every 2 years.) FFW to me are crocuses springing forth, the green blade arising. In the dead of cold, dark winter I begin to read the authors invited to the festival. I make itineraries and mock schedules. I reserve a car, I request a bed with a couchsurfing host. I’m so ready for next week. So ready for warmth, conversation about books, crossing the quad and seeing some of the same faces I’ve come to recognize. This is a time of renewal. Then I plan to cycle back from Grand Rapids. This is where things get tricky. The weather has been very unpredictable. Well, it’s spring you say. Yes, when you wake up to snow almost every morning this week, you begin to question the calendar. So good wishes, thoughts, light, vibes=send them my way as I ride ...

What I forgot to say about going to Grand Rapids for the Festival of Faith & Writing . Is that I'll be riding my bike back. Approximately 225 miles. The first day will be Grand Rapids to Kalamazoo to stay one night with friends. Then a wild camp along the lake after the Kal-Haven trail. Then Dunewoods Campground outside of Michigan City, then home on a number of connecting? bike paths. I'm so looking forward to riding, sleeping outside, cooking over my catfish can de-natured alcohol stove . To see little flowers carpeting a field or wake up to birdsong. Yessss. What I meant to say is--keep me kn your thoughts. This will be my 3rd attempt to complete this journey. One other time a girlfriend and I attempted to cycle around the lake and only got as far as Saugatuck and in 2014 I camped out in Warren Woods and awoke to 3 inches of fresh snow on the ground. It had gotten down to 23 degrees the night before. The wind off the lake was brutal. My husband came and got me in...

This Luci Shaw poem expresses how I felt on my bike ride--was it only TWO DAYS AGO that the ground was covered in snow and the wind whipping around me?? I was praying for an April thaw at the time Psalm for the January Thaw Luci Shaw Blessed be God for thaw, for the clear drops that fall, one by one, like clocks ticking, from the icicles along the eaves. For shift and shrinkage, including the soggy gray mess on the deck like an abandoned mattress that has lost its inner spring. For the gurgle of gutters, for snow melting underfoot when I step off the porch. For slush. For the glisten on the sidewalk that only wets the foot sole and doesn’t send me slithering. Everything is alert to this melting, the slow flow of it, the declaration of intent, the liquidation. Glory be to God for changes. For bulbs breaking the darkness with their green beaks. For moles and moths and velvet green moss waiting to fill the driveway cracks. For the way the sun pierces the window ...