A morning ride

Weather forecast for today was in the high 80's, so we decided to go for a morning ride.  I needed to  go to church pick up some fabric paint for the t-shirts for VBS, so we decided to ride the trike there.  Left home about 9AM.  It was nice riding weather.  Sunny, but not hot yet and the wild flowers along the road were so pretty.  The wild blue chicory was on both sides of 16 mile rd, with the sun streaming through the trees, it was too pretty to pass by, without a few pictures.

The ride to the church was pleasant, Tony gave me the updates on the Detroit Tigers standings, and analyzed what their strengths and weaknesses were.  I know that he really misses his Dad during baseball season.  He and his Dad could talk and talk about baseball,  and how the Tigers were doing, how many games they were out of first place, and so on.  As a young boy, Tony remembers sitting in the car with his Dad,  listening to the game, while his Mom was in the store shopping.

Tony's Dad loved baseball, and played on many baseball and softball team through out Tony's growing up years.  Tony still talks about watching his Dad play, and about what a good player his Dad was.  His Dad played on a senior citizen team  after he retired from GM.

 Our girls grew up listening to the Tigers on the radio.  The year the tigers won the pennant, Tony and the girls prayed at the beginning of each game, asking the Lord to help the Tigers win.  He answered those prayers and the Tigers took first place that year.  I'm not personally a big fan of the Tigers, but I try to listen and ask some questions and I print up a game schedule for Tony at the beginning of the season.

Baseball games are word pictures on the radio.  The announcers give detailed explanations of the each pitch and swing.  They describe the outfielders plays, tell who steals bases,  and give a running commentary on each player, filled with  player stats, facts and tidbits.  Tony doesn't need to have vision to hear the game on the radio, yet he can see the whole thing in his mind.  No wonder he enjoys it so much.

 When we rode into the church parking lot there was a deer headed for the apple trees.  I took a picture, but we were pretty far away.   You might be able to tell it's a deer in the picture, but then again, it might be doubtful.  Just to clear up any doubts...it is a a deer.

Picked up the paint I needed.  Had our snack there, visited a bit with a friend that was working at the church, refilled our water bottles and headed home.

Rode past some Queen Ann's Lace,  yellow wild flowers that I think were nasturtium and some bull rushes.

The countryside is so pretty this time of year.  I love the scenery we ride past, the green grass, wildflowers and the crops growing in the fields.  Here is the view we see as we head down 140th, the farmers fields spreading out before us, like a picnic table cloth, on a summer day.

We were about 1/4 mile from home when we had a "nearly flat tire."

Didn't want to ride on it, so we pushed the trike the rest of the way home, so I could at least change it in the garage.  I don't know what the deal is with flat tires this season.  Since Palm 30 , we have had several of them.  Last season, we didn't have any.  Guess they were saving up for this riding season.

Anyway, I ended up changing the tire 3 times.

The first time I didn't get the tire on so the tread was facing the same way as the other front tire, but of course, I didn't notice that until I had the tire already changed.  I took the tire off and turned it the right way.  Then we went into town to run a few errands.  Decided that a small air compressor would be a handy thing to have.  It would be much easier to top off the tires that way before riding, rather than using a bicycle air pump.  We were headed to the store to price some, when I was distracted by a few garage sales.  One had a compressor that was practically brand new.  It wasn't a super big compressor, just a 3 gallon one.  For what we wanted it for, it was ideal.  The lady that was selling it, had loaned someone money, and had the guys air compressor as collateral.  She told him that if he didn't pay her back, she was going to sell the compressor.  He didn't, so the compressor was on the garage sale.  I talked her down a bit in price and we came home with an air compressor, but no instruction manual.  Of course we know nothing about air compressors,.  I'll call the company that makes it, and see if they will send me out a manual.  Pumping up tires will be easier, once we know how to use the air compressor.  It has a really long hose on it too, and the compressor  can be charged, then used without being plugged in.

When we came home from town, the tire I had put on the trike was flat.   When I changed it, the first time, I had checked it for leaks and couldn't find any,  also checked along the inside of the tire for any punctures or sharp objects, couldn't find any,  I have no idea why the tire went flat.  I took it off, got a new tube and changed the tire again.  Hopefully that will be that last flat I change in quite  awhile  I inflated the  tube that had gone flat,  and will watch it a few days to see what happens.

After I changed the tire, I cleaned and lubed the chains, and shined the trike up.  It certainly needed to be spiffed up a bit.  It gets dirty form riding, but gets covered in dust when we put it on the trailer to take it anywhere.  We have about 1/2 mile of gravel road, before we get to the pavement, and it can sure get dusty when it is dry.

 I tried to put the new rear, blinking light we bought from Wiz Wheels on the back of the trike, but it seems  that no matter how I mount it, it kind of flips down and points to the road.  Not good.  I'll call Wiz Wheels on Monday and see what suggestions they have for mounting.   It's made to be mounted on the seat post, but there is no seat post on a  recumbent trike. I'm sure there is some simple way to solve the problem,  solving problems that have to do with up. down, or right  are not my strong point. Wiz Wheels will have a way to do it, after all, they only sell trikes, and it is the light they recommended.


We rode 15 and 1/2 miles today.   When we were at Meijers,  in the parking lot, the thermometer in the car read 101 degrees,  by the time we got home from town it was 94 degrees.  So glad we rode early.

Dog days of summer

In the summer Sirius, the "dog star" rises and sets with the sun.  During late July Sirius is in conjunction with the sun. Ancient people, most likely the Romans, believed that it's heat was added to the heat of the sun, creating a stretch of hot sultry weather.  They named this period of time, from 20 days before the conjunction, to 20 days after, "the dog days of summer.'  In our latitude, the dog days of summer occur between July 3 and August 11.  Although it is the warmest part of summer, the heat isn't due to added radiation from Sirius, but rather from  how the earths tilt towards the sun.

No matter how we explain it, it's been plain old, hot.  By the way, please remind me of this weather when I am whining about  the winter and it's cold weather.  Last week the heat index, which is a way of measuring heat and humidity together,  was in the high 90's.  We took a week off of biking.

Today the forecast was partly cloudy, less humidity, temps in the mid 80's.  We rearranged our schedule a bit, so we would have part of the day to go for a ride.  Our intention was to get an early start, but we each had some business phone calls to make, and didn't actually get started until 10:30 AM.

The Schrader valves did just fine when I checked the air, and when Tony added air to them.  No valves shooting across the garage or any business like that, just nice complaint tire valves, the way  tire valves should be.

When we did our ride to Bristol a few weeks ago, we saw a paved road we wanted to explore further, so we rode the White Pine Trail to Tustin, then took 20 Mile Rd west.  The only paved road we came across was 200 Mile Rd, one that we had already ridden.  The sun was pretty intense,  and there was no shade,  even though we wanted to ride on "new territory," after 5 miles, we decided to turn around and head back to the trail, where we knew there  would be some shade.  It was very pleasant riding in the shade.

Nothing new to see, but I did stop and take a picture of the beaver pond, which has many lily pads in bloom.  Once again, the beavers alluded us.  Makes me appreciative of the one time we saw a beaver swimming across the pond.  If you look closely in the upper right hand corner of the picture you can see the beaver lodge.

For some reason beavers fascinate me.  They are family oriented and good parents.
According to a study that was done, it is believed that what motivates beavers to build is the sound of running water.  Scientists placed a speaker with the sound of running water near a pond.  The beavers got busy building right away, and they built  up their dams by the speaker, until it  was effectively silenced.

We all know beavers love their dams.  In fact, by building their dams and changing river flows, they change the world more than any other creature, besides man.  As good architects, they take water flow into consideration when building.  They are smart enough to use straight dams on trickling waters and curved dams in raging rapids.  The dams are used as protection from predators and create a living environment and a shelter for the beaver to raise it's young.  If a predator destroys part of the dam, it will be fixed over night.
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Beavers won't stop building until the task is complete. For that reason, if beavers are causing destruction in an area, the only way to really eliminate it, is to relocate the beavers. They have been known to

 build massive dams.  The largest beaver dam on record is 2,750 feet long.  These dams are the only animal created structres that  can be seen from space. 

The wild flowers were in full bloom,  giving us a show of color as we rode along.

  Met a couple riding with their little white dog in a handle bar basket.  They were from the Muskegon area, and were camping at the state Park in Cadillac.   I wanted to get a picture of them, but the batteries in my camera needed recharging, so you'll have to settle for a word picture.    He was friendly man in his 60's, kind of tall,  with white hair, glasses and a hearing aid. she was quite a bit shorter, with  short hair and a pleasant smile.  In a basket attached to the handle bars of her bike was a little white dog, weighing about 5 lbs.    He was a rescued dog, very shy and afraid when they got him.  They started him out in the basket with a net over it, so he wouldn't jump out.  Now he likes to ride along so much, that when the ride is over he doesn't want out of the basket.   Shows you what a little love can do.  They were a friendly couple, happy to be out enjoying nature.

We rode about 3 miles past the beaver pond, and then turned around.  On the return ride, much of our shade was gone.  When we found a shady spot we rode through it slowly.  We stopped to  rest in the shade and to wet Button down.

Deer flies were plentiful.  They belong to the same family as horse flies.  They are smaller than horse flies and wasps.  The have coloured eyes, not that I've ever looked one in the eyes, and dark bands across their wings.  Female deer flies feed on blood, while the males feed on pollen. When feeding, the females use knife like mandibles and maxillae to make a cross shaped incision in the skin, and then lap up the blood.  The bite is painful not only when it occurs, but pain and itching can linger for a day or 2 afterwards. Some people  can have an allergic reaction to the bite.  Deer flies like damp  environments such as wetlands and forests, which is exactly what surrounds the trail.

When a deer fly, or flies, gets a whiff of it's prey, (not sure they can smell, but somehow they know we are there.)  it can be relentless in it's pursuit.  In order to keep from being a meal for them, we have to go at least 10 MPH.  Easy to do on a flat section, impossible on a hill. Thankfully the trail has only slight upgrades and no real hills, so we are able to maintain 10 MPH, or better, most of the time.  When the deer flies begin to descend upon us I call out a "deer fly alert" to Tony, and he adds more power to his stoking so we can escape.  This gives us some good training doing sprints, but can lead to sore legs later on.  Sore legs usually lead to stronger legs, so we try and take a positive attitude towards it, knowing it will give us more stamina for the next "deer fly alert."

We stopped at Mr. Pibbs, in LeRoy for a late lunch.  Found a nice shady spot for Button, wet him down good and headed inside to the air conditioning.  He  had a nice breeze, and settled down in his carrier, for a nap.

 After a nice meal, we refilled our water bottles with lots of ice and headed home.  Got home around 4PM.  Rode 41 miles today.

The ride to Hart

Hot weather predicted for today, so we got up early to ride.  Had a quick breakfast of bagels and rolls, with a little coffee, and go t on the trail about 8:30 AM.  It was such a nice morning to ride.  The birds were singing, very few people on the trail.  The air was refreshingly cool.  I wore a light wind breaker for the first 40 minutes.

Stopped in Shelby for breakfast > saw the "taco van" that we ate lunch at when we rode PALM 30.  Also found one of the PALM road markers that indicated the places where we should turn.  Since I hadn't taken a picture of it on the palm ride, I stopped and took a picture.

Had breakfast at the Shelby Bakery, owned and operated by the "Donut Princess" for 30 years.  It is right next to the post office on the  morning shade, side of the street.  Parked the trike, with Button in his carrier, in front of the post office window, so he wouldn't block the door.  He "chittered" for a few minutes, but then settled down.  We had a nice leisurely breakfast and got back on the trail.  it was so nice to know that we had no schedule to adhere to, and could take our time.

A bit further down the trail we came across a mini "stone henge."  No idea who made it or how long it was there.  It was interesting to look at.

Just past that, was a garage sale, of course I stopped.  I found a beautiful decorative plate, for $2.00.  Very unique, unlike anything I've seen.

Bought 2 other small things, said goodbye to Tammy and "Eva the Diva" dog.

Went back to where Tony and Button where waiting, in the shade.

 Tony asked what I bought, asking if I bought anything big that we would have have to bring the car to pick it up, later.  Of course he was kidding..but stanger things have happen, so the voice of experience, may have been expressing it's self.

It was getting warmer, we were grateful for the shade on the trail, riding through several tunnels of trees.

Rode under a walking bridge that went over the trail.  

Rode past an asparagus farm.  I've never seen one so close up before.  The asparagus is a very light green.  There was no shade there, and we sure felt the rising heat and humidity.

We were happy to have some shade again.

Stopped at Country Dairy in New Era for an ice cream cone.  I was glad to see that it is owned and operated by a christian family.

They operate a  4th generation dairy farm that sells only products that are free of BST

Got back to the Montgomery Inn around 4:00. glad for an air conditioned room and a shower.  We rode 44 miles today.

 Stopped at an antique store in Montague, the only one of many that was open.  Found a bargain, an etched window for $5.00.

Went to supper at the Harbor View Grill around 5:30 PM.  A nice view of the White Lake Harbor, and excellent food.  It was a perfect ending to a perfect day.

Montague get away.

we are celebrating our 41 st anniversary a few weeks early.  Our church has Vacation Bible School the week of our anniversary.  Tracey and the kids always come up that week, so Tony decided we would have a little get away early.  There is a 22 mile paved trail about 2 hours from our house that we have been wanting to ride.  It is called  the Hart Montague trail.  It starts in Montague and ends in Hart.  Tony made 2 night reservations for us at the Montgomery Inn, a small family run motel, that is about 300 ft from the trail.  They also accept pets, so Button, got to go along.

We arrived around 1 PM, checked in, unloaded the trike and got ready to ride.  Button was eager to go.  We headed  south from Monatgue towards Whitehall.  The trail we were on was the White Lake Trailway, which will eventually connect to the Musketawa Trail that goes from Muskegon to Marne MI.  They hope to have the connection  between the 2 trails done in a few weeks.  We rode the partailly done portion,   as far as we could go.  The Musetawa Trail ends about 4 miles from Grand Rapids, there may be a connector to the Old Kent Trail, but I don't have my rails to trails book along, to look it up right now.    Once the  connecting section , between Whitehall and the Musketawa trail are done,   there will be at least 2 or 3 days of trail riding that is connected.  We are so fortunate to have such a great rails o trails system in MI, and more fortunate  yet, to have such a large potion of the trails paved.  Our neighbors here at the Montgomery Inn are from MA, and told us that they can't seem to get a good Rails to Trails system going in their state.

We had  lunch, at a drive inn, root beer stand.  Thought it was a little over priced, but it was close to the trail.  First we rode past it, then stopped and asked someone at the visitors center, how to get to it. They told us to turn by the campground, after some riding around, we finally found it.  By then it was 3 PM, so we were more than ready for lunch.  Button hung out under our outdoor table while we ate.

Whitehall has a nice sail boat weather vane that is near White Lake.

Whitehall, located in northern Muskegon County about five miles from the Lake Michigan coastline, is named for its location at the end of beautiful White Lake, actually the mouth of the White River at Lake Michigan. Although much of its economy is tourist-related, especially its extended marina on the lake, it also contains some small businesses and manufacturing facilities. It is a commuter town to the greater Muskegon area just 10 miles to the south. 

Whitehall’s recorded history began around 1859 when Charles Mears, a noted lumber baron to the area platted the village along with Giles B. Slocum, naming it Mears. In 1862, it was renamed Whitehall. It grew because of its strategic location for floating and distributing lumber, incorporating as a village in 1867. It later was incorporated as a city in 1942.

We saw a cool flower sculpture along the trail.  The flowers were so beautifully painted, that first we thought they were glass, but when we rode past them on our return trip to the motel, we took a closer look and found they were metal.  The flowers were quite tall, as you can see in the picture.

Further down the trail we saw some beautiful flowers that were landscaped and and maintained by the local garden club.  A nice addition to the trail.

There was a very nice VFW post, never saw on that was so fancy, complete with a neon VFW sign.  It did my heart good to see such a nice post, in such a small community.  A good indicator, of the  community respect the men and women who have served their country, in foreign wars, get, in this area.  

 After stopping at a local grocery store to get something to warm up for supper, we got back to the Montgomery Inn about 5PM.  We rode 20 miles.

Plotting of the Presta

So here was the plan,  get up, and be on the road riding at 8:30 AM.  Weather forecast, high of 83, and partly cloudy.  Good,  warm, but no intense sun to deal with, and we should be home before the strong heat of the day arrives.  Goal: 40 miles,  riding a little beyond Bristol and back, a place where we have driven, but not ridden.  It is a hilly area, but we will be on the bike trail for 12 miles, so that should give us a good mix. Sound like a good plan.

So here's how it really went;
Ready to go and got the bike out about 9:15 AM, checked the air in the tires.  All needed air.
 Our tires have what is called "Presta valves on them.  Presta valves are different from ordinary bike tire vales, which are known as "Schrader valves"  Presta valves have a narrow stem,  and in order to inflate them or check air pressure, there is a small nut on the end of the valve that has to be loosened. A special air pump or adapter has to used on presta valves.  Schrader valves are wider and when filling them or checking air pressure, they are spring activated.  They can be filled at any gas station or with an ordinary air pump.  Presta valves are used on narrower rims, because a wider valve can compromise the strength of the rim, more than a narrow one does.

Presta valves have not been my friend.  On the contrary, they wait for me to come.  Anticipating, what they can do to delay our bike ride in any way.  They have plotted against me, and I am now on my 3rd portable air pump, (one that straps to the bike, in case we need it on the road. )  The first 2 portable pumps I bought had a tendency to bend the valves when I removed the pump, after  adding air.  Presta valves bend easily.  The latest  portable pump, ("that will be $40.00, maa'm." )   has a built in pressure gauge on it, so the pump doesn't have to be removed to check air pressure.  (less chance of bending the valve.  The pump, which fits on the valve very tightly, should not be wiggled to get it off.  (that WILL bend the valve)  Instead, a person places their thumbs on either side of where it attaches, and firmly presses up to remove the pump from the valve.  In theory that is how it works.  Theory and reality, are not the same thing.

I should have been on guard, when I knelt  by the tire, but I have switched to schrader adapters, which means that I can use an ordinary pump on them, and not be concerned about damaging the thin presta valve.  Life is easier now.  Just unscrew the schrader valve, open the presta valve, put the schrader valve back on, check the air, and add more, if needed.  Simple.

I bent down and began unscrewing the schrader valve, as soon as it was off, the presta valve came shooting out , while the air was hissing out of the tire.  I'm almost sure I could hear laughter coming from the presta valve, which was lying 5 feet away.   "haha, I really got her that time.  loved the look on her face.  Now lets see how she handles this one."

I, however, was prepared, having stocked up with one not 1, but 3, extra inner tubes, all with presta valves, since that is all our rims will accommodate.    I had never changed a tire on the back wheel, which must be removed to get the tire off and on.

I took  a picture of the chain routing, incase I couldn't get it on correctly after taking the wheel off.

 I turned the quick release, but couldn't get the wheel off.  Fortunately, our seasonal neighbor was at his cottage, so Tony asked him to help.  He helped me get the wheel off and gave me a few tips  and a little help changing the tire.  I thanked him and he went walking down our driveway towards his house.  When I went to remove the air pump, once again, the valve came shooting out, while the air hissed out of the tire.  The neighbor came back, screwed the valve back in, and filled the tire again.  Then carefully checked the other tires and added air, admitting , that "those presta valves were touchy."  I thanked him for his help, and at 10:30 AM, Tony and I started our ride.

It was warm, but I could see clouds coming in, and figured we would have cloud cover soon. The weatherman had predicted  a partly cloudy day.  We rode along, visiting as we pedaled, enjoying the ride.

More cars than usual on the road, because of Razzaque days in LeRoy.  Razzaque days is an annual event.  The word  "razzaque," does not appear in any dictionary I could find, so perhaps it is a swedish or norwegian term,  after all this area was settled by people of Danish ancestry.  Razzaque days  is a big deal in LeRoy, with a weekend of festivities.  It has a parade, and  a car show along with other activities. The parade had just finished when we rolled into LeRoy.  Kids were smiling, carrying their bags of candy to the car.  With so much activity we had to watch for both cars, both parked and moving, and pedestrian.  Since the trike is so low to the ground, a person opening their car door, might not see us approaching their car or riding past.

 We were glad when we got on the White Pine Trail.  We took that to Tustin, then got on 20 mile Rd, and took that to Bristol.  It is so nice to have the trail done.  Not sure if the section between LeRoy and Reed city will be paved this year or in 2012.  Once that is done, there will be about 45 miles of paved trail between Cadillac and Big Rapids, plus the paved trails that connect with the White Pine Trail at the crossroads in Reed City.

Quite a few big hills on the route,  the sun came out, making the ride hot and humid.  Not much shade on our side of the road.  At the 18 mile mark, we turned around in someone's driveway.  There was a nice shady spot across the street, we stopped to take a break there.

 A man came from across the road, from the house, by the driveway we had just used,  he owned the property we had stopped at.  It had a cute little one room house on it.  I didn't ask, but wondered if the house was their "vacation house," before they built a permanent house across the street. It looked like a nice little get away, and the property was nicely mowed and maintained.

The man was friendly, told us to help ourselves to some nice cold well water,  there was an out house on the property, nice and clean, with TP,   he offered us the use of that too.  We had  some cold well water, a bathroom break, a nice rest, and went on our way refreshed.

It was tough going with the hills and the heat, we took another break at the Bristol store, had ice cream and a banana. Sat in the shade to cool off and headed towards Tustin. The ride seemed longer on the return because it had gotten so much hotter out.  Tony was having problems over heating, so we rode at a slower pace, especially when we were in the shade.  Stopped in Tustin for water, then got back on the trail.

Had a discussion about how the heat is more intense when riding a trike.  We are only 18 inches above the pavement, and the pavement throws off intense heat, meaning that we are riding on a heat island, closer to the heat source than rider of regular bikes.   Riders on a diamond frame bike are riding in a lower air temperature than we are, because they are further away from the pavement.  of course once we had the conversation, we both felt hotter than we had, before.

Rode past an underground storm shelter.  The door was partly open, likely more of a shelter for animals than people, these days.

We were about 3 miles down the trail, and had a flat tire.  It wasn't the same tire that we had problems with before we left home.  It was the front tire, the same one that had been replaced when we were on our PALM ride.  The valve was  slightly bent on it.  We pumped it up, rode 2 more miles, pumped it up again, got off of the trail, We were about 2 miles from home  and it went flat again.   We stopped in a driveway, and asked if we could leave our bike there, figuring we would walk home, get our trailer, and haul the bike home.  They offered us a ride home, which we gratefully accepted.  We came back with the trailer and loaded up the trike and took it home.  It was 4:30,  89 degrees and very humid.  We rode 34 miles today.  Had hoped to ride 40 today, but between the heat and the tire issues,  34 miles, was good enough.

When we got home, decided that we are going to have the rims on the trike drilled out big enough to switch to schrader valves.  I am done with Presta valves and all their shenanigans.  They can go plot against someone else.

Highlights, since our PALM ride

I've been so busy trying to get our Palm ride on the blog, that I haven't posted any of our recent rides, so in this posting I will do a highlight of them, along with some pictures.

The first thing we had to do after PALM, (besides sleep,) was to get things dried out.  Thank goodness we had some nice sunny weather, so things dried rather quickly.  Couldn't help but think"Oh sunny weather, where were you last week?"   By the end of the day, all was dry and put away.

On Sunday we put on our PALM shirts and rode to church.  The 8 miles there seemed like a short ride,and our time was faster than it usually is. The same thing was true of our ride home.  Had an opportunity to share our PALM experience with those who had been praying for us.  Pastor's message that day was on heeding the voice of God, when he prompts you to do something.  Tony and I were certainly on the receiving end of that when we were on our PALM ride.  The worship team sang "How Great is our God," it was cool to see how the Lord took it all and fit it together.

Monday, we rode 32 miles, which included a stop for ice cream.  We can tell our legs are stronger.  Our times are better and the hills don't seem quite as steep as they did.  Before PALM, 32 mile ride seemed really far, on Monday, it didn't seem bad at all.   It wasn't raining, that made the ride even more pleasant.

We have been doing a lot of riding in the evening.  It is light long enough that we can get in a 2 or 3 hour ride before dark.

Didn't do any riding over the 4th of July.  Our daughter, her husband, and  family came up for the  weekend.  We had fun fishing and kayaking.  Went to the fireworks on the 4th.   Of course the kids went frog hunting.

Tony and the kids slept, one night in the shade tent we bought to use when we go camping with our little trailer.  It was the first time we have used it.  It is a module tent system.  Ideal for large families.  we bought only the main module.
 There are zip on sleeping modules that can be purchased and used in conjunction with the main area.  Plenty of room for a picnic table in the middle and all 4 sides zip off, so it can be open.  It has the option of having a floor in it, or just putting it on the grass.  It isn't something that would fare well for rainy weather camping, but it will serve our purpose well.  It may take some practice for tony and I to get it up by ourselves,  mostly because it's so tall.

On Tuesday we rode 24 miles taking on a course that we were unable to complete last year because of the hills.

 I won't say it was an effortless ride, but it was easier than it had been the last time we tried it.  We completed it, and rode on, to Sunrise Lake.  Sunrise Lake is quite a deep lake, noted for good trout fishing.  It is owned by the DNR, and id operated under a special permit, by Osceola County.  There is a small primitive campground there.  No charge for admittance, camping is $15.00 per night.
The campground is bordered by the Pere Marquette forest,  that has extensive ORV trails through it.  The forest is located across the road from the lake.  It was a nice pleasant place to take a little break.

 Our ride started off  quite warm, but as it progressed clouds began to move in, and it began to cool off.

Came around a curve, and there stood a doe and her fawn.  The fawn quickly ran into the tall grass, but the doe stood there for awhile, finally snorted at us, and ran off.   Guess she was telling us, "don't mess with my baby."  It all happened to quickly to take a picture.  I made a word picture for Tony, who of course heard the doe snort.

We rode past a stone house.  We have quite a few in our area.  They are made from field stones.  Each time I see one, I think of all the work that went into gathering the stones, and wonder how long it took.  Perhaps it was a family effort, that took years.   I wonder if they were in piles by size, one big pile, or many.  Seeing these unique houses, makes me want to go up to the door, knock on it, and ask the family that lives there, if they know the history of the house, and if so, would they mind sharing it  with us.  I never see anyone outside when we ride by them, so I never get a chance to see if I would be brave enough to actually, go ask them.

We also rode past some wild flowers.  I love the sights and smells of summer on our rides.  The smell of pine trees is much stronger in the heat of the day, but the flowers smell best in the mornings, or evenings.

Saw a farmer and his helper baling hay, the sweet smell of hay drifted in the wind, as I stopped to take the picture.

We thought we might get wet, (big deal...)   It didn't actually rain until late in the night.

Once again, it was such a joy to get out and ride, seeing the beauty of where we live, up close and personal.

and is operated under special permit by the Osceola County Parks Commission. The campground offers 17 spacious primitive campsites, and 2 walk in primitive sites in the beautiful pine forest overlooking Sunrise Lake. A separate boat launch and day use facility offer access to Sunrise Lake and unlimited water sports; and picnicking on the grass and lakeside trail. The park borders the Pere Marquestte State Forest which offers an extensive ORV trail system. Sunrise Lake has hand-pumped water, picnic tables and primitive restroom facilities.and is operated under special permit by the Osceola County Parks Commission. The campground offers 17 spacious primitive campsites, and 2 walk in primitive sites in the beautiful pine forest overlooking Sunrise Lake. A separate boat launch and day use facility offer access to Sunrise Lake and unlimited water sports; and picnicking on the grass and lakeside trail. The park borders the Pere Marquestte State Forest which offers an extensive ORV trail system. Sunrise Lake has hand-pumped water, picnic tables and primitive restroom facRV trail system. Sunrise Lake has hand-pumped water, picnic tables and primitive rest.