An over due ride

Between our schedule and the warm weather lately, we haven't been riding as much as we would like.  So a nice long ride was well overdue.

We started off by riding to church this morning.  It was such a pretty morning for a ride.  Temps were about 50, and it was mostly sunny.  Tony thinks he has a pulled groin muscle, so we took our time.  When we ride in such a leisurely way,  I realize what a powerful stoker he is, simply because he isn't pushing as hard.  Not that we are speed demons or anything, but it seems that Tony is often timing how fast we do a a certain distance or something like that, and when he does that he tends to put more oomph into his strokes.  At times I have to remind him, that the captain is supposed to set the pace. If he were the captain I have a feeling I would be pedaling my fanny off, or we would have single trikes, and he would leave me in the dust.  Anyway, none of that was a concern today, so we just took our time.


We rode past where the cows, self milking barn is going to be.  They have started the frame work on it. No idea when it will be done, or what it will look like, but looks like it is  going to be big.

When we got to church, Pastor asked if I had my cell phone with me, and if it was a camera phone.  I told him I had it along, but it wasn't a camera phone.  He said he was wearing the purple tie our grandchildren got him and  had hoped I could take a picture of it  for them to see.  Since we were going riding, I had my camera along, so I did get a shot of him for the kids.

 After church we decided to head up and over TV tower hill and ride into Cadillac for lunch.   Once again I attempted to get a picture, but since the hill is so long, its hard to get a good one of it.   If you look closely ,  in the distance, you can see  where the road cut through the trees at the top of the hill. It didn't take us as along as it did the last time we did the hill, but since we haven't ridden in nearly 2 weeks we had to kick our mountain drive in sooner.

I tried 3 times to take a pic that would show the magnitude of the hill, on the last try, my camera gave a low battery signal, which of course meant the end of pics for the rest of the ride.  I was bummed, because we were riding a new route today, and I was looking forward to posting some new pics.  Oh well, once again, my word pictures will have to suffice.

The ride down the other side of the hill was fun.  I started braking when we hit 34 MPH,  we just weren't comfortable going faster than that on the trike.   It's to easy to lose it if we hit a pot hole and the roads in our county, have plenty of those. I promise to get some shots of the colors in that area this fall.  It's a sight many drive to see.   It seemed like we were going down hill for miles, I think we only had to  engage pedal power once or twice between there and M115.

M115 is a state highway  that is a trunk in the NW portion of the lower peninsula of MI.  As far as I know it is the only diagonal highway in the state.   It is about 96 miles long, and  is a 2 lane highway, with some passing lanes.   In 2009 traffic flow was measured at 12, 079 cars daily. This was near Lake Mitchell and Lake Cadillac.   Many accidents occur on M115, and quite a few of them are fatal. However, the road has a shoulder wide enough for a car to park on, which gave us plenty of room to ride.  None the less, we were glad we were only on it for 3 miles, before turning  on 48 Rd. and riding on to  Cadillac.

When we got to Cadillac we too to the Clam River Greenway  over to Plett RD., which is where our new work location is.  Since it was Sunday, the parking lot was empty.  We stayed on Plett Rd, until it dead ended at Wal-Mart.  Then we rode across the parking lot to Ruby Tuesday's where we had lunch.  The ride across the parking lot was likely our riskiest part of todays adventure.  People are less likely to see us in a parking lot, even with our  tall orange flag,.  I tried to stay on the outer edge of the lot as much as possible, so we would be out in the open more.

Since the trike is 10 ft long, it's to long to park on the sidewalk, so we parked in a car parking space, and asked for a table where we could keep an eye on the trike.  Probably wouldn't feel safe doing that just anywhere, but Cadillac is a pretty safe community.   As we watched, 2 older guys stopped and looked the trike over pretty good, obviously discussing the gearing etc.  One of them even picked the front of it up to see how heavy it was.   Had we been out by the trike, they likely would have had many questions.

The restaurant was busy, so it our lunch took awhile, we didn't mind, it was nice to have a rest, before heading home.  By the time we were done eating it was after 3PM.  We took the Clam River Greenway back across town, and connected with the White Pine Trail for our ride back.

Saw some young turkeys on the trail, even if my camera had been charged up, they were across so fast, that I wouldn't have gotten a picture.  About 5 feet down from where they crossed, on a ridge that over looked the trail, we saw the adults of the flock.   They made themselves pretty scarce once they spotted us.

We met Tom on the trail.  Tom is a C-7 quadriplegic  who rides a hand cycle.  We stopped and had a nice visit with him, before continuing on.  He has such a positive attitude towards riding, it's refreshing to  see.  He sure doesn't believe in sitting home and feeling sorry for himself.  Says he would rather get out and see things and meet people.

The weather was so nice to ride.  Temps were in the mid 70's with some clouds.  The trail had a lot of shade,  so it was comfortable riding.  We were so full from our lunch that we didn't even stop to eat our  snack on the way home.  It was after 5Pm when we finished our ride.  We rode just a little over  46 miles.

An unexpected start

We haven't been riding as much as we would like to lately, partly due to our schedule and partly due to the weather.  Seems like the nicest riding days occur on the days we have to work, or have other commitments, leaving the crudy ones for our days off.  We rescheduled last weekends camping trip, because rain was predicted,  and it was indeed a rainy weekend, so we were glad to be at home, rather than cooped up in our 18 ft camping trailer.

Todays forecast was sunny, with high temps in the low to mid 80's.  There was a light breeze too.  We started off at 10:30 AM, and  for once, it wasn't my fault that we got going later than we intended too. The schrader vales are working much better than the Presta's did.  Checking the tires and getting them to the right air pressure is much easier now.

 We were less than a quarter of a mile from home when we heard our neighbor lady, frantically calling her 6 year old sons name.  She ran up to us and asked if we had seen him, we hadn't.  She said he wasn't around anywhere in the yard or surrounding area,  and she wasn't sure how long he had been gone.  She thought he was upstairs playing with her daughter and a friend, but unbeknowst to her, he had wandered outside to play. The sub division we live in consists of lots that are carved out of the forest,  not a place to be wandering around , unless you know the area well.  Not likely that a six year  old boy would be able to find his way home if he went exploring in the woods alone.

  I parked the trike in the shade, put the brake on and started walking the edges of the woods, calling her sons name.  I was soon joined by a family that was up camping on their property for the week,  several other neighbors joined in the search as well.  Some, including the Dad of the missing boy,  were on 4 wheelers, others were on foot.  All of us were calling out the little boys name, hoping for an answer.   I walked into the woods a bit, and around several homes, just incase the small child was hiding and afraid to come out.  I prayed as I walked, asking the Lord to protect this little guy, who for a 6 year old, is usually pretty fearless.  My biggest concern was that he had gone back on the 4 wheeler trails in the woods.  They criss- cross  the forest and converge in a sandy,  bowl like area.  With 10 trails or more,  coming into the bowl, it is an easy place to become disoriented, not knowing what direction will lead out of the woods.  There is also a pond in that area.  Ponds and small, unchaperoned children don't always have a happy ending.   I was praying that would not be the case here.

 The air was filled with the voices of  people , fanned out in all directions, calling the child's name. After about 20 minutes the child's father rode up on his 4 wheeler and announced that the boy had been found.  The grandfather had gone looking for him on his ATV, and found him,  back by the pond.  The boy was OK.  What a relief and what an answer to prayer.  The ending could certainly have been much worse.  I have no doubt that the Lord heard the prayers of many and had his hand of protection on this little one.  Spent another 5 minutes telling others that the lost boy was found, safe and sound, and rejoicing with them about the happy ending, and then walked back to the trike, where Tony and Button were waiting.

I think our ride began exactly when the Lord wanted it to begin, at a time when our neighbors needed help.  We thank him for a happy ending to the search.

Since the skies didn't have any clouds to give us shade, we decided to ride the trails again today.  We stopped in LeRoy to do our banking, and got on the trail, that is right behind our local bank, heading north, towards Tustin.  Got to Tustin, stopped for a bathroom break and to give Button some water and got on our way.

I can see that some of the summer wild flowers are beginning to dry up, the centers on the black Susan's are full of seeds, ready to plant anew when they fall to the ground.

 No turtles on the trails today either.  We have ridden the trail do much lately that I find myself hungry for some road riding,  although the roads offer more scenery, they  don't offer as much shade,  so for a few more weeks, we'll probably be doing the trails.   I am glad for the 4 miles of hills between us and the trail, as it helps keep our legs in shape for hill riding.

As I do every summer in mid August, I find myself yearning for the cool fall air, and the other things that go along with the change of season.  I like summer, but there is  something magical about fall.  The colored leaves give off such a wonderful light, even on a rainy day.  Already our nights have started to get cooler, making for great sleeping weather.  Before we know it, we will be riding with our thermos of hot chocolate along.

We saw a small 4 or 5 point buck eating apples near a garage, but he went behind it before I could get a picture.  The apple trees,  are absolutely loaded with apples this year.  Some are just starting to turn red, so perhaps on our next ride, the color contrast will be enough that they will show up well in a picture. I'll republish one of the earlier pictures I took of the apple trees in bloom, so you'll have a fresh image in your mind to compare the loaded apple trees too.

We rode 15 miles out, then turned around and headed for home. It was starting to get hot, and I knew that we would lose the trail shade if we continued on to Cadillac.  We stopped for a break In Tustin.  There is a nice bench right by the post office that is in the shade, so we ate our ice cream there.  We met a couple from Rockford MI, which is about 75 miles from where we live.  They were doing a 2 day, 90 ride  on the White Pine Trail, from Rockford to Cadillac.  They had camped at a little city park in Reed City the night before and were going to get a hotel in Cadillac tonight.  We discussed the unpaved portions of the trail and the sights along the way.  They said the unpaved portions were pretty packed down.  Tony and I really want to do the ride from our house to Jenison, where our daughter lives, but we have been concerned over how well our trike would do on an unpaved surface.  We rode the trail from LeRoy to 18 mile a few times before it was paved, and it really slowed us down.  Not sure when the portion of trail between LeRoy and Reed City will be paved, we could road ride that section if we wanted to do it this year, but of course, there are lots of hills when riding on the road and not the trail.  There is one other 9 mile section of the trail that would be unpaved as well, but we aren't sure where that section is.

From Tustin, our ride was uneventful.  There was still some shade when we got home.  We rode 30 miles.  Sorry there aren't many pics on this blog entry.  I didn't think to take a picture of the couple from Rockford, and there wasn't really anything new to see on the trail.  Hope to have more pics for the next blog entry.

A big hill

Michigan is a state that was formed by glaciers.  The glaciers came from Canada and as they moved, they carved out our great lakes, our flat farmland, and the hills that surround the area where Tony and I live.  The highest place in the lower peninsula of MI is about 10 miles from where we live.  It is known by the locals, as TV tower hill, because it is where TV 9 &10 is located.

 In the fall, the colors  and views from on top the hill are like something you would see on a picture postcard.

 On top of TV tower hill is a place called Grove Hill.  For many years I thought it was named that because there was a grove of pine trees there.  But it is named after George Grove, who was deeded the land as part of a homestead in 1873.  The Grove family were among the first settlers in the Sherman township area. Because of it's commanding views and elevation 0f 1722 feet, it was later used for a fire tower.  It is 1000 feet down to bedrock from Grove Hill.

Tony and I have been wanting to ride up TV tower hill every since we started biking a few years ago, We talk about it often when we drive the hill, but didn't feel like our legs were strong enough to do it.  Today, we decided to give it a try.  The hill doesn't go straight up, rather, the elevation increases up in a series of smaller hills, until reaching 22 Mile Rd, from there it goes straight up.  We didn't need to use our mountain drive on the trike until we reached that point.  By the time we got there, I was glad when Tony kicked it in.   It took us about 20 minutes to get to the top of the hill.  In the picture I am posting you have to look closely down the road, to get an idea of it's elevation.  I hope to get a better picture later on, when the trees aren't fully leafed.  That will give you a better idea of the size of the hill.

Once we made it to the top of the hill, (without stopping to rest,) we stopped for a break at Grove Hill. Decided it would be a nice place to bring a lunch in the fall, when the colors are changing.

I often write about us riding to church in Dighton, which is about 8 miles from out home.  But I have never given any history on the area.

   Dighton MI,  isn't officially a town,  it has no post office, and it does not appear in my Garmin GPS.  It has population of about 50 people.   There are a few houses there, a general store, and our church.  The store dates back to 1887.

Dighton was once a logging town with a population of around 1000 people.  There was a stage coach line connecting Tustin and Dighton.  Dighton was known as a "rowdy" place.  It was located along 20 Mile Rd originally, but moved to it's current location in 1901,it made shipping lumber easier if the town was close to the railroad tracks.  In addition to the 3 lumber mills, there was 3 stores and numerous saloons.  Dighton even had it's own telephone exchange at one time. In 1914 the flooring mill burned down, and was not rebuilt.  I think It was called Curtis Milling.

The railroad was abandoned and the tracks were taken up in 1920.  The Dighton Store, which was originally built in in 1887, and known as the Davis Family store.  The store is still in business.  Our church, The Dighton Wesleyan Church, was originally kitty corner, across the street,  from the store.  Our church, has since, relocated to where the once modern, 2 story, Dighton  school used to be.  A new basement was dug,  our church  taken off of the basement that had been done when the addition was done to the church, many years ago. The church was put on a big trailer and moved 1/4 mile up the road.  It was  a sight to see, our big church, going down the street  main of Dighton.   Quite a big deal, even making the local news and news paper.

The  old school house was owned by our church, for many years.  It was used for family reunions and other community events.   Then someone in the community, donated some land that was right next to the school, enabling us to have more room.  Our church was moved to it's present location about 11 or 12 years ago.  Our church held services in the school house, while we waited for the  renovations and addition to our church, to be completed.  The school house,  was made of sandstone, which was crumbling, was torn down shortly  after that.

    Just before the school house was torn down, Tony and I, among others, were given permission to salvage some of the  building materials from it.  We salvaged some  tongue and groove flooring.   We had 2 days to get out as much as we could.   It was hot, and we were working in the upstairs.  We were plenty dirty by the time we were done.  Ended up with enough flooring to do our kitchen, family room, living room, and hallway. We were thrilled when we came across a floor board with writing on the back of it.  It read; "Curtis Milling, Dighton Mi, 1906."   We were going to set it aside, but somehow it got mixed in with the flooring that was laid in our house.  We found out later, that one of the 3 sawmills in Dighton, specialized in making flooring.

It took Tony 2 years to pull all the nails in the flooring and to clean the dirt out of the grooves. We hired someone to install it in our home, sand it and seal it.  It is a wonderful reminder to us of the history of the area we live in.   I didn't have any  pictures of just the floor, so what your seeing, is some socks I made on my antique sock machine, and one of our cat, Miss Muffet, playing.  The floor is in the back ground.

From Tv tower Hill we headed to 20 Mile Rd, where turned right and rode 5 miles to Tustin.  We rode past a statue of a lion.  It was in an overgrown area in front of a house.  No driveway or anything there, just the statue and 2 concrete pillars.

Once we were in Tustin, we got on the White Pine Trail and headed towards LeRoy.  Stopped at the bank, and refilled dour water bottles at  the local restaurant, Mr. Pibbs, then headed home.  We rode 28 miles today.  All but 6 miles of it was hilly.

Time off

I doubt we will get much riding in this week.  It's the week of Vacation Bible School (VBS) at our church.  Our little country church, has an average attendance of around 100 people.  Vacation Bible School is a big deal at our church.  We have an average of 40-50 people in the church, who help in one way or another< Tony and I, are helpers in the kindergarten group.  This weeks theme is the BIg Bible Broadcast.  Each night the kids get to participate in a game show, watch puppets, play games and do crafts.

Our daughter and her 4 children come and stay for the week of VBS.  During the day the kids swim, fish, go frog hunting, or play in the woods.  After supper, we all head to VBS.

 Last night after we got home from VBS, we had a camp fire.  It was almost 11 Pm by the time the kids got to bed, but after a nights rest they'll be ready for a new day of adventures today.

It's been a busy week with VBS and the other activities with the kids.  We got some more fishing in,  The kids caught about 9 fish on Friday,  took me a good while to clean them, some were kind of small, but when they were all added to what we caught earlier in the week, we had enough fish for a fish fry.  all the kids ate the fish except for Sarah, who said she liked to fish, but couldn't eat something that she had seen swimming around.                                                                                       

The kids spent some time playing the key board I got at a garage sale for a quarter.

We had one more campfire night  here at the house on Thursday night.  Tony and I had worked on Wednesday and Thursday, but  the kids had the wood all gathered for the fire.  Smores, for all who wanted them.  Tony and tim hosed the fire down, after we all went in the house. 

I would say the highlight of the week were the 4 wheeler rides at VBS on Friday night , and the dunk tank.  Tim, Sarah, Marc, and Luc had never been on 4 wheelers or ATV's before, so it was an extra big deal to them.  The church had a "trail" all laid out to take the kids on, and of course it included some hills and woods to go through.  I forgot my camera that night, but I won't forget the huge smiles on their faces as they rode past us.

If the all  kids memorized over 200 accumulative verses,  and attendance was 100 people, then Pastor Deemer was going in the dunk tank.  Throughout the day on Friday, we heard many comments from the grandkids, that "Pastor is going down tonight."  And sure enough he did.  Out of 70 kids, who each got one shot at Pastor, 8 kids were able to dunk him.  Luc was happily among the 8.  There were 3 other guys who got dunked too.  The kids each got 3 tries at each of them.  Those guys were in the water plenty.

After lunch on saturday Tony treated us all to ice cream at Mr. Pibbs.  Shortly after that Tracey and the kids headed home.  The cat came out of hiding, although she had gotten brave the last  day or 2 the kids were here, she was happy to have the house to herself again.  For us, it seemed odd to have the house quiet and empty.  It was a memorable week and tiring week  for all.