Wow,  it  has been 15 days since we rode last.    We just returned from visiting our daughter and her family in Bellingham WA.  We flew out and the trike is a bit big to have shipped, so we had to make do without it.  It was hard, our daughter lives less than a half block away from a great trail system.  We walked many miles on the trails while we were there visiting, and many times wished that we had the trike there, so we could ride.  The weather was beautiful during our visit.  Not one single day of rain, and sunny everyday.  It was so great to see everyone again.  Wish we all lived closer to one another.  It's hard to only see all of them, only once a year.

By the time we drove  the 90 miles home from the airport in Grand Rapids, it was 3 AM, which was midnight Pacific time, at least our bodies had mostly adjusted to the time change by the time we returned home,  that made it a little easier.  We got on the airport shuttle a little after 9 AM, yesterday morning, so it still made for a long traveling day.  We were glad to see our own bed.

 Got up around 9AM, by the time we had  coffee and breakfast,   unpacked and went through the phone messages and mail, it was past lunch time, so we didn't get started on our ride until after 2PM. After spending all of yesterday traveling, it felt so good to get out and ride.   Since Button had spent so much time in his crate while traveling, we didn't take him along.  He wasn't very happy when he saw us getting our gear together for a ride.

Temps today were in the mid 60's, quite cloudy when we started riding, but getting sunnier as the ride progressed.  We have the Shoreline ride coming up this weekend.  It is a 50 mile group ride, that starts in Mackinaw city.  We are riding it with some friends we made through our PALM ride.  Tony wanted to ride the trail today, but we ended up doing hills, as we felt it would help us be more prepared for the 50 miler on Saturday.

We rode into LeRoy and rode past the Library and Post Office heading out west of town.  We took 200 Rd to 18 mile road and headed home that way.

 The sumac is bright red and some trees are just starting to turn color.

The apple trees are full of apples,  many grow wild along side the road, planted by the birds, or by a discarded  apple core. we stopped and picked some.  We each ate one as we rode along, I hope to make an apple crisp before we head to Mackinaw City for our ride this weekend. Such a pretty sight to see the trees loaded down with apples. all of it displayed, with a beautiful sky as the back drop.

 Apple trees growing wild makes me thing of Johnny Appleseed.  His given name was John Chapman.  As the pioneers began to move west, John would try and figure out what route they night go.  Then he would go to that area and plant some stands of apple trees, planning on selling the your trees to settlers. He would settle for bartered goods as well.  He lived a simple life.  Once he planted the trees, he would try and find a nearby settler and make arrangements for the settler to look after the newly planted trees.  He may have built barriers of deadfall branches and stumps to keep the wild life from devouring the young trees.  He was an eccentric fellow, a vegetarian and he traveled barefoot, both were unusual for the times he lived in.  Johnny showed kindness o both people and animals, and was loved by many.  He was a rugged individualist and a gentle humanitarian.  He thought of himself as a missionary, carrying  a message of God and nature, to many.  Guess my teacher must have done a good job teaching about Johnny Appleseed, because he's what I think of when I see an apple tree growing along the road. 

We rode past house and barns, heard a sheep bleating, but couldn't see where it was to get a picture.  The houses surrounded by yards and trees, and topped off by the blue skies, with white clouds drifting about seemed to be begging for me to take some pictures.  I was happy to oblige.

It was such a pleasant day for a ride, we were still jet lagged,  so we took our time.  Not sure if it was because we were worm out from traveling, or because it's been 13 days since our last ride, but, we found ourselves using the mountain drive more than we usually do.  Somehow, the hills seemed bigger today.

We "zeroed" out on several.  Zeroing out is when the trike is still moving, but the speedometer reads zero.  Plenty of time to take pictures when we are "zeroing" out.  Heres's one of my new SmartWool socks.

Rode past an old tractor that was for sale.  I bet it would have plenty of stories to tell if it could talk.

Looks like the self milking barn is framed in.  Thought I better try and get a picture before it is finished. for a month or so it sat with just the cement slab ther, but now things seem to be moving along quickly.

We reached the corner of 18 Mile Rd and started on the last of the loop to our house,  each of us commenting on how thankful we were to be able to get out and ride today, enjoying the beauty around us.  We rode just a little over 19 miles.