Day 59 – Aug 10, 2015 – Ludington MI to LeRoy MI – 69 miles
So what can I say? Michigan. We left Ludington this morning not really knowing how far we would get. Well, the roads are excellent and the Adventure Cycling route took us off the beaten track. And when I say “off the beaten track” I mean it. We went through towns with weird names like Free Soil and around a couple of lakes – Bass Lake, Loon Lake, and little Bass Lake. The terrain was easy and mostly flat with a few little hills to keep us on our toes.
But what struck me most about Michigan is how trashy it is compared to the immaculate farms of Wisconsin. Very few places in Wisconsin had lawn trash like cars, toys, discarded rusting farm equipment. But Michigan has this two fold. The cabins and vacation homes around these lakes were so messy, I was shocked. Maybe it was the contrast as these places were located in some very beautiful forests and sitting on lake fronts. It was sad and depressing me. How could people live like this?
Gregg remarked that these roads were like very nice “bike paths”. They had that tunneling factor as we were surrounded by forests on both sides. There was nothing to see but these forests. There was something eerie about it because, as Gregg said, you expected some weird backwoods person to come out of the forest in a Budweiser T-shirt and a loaded weapon. There was something not right in this area.
The towns themselves were nothing much either. Maybe a convenience store and a cafe but that is it. We covered 60 miles of this. On the last half of the ride, we found no campsites close to the route. We were worried about where we should stay. We read that a town called LeRoy had a Bar with a Motel attached. I called them and they did have rooms – $35. Ok, that was suspicious. But we had no choice the next real town was another 40 miles away. $35 room, scary. We pedaled on through more forests and a afternoon downpour. We made it to the Travelers Motel and Bar. Yep, it was almost like we walked into the decrepit rundown cabins that we passed. As we paid, before seeing the room, the barkeeper said “its old, its $35 don’t expect much”. Well it was bad. The carpet was so filthy I would not walk on it with bare feet. The mattresses were ripped and discolored. The sheets were so thin you could see right through them, they also had cigarette burn holes speckling the sheets around the pillow area. The lights had no shades or light bulbs for that matter. The bathroom….the shower was rusty and moldy and when turned on did not drain and the backwash smelled like rotten eggs. It was disgusting and we had no where to go.
When we went to the bar for dinner we came up with a plan, we would venture to ask them whether we could perhaps set up our tent on the grass in front of the motel. Well, to our amazement they said “sure go right ahead”. So that is what we did. The room was so unacceptable that we would not be able to sleep in it. We would sleep so much better in our tent. So here we are camping in a motel lawn and all of this on a day that I felt really low and very ready to have this journey come to an end.
auchandgrog
Hi Pete, Gregg here,
What can I say: it is mostly one day after another. I admit we are looking forward to getting home to our dogs, beds, friends and home cooked food. Nevertheless, we have good and bad moments just like everyone else. You will find your 10 day trip long and feel the separation from normal life at home….but isn’t that one of the purposes of the trip. You make a good point about hindsight being golden. The point is the journey I suppose, not the laughs you expected to have. It is a test, it is about learning about yourself and what you can do far more than having a good time. No doubt, however, you will have a good time.
Gregg
auchandgrog
Hi Mike, Gregg here,
I’m sure the work ethic has something to do with it…or is it just trying to keep the farm as nice looking as the Amish farm down the road. You are undoubtably right, our view is that of the Adventure Cycling maps. That being said, I think some guarded generalizatinos can be made. The part of rural Michigan we have traveled through seem to be very working class and probably hard hit by the economic problems of urban Michigan (Detroit…auto…etc.) One of the things that impressed us about both Minnesota and Wisconsin was the number of factories located in the small towns we passed through. The local economies seemed to be diverse and doing well. In small town rural Michigan, the local economy seems to be based on lumber, retired residents and sports fishing. We did see prosperous homes, but not so many as other areas we have traveled through. The good part of the trip includes all the bad parts of the trip. This is more an experience/adventure than a fun vacation. When it goes to color, is when we get a good meal or the last 35 miles of today’s ride when we were on a good level and paved trail with our iPods plugged in our ears looking at the sunny sky and beautiful farms.
Gregg
Pete
You guys are amazing. I’m really wondering if I can be away from the life I like here at home for just 10 days to do the San Fran to LA trip, and here you are at day 60. Seems like forever since I read you were on the Amtrak. I’ve been trying to use your experiences to adjust for days on the road ahead of time. I really appreciate your honesty Audrey. So many I know flower up the experiences they have, rather than give a more accurate account of the ups and downs. It’s been a source of confusion in my life at times, when the previous generation tell me how much they loved school, their time in the Army, their jobs, etc. without including the tough parts like lack of sleep, $h!tty bosses, traffic, rushing all the time, deadlines, filthy old hotel rooms 🙂 etc. Can’t wait to talk this all over with you.
Mike Williams
Oh man. I was hoping that you had reached the good part of the trip and it was going to be liek the “Wizard of Oz” and everything was going to go from black and white to color. Can it be that Michigan is so different from Wisconsin? Is it the work ethic of the German immigrants that makes Wisconsin tidy and the part of Michigan you are in like something from the tv series “Cops” where we see the worst of the worst or did Adventure Travel maps take you on less traveled roads but therefore awa from a more prosperous area?