Monday, September 1, 2008

Musketawa Trail



Greetings from Grand Rapids. The third portion of the ride started today with a 53 mile ride from the Muskegon Lake Ferry landing to a motel near the Pine Rest Campus in Cutlerville, Michigan. I was joined for the day by my brother-in-law Don V. He will also be joining me tomorrow. Having company was a nice change of pace. We shared stories, observations and humor. I noticed again that cars are more considerate of two bicycles than of one. They slowed behind us, pulled further to the left and didn’t cut us off while pulling back into the lane.

The Musketawa trail is a converted paved railroad track. This too was a nice change of pace, but I wouldn’t want to ride it continuously. It’s too flat. We had planned to bike down the west side of Grand Rapids, but we missed our street. Instead we biked downtown taking Division Street South to Cutlerville. On the way we stopped for very good Mexican food at a popular restaurant on the corner of Division and 28th St. I f you ever bike there, the manager will lock your bikes in the storage room. We spent the rest of the afternoon with my daughter and her husband. In addition to a nice meal, we went shopping to restock our small food supplies. Stopping at a grocery store and three gas stations failed to locate a source for block versus cube ice.

While on the bike trail, I ran over a chipmunk. Before I could react, it ran in front of me and I hit it with both tires. We stopped to offer assistance but somehow it got off the trail and out of sight. I’m concerned it might have a broken collarbone, ribs and possibly a hemothorax. I hope it’s not combative with the chipmunk EMT’s. At any rate, its dream of completing the Musketawa Trail has ended for now.

Tomorrow morning there is a reception at Pine Rest. Then Don and I will bike 62 miles to Carson City.


Finally, the wedding for Mary's sister was enjoyable and a true ceremony. Mary has the details

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

That chipmunk must not have heard about the killer bicyclist from Iowa from his cousins the prairie dogs in Wyoming. Otherwise he would have stayed far away.

Pam

Anonymous said...

Ah, I can only assume you went to the Beltline Bar. When I first moved to GR, I was confused as the real Beltline runs north/south several miles east of the eatery. My only guess is the name comes from the damage it does to your actual beltline! I'm quite the fan of their combination plates, in particular the shredded tacos and chicken and cheese enchiladas.

What a pleasure to spend time with you this morning. Prayers for your continued journey and hope the journey continues to be as blessed.

Melissa