63 miles

My ride from Ludington to Mears last night was full of horrific Michigan potholes and LOTS of deer. I keep thinking about how common it is for deer to total a car, but it’s a new and different kind of anxiety to imagine colliding with one when you’re bombing downhill on a bike. 

When I got to Mears, I decided to climb a dune near the beach to pitch my tent, because the campground itself was packed to the gills with RVs and rowdy people partying. The “campground” was basically a huge parking lot. Gross. The spot I found was pretty nice, overlooking Lake Michigan. Initially I set up my hammock, but then I remembered that it was supposed to rain at 6:00 am and continue through the next day, so I switched gears and set up my tent. 

When I woke up this morning, the sky looked imminently stormy, so I hurried to pack up, and in my haste I broke one of the hubs on my tent poles. Once packed, I hoofed it to a coffee shop in town to figure out my plan for the day, which the radar was promising would be rainy. 

Somehow I managed to dodge the rain all day. I rode the Hart-Montague Trail and sections of the Fred Meijer trail, which are both beautiful and so smoothly paved. I stopped to buy some rain-ready shoes—I picked up a pair of cheap slides from a Family Dollar. I’ve gotten caught in serious rain a couple of times now, and since my feet always dry more quickly than my shoes and socks do, I want to try riding in sandals if I know the day is going to be wet. I figure if my toes are going to get wet during the storm either way, I can at least avoid carrying the leftover rain around in my socks for days afterwards.

My goal for the day was to reach Muskegon, which by some miracle I was able to do, somehow dodging each storm by a few minutes. I set a course for Jo-Ann Fabric, to pick up some supplies for the jewelry I wanted to make, and I thought I might find something there I could use to repair my tent.
I hate to say it but, so far, Michigan people are the worst. They pass too close, and they don’t wait for anyone in a crosswalk. Someone actually got mad at me for crossing in a crosswalk when I had a walk sign, while she was wanting to turn. It’s like they’ve never seen a bike before. I feel my defenses rising.
At Jo-Ann fabrics, I had parked my bike against a railing near the shopping carts (but by no means blocking access to them) and as I was preparing to leave, an older lady came up for a cart and said to me rudely “I don’t want to make you move, but you’d better move!” I was stunned. There was plenty of room. She could have easily walked around me, but instead, she went out of her way to tell me to get lost. It was so unnecessary and confusing. 

I felt anger and indignation bubbling up all day. I wanted to tell each one of these people how far I’ve come, how many hundreds of miles I’ve crossed and people I’ve encountered, and with maybe ONE exception in Minnesota, and one in Montana, no one has been anything but patient, considerate, and careful to create adequate space on the road and wish me well. Why is there suddenly so much hatred, and in Michigan, my “home” state of all places? It’s so disappointing.

I stopped for the night at PJ Hoffman state park. I rolled into an unoccupied site, figuring that someone might not show up. I set about fixing my tent poles, and sort of managed? At the store, I’d found a flexible (plastic?) pole with a reflector that people put at the end of their driveways. It was more or less the perfect diameter to take the place of the pole that broke. It doesn’t have the same tension, so it’s a little wobbly, but we’ll see if it holds up.

The rightful occupants of the site did appear eventually, but they told me earnestly that they didn’t need it after all. I assumed they were just being nice, but they explained that their party was smaller than they’d initially planned, so they really didn’t need it and insisted that I stay, and even gave me the tag for their registration. I offered to reimburse them for the site, but they wouldn’t take my money. I guess there are still some nice people here.

The sites here are nice and private with tall trees. I made a necklace with the stone I’d been gifted back in Manitowoc. It was nice to do something besides survival chores. 

I’m thinking of taking a rest day. I haven’t had time to enjoy the lake much, and I’ll be leaving it soon to cross the corn belt. And I need to buy some groceries and wash.