I camped in Petoskey, slept well, and surprised myself by rolling on to a sunny Little Travers Wheelway at 8 am. Found a nice spot to eat overlooking the lake.

Why am I telling you this trivia? Well, normally I vacation with Suzanne, and we don’t like to sit in the car too much, so we go to a place and stay a week to explore and relax. On a three week vacation, we stay in three places.

On a bike tour, I’m in a new place each night, and the vacation is the riding. Places along the way are quick glimpses. What I remember most are scenic areas, and wherever I stop to eat, rest or sight-see.

By taking pictures and writing, I remember what I experienced, for a double-your-value experience. And since we all like stories, I assume you might enjoy coming along vicariously, or planning your own trip. Plus Suzanne has gotten hooked on playing with themes for WordPress, which is what you’re viewing this in.

The towns along the way are all beautiful, with lots of nice parks and expensive houses and gated communities.

A local woman rider stopped to talk and said her boyfriend took two months to excavate for one huge house. These are not just second homes, but often one of several around the country.

It becomes apparent that you can feel pretty safe in these parts, and that you will not soon be offended by poverty and those annoying poor people that go along with it. In fact, you might feel pretty good about the world, on a sunny day such as this.

Or you might feel exactly the opposite.

I wanted to mention that, because every once in a while I snap out of brain neutral mode. Then I have to remember the words of an older friend of mine, and thank you for this by the way: “Whatever is wrong with the world, I’m not going to be the one to fix it. Let’s ride.”

Therefore, back to the ride. A couple of riders from Florida, who spend the summer here, stopped to talk, and it made a good photo op to finally get a picture of me.

To amuse yourself in these parts, there are the usual full spectrum of shopping, historic sites, boating, swimming, golf, wineries, breweries, and who knows what else.

On a bike tour I am selective, extremely, and stick with the experience of the tour. Stay in the zone. But, every once in a while Bob, the author, throws in sites close by, so I got these shots of the hobbit houses of Earl Young in Charlevoix. That’s real thatch, just installed, and expected to last over 60 years.

The Old Dixie Highway is another long stretch with big old trees along the way. When I rolled to the end of it, I heard myself saying, “God, that was great. That was really good.”

Well then it started drizzling, so I took the straight shot on Hwy 35. Now we are in Orchard Country, covering the hills as far as you can see. I got only one picture for you, due to the impending doom of more rain.

And speaking of doom, it’s time to out Bob, our guidebook author. Bob will tell you about ice cream stores and esoteric info about the route, but he is a road warrior and has a congenital inability to recognize and note a hill when he rides one. In bad weather, or if you are tired, you might want to avoid a hilly stretch. Listen up. I walked about four hills on Barnard Road, and three on Lake Shore Drive before Cross Village. Beautiful riding country, even when you’re walking it, but you should know about those hills. 🙂