Stanton Corners and other points north

Today's ride was probably my last ride for this month, as the COTU have arrived. Stanton Corners is on my list of annual rides, a little further away than Kirk Park, but not as far as Grand Haven. Longish, but not epic. Today was the day. Given that today followed yesterday (odd how that works) it may have been a trifle ambitious. There were some options for cutting it short, but aided by a light SE wind, the ride out seemed pretty easy. The ride back was a little less so, but okay.
Lakeshore, Hill, Croswell east to 160th, then north to Stanton and east again across the highway. The Croswell bike path has been paved beginning at the point where I headed north. I'm not a fan of fresh asphalt, so I didn't try it out, but there's enough traffic along here that I'm sure it will get some use. Though it is a long way from civilization ....
MDOT has pretty much guaranteed that I won't be back to Stanton Corners any time soon. They have put in a Michigan left turn at the intersection of Stanton and highway 31, making it impossible to cross the highway without riding along the highway for a few hundred feet. Unacceptable. I found another way home, crossing back across the highway about a half mile south, and thus having to deal with riding past a turkey farm. As long as I was in the neighborhood I checked the status of the WOOS. Open. And I swung into Hemlock Crossing Park and stopped in for a minute at the new Nature Center. Nice. 29.2 miles.

Saugutuck Ride

It was cooler and much less humid today than it has been for quite a while. Good enough to go ahead with a planned bike ride with an old friend. We'd decided to ride from Holland to Saugatuck and back, starting at the house of a friend of hers who lives on the south side of Holland. This kept the distance down to a mere 23 miles, a long enough ride for someone who was on her bike for the first time this year. (Her, not me. But then you knew that.)
We took the back roads south staying on the quieter roads closest to the lake, seeing horses first, then a deer, and soon a flock of wild turkeys. We made a short side trip down a gravel road for a brief rest stop at Goshorn Lake, a small landlocked lake separated from the big lake by only a sand dune.
We spent some time river watching once we got to Saugatuck. We got there before the oil spill did, and the river was full of boats and the shoreline was lined with geese. We found a shady spot and took a few photos before heading to The Mermaid, a local eatery, for lunch on the Kalamazoo River.We got a nice table in the shade with a view of Mount Baldy and the boardwalk lined with boats. If the oil spill reaches Lake Michigan by Sunday as feared, I imagine that all these boats will be pulled out of the water, and no one will be eating on this patio.
She had a little shopping to do after lunch, hoping to replace a wine bottle stopper that had been accidentally broken by men working on her house this past week. She was successful. Saugatuck was bustling with tourists today, as is usually the case in mid summer.
We returned to Holland via a slightly more inland route, following a new bike path that has been built along Beeline Road. By this point the sun was higher in the sky than I find comfortable, but there was a bit of a headwind, providing some evaporative cooling. Other than a slight headache from too much sun, it was a nice ride.

Three Days in July

I have mostly been taking my camera for a ride this week. I've ridden the last three days, but I have very few photos to show for it. How many pictures of blueberries can I post, after all?
Sunday was my birthday, as you all know (since I heard from all of you! Thanks!) I rode north and east, over to the golf course and Quincy Park. There was a fairly stiff NE wind, but otherwise it was a nice morning for a ride, except for the getting older part.
OSLO and her blended family arrived with gifts and cake to spend the day. It was also a nice beach day -- the water was warm, and the COTU's had pretty much recovered from their swimmers ear issues.
Monday I rode north and east, out towards Hemlock Crossing, turning back about 2 miles before I got that far. I made a few bad choices of roads to ride on the way back. I forgot how bad both Port Sheldon Road and 152nd Street are during blueberry season. Commerce is going on there, and I was just in the way on my puny bicycle. I'd also waited until mid day to ride, and though it wasn't a bad ride, I still ended up with a bit of a headache from too much direct sun. The only photo I got was the one of the local association deck, as I rode down the street in front of Lynne's on my return trip. (Rounding up, of course.)
Today I reverted to my norm, and left the house about 7:45 this morning while it was still cool. I rode north past the power plant, over Hill and to within about a mile of Kirk Park, before turning inland for a while, then catching the first street back south and riding up the back side of Hill on my return leg. I stopped at the top to take this photo of the sun's rays through the clouds. It wasn't this dark -- I don't know why my camera thought so -- but it made an interesting photo. The low temperature overnight tonight is forecast to be mid 70's, and storms are likely tomorrow. Thursday I plan to ride with Lynne for our birthday ride. It won't be an epic ride, as she is having pretty severe pain in her left leg. She is determined to ride, but we won't ride far, I'm sure. So there's not much of July left to ride. I'm on track -- yet again-- for a record low month, but it doesn't seem to be bothering me much.

Heat Advisory

The heat index (no, I don't know what that is) was over 100 here today. The dew point was over 70 all day. I did not ride. I used the time instead to download some old photos from a memory stick I found in my purse onto my new laptop. Here are a few gems that I hadn't seen for a long while. About 3 years.
The photo above was taken in August of 2007. I had Lyme disease at the time, and for some reason don't remember a lot of that visit. That's kind of scary.
Brothers. Lovable. Predictably goofy. Taken in Tallahassee in February '07, I think.
The four of us hadn't been in the same room for quite some time -- close to 20 years, if I remember the arithmetic that was done at the time. (And really, I don't.) Taken in Michigan.

Further Investigation

I don't know how you people (okay, person) do it. Riding in 90 degrees? I just can't. It was 75 degrees when I left this morning ... with a dew point of 71. Fortunately there was a pretty decent wind blowing from the WNW during my ride, but the air was thick.
I love the lighting around 7:30 in the morning. It cast long shadows on the Idlewood hill.
North on Lakeshore, again. I had not planned to ride this far, but somehow ended up turning east at the top of Hill instead of turning around. Notice anything different? This was taken about 8:30 am, earlier than on Monday when I was there around 9:00. Apparently a third trip will be required to break the tie. Probably not soon, though.
I tried a little bit of on the bike photography, riding back west after climbing out of the Pigeon River Valley. Two long rides (by my standards) in three days. I'm a trifle knackered. In other news, I stopped in at Bowerman's this afternoon and asked what variety of blues they were offering up. It is Blue Crop. This heat is ripening the berries quickly, she said. I hope they hang on for a while, yet.

Summertime, and the livin' is easy.

The streets are pretty quiet and empty on my early morning rides. Sunrise is now about 6:24 a.m., and I didn't leave the house until about 7:30 today, so the sun had made a lot of headway on its climb into the sky by the time I got to a spot where I had a clear view of the morning sun over the waters of Lake Macatawa.
Still, moments like this are why I ride. And why I ride early. Also, I had a very busy day planned.
I hard boiled some eggs, and got my hair cut. Busy, busy, busy.
Fortunately, I still had enough time and energy left over to spend some quality time watching paint dry. Summer is short, and I am trying not to waste any of it.

Pigeon River Loop

8:00 a.m. It's been a while since I've ridden the loop north of the Pigeon River. This morning I rode north up Lakeshore into a fairly light north wind, intending to ride until I got tired of riding into a headwind. That happened about the top of Hill, where Croswell T's into Lakeshore. There are 'construction ahead' signs at that intersection, so I've been avoiding it. Today I discovered the reason for the signs. There is a new 'bike' path being constructed along Croswell. It will eventually link the path on Lakeshore and Hemlock Crossing.

Part of the path is visible on the left in this photo, where a bridge was built over a swampy area. Anyone recognize the building on the right?
Yes, it is the West Olive One Stop corner. I never go in there by myself -- it is more than just a little sketchy, shall we say. At first I didn't plan to ride up to the front door, but it looked a trifle funny to me. It was a few minutes before 9 a.m. on a Monday morning. It seemed like it should be open, right?
Padlocked. I was glad I hadn't counted on them for electrolyte replacements. My rides haven't been long enough, as a rule, to take me out that far. But now I am curious -- are they really closed, or did they just open up late today?
It was a really nice ride -- the countryside along the north side of the Pigeon River never disappoints. I got a decent tail wind on the way home, and took this photo right outside my door. A two and a half hour ride in just under 2 hours and 15 minutes. I rode the triple, and spent a lot of the ride in the big ring. Like I said, nice ride.

Electrolytes

It was 76 degrees when I left the house this morning. It was 7:30 a.m. Another sunny, warm summer day. Since I don't tolerate heat or sun (or fools) very well, my rides have been starting earlier and earlier. Fortunately, I like riding in the early part of the day. I filled two bottles with liquids before I left, and focused on staying hydrated.
There was water available at my turn around spot. Public water supplies can be hard to find. My water bottle (red cap) was close to empty at this point, but I still had most of a bottle of Powerade Zero, left behind by Mark. I'm usually a G2 person, the zero calorie Gatorade, but I liked the Powerade. It has a slightly salty taste, but nowhere near as much as the Nuun tablets that I bought in Roseville this spring. (I sent those home with Mark. His work environment is hot, hot, hot, and the high amount of sodium in the Nuun is a bonus for him.)
Painters started working on the outside of our primary residence yesterday, and will eventually also paint the interior of the garage. It seemed like moving the Elite out of there to a more secure location might be a good plan, so I did that yesterday. I haven't ridden that bike since I got the new saddle on the Ruby, but I chose it this morning. I enjoyed its triple chain ring function on my way north on Lakeshore, and it was a touch easier climbing the Idlewood hill on the return trip.
A lot of other people chose the early hours to do their physical activity-- the U-Pick blueberry farm at 160th and Quincy was as busy as I have ever seen it when I went past it around 9 a.m. The same kind of berries are available at Bowerman's already picked, pre-washed and in boxes. I wonder if they know that. Or maybe there were none left there because Andy bought them all yesterday.

Visitors Depart

The Miller boys left for home this morning, planning to stop and buy an obscene amount of blueberries at Bowerman's, then drive straight through. With nothing to do but a mountain of laundry, I thought I'd sort through some of the photos from this week and share a few of them that didn't make either the blog or the Facebook album on the first cut.
This one made the second round because of its similarity to a photo taken a couple of years ago that featured a trick of perspective, and led to the girl COTU referring to her Uncle GZ as Big Mon for a while. This must be Big Mon 2.
We spent some time on the beach, and Tunnel Park remained a favorite destination. Andy tricked OSLO into thinking two of his daughters would also be visiting us, Mary and Kate. Ryan came along with Mary/Katie to witness the craziness, and did not seem to be at all intimidated by it.
The deck was still the favorite room in the house for most people. Maybe because we had a house full, and that was the only seat available. At one point JB had to bring a dinner plate over from the bay house, because we had more people than plates for supper that night.
My sister-in-law shared a favorite spot with another sister-in-law. And a favorite activity.
Eventually Andy started referring to our house as "home" and we required that he leave. So they packed up their bicycles on Mark's really cool bike rack and headed out.
From the expressions on their faces, I think it is safe to say that they were happy to be on their way. I hope they have a safe and uneventful trip. And enjoy the blueberries. (For those of you who keep track of this sort of thing, we went through 10 pounds over the 5 days. Not a record, but not bad.)

Photo by Request

According to family legend, without GZ there is no biking. We tried it anyway. The forecast was for 90 degrees, so a morning ride was the only way to go. I'd ridden about 6:30 for about an hour, but by 10:00 there were two more riders ready to go, and I re-cycled. It was already muggy and getting hot.
With the wind from south, we headed for the State Park first. The parking lot was just beginning to fill up with day trippers. We rode along the shore of Lake Mac before heading back.
My 'many' readers will want to know this ... we have purchased more blueberries. We should be good for a while.

Peace

In spite of an algae bloom in the lake, the youngsters all swam twice today. We are out of blueberries. That's all my news for today.

A Niece Tradition

As was predicted by TT in the comment section yesterday, biking broke out today. There were four bikers, the speed was slow, and the route was a version of the tour de blueberry fields. The guest riders made a number of snide, somewhat condescending remarks about the lack of hills. As in "this reminds me of TRAM. Except no hills." I asked them which part of Great Flatlands Rider they didn't understand. We were back in time for lunch, to find two new visitors had arrived.
In the tradition of my niece Emily, who came here and brought EMSA, and my niece Kelsey, who came here by train and brought TT, today my niece Mary Katherine arrived, with Ryan in tow. They made a nice addition to the group. They spent significant time on the beach this afternoon, and he has the sunburn to prove it. They also participated in not one, but two walks to Tunnel Park, and the full death march. Though if you stop for ice cream at the park, can it really be called the death march? Tomorrow OSLO and the COTU arrive, and the numbers will swell beyond the ability of the new table to seat us all. Good times.

Life's a Beach

Visitors always migrate to the beach, sooner or later. These had come the long way around to get here -- 10 hours yesterday through the U.P. to get to Mackinaw City, and another 5 hours today. They were a little bit car weary, but still up for a beach walk after supper. OSLO and her family were here as well.

They brought 3 bicycles with them ... a sign of serious intent to ride, I think.

The Streets Aren't Safe

I'm not riding much these days. Apparently I am one of those "old people" for whom the heat and humidity is unhealthy. I feel unwell if I spend too much time outside during these very muggy days. I have taken a few short rides in the early mornings, now and then.
152nd Street is on my 'tour de blueberry fields' ride. Most of the year it has very little traffic. For the next month or so other routes are better choices. I must admit that I feel extremely wimpy complaining about the heat and humidity while riding past fields full of people picking berries. Although I think this guy has an air conditioned cab on his machine.

Price Check on Aisle 3

Hot, humid and windy. I rode at 8:00 am, and still wondered if it was a good idea. It was already in the 80's, with a dew point in the 60's. I saw 90 degrees on my truck thermometer just before arriving at Bowerman's about 2:30 this afternoon. Their new building is air conditioned, fortunately -- and I picked up my first box of blues of the season.
I wanted a few to just eat out of my hand -- no plans for pies, at least not yet. Maybe I'll put a few berries on my cereal in the morning.
I've never quite understood the difference between a two pound box, and a quart box. They are very close to the same size.
Yes, I know... the 'difference' is $1.00. I bought the quart size.

Never on Sunday

The 4th of July fell on a Sunday this year, and here in 'fly-over country,' that means that festivities get shifted to the non-Sabbath days of the week.
Fireworks were scheduled for Saturday at 'dusk' which translated to around 10:30 pm. The crowds began gathering about 12 hours earlier than that, though. The association beach filled up early.
Our little group hit the beach in the mid afternoon. The inner tube has the COTU in it, and OSLO and her BFF are on the beach soaking up some sun.
About 5:30 we made a dent in the brisket and strawberry pie, and there was still plenty of time for a death march. (In addition to the walk to the State Park, I think I set a new personal record of 4 trips up the stairs that day.) We hadn't done a fire on the beach for years. But marshmallows were toasted there this year, as we watched home grown fireworks displays both north and south of us. A light breeze kept the mosquitoes away, and the official fireworks were pretty good once they finally began. Normally we've watched them from the deck ... watching from the beach was a nice change.
Sunday was a day of rest. (And swimming and pizza.) Today was parade day. We've been in the parade a number of times, this year we chose to provide the applause. Bob brought his flag. So did the COTU, though TJ said he felt flag deprived.
For those of you who've been here for the parade, (that would be Emmy), this year's parade was a little smaller than usual. It had all of the essential elements, though. Lady Liberty rode in the first car, and Ben Franklin carried the Declaration along the route, as he always has since we've been here.
The dog in the earlier photo, with the flag, belonged to guests of the Professor.
It was another hot day -- the 2nd 90 degree day in a row, with at least one more to go. A little bit cooler near the lake.
This lovely young woman is the Professor's daughter, bailing out in front of our house. Her two children rode their bikes in the parade ... which adds the biking element necessary to justify putting the parade on the blog. As for me -- I rode early, before the heat of the day, but not before the humidity. GZ rode about 10 more miles today than I did, but then he often does. As is often the case on warm weekends when there is wind, there was at least one drowning in the big lake, a 45 year old man who apparently got caught in a rip current between two sand bars. It isn't as bucolic as it sometimes looks.