The sun rose over the horizon on a new day. Matt and I wanted to get an early start, but had to stop at a Walgreens pharmacy before we left Muskegon. Our early start was after 930am, but well worth it. I picked up my last prescription for prednisone today! I am finally am able to cycle down off this steroid. 🙏🤞✅

We decided to take the bike trail around the lake instead of Google maps for the shortest distance. We came upon the USS Liberty, now docked and open to the public as a museum for a fee.

After a brief visit with the gentleman at the front desk, we headed back to our bicycles. Moments after we pushed our bicycles away from the bike rack, the sprinklers came on and blasted the area. Whew! Good time to roll on! Second breakfast was upon us as we came to a shady picnic table at First Lutheran church. We sat down for a reprieve from the sun to eat. The pastor came out and spoke with us. The church is also on Warmshowers as a host in the area. If it were later in the day, Matt and I would have stayed, but decided we needed to take advantage of the tailwind and daylight. We said our goodbyes and continued down the trail.

Once on the trail, Matt and I came across an 82 year old recumbent cyclist named Ken. He and Matt rode together and talked for many miles before he had to turn around.

We rode into very scenic Whitehall, Michigan and decided to call it a day at Trailway Campground. It was conveniently located at the beginning of the Hart Montague trail. The $25 fee for rustic (no electricity or water) camping seemed steep at first, but once we saw how nice the showers were we decided it wasn’t so steep after all. There is also a grocery store and ice cream shop a very close walk away.

The next day we broke camp and headed into town. We had a few errands to run before we set off on the trail. The town of Whitehall is a beautiful little town. Sailboats in the harbor, quaint downtown, hometown grocery, mom and pop restaurants and an old Rite Aid pharmacy. Whoever oversees their landscaping for the city is doing a fine job! The edges of the street were lined with petunias welcoming you into their town. Big, bold and beautiful hanging baskets of petunias everywhere. Great combinations of flower containers everywhere. We both agreed it was a very nice town.

We got back on the the trail shortly after running errands. The Hart Montague Trail was Michigans first paved rail trail. It is 22.7 miles in length and it is a superb rail trail! We rode along at a leisurely pace that morning. Matt had conversations with Mitch, a cyclist from Grand Rapids. Matt and Mitch rode together for a few miles before we stopped for second breakfast. Mitch had ridden Miami to Key West recently and enjoys many of the rail trails throughout the United States. After a good chat and some shared trail magic, Mitch set off for the end of the trail. We later ran back into him on his way back to Whitehall. He shared with us some peaches from the farmers market in Hart before we connected on Facebook and said our goodbyes. Tailwinds, good health and safe travels to you Mitch!

Soon after we saw Mitch again, we ran into Ken the recumbent cyclist from the previous day. He was riding 80 miles today. Just wow! 82 years old and riding 80 miles in a day. Amazing!! Ken was chugging a quart of fresh chocolate milk from the local dairy farm store when we saw him last. I guess this is where he is getting some of his energy from. 😃 All the best to you Ken! Keep pressing forward and living life to its fullest!

Matt and I stopped at the farmers market and grocery store in Hart for some dinner provisions. We then made our way to John Gurney Park (recommended by a few cyclists) to camp for the night. We set up our hammocks and started dinner.

If you are wondering how we are able to make our meals so cheap, well let me share with you our secret! Discount grocery stores ie “Bent and Dent” and Mail drop boxes. Before we left on tour in July, Matt’s sweet mom Betty took us to their favorite Bent and Dent store. Betty gifted us with a cart full of carefully selected groceries. We made another stop at the same store when we came home for 2 days before setting off to finish the C&O trail. We repacked all these provisions into mail drop boxes to be shipped out at later dates along our tour. Our last one was sent to our Warmshowers host Claire’s house in Grand Rapids, 15lbs of provisions. Each box includes a multitude of things such as couscous, meal kits, seasoning, drink mixes, oats, protein powder, bars, sides and pasta. We selectively purchase meat and perishables as needed to add to our meals.

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