Midnight wind led to rain. Thankfully, Matt the avid reader and meteorologist he is was awake just prior to the storm coming in. I was just enjoying the breeze not putting two and two together, in the dark might I add. Lol.

Matt quickly sprang from his hammock and began putting up the rainflies. I woke up and jumped sleepily into action. Note that one needs to move much faster than I did to accomplish the task at hand. Thankfully, Matt being the awesome gentleman he is, effectively put both of our rainflies up and covered gear before the rain was pouring down. He basically told me to go back to bed, he’s got this. I love this man.

In the morning, we moseyed along packing up camp and got on the road to Colon, Michigan in the 10 o’clock hour. With less than 40 miles to go for the day we took a leisurely pace to our destination. Today was an enjoyable day of riding bike paths, bike lanes, rolling two lane country roads surrounded by corn and soy beans, small towns, dirt roads and a short blip of Highway 86 in which Matt proclaimed as we got on it “In God we Trust!” Amen to that!!

Good old Google had us sneak into Michigan on a dirt back road. This was not exactly what either of us had in mind when we entered into Michigan. Google did proclaim “Welcome to Michigan!” as we crossed the GPS coordinate threshold.

Rosie woke from her nap on the observation deck, looked around unenthused then went back to her nap. Welcome back to Michigan Rosie.

We got back on our bikes after our impromptu photo shoot and rode into Michigan.

Amidst the fields of corn and soy beans, we rolled next to a field of potatoes. I have never dug potatoes before, shocking I know. Matt held my bike and I ran down and dug a handful. The look of glee on my face as I came back up to the bikes just says it all. This was a fun first, although I felt like I had robbed the farmer. Every car that passed us on that section of dirt road haunted me as if they were going to say. Stop and drop the potatoes. Needless to say I said a prayer and got off that road.

Just past 12:30pm, the heat and sun were taking there effects on us. We had taken a few water breaks and stopped for a cold coffee up until now. As we pedaled along looking for a boulder, a bench something to sit on that included shade for a second breakfast spot. We turned a corner and there was a perfect shady, grassy spot along side the two lane country road. It was so inviting as if it were put there just for us. We parked our bikes and made lunch. I am so thankful for the ice mule cooler strapped to my front rack. Its heavy at times when its loaded, but it just makes the cold tuna wraps, ice cold water and cold coffee in the sweltering heat taste that much better.

After an extended break, we pressed on. Matt and I made it to the outskirts of Colon, Michigan where we stopped at Dollar General for a cold pop. When we came back out of the store we found our unicorn Rosie Sparkle Farts with a new friend the tree frog. She was trying to swish swish him with her tail, but he kept leaping out of the way. Magbe he was trying to find out where the sparkles come from. Its a mystery to me. Matt took the tree frog and relocated him to a grassy area nearby.

As we left the store, I let our Warmshowers host, Richard know we were ten minutes out. We arrived into the small town Colon. Playing cards strung all about on the street and an entire gaggle of motorcycles as well.

I thought to myself, great a poker run. How lucky we are to have two encounters with motorcycle groups in one month. As I was turning onto the street leading to Richard’s house, I came upon Richard in his side by side. We said Hello and he escorted us to his property. He explained that it was Magic Weekend in Colon. All the festivities revolved around magicians. Interesting indeed.

Richard showed us around and we met his daughter who is quite happy with her dad being a Warmshowers host. We chatted for a bit, then walked back to our cool cottage. Matt and I are so very thankful for his kind hospitality and great accommodations. We grabbed showers to cool down, then decided on what to do about dinner. The cottage has a full kitchen so I unloaded my bike and rode up to the store. I came back with provisions! Matt had already started on the potatoes. We turned the stove off and went to the lake for a refreshing swim. Back at the cottage things got busy in the kitchen, so I stepped aside and did my prep at the table. Matt was making us a delicious dinner and I was going to treat him to lasagna.

After a delicious dinner, I started on making my lasagna! The cottage had a large crockpot so what a great way to meal prep for the next couple of days! With the lasagna finally in the crockpot and dishes done, it was time to relax!

Matt worked on his blog and I made my best attempt to stay awake looking at my phone. I failed at that again. Shortly after 11pm, we made our way to bed. Counting our many blessings of the day and thankful for the kindness of Richard our Warmshowers host.