Saturday we awoke to rain and more rain. Thankfully, our Warmshowers host Joann was so kind to allow us to stay an extra day for rest. She had a few things she needed done and we were certainly willing to help out. Matt mowed the lawn and I did the laundry and made up the bed. As Matt was mowing in the rain, I decided to ride a mile to the store and make use of the kitchen! Just before I left, I made Matt a sandwich and appetizers so just in case he came in lunch would be on the table ready for him. I left out on my bike in the pouring rain and was back in a jiffy with my provisions.

Matt was still outside mowing and it was coming down in big, heavy drops. I brought the groceries in and I saw him wrapping it up. I grabbed him some towels to dry off with and met him at the garage door. He was saw my helmet was dripping wet and was surprised I went to the store. He explained he was going to go after he mowed. I was glad he was done mowing but I wasn’t going to stay inside and wait for him to go to the store too. We sat and had a delicious lunch, then I began cooking.

Provisions from the store: Seven pounds of bone in chicken thighs, a dozen eggs, milk and a Dr. Pepper. We had chicken tacos for dinner. We let the rest of the chicken cool down and wrapped them two per pack to use them later in the week.

After a relaxing evening, we both retired to bed. Sleep eluded me that night. Probably due to me taking my prednisone late, ugh wired until 2am up at 7am. Guess that was all the sleep I needed. 🤦‍♀️

The next morning 🌄 we packed up, washed the last load of laundry, did some finally meal prep, made the bed and cleaned. We rolled out after 10am. I called our Warmshowers host Joann to say our goodbyes. She was such a lovely lady to let us stay while she was away. All the best to you Joann!

Once on the road we headed in an Easterly direction to Walkup Lake. Wind was not in our favor most of the day, but that was ok. On our way, we passed one farmers market that had alapacas across the road, but no seating. We took pics of the cutie pies and kept moving. Further down the road, we came across Crosby Farm Market. They had a picnic table and it was time for second breakfast! We rolled in and bought cheese curds, yellow squash and two cans of pop. Great little snack with our added hardboiled eggs and fire roasted vegetable crackers. Absolute Yum!

Late in the afternoon we arrived at Walkup Lake.

We picked a campsite and hung our hammocks. Afterwards, Matt went down to the lake to filter water. Meanwhile, I started dinner. He came back up, all wet of course. He had went for a swim! Lol❤

While I was prepping dinner, he gathered firewood and built a fire. We haven’t had a fire yet on this tour. It’s really not enjoyable to get up multiple times to out run the smoke that seems to follow you. Lol. Tonight however, it blew the other direction away from the picnic table. Good thing!

After a delicious dinner, I retired to my hammock. Matt stayed up a bit to continue to blog. It was 830pm when I fell asleep.

The next day, Matt was up before me and brought me coffee. I had slept in, 8am. Goodness, it was gonna be a late start. We packed up and made it out of camp aound 10 am.

We had a pretty straight shot to Big Rapids. More headwind, but roads were mostly minimal shoulder, little and big rollers with moderate traffic. I walk 3.2 mph when I push my loaded touring bike, so when I hit a few of those steep hills I just got off and walked my bike. 🙃😃🚲

We stopped at a little corner gas station for a drink and snack. We noticed there was a deposit on the cans. So after we finished, I took our cans back in and received our deposit back. This had me thinking about how many cans and bottles we pass on the side of the road every single day. Matt has more on this thought on his next update.

We rolled toward Big Rapids. We couldn’t wait to get off the road and onto White Pine Trail.

https://www.michigan.org/property/fred-meijer-white-pine-trail-state-park

Just before we hit the trail, Matt found a huge puffball mushroom! I nicknamed it alien brain. We were excited to have alien brains for tonight!! Lol.

Once on the trail, Matt and I were ready for lunch and found a bridge over a creek to sit down on in the shade. We had veggie pasta salad with the last of the capicola mixed in. This really hit the spot. Matt laid back and closed his eyes for a bit. His head on my lap as a pillow. It is interesting how you can be on adventure together and yet not make enough time to be close to one another. We stayed on the bridge for a bit longer and enjoyed the moment. When we finally got up and stretched, Matt noticed two touring cyclists long off in the distance. We pondered what we saw and as they approached Matt said he thought knew one of the guys.

After a good chat, we headed South, while they continued North.

Once in Big Rapids, we looked for the nearest store that had our fuel. With less than a small can left, we certainly needed it. Walmart seemed to be the best option, so we made out way there near the end of our day. Matt stayed outside to watch the bikes and I went inside. I made a beeline to the fuel, then buzzed over to the canned coffee, kefir, fresh bread and ice. I was out of Walmart in less than 10 monutes. Matt and I refilled our ice, packed up and made our way back to the trail.

Wanting a picnic table to cook on tonight we found a campground up the trail a few miles. Gray’s campground had one other person camping in it. We selected a good campsite for us, paid the $15, then proceeded to unpack and started cooking a great meal. We were both excited to have the giant puffball incorporated into our meal!

Tonights dinner was Chicken and Giant Puffball Mushroom Mac n Cheese. Dinner for two $5

Matt and I were full from dinner. He hung the hammocks for us and I did the dishes. Nightfall was soon upon us.