To Traverse City

It's hard to get up and get going when it's raining most of the morning, therefore we got a late start. Today we go off-route and stay on US 31. We save more than 30 miles by not following the AC directions. The first 16 miles were bicycle trail froom Petoskey to Charlevoix.

Charlevoix, another charming village along the shore of Lake Michigan. I guess Dick has seen enough of these towns, however, since he now refers to them at "artsy-fartsy." Charlevoix is the home of the world's largest cherry pie.

Just down the road, another notable crossing.

This is the hottest day of riding we've had so far. It was about 90 degrees with moderately high humidity. We drank gallons of water.

63 miles to get to Traverse City State Park which has over 500 sites across the street from the water. There are sailing races on the bay this week so the park is well-occupied. This campground is also a bit pricey, so we decided to share it with Matt and Ian who showed up about an hour after we did. It was our treat - time for us to "pay it forward." They rode the same route but managed to ride 72 miles, since they were always trying to ride closer to the water. Just because a road is called Lake Shore Drive doesn't mean it goes along the water. They ran into dead ends and had to back track a lot today, but they arrived in good spirits.

Such a hot night, we going to risk NOT putting on the rainfly.

Miles completed = 3077