Day 2 - Cold and Windy

Route

Frankfort, MI to Ludington, MI - 54 miles

For part 1 of today's route, click here.
For part 2 of today's route, click here.

Weather
Sky condition:  Clear
Temperature:  34 to 52
Visibility:  Unlimited
Precipitation:  None
Wind:  10 to 15 knots, mostly headwind again
Comments:  Cold in the morning, but the temp wasn't too bad, except the wind made it feel about 15 degrees colder!

Significant Events
We made it to our campsite after fighting the wind all day.

Today's Song
"The Long and Winding Road", by The Beatles

Wildlife Observed
Fox
2 nesting swans
2 geese (flew about 10 feet in front of us)
3 whitetail deer
2 scarlet tanager (turns out this is the mystery bird Ileana saw yesterday)
1 yellow bird, possibly a yellow warbler

Today's Ride
Started out cold and windy and ended up a little less cold but windier! Also found out some of the limits of using Google maps to plan a cycling route. Turns out it is difficult to accurately read terrain. The hills, although not too bad, were a little more significant than I thought. Well, that is exactly why I put GEARS on the Trek! And they did a great job. Set up camp, made some beef stew, and now it is time to get ready for bed! I think it is safe to say we are both tired and should sleep well!

Los Dos Centavos de Ileana
The lady that owned the place we stayed at last night was very nice. She even made breakfast for us (cherry pancakes, eggs and susages). When we were leaving, I went to take back something that we had borrowed and pay for the breakfast. She said that the breakfast was on her. Then she asked me, if I was ready for "the hill'? To that I responded 'sure, after the hills we did yesterday in Traverse City (Nolan assured me the night before that hills in Traverse City will be it and the rest were 'rolling hills'), It should not be a problem. To that she responded, 'oh no, those hills are nothing compared to the ones here.' She continued 'this hill makes grown men cry.' I thought (believing what Nolan told me, the night before), this lady does not know what she's talking about because Nolan probably planned around this hill, otherwise he would have told me. I thanked her for the wonderful free breakfast and went on my merry way. Well, she was right! Not even 10 minutes into the ride, there it was, (not a 'rolling hill'), huge, steep, long and any other descriptive word for the mother of all  hills. I must confess that half way (well, I think it was half that), I started to think, if this 'hill makes grown men' cry, I'm enough of a grown women to get off my bike and walked up the hill (still hard work by the way). I told Nolan that I was going to walk up, to which he responded (with alot of restraint, I think), 'walk???' 'Do what you think is best.' Nolan rode to the top and waited for me  (of course the difference between riding and walking). While I was walking to the top, I suddenly understood why Lance Armstrong doped!  However, when I got to the top, I got on bike and went down the other side of the mother of hills and reached 28 miles per hour! That was a lot of fun!

Lake Michigan 

from a scenic overlook

Overlooking Lake Michigan

Two nesting swans

Our humble abode