Day 3 - A Tough Ride

Route
Ludington, MI to Montague, MI - 60 miles

For details of part 1, click here.
For details of part 2, click here.

Weather
Sky condition:  Clear to partly cloudy
Temperature:  45 to 55
Visibility:  Unlimited
Precipitation:  None
Wind:  Constant 15 gusting to 25, headwinds to quartering headwind
Comments:  The wind was terrible!

Significant Events
Met my cousin James and his wife Joy!

Today's Song
"Against the Wind" by Bob Seger

Wildlife Observed
Yellow bird
Eagle
2 snakes
Bison (on a farm)

Today's Ride
We ate breakfast, broke camp, and got a fairly early start. After about 45 minutes of riding, we saw a McDonald's in downtown Ludington and decided to stop for a second breakfast. Man, was that delicious!

Started riding again and pretty quickly determined that the wind was going to be a pain in the rear! It was very strong and persistent, and of course, generally from the front. We would work pretty hard pedaling up a hill (lots of rolling hills), looking forward to coasting down the other side, only to be stymied by the wind. It was so strong that we actually had to pedal downhill as well.

We eventually got to Hart, where the Hart-Montague bike trail starts. It is an old railroad bed, and it runs largely through wooded areas, so we were looking forward to the trees providing a windbreak. But this was wishful thinking. It offered some reprieve, but not much. It did, however, at least get us off of the road.

20 miles later, we were in Montague. I had picked a pretty direct route from the bike trail to my cousin's place (Happy River Campground). We got to one of the roads and it turns out it is sand. Well I "had a go", but it was like trying to ride on a beach. 2 miles of that was not going to do. I did a 180 and we took paved roads. It was much easier to ride, but it added about 5 miles to the daily total.

We finally got to my cousin's place where we found out there was no electricity or water for the past 36 hours! The power company was working on it and said it should be on by 8pm. We're desperately needed a shower, and needed to do laundry. I was trying to figure out how to make this work...

Joy gave us the grand tour of the campground. They have a heck of a facility. They have owned this place since the mid-70s, and have been improving and enlarging it ever since.  They are situated on about 300 acres, with lots of natural buffer land, They have a couple of hundred spots and can accommodate tent camping all the way up to the largest 5th wheels and motor homes. They also have a number of cabins, with plumbing. We stayed in one of those...

Adjoining the campground on the east side they have a canoe livery, on the White River. My original plan was to be there early enough to take a canoe out, but not only was it late, we were exhausted from the wind.

When the "tour" was over, the power was back on. Some very good news, indeed!

We took the opportunity to go out to dinner with James and Joy,  and do a lot of catching up.  Talking to them was the highlight of my day.  James was a pilot and had owned several of his own planes since the 50s. He also had done some time in the Army. And since he was roughly the same age as my dad, he had spent some time with him as a child.  We talked a little bit about those topics, which was very interesting to me.

I had a fried fish platter, followed by a brownie sundae for dessert, which was a welcome and delicious meal!

If you find yourself in western Michigan, a bit north of Muskegon, and want to camp, park your motor home, or go canoeing, I highly recommend their place. It is a very nice campground, run by great people!

Los Dos Centavos de Ileana
To be continued