July 29 2014 Farwell to Frankenmuth MI

It was cold and dark when the 5:20 alarm went off this morning. In fact it was so dark that I had to turn on my led tent lantern.  The heavy cloud cover was blocking any light from getting through. This made it really hard to get rolling. 

The ride was really three parts to day.  The first part was 37 miles down the Pare Marquette trail.  This was a continuation of yesterdays ride.  The route was almost dead flat and the pavement was very close to perfect.  There was a pretty good west wind blowing however being inside the green tunnel formed by all the overhanging trees it was not a factor. It was quite dark riding down the pathway as there was no sunlight getting through.  The sides of the path were covered in yellow and purple cone flowers which were very beautiful.    Ken C and I rode down this section in no time flat.  The path way ended in a big parking lot which lead to city path and then on to a busy road.  This took us out to picnic at mile 42. 

Picnic was kind of cold as Ken and I had been working quite hard and worked up a good sweat.  So we rolled as soon as we could.  The second part of the ride which was 20 miles down a quite busy road. However with the wind at our backs we sailed down it in no time flat. Although I did not look at my watch I think we made it in less than an hour.

The third part was the most difficult as we turned south for 20 miles. The road was in terrible condition and the west wind was now a side wind.  Even though it was coming over your shoulder it was a terrible grind. Ken and I took turns on the west side which really helped. 

Frankenmuth is a Bavarian town and home to the Frankenmuth chicken dinner. We are going out to have the famous chicken dinner tonight.  There is also the Bonner Christmas store in Frankenmuth.  It is the size of a Walmart.  You can get anything related to Christmas there.  I had seen it in 2010 so I sent Ken over to see it and he came back humming “Jingle Bells”

I am really hoping for a break in this cold and rainy weather.  It would be nice to cycle with out being all layered up. 

Terry