Day 38 Otsego to Three Rivers, MI

 RAIN

I had a wonderful time with Doug’s family. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting them all. Doug unfortunately had to return to Seattle, duty calls. Having Doug with me for a couple of days was a real bonus. I am now riding solo until Niagara Falls where I meet George. I should be picking up Adventure Cycle’s Northern Tier Route on Thursday so maybe I will meet another rider.

I departed about 9:30 heading south to Three Rivers. County roads, some busy most not, a nice bike trail, rain and mud. 

Shortly after passing through Otsego I landed on the Kal - Haven bike trail. It is a gravel trail but very nice. I rode it for about 10 miles to just west of Kalamazoo.

Shortly after the trail ended the rain began. I ducked into a Jimmy John’s for lunch and stayed for an hour watching it pour outside. The weather forecast was not good. 

I waited about as long as I could and then decided to press on. I got WET. It poured. After about 30 minutes I stopped under the eves of a church and watched the rain pour out from the end of the gutter.  RAIN, RAIN.

Time to press on. No more pics. Raining too hard. Thunder and lightning all around. I finished the last 20 miles or so mostly on empty county roads, including about 5 miles of muddy dirt roads. My bike was not happy. 

Arrived at Gary’s house around 3:30. Gary is the father of a friend of Alee’s. The sun came out about 15 min before I arrived so time for a swim in Long Lake.

By the numbers:
Dist - 46.4 miles
Elev Gain - 1,667 ft
Elev Loss - 1,536 ft
Moving time 3:56

My wanderings through Michigan are done. Tomorrow I point the bow east and it stays that way until I hit salt water.