I woke up to sunshine! Yes! It has been a while since I have seen a real sunny day.
Today , I am riding to Traverse City. I took off down Hwy 31 along the coastline. About lunch time, I came across a farm produce market. Good news! Michigan peaches are in season! I like peaches. Obviously, I had some along with lunch.
Next, I was able to get off Hwy 31 and took the east side road along Torch Lake heading for Elk Rapids. What a nice ride. And what a bunch of really nice expensive houses along the lake!
I ended up riding a bit back north to Elk Rapids before turning south again, just to get around some of the lakes in the area. Getting to Traverse City from there and missing the heavy traffic on Hwy 31 was a chore though. I had been given some turn by turn instructions from the tour lady from yesterday. That was the only way I was able to get through that maze and I was grateful again for her help.
The last 10 miles into town were on a nice bike path. The TART. I am not sure what it stands for but that is the name of the pathway. It went right past the Traverse City State Park where I was going to camp. I got my camp spot paid for then went in search of food and a cold beer. And I needed to find a bike shop again. Somewhere along the line I had broken a spike that I wanted to get replaced before it started to domino with more broken spokes. Luckily there was a bike shop right in the area that I found and would go there first thing in the morning.
So after eating an entire pizza and a few beers at the Filling Station Brewery, I headed back to the campground.
Back in the campground, I enjoyed talking to my neighbor campers Rodger and Melanie. They have family in the Cleveland area and gave me some contact information for them if I needed any assistance when I am traveling through that part of the trip. That was really nice of them.
We talked until dark and agreed to continue the conversation in the morning. They understood when I said I needed to hit the sack. I was pretty tired from a long day of riding.