No rain last night and sunny skies again this morning. I am hoping to put in a big effort today. I am heading for Mt Pleasant and it is a 2 day ride to get there. I want to ride a long day today and minimize tomorrow’s ride. It’s a good plan if the weather holds up.
As I was tearing down my camp, I had a continuous conversation with Rodger, my camping neighbor. He and his wife were really nice people. But eventually, I had to take off.
First things first though. I pedaled over to the Brick Wheels bike shop to see if they could replace my broken spoke. They said they could and it would take about 30 minutes. That is pretty good service.
So far I have found that the bike shops will really help out cycling tourists if they possibly can. It must be some sort of unwritten rule.
Today as I head toward Mt Pleasant, I will be leaving the Lake Michigan shoreline. I will miss the continuous beauty that it provided. But the interior of lower Michigan is still nice and offered good riding. Much like earlier Midwest states, there are a lot of county roads to ride on and miss the highways. The roads are decent with rolling hills that never seem to stop. The forested countryside is broken up with large tracks of farmland. 
I am heading straight south out of Traverse City in these country roads. Today, my legs are a little tired. All of the constant hills might be taking a toll on them. I usually feel better in the afternoon after my lunch break. I am hoping that today is no different.
The roads in this part of Michigan are like the roads in Iowa in that the tend to run either north- south or east-west. Hwy 115 is an exception and I am going to try it and see how the traffic is. Just to the northwest of Cadillac City is where I will intersect Hwy 115. It is getting late in the afternoon at this point and I am a little concerned about it. It is Friday before Labor Day weekend and there might be a lot of Detroit traffic heading for the lake. And i am not sure about the shoulder width either. I guess I am about to find out answers to all of these questions. Well, the answer is that this decision is a complete disaster. The traffic is fierce and the shoulder minimal. So I need to get off this road and go back to the inefficient south, then east routine that I dislike so much.
With this new plan, I have my eye set on a campground on Sunrjse Lake to camp at tonight. It is about 12 miles north of Evart and will leave me around 50 miles to travel tomorrow. I think that will work out pretty well. I have also met my goal of riding a long day. I need to figure out the mileage, but I got to the lake really late and had to set up the tent and cook dinner in the waning light of the day.
I am really looking forward to the shorter day tomorrow. I even hope to do laundry in Mt Pleasant. That in itself will make the long day today worth it.