Traverse City--Rainy Morning

 Day 5 for Deb and Rebecca, 4 for Pat (until we got her new tires!)

 

Friday, September 7 (29 miles biking, total miles 226):

An early morning today……………………  It started raining about 4 am and yes, the tent was dry!  Pat was at our tent a little after 5:00 and asked if we were awake—well……now we were...  Pat had looked at radar and it was to rain all day—but, it showed a bit of a lull and she thought maybe we should pack up the car and head out while it was drizzling.  Rebecca was in a dead sleep and said she "did not want to talk about it," but decided after looking at radar, it might be a good idea to pack up.

Tents were packed up and bikes put on the rack for us to be on the road by 6:00 am. It was still raining when we found a Big Boy in Petoskey for a great breakfast.  Rebecca kept reminding Pat she thought it was going to stop raining and we would have packed up when the sun was up.  :)   It did stop raining around 8:30 when we were driving south toward Traverse City.  We found a rest stop and unloaded the bikes so they could ride into town.  Pat’s bike was low on air again, and we decided there must be something still in the tire making it flat, so she decided to ride into town with me to find a bike store.  Bec and Deb started biking from this spot at 9:00—their usual time for hitting the road. 

Pat and I stopped at Einstein’s Bicycle Shop and she got two new tires and tubes.  We drove back and met Rebecca and Deb along Bates Road.  I left and drove to the hotel in Traverse City, and asked if there was any chance to get into at least one room by noon so we all could shower.  They said one would be ready for sure and maybe all three would be ready by the time the bikers arrived—and they were!

The area Deb and Rebecca rode through was filled with fields of apples, grapes, sunflowers and many other crops. 

 

Rebecca along an apple orchard

I headed back to Traverse City after dropping Pat off, and took a shower—that felt so good, and it woke me up a bit.  That, along with the 4=shot latte I got while Pat was in the bike store!  The bikers rolled in around 12:30 pm after a 29-mile ride.  Minutes after the bikers arrived in the parking lot, the clouds that had been threatening started to rain.  It continued to rain throughout the day.

Everyone was able to get into rooms, shower and then we headed to downtown Traverse City for a late lunch and some shopping.  Deb got a new helmet and we had a great lunch at Mackinaw Island Brewing Company.  I think it will be an early night for everyone and will be great to sleep in a bed!

Here are the total miles the riders had each day:

Sunday—51 Miles                Monday—46 miles              Tuesday—54  miles

Wednesday—no riding       Thursday—46 miles            Friday--29 miles

I will also go back and add this to the total each day.

Thanks for following along with our ride in Michigan!