July 1- Kalamazoo to Charlotte, MI

Steve, Peanut, and I left our driveway at around 1:00 p.m. It honestly felt like we were just going for a short ride to the nearby park or to the grocery store, except we were all loaded up with four saddle bags and the tent strapped to the top. Heading down Kilgore Avenue, past the airport, one pedal push after another led us through rural roads winding through corn fields. Our google map directions (I had selected the bicycle mode of transport to avoid highways) led us through gravel roads and finally to our first destination: Eaton County Fairgrounds hugging the edge of Charlotte. We stopped to fill up our tanks at a small town restaurant (yummy burritos with plenty of beans for protein). The google map directions had us turn into a narrow road lined with horse stables. "Are there campgrounds here?" I asked Steve, doubtfully. "I called and they said they had over 100 sites!" Steve replied. Sure enough, the road ended into a hundred site camping area with only two campers in the entire area. "We will have it all to ourselves!" We didn't see any guard or ranger so we just parked our limousine bicycle and popped up our tent! We went for a walk to stretch our legs and stopped at one of the campers lots where a man was standing outside with four small fires going. "Good evening!" the man said enthusiastically as we approached. "Are you the camp host?" I asked kindly. "Yes! My name is Dave, glad to meet you. I'm just cookin' up five turkeys for a graduation tomorrow!" he offered pointing to his fires. Steve shared the details of our bike ride plans to go through the thumb of Michigan, North in Ontario, and then through the upper peninsula into Wisconsin and finally South homeward bound. When we asked how much we owed him for the night's stay, he responded, "oh no, nobody's here, I didn't see you! Don't worry about it! Enjoy your stay!"




Hot steamy shower, peaceful sleep in nature, all for free! We love it! One more little story to share before we continue on to day two of our cycle trip! THis morning, July 2,we noticed that the one lonely camper across the way put a fluffy thing in a pen first thing in the morning. At first glance, I thought it was a small dog, but then as we were packing up the tent, Steve said, "Teresa, it's a foo foo" (which is my silly slang name for rabbit). I immediately walked up to the camper and talked to the boy and his father about their adventures traveling with a bunny. The bunny has its own cage in the camper and is super tame since the family raised it as a baby. At home it is litter trained. I fell in love with the little fluff ball and told Steve that I want to buy a foo foo for peanut!