gaylord, michigan

Weinerlicious Mackinaw City, close to the start of our ride today.

North Central State Trail, Mackinaw City to Gaylord, Michigan

 For 62.71 miles we pedaled on the North Central State Trail from Mackinaw City to Gaylord, Michigan. Maybe one percent of the trail was paved. The rest of the trail was crushed stone, that for the most part made for a smooth ride. We pedaled through Cheboygan, Topinabee, Indian River, Wolverine, Vanderbilt, and into Gaylord. The ride is easy but slower than pedaling on the road, mostly because of the riding surface. Of course, we had no narrow shoulders, no traffic, and no rumble strips, which was nice for a change. Our 62.71 mile ride today brings our total mileage to 2,189.18 miles with approximately 1,374.82 miles to go. That's about all there is to say for this day of the journey but let me tell you what is one of those Ripley's Believe It Or Not kind of stories:

If you've been following us on this blog, you know we often eat meals with Phil and Gale in their RV which has officially been named The SnackWagon. Our plans for this evening were to get settled into our camp site at The Hampton Inn while Phil and Gale got into their KOA site and hooked up for their time there. Supper would be at The SnackWagon. But . . . Margaret gets a call from Gale and Gale says, "This KOA requires a five dollar ($5.00) charge per guest for visitors to the camp sites." In other words, KOA would charge us five dollars each to go to Phil and Gale's RV to eat food that Margaret and Gale purchased and Gale prepared. Is that not crazy? Believe it or not. We went to Taco Bell.

Tomorrow is another rest day. We had a rest day yesterday because we pedaled extra miles on Wednesday when we pedaled from Manistique to St. Ignace to avoid a bunch of rain, which did come. And . . . we did avoid it. Tomorrow's rest day was previously scheduled and changing scheduling requires cancelling motels and campgrounds which often causes major problems. Cancelling is not the hard part. Finding new lodging is often the hard part, because of being close to the 4th of July and because of summer vacationing in general. Right now we are already scheduled into Indiana. Margaret and Gale do all this stuff and are usually scheduled a week or two ahead. (They do the hard part and Phil and I just pedal, shower, eat, and sleep wherever.) Many thanks to their hard and sometimes frustrating work.

“Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”  -Luke 6:38

“Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.”  -1 Peter 4:10

“So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.”  -Galatians 6:10

“So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, …” -Philippians 2:1-11

Others first.