Waking up at 3:30 am is never easy but I managed and soon Brian and I were on the road after saying goodbye to Linda. I got one last glimpse of the Polish Moon as we entered Milwaukee, which is the clock face on the Allen-Bradley building. It's the largest four sided clock in the western hemisphere and it's named for when the building was staffed with Polish immigrants and they would look out of their apartments and always see this giant "full moon". Brian and I parted ways and I thanked him for the hospitality and generosity that he and Linda showed me the past several days. It was great being driven up in the morning, although it meant I wasn't able to get a picture of the IL state sign since I was on a bike trail when I came in. Oh well, this trip is for me, not charity, and this plan worked out the best.
The advantage to such an early morning is that I got to see my first true sunrise of the trip. It rose over the lake just as the ferry was getting ready to take off. The swiftness with which it came out of the water was a good reminder that it maintains that speed all day and in fact days go speeding by and I should waste not a second. I tried to nap on the ferry but couldn't and after some food and coffee I was ready to roll when we landed in Michigan and the Eastern Time Zone.
There was no state welcome sign so I proceeded to the beach to get a look at the dunes. I hopped into a port-o-potty to change into my biking shorts and heard a strange noise. Looking down there was a snake in the corner, tongue flicking, hissing at me! It scared the hell out of me and I ran out, thankfully still in clothes. I snapped a picture so if anyone has the time and curiosity I'd like to know what kind it is and whether it's poisonous. Not wanting someone else to go in and get bitten I made a couple calls. Coincidentally a port-o-potty cleaner showed up just then to swap the units out and said the snake had been there since Friday, three days ago.
I continued on my way, got some snacks, and was soon cranking down the Musketawa Trail, glad for some exercise. It didn't take me too long to get to Grand Rapids which seemed like a fun city. I had some food and good beer at Founders Brewing Co and continued, at one point riding with a local biker for 7 or so miles. I resupplied groceries in Ionia and made my way to camp. On getting to the front desk at the local campground the owner, his wife, and another employee were sitting there talking and we chatted about my trip. One of the first questions I got was, "Do you have a gun?" No I don't have a gun, why would I need one?? Well they seemed to think it wasn't safe out there and I thought it was odd that there was this sort of general fear. I've heard about the Michigan militia but I hadn't come across this type of attitude yet.
Either way I thanked them for the $5 discount they gave me and set up camp. It was a late night as I got in at dusk but I made a tasty dinner of chicken pasta with corn and fruit and cottage cheese for desert. In walking back from the bathroom in the dark I startled something to my left. All of a sudden some creature came sprinting towards me, ran into my foot, and took off into the grass on the other side of me! I only got a glimpse but it may have been a rabbit or weasel or something similar. I've been reading Dracula recently, he who can summon all the foul beasts to his command, and the run-ins with the snake and now this creature had me jumpy for sure. But I made a couple phone calls to catch up with people and finally got to sleep at 1 am.
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