Dear Friends,

The bike wheel was not too badly damaged in the mishap of on the trail from Clair to Midland. In fact, all I had to do was put in a new tube, which I had with me here in Grayling. A couple of spokes were bent a little, but the wheel ran true enough that it did not scrape the brake pads as it went around. I hope to buy a second bracket sometime.

We had planned to leave at 10:30 Monday morning for WI, but Dolph called about 8:30 and said that I should come over to their trailer before we packed everything for traveling. It seems that they had decided not to go to WI after all. They decided it was too far to go for the little time they had, so wanted us to stay here a few days and do some trails here in MI before we headed for WI. We agreed to stay, so it looks like we will be here three more days.

It had been a cold night on Sunday, but when I turned the heat on Monday morning to warm things up the furnace ran for a while then stopped. It was not warm in the trailer yet, but the furnace would not come on when I turned up the thermostat. I tried the stove and it was clear that we were out of propane. I guess I need a lesson from John on how to read the gage on the regulator.

After loading the tanks in the van I headed to Grayling to get them filled. Of course it was Labor Day and almost everything was closed. I stopped at a gas station and the fellow there told me where to go, but when I got there someone was just coming out and locking the door! I told him that I needed a couple of propane tanks filled and after giving me a hard time about being closed, agreed to fill my tanks.

It was so cold on Monday that we decided just to stay put. I don’t think it got over 58 degrees and that was too cold to ride in. The sun came out late in the day, but it was still cool. But, it was not too cold for IC at the DQ.

Last night it got down very close to freezing, but since it was suppose to get up to 68 degrees, we went to Traverse City and rode the TART (Traverse Area Recreational Trail) for 30 miles. It is only 15 miles long, but we only took one vehicle and rode it both ways. We stopped for Subway supper after riding about 21 miles. Queen Mary was noticed a lot. The trail went through the city, but part of the trail was along Lake Michigan and another part was out in the country. I think it was the busiest trail that we have been on. It was also one of the prettiest. I especially liked the part along the lake.

We got back here to Camp Au Sable a little after 7:00pm so had time for Dolph and Jane to beat Mary and I at a game of Rook. We had been doing better actually winning a couple of games, but not tonight.

Tomorrow we plan to ride the Little Traverse Wheelway from Charlevoix to Petoskey, a distance of about 26 miles. I hope it is a little warmer than today.

On Thursday, Dolph and Jane will head back to NC and we will head over the bridge to WI. We plan to camp the weekend with Terry and Marlene Seifert at Potawatomi State Park up in Door County near Sturgeon Bay. On Sunday we will head south to the Westfield area and meet up with Doug and Sharon Anderson. We currently plan to be home at the end of next week.

So, now I am up to date at last. The next installments should not be as long.

Jared