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This may have been the first time in 31 years Holly and I spent our anniversary apart. But sweetheart that she is, she sent me on my way with gifts and cards to open on my journey, so I’ve felt her with me the whole time. Love you, Mrs Timberline!
And even though I was wishing Holly was with me, it ended up being a pretty glorious day. For one, I made a friend. Well, maybe more of an acquaintance, but he was a cool guy. His name is Gary Mason and I chatted him up when I saw him taking trailside pictures.
Turns out that the birds I saw yesterday that I thought were herons are actually sand hill cranes! Gary was intently watching a breeding pair because one of their eggs had just hatched (you can see a bit of one of them in the pic above). He let me use his binoculars and it was amazing to see the little fluff ball on the nest.
Gary regularly posts on Facebook and I’ll include a link below to his shots from a couple weeks ago that show the cranes pre-fluff ball.
The first third of my day was spent on two pristine trails, the Inter-city Trail, that has recently been renamed for MLK (above), and the Falling Waters Trail where I met Gary (below).
Falling Waters has to be the best trail I’ve been on, definitely on this trip and possibly ever. As pictured, the trailheads not only feature nice landscapes, they also spotlight cool art. The trail surface was smooth as silk and the vistas beautiful. There was even actual falling water along the way (that’s a waterfall in the background below) and some real signs of spring.
I know I’ve already posted a lot of Michigan lakes but at one point the trail split between two large lovely lakes. It’s hard to capture how dramatic it is to be pedaling along through what is mostly woods and fields and then come upon a wide expansive of water. It can be pretty breathtaking.
The other two thirds of the ride were less picturesque but did have the benefit of some very welcome downhill stretches. I saw many acres of farmland which, this time of year, were clear and empty.
I’m now in a comfy motel in Marshall Michigan, resting up for tomorrow – my second longest day at almost 52 miles. Since I didn’t have much to share about today, I’ll relate something I forgot about yesterday. I stopped for a snack midway through yesterday’s marathon next to a dramatic looking tree. When I looked behind it, I saw it was next to a Biological Research Station (that’s what the sign says behind the tree below). For the next few miles as I road along the fenced area, I couldn’t help but think of “Stranger Things.” This place totally could have been the inspiration for that facility.
The book of April’s I thought of today was “One is a Snail, Ten is a Crab.” It’s one of those classic counting books but using the feet of animals to represent the numbers.
I thought this was appropriate because it’s a book April wrote with her husband Jeff and I love the idea of them hashing out ideas of how to get each number. I was also focused on a specific number all day (31). This was a book that was in regular rotation with our kids when they were little and thinking of it makes me very happy for the exposure my not-so-little-anymore kiddos got to a nature-centric way of thinking that runs through all of April’s books.
Finally, here’s a link to Gary Mason’s post that includes sand hill cranes. Enjoy!
m.facebook.com/gary.mason.3701/posts/pcb.10225739158017048/?photo_id=10225739142776667
Sent from my iPhone
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