T1 Day 45 (Kayla)

July 21st : Petoskey to Torch Lake 


The day before a rest day is always a great day! Well okay maybe not always, there was that day before Bismarck, ND that was pretty rough… as we’ve established it is not true that it doesn’t matter what happens on the day before a rest day, but luckily today was pretty perfect! 


The day started with muffins and granola bars for breakfast, since we are still out of propane. While the muffins had looked great yesterday when we bought them on Mackinac island, they had undergone a significant amount of jostling in their journey on our bikes, which meant they required a spoon to eat, but that was alright. 


From Petoskey state park to the edge of the town of Charlevoix we followed a lovely bike path with views of Lake Michigan. Unfortunately the path had been washed out in one section and we had been ignoring the signs warning us of the closure. This left us to backtrack about 1/2 a mile, but it wasn’t too much trouble. As we were getting into charlevoix I had the idea that we should try to get as many of our usual errands done as possible so that we could truly rest tomorrow. Since we were only going about 50 miles today we had plenty of time. I pitched the idea to the group and they were on board. We biked into the charming town of charlevoix to find that they were putting on a Venetian fair! The streets were bustling with families and their were food trucks and festival games lining the streets. Since breakfast had been pretty light we were in need of a snack. I stepped into a cafe called “the French place” to check out their selection - the smell alone had me sold! I knew everyone would love it, pastries are our weakness (along with ice cream). We each order a crepe. Mine was apple cinnamon and it was as good as it smelled. While we waited for them to be ready Keelin and I sat on a street bench and people watched while Liz wandered across the street to check out the shops. She found a woman selling handmade jewelry and permanent bracelets. Keelin had been wanting to get a permanent bracelet, Liz would do it if keelin did, I would do it if they both were! So that was decided and we each got beautiful permanent bracelets as a memento of our trip. We had been hanging out and enjoying the fair so long I almost felt like we were just on vacation, but we actually had things to do, and miles to bike still! 


We visited the grocery store, then Walgreens (for toothpaste and Desitin) and then ACE hardware (for propane). With all our errands complete we set off to finish our last few miles. Then after about an hour of biking, when our stomachs started grumbling, we realized we hadn’t actually ever eaten lunch, so stopped by the side of the road for PB & Js. 


A few miles from our destination we were stopped on the side of the road when a car quickly pulls up next to us. At first I was very confused, then I realized it was Liz’s aunt and uncle, Andy and Trish !! They were hosting us for the night and for our rest day tomorrow and had been tracking our location to catch us! They cheered us on for our last few miles, making sure we took the correct turns to reach their cottage (which they affectionately refer to as the shack). When we reached the shack we were delighted to find a quaint cottage with views out to torch lake. It was the best location for a rest day that I can imagine and we were beyond thrilled to call it home for the night. Andy and Trish seemed to have a good sense of our large appetites and immediately offered us food and lemonade, which we graciously accepted. Then they took us out to dinner where we all tried the walleye fish fry, since we’ve been trying to taste the local cuisine whenever possible. The day ended with us all cozied up in beds, and I couldn’t have been happier to have a pillow and sheets and a dark room and no noisy neighbors!! All these luxuries made for an incredibly deep sleep, which I awoke from at 3a incredibly disoriented about where I was. I sat up an called out “guys…?” Keelin thought I was just talking in my sleep. It was pitch black, I couldn’t see a thing, so I got up and walked until I found a wall that I could feel my way along to try to find the door. My rustling was enough to wake keelin up, and she rescued me with the light on her phone. It’s good she did because I was no where near the door! I guess I learned my lesson and I’ll sleep with a light in the future!

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