Hey Babe!
Woke up before 7:00, got up and had breakfast and finished packing and was on the road by 8:30. A pretty straightforward drive, a stop at Lake Higgins State Park to buy a Michigan Recreation permit, a requirement of the Shore-to-Shore ride, which was right off the highway so it didn’t take long. One more stop to top off with fuel so I would have enough for all the stops along the way, then arrived at camp just after noon. Poor signage, so I had to stop at a fork in the road and walk into camp to see what was what. Met two guys named Sam who helped me scope out the best site, then went back to the truck and drove in, but not without incident. There is a sharp turn followed by a narrow gate, without enough room to straighten out a rig my size, and I ended up grazing a pine tree that took out me ladder, again. The screw that the welder put in the lock latch the other day was about the only thing that held, my ladders was bent to hell and both bottom rubber stoppers were a mess. I’m told this is the worst camp for getting in to, so I’m hoping the rest will be easier. The spot I picked, while it was easy to get into, was on a pretty steep slope, so I had to partially disconnect just to get some semblance of level, and that’s not even enough, so the blood will be rushing to my head while I sleep tonight. Evidently the exit will be easier than the entrance! Not long afterward, two other women showed up, Lori and Tracy, and we chatted for quite awhile. In fact, once I got Flash all settled in on his highline, and spent some time fixing my ladder, which required new screws and a lot of hammering, we all hung out, including the two Sams, for most of the rest of the day. Bad news, though, there’s a fire that started near Grayling, not long after I passed through there, that has shut down I-95 and is spreading like, well, wildfire, as they haven’t had any significant rain here in nearly a month. There’s a red flag warning for the entire state, and the fire seems to be very near one of the trail camps that we’re supposed to be going to on the second June ride, so it will be interesting to see how that all pans out. Overall, though, it was a very pleasant day, and I’m looking forward to meeting the rest of the folks tomorrow, assuming they can get here with the highway being closed due to the fire. Apparently, it’s a pretty small group, maybe thirty people on the first ride, way down from the scores, even hundreds they use to have. Just another example of not nurturing the younger generation and/or being proactive in bringing in riders from outside the area, a syndrome not unlike that of the OTL in Florida. Sigh… Anyway, it was a good day, Flash already seems a lot more rested and ready, just like I want him, but I’m going to give him one more day of rest just to make sure he’s fully recovered and ready for this next week. Crazily it’s almost 10:00 and it’s just finally gotten dark. I hate daylight savings! And you should have seen the red sun, obscured, I think, by the not-so-distant fire. Good news, though, is the wind is pushing it away from us, so we shouldn’t have any trouble here at camp. Hopefully they’ll get the fire under control overnight, especially since temps are going down to below 50 tonight. Finger crossed! Heading to shower and bed now, so good night, sweetheart! Love you !
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