bike extravaganza: the end

Kalamazoo - South Haven - St. Joe

The end of our bike tour.  What a bittersweet moment.  I knew that I wanted to get back home and see my family and friends, but I also did not want to leave this simple lifestyle.

Getting our bikes boxed up was the hardest adventure we had to go through during our tour.  We came to realize that America does not value public transportation.  The only place that would break down our bikes and place them in a box was on Mackinac Island.  Mackinac Wheels helped us pack up our bikes and were so very nice!

 Taking a bus through Michigan was quite an experience.  We met all sorts of people and It definitely was something out of my comfort zone.  Arriving to Kalamazoo was also a very interesting experience.  A cop almost arrested us for leaving our boxes unattended [which is a very long story].  Needless to say...the only thing I really enjoyed in Kalamazoo was Bell's Brewery!

 We dropped our bikes [that were still boxed up] off at a very expensive road bike shop to have them put our bikes back together.  They didn't really understand how our bikes were originally set-up and put our bikes back together the wrong way.  It made for a very uncomfortable ride.

But!  We did it anyways.  We rode 40+ very long miles on the Kal-Haven trail.  It was a hard pack trail and it was raining.  Rain + dirt = some very nasty bikes/legs/feet/everything.

After that very long trail we finally got back to South Haven.  South Haven is such a cute little town in Michigan.  We decided to just rest up and prepare for our last ride to St. Joe.  A whole 25 miles and we were done.  Even though we had a headwind on the way to St. Joe, we definitely rode pretty fast.  I just couldn't wait to see my good friend, Claire!

Claire [our good friend who we stayed with in South Bend, IN] agreed to drive up to St. Joe and join us for a beach day.  It was a great way to end our trip and I am so glad Claire was able to help us out!

This trip was a great way to spend a vacation away from the real world.  Living off of your bike is such a liberating experience.  I hope to do trips like these in the future.  

My partner, Trent, on this trip was such an encouragement to me.  Some days were more stressful than others and he was always there cheering me on.  

Always be a first rate version of yourself instead of a second rate version of somebody else.

bike extravaganza: part three

Oh darling, let's be adventurers

 Elk Rapids - Petoskey - Mackinaw City

Leaving from Traverse City was not quite the best day to travel.  We had a headwind that varied from 20-30 mph.  It was raining the entire day.  It was 40 degrees and felt like 30.  Yeah, not the most ideal weather for a 60 mile bike ride to Charlevoix.  

That was our original goal.  As you can see we only made it to Elk Rapids which was perfectly fine.  We definitely did not plan for this kind of weather so we needed to find warmth because our feet felt like they were going to fall off!

Our stop in Elk Rapids was so awesome.  We were expecting a tiny town, but the main strip was so cute.  We met some great people in this town and even saw a LOT of USBR 35 signs which made us super happy.  

After resting up from a long day we headed out the next morning to Petoskey.  Again, a HUGE headwind and it was very cold.  The ride was not the best.  We also had to ride next to US 31 which made it not very scenic. 

Once we arrived in Charlevoix we were so cold that we practically bought a whole new wardrobe.  [sweatshirt for trent and pants for both of us]

 Petoskey/Harbor Springs area is just so gorgeous.  I loved visiting that part of Michigan.  A friend of ours told us to try a brewery called "Beards Brewery" and their serving trays for taste tasting were so cute.

Traveling from Petoskey to Mackinaw City was so much fun!  We got to ride in the tunnel of trees and we saw so many cyclists that day.  We even biked with some of them for miles.  Stopping by The Legs Inn was a must too.

 The ride that day was just gorgeous.  Very, very long, but so worth it.  Could not have asked for a more perfect day.

 Once we made it to Mackinaw City we just settled into our tent and got to know our neighbors.  The weekend we arrived happened to be Memorial Day weekend.  We were so used to showing up at campsites and NO ONE being there.  It was so nice to have some company next to our tents.  

 This dog, Rex, was so sweet and stayed right next to us by our tent in Mackinaw City.  

Stay tuned for my last post about packing our bikes up and taking a bus all the way to Kalamazoo, MI.  Boy, was that an experience!

bike extravaganza: part two

If it scares you, it might be a good thing to try.

Manistee - Frankfort - Traverse City

Traveling from Montague to Manistee was quite the trip: 80 miles of pure tailwind and some great scenery.  The views we saw this day were just indescribable.  I chose not to stop for pictures because I just wanted to enjoy the ride.  Our stop in Manistee was amazing.  We ate at a quaint little restaurant underneath a hotel.  We made it in time for happy hour and did we need it!  The waiter we had was super nice and even made us a celebratory shot that we got to try!  Manistee Mystic Moonshine is what he called it.  It sure was delicious!

I just have to say that our pit stops for chais really were wonderful.  My favorite little cafe we stopped at  was in Ludington.  It was so cute and cozy.  

The next day we set out to travel a little over 60 miles...but we did not make it to our destination.  Even though 60 miles should have been easy for us, we didn't expect the climbs that we had to do that day.  We were climbing some mile long climbs while carrying 50 lbs of weight.  Needless to say, we ended up staying in Frankfort this night because we were completely exhausted!

While in Frankfort we stopped at a local bakery and were figuring out where we were going to camp that night.  A lovely couple ended up walking in and since they had biked there I started to make conversation with them.  After some time they actually ended up asking us if we would like to stay at their lake house.  It was such a generous offer and we took them up on it. 

We were so glad we did.  They were such a fun, loving and generous couple, and we really enjoyed our time with them!

Their lake house was right next to a huge lake called Crystal Lake.  When we left that morning, I just had to get some shots of the lake.  The view was just breathtaking!

We ended up stopping at a local cafe near Crystal Lake while on our way to Traverse City.  The food was delicious!

We arrived pretty early in Traverse City and bought our bus ticket for our bus ride from Mackinaw City to Kalamazoo!  After we did that, we were freezing [because of the sudden change in temperature] so we stopped into a local brewery.  The food was delicious and the beer tasted yummy!

My dad had a friend who lived in Traverse City.  He gave him a call and they were kind enough to let us stay at their house that night.  He served in the Marine Corps just like my dad did and that is how they knew each other.  They were so very kind and we were so thankful for their company that night.  

On our way out of Traverse City we stopped at a very cool cafe called Brew.  It was so unique.  They were a cafe during the day and a bar at night.  Trent ended up getting a Spicy Captain [Spiced Chai with a shot of Captain] and it turned out to be very good!  

Sorry for the delay in posts.  Between my looking for a job and just getting a cute little puppy, I have been quite busy.  I hope everyone enjoyed their 4th of July weekend!

bike extravaganza: part one

You will never influence the world by trying to be like it.

South Bend - Bridgman - South Haven - Holland - Montague   

Our first night was spent with Claire (one of my GREAT friends) and her family in South Bend, IN.  We decided to drive up there and cut out about 130 miles of biking through the monotony of corn fields.  Her family was just darling and we loved our time spent there.  

Biking to Bridgman was a great day full of sunshine.  Our first night of camping was very important because it was our opportunity to see if we forgot anything for the trip.  Luckily we did not! 

In Bridgman, the thing to do in the summer is to go drive to this park and watch the sunset.  The park was right by our campsite so we had to go and see why so many cars were passing by.  We now know why people did it.  The sunset was lovely.

The second day we biked to South Haven!  This town was so quaint and cute.  It had so much character that I just loved.  The campsite we stayed at that night was run by a very nice couple who drove north for the summer.  They kindly took us in and told us all about the downtown strip of South Haven.  This town had a great marina and boardwalk overlooking the lake.

During our trip we had to master rolling everything up.  If we did not do it right, then it simply did not fit into the bag.

After packing up from our night in South Haven we quickly biked to Holland which was a place I had been to before.  It was just as I had remembered it and more.  They definitely had built onto the main strip and it just was a perfect town for anyone.

On our way from Holland to Montague, we finally saw our first USBR 35 sign!!!  Trent had originally thought we would see these signs a lot more along the way...but about 150 miles in we finally saw one.

The biggest lesson I learned from this bike tour was that you need to be flexible.  Things do not always go as planned, especially when you go by bike.  Stay tuned for part two of the bike tour.

we made it!

"Stop being afraid of what could go wrong, and focus on what could go right."

Yes, we did make it.  We only spent two weeks out on the road, but it was a great two weeks.  We had to end our trip on Mackinac Island, MI.  It was pretty close to Canada, but not quite there.  We ended early for numerous of reasons...

Our good friend, Giuliana, was having her wedding June first.

Camping was A LOT more expensive than we originally planned.

We missed home and really wanted to see all of our friends :]

Enjoy some of the pictures from our trip.  I will post periodically about our trip over the next two weeks.

Yes, our bikes were pretty loaded...

We had to plan our trip during our trip.  It was pretty hectic at times, but we sure did do a good job planning while in the moment!

 Some days we rode 24 miles

Some days we rode 50 miles

Some days we rode 80 miles

Well, one day was pretty brutal and we had to climb some huge hills.  It was a gorgeous ride that day, but super super long.

The sunsets we saw were just gorgeous.

 We got to enjoy some really great food!

 For those wondering...we did see a lot of [fake] bears!

ANDDDD we made it!  We rode 504 miles in 10 days.  Thank you everyone who helped us along the way.  I will be updating about the trip periodically the next two weeks.  Please check back.  

Cities traveled to:

South Bend - Bridgman - South Haven - Holland - Montague - Manistee Frankfort - Traverse City - Elk Rapids - Petoskey - Mackinaw City