Update #12 - June 9th, 2001
Hastings, MI - 2694 miles

The ride from Battle Creek to Hastings went okay. Coming out of Battle Creek, I had to deal with some rain but for the last two days I had no rain to hamper me. YEAH!!! I'm finally able to ride without wearing my rain gear. Today the temperature finally got into the mid-70's. For the last three or more weeks, I've had to deal with temperatures only in the 50's and 60's along with cold and damp winds. My tan lines were starting to fade away.

I've had some interesting places to sleep. In the small town of Grand Haven, I got to use a nineteen foot camping trailer for the night. It was pretty good but it wasn't quite stabilized so it wobbled around some when I walked around but wasn't that sensitive so that it didn't shake whenever I rolled around in bed. Last night, I camped in my tent beside a great paved bicycle path that goes between the towns of Montague and Hart. This was Michigan's first Rails-to-Trails project. It is really nice. My problem is that I always don't judge flatness very well when I pitch my tent. I can't always find level ground to use. Because of this, I found myself on the other side of the tent. I should carry a miniature level with me.

I've got about four days more riding along the western side of the Lower Peninsula to go to the Mackinac Bridge. I could have cheated some and taken a ferry across the lake at Ludington but there was a whopping $45 charge for the 4 hour trip to Wisconsin.

Tonight, I'm staying with new friends. We went to see the performance of "You're a Great Man, Charlie Brown". The production was excellent with a great group of performers.