Kalamazoo County and half of St. Joseph

This is a continuation of our trip to Branch and Calhoun county from the last post:

We got up the next morning and ate breakfast and checked out. By the way, Best Western Executive Inn in Battle Creek is a really nice motel. Then we headed over to Kalamazoo. I had planned on walking the other end of the Kal Haven Trail that I walked in South Haven. There was a city trail that was connected to it called the Kalamazoo River Pathway that we were going to do instead but one mile into it the trail changed to a bike path which wasn't gonna work. This pathway was in a very old neighborhood which I can't remember the name of but it had very old very restorable houses that hadn't been touched and most of them were falling apart. It must have been a very desirable neighborhood back in the day. I think that it will start to be gentrified since it looks like they are starting to gussy up some of the houses and there is a coffee shop in the neighborhood.

We walked a total of 2 miles on that pathway and then drove out to the Kal Haven Trail and walked 3 more. That trail is so beautiful, it was like walking through a tunnel of green. I was dragging my butt by the end of that five miles though and was wishing the day was over but we still had to go to St. Joseph County.

The plan was to drive down 131 to Three Rivers and I had heard that there are a lot of Amish communities in that area so we were hoping for some pie. We drove down and went to a downtown cafe but they were pieless. I asked if there were any walking trails in the area and the waitress suggested Meyer Broadway Park. We drove out there and there was one paved trail about a block long and then there were mowed paths all around the park. It had a huge Frisbee course. I was tired and grouchy again and only walked about 2 miles.


My husband's Aunt Louise fought and lost a battle with breast cancer. She is probably the person I knew the best who had the disease. She was a wonderful person and it's a darn shame what she went through. She is buried at the Mendon Cemetery and we stopped there to pay our respects. It is a small town and when I asked the woman at the cemetery if she could look in her records and tell me where she's buried, she said that she could take me right over. RIP Aunt Louise and Uncle Bob.

We ended up walking another .5 miles in little pieces. Angie, my sister, tried to get me to finish up St. Joseph but I wimped out. I still have 2.5 miles to go which is really dumb. But as my favorite saying goes: It is what it is.

I've decided to reactivate this blog because I need to get off my butt and start walking again. I was inspired by a quote by Nike: You said tomorrow yesterday. I started walking yesterday with a 1.2 mile walk and every day I have to match the day before or exceed it. Today I walked at least that far but my I-Pod quit working. I went to the nature preserve by my Kroger in Milan. So I'm going to get organized again and start taking pictures of all the places I walk here in Michigan. Stay tuned...

Crawford, Roscommon and Clare Counties

At the end of the last post, I was wimping out on finishing walking in Lake City. It was a stinking rotten afternoon and I had just had enough. My sister and I headed to Grayling where we planned to spend the night and the next day to walk in Crawford and Roscommon Counties. The forecast was for better weather and I was really hoping that would be so. And it was. Yay!!!

This was the scene outside the window of our lovely Super 8 motel room.

We ate breakfast and headed to Hartwick Pines State Park which is an awesome place. It is just east of Grayling. My husband and I had been there in 2005 but it was in the middle of summer and I had a horrible case of poison ivy going on all over my face. I had felt like Quasimodo. So it was better at this time of year. No mosquitoes for one thing.

Hartwick Pines has 40 acres of old growth pine. The trees are beautiful and I love how quiet and peaceful it is walking through them. We walked on the Old Growth Trail which was only about a mile long. I wanted to walk on the Au Sable River Trail but was having trouble finding it so we got back in the car and drove to the trailhead.

Along the Old Growth Trail. The trees are magnificent!

Crossing a bridge along the Au Sable River Trail.

The trail was mostly one track and pretty muddy from all the rain on the previous days.

Crossing a river along the trail.

This was the beautiful hemlock grove.

We got done with our 5 miles in Crawford County and drove to Grayling where we had lunch at a yummy place called Goodale's Bakery. It is more than a bakery, it also has a deli where we ordered sandwiches. The bakery part was extensive and delicious looking. I was trying to be good so I didn't indulge but Angie said it WAS good!

After we ate, Angie wanted to go to the quilt shop down the street. It was pretty nice and although I don't quilt I picked up a couple things for my daughter for Christmas.

Now that we were full it was time to do Roscommon County so we headed to North Higgins Lake Park. It's not a huge park and it wasn't very busy at that time of the year. But it was really pretty and the lake and sky were intensely blue.

The water in Higgins Lake is very clear and it has a maximum depth of 135 feet. It is fed by springs and runoff. It flows into Cut River which flows into Marl Lake and then flows to Houghton Lake. Houghton in turn is the headwaters of the Muskegon River.


One of the bridges was out and we had to climb over rocks to get to the other side. Fun!!!

More trees. As I said, North Higgins Lake State Park wasn't very big so we drove around the lake to South Higgins Lake State Park so I could finish up my 5 miles.

It was weird that the north side of the lake was serene and quiet and the south side had whitecaps. It was really windy. I walked quickly and completed my last mile.

Another view along the trail. I bet it's really fun and busy in the summertime.

We were done for the day and headed down 127 to Clare. We decided to stay at the Doherty Hotel which is right downtown. It was opened in 1924 and was pretty cool but our room was in a newer annex. We ate dinner there and decided to eat breakfast at the Whitehouse Restaurant which is an eensy weensy diner type restaurant across the street from the hotel. I had a delicious omelet. Then my sister headed to church and I was going to complete my walk while she prayed so we could get home in time to see the baseball game. Yes, our world does seem to revolve around baseball at this time of year.

Clare is the eastern trailhead of the Pere Marquette Trail that we walked in Baldwin. I headed out east of Clare but only got about a mile before there was a sign that said I was going into another county. It was still frosty along this part of the trail.

Wetland with swans.

I walked back to the hotel because I couldn't figure out how to get to the westbound part of the trail. Turned out I had to drive out of town to pick it up. It was really really beautiful. It paralleled the road but there is vegetation so you couldn't see the road. Very cool.

When I was walking out I totally missed seeing this cool tree. From the opposite direction it caught my eye. It made me think of how things can be seen differently from different perspectives and got me to thinking about politics, etc. Pretty heavy. I'm a philosopher now!!!

Haha. This isn't very flattering but I don't care. This was toward the end of my last walk for the weekend.

I got done walking and headed back to the hotel. We took off, made a wrong turn, stopped in Mt. Pleasant for gas and then drove straight home so we could watch the Tigers beat the Yankees. So I have 6 more counties to do and I don't know if I'll get them done this year. I'm not walking around up there after hunting season starts so I've just about run out of time.

Best Laid Plans...

This past Thursday my sister, Ang, and I headed up north with some very well developed plans. We were going to walk in Lake County, then go to Manistee and do the Riverwalk and then go to Ludington. Then on Friday we were going to take the SS Badger ferry and go across Lake Michigan to Manitowoc, Wisconsin. I was going to rent a car there and we were going to drive up and get the 3 counties in the Upper Peninsula done.

So we drove up I-75 to Saginaw and then across to Baldwin which is the western trailhead for the Pere Marquette Rail Trail.

These two pictures are of metal sculptures at the Michigan Welcome Center in Clare. It is a tribute to the men and women who work on our highways. They basically risk their lives every day because there are jerks who ignore the speed limits in construction areas.

On the way to Baldwin we passed through Idlewild which was a major recreational area for African Americans. Other resorts discriminated against them so they made their own place to go. All of the great black performers played there from the 20's to the 60's. It is a National Historic District. We didn't stop to explore since it was raining and we had a lot to get done. But I am definitely going to revisit the area.

The Pere Marquette Railroad operated a line from Saginaw to Ludington but parts of the line were closed in 1991. There is a wonderful rail to trail from Midland to Clare to Baldwin. We made our way to Baldwin which is just west of Idlewild and braced ourselves for a wet walk.
It was my favorite kind of rail trail with water on both sides.

It was really pretty but muted because of the drizzle. We got back to the car with soaking wet coats and kind of low spirits.

Our next stop was going to be Manistee and we were really excited to walk the riverwalk along the Manistee River in downtown. We drove into town but it was raining and blowing so hard we just didn't have the heart for it. We sat in the McDonalds for a while and decided to head to Ludington instead and maybe do Manistee when we got back from Wisconsin and the U.P.

Luckily when my sister was checking us into the Best Western, the lady behind the desk told her that she'd heard that the ferry was cancelled for the next day because of high winds. We checked in anyhow and took it easy, checked the weather reports on the news and they were expecting 25 foot waves on Lake Michigan the next day. Thank God they cancelled. Although the next day looking at the Lake I doubt that anyone would have gone out.

We went out for dinner at the Jamesport Brewery which was awesome. It's in a historic old building with heavy wood doors and beams. The food was great and we had a good time.

In the morning we went and checked out the lake. Here is the break wall in Ludington.

Ludington harbor light.

The SS Badger sitting there doing nothing in the middle of the morning.

I took a couple pictures of the Jamesport Brewery.

Check out the neat old doors.

We headed back to Manistee. It would rain for a while and then almost clear up, the sun would almost come out and then it would start raining again. It was so windy that everything was blowing by. But it wasn't raining when we got to Manistee so we started walking along the Riverwalk toward the lake.

The Riverwalk is great with lots of wood walkways. It was blowing really hard on our walk to the lake. I felt like one of those Weather Channel nutty people that stand out in the hurricanes.

An old shack along the walk.

The waves were rolling pretty high by the lighthouse.

Looking out toward the lake.

We did the whole walk but I still had some miles to get. We walked through downtown and ate at the House of Flavors which is an old time diner kind of place. The food was really good. They had all kinds of ice cream too. Then I walked some more, came back and went to a used bookstore and a couple other stores and then headed out of town.

This is a building that was for sale. Very pretty.

The back of a store on the Riverwalk.

Then we were going to do Missaukee County and went to Lake City. I was grumpy, it was overcast and drizzly. I didn't really like where I was walking and wimped out after about 2 miles. We then headed to Grayling and checked into a motel and waited for the baseball game to come on. We had a moment of panic when we realized that the TBS in our room wasn't working but the issue was resolved to our satisfaction and we got to watch that almost 2 innings of the Tigers' game.

A couple of pictures from Lake City.

Detroit Tigers Game

This weekend was our anniversary and my birthday weekend and we didn't have anything planned for Sunday. It was a perfect day to go see the Tigers play. So we headed out a little early, parked the car by Greektown and walked towards Comerica Park.

The Elwood wasn't too busy so we stopped there for lunch. The Elwood used to be at the corner of Elizabeth and Woodward but was moved over a couple blocks when they were building the new ballpark. It is a cool diner and we quickly finished our lunch and headed out with the crowds toward the stadium.

Wes with a happy face.

Our seats were right by the field and there were lots of kids hanging out there hoping for autographs. There were even a couple of women who were hoping to get Alex Avila's autograph and jokingly saying they were Alex's wife. Unfortunately, Alex had the day off so they were disappointed.

We were on the way to the bullpen so got to see the pitchers up close. This is Fister stretching out before the game.

The game was on 09/11 so there were hundreds of police, fire, border patrol, and other emergency personnel from all over the state that proudly marched around the stadium. It was very heart wrenching to remember that horrible day.

Pitchers headed for the bullpen. We were right next to the wall out past third base. It was a great game and at the end of the 8th inning the score was 2-1. Fister was awesome and Benoit relieved him for the 8th inning.

Here comes Papa Grande out to save the day! A big roar went up in the crowd when he headed out of the bullpen. It was like a bullfighter coming out. He is so full of himself but deservedly so.

On our way back to the car we noticed on the top of GM headquarters, the sign changed to read "9/11 Never forget" We're so lucky to live in this country. We sure do have our problems and sometimes I get really depressed about where we might be headed. But I wouldn't want to live anywhere else.

Down time

I've been sitting around since the 3 day vegging out and recovering (I thought). As the days have gone by I haven't been able to figure out why I'm so tired and just have attributed it to the beating my body took during the event. But come on, that was two weeks ago.

I figured out that I (think) I have shingles. That sounds so old person but there it is. My back has been hurting and, like I said, I don't want to do anything. After walking as much as I have for the last 8 months that's depressing. Then yesterday I found a little outbreak on my tummy. All the pain is on the left side of my body. Internet and my nurse sisters say it's probably shingles. So I'll make an appointment first thing tomorrow to see my doctor in Ann Arbor and hopefully get on some medicine to shorten this up. Uggghh.

Other than that nothing is happening. I plan on going up north the weekend of September 24 and get everything done so I can go on to my next challenge. The challenge is going to involve the whole country and maybe National Parks in each state except where there aren't any like in Rhode Island.

For now here is a picture of the skies during a storm last week.

And here is Katie. She likes to pose for pictures.

3 Day for the Cure

Day 1

I couldn't believe that the day had finally come to walk the 3 day. After 8 months of raising money, training and basically always having it uppermost on my mind the time had come for the pedal to meet the metal.

On Friday we were up early at 3:30 since we had to be at the Suburban Collection in Novi at 5:30 to be ready for the opening ceremony. I had to take a sleeping bag and a pad for under it and all my clothes etc and it had to be under 35 pounds. We finally got it all figured out and were ready to hit the road.

This is me all set to go. I also had a waist pack that weighed almost as much as the luggage!

We picked Hannah up and headed to Novi. The event was incredibly well organized. Our tent # was E12 so the luggage went in the E truck and was waiting for us at camp.

Lots of excited walkers dropping off their gear. See how it was still dark outside?

Our photo op while waiting for opening ceremony. I'm holding down those butterflies in my stomach!

The opening ceremony was so beautiful and inspiring. It reminded us of why we had done so much hard work and taken so much time to get ready. As the ceremony progressed it was getting lighter and then right at the end the sun came up. Beautiful!

These women are all survivors of breast cancer. The one in front looks like she's still in chemo and was really emotional which made all of us even more emotional if that was possible. Look at how young some of them are.

Once the very moving ceremony was over we hit the road. We headed east on Grand River to Novi Road and south to Northville. Everyone had a spring in their step and the fast walkers were passing the slower ones (me) so they could hightail down the street. We figured that we weren't going to start out with wearing ourselves out and took it nice and steady.

I didn't take many pictures the first day because I was kind of overwhelmed. I was a little worried about getting lightheaded again and was still trying to figure out what to eat and how much. Plus we hadn't gotten much sleep the night before. But I wish I had taken pictures in Northville because it is, of course, charming with many impressive older buildings. Wes was at the cheering station there and I gave him a kiss and kept on walking.

Like I said before it was really well organized. We would have a pit stop with portable toilets, food, medical care and beverage stations every 2-3 miles. Sometimes it would just be a grab and go which were smaller stations with toilets and beverage stations. Then there was lunch which was sandwiches provided by Panera, chips and apples. At some of the stops the little cheerleaders from local schools had special cheers including the word "boobie". It was really cute and uplifting to have those little hands giving us high fives. I was proud to inspire them. There were also cheering stations they had set up along the route where our supporters and locals could come and cheer us on.

I digressed again. We left Northville and somewhere along the way had one of those yummy lunches from Panera. Hannah doesn't like Gatorade but was drinking water. I had been feeling a little lightheaded but was working through it. Thank God it was a cool breezy day unlike the 90 plus degree days we'd been having throughout the summer. Hannah ate a cookie and it hit her the wrong way and now in retrospect we think she probably was dehydrated because she hadn't been drinking Gatorade. So the afternoon was really rough for Hannah. I could see her arguing with herself and she probably should have gone to medical but she was afraid they would keep her and not let her walk. I told her that if she wanted to keep going we would do it together and take it slow. And that's what we did. We walked through Farmington which was gorgeous. We saw one of the walkers stopped and getting a tatoo there.

We were two of the last ones to get back at camp. It's a really lonely feeling when you can't see anyone at all behind you or in front of you. But she took every step and stumbled into camp which was at Rotary Park in Livonia on Six Mile Road between Farmington and Merriman.

One thing we were worried about was our ability to set the tent up but there were awesome high school football teams all ready to do it for us. We went to pick up our baggage but they grabbed it from us and had us show them our site. The coach told us to go and get our dinner and they'd have it all set for us when we came back. I chowed down on pasta and meatballs but Hannah couldn't eat. She drank a Sprite and gradually started feeling better. By late evening she went back and was able to eat some mac and cheese. Whew!

After I ate I had to go and shower. They had shower semi's which each had I think 8 shower stalls in them. It was nice because there was a little changing space before the shower so I could get dressed in private.

I assumed I would be so tired that I would sleep like a log once my head hit what I was using for a pillow (my bag). Wrong! I tossed and turned all night. The pad I had wasn't thick enough for these old bones. Plus I'm a country girl and big city noises were too much for me. There were planes flying overhead and trains wailing. I think I did a lot of dozing but not a lot of deep sleep.

Camp at night looking towards the dining tent.

Day 2

Morning had to come ready or not. Got up, ate breakfast. Hannah was feeling fine again and was already chugging the Gatorade. We decided that we had to be smart and pass up on all the sweets that everyone was trying to give us and stick to healthy food, including lots of fruit, salty snacks to help retain the fluid. And always the Gatorade. So we headed out back down Six Mile Road. It was a beautiful morning.

We met some cool Gumbies on our way down the road. Or I guess they'd be Pinkbies.

To be honest, I can't remember how we got to Plymouth. I think we went down Farmington to Five Mile and then we went to Newburgh Road where there was a cheering station. Then we headed to Plymouth. We went down Edward Hines Drive to a beautiful neighborhood along Riverside Drive to Ann Arbor Trail.

I know I was excited to finally make it to Plymouth. For one thing, getting to the Kellogg Park downtown cheering station meant we were halfway through the 3 day walk. Plus lots of our friends and relatives were going to be there. Plus the town itself does a fantastic job of making us feel welcome. They tint their fountain water pink!

It was great to have some place to sit that was not the ground!!! My two sisters, Connie and Ang, came to support me. As did my wonderful hubby and he even brought Tonks the dog who wore a pink bandana to support me. It was great to see everyone and to take a quick rest but we had to move on to the west side of Plymouth for our lunch.

Plymouth is beautiful too. Actually, Plymouth, Northville and Farmington are very similar which is kind of a "duh" thing to say. After eating our lunch it started to rain for a minute and then the sun came out. We headed back east down Farmer through Plymouth and just walked and walked for what seemed like forever heading back to camp. My ankle started hurting at some point and I was getting a little discouraged as we headed to the last cheering station. Then I spotted three people heading down the grass by the sidewalk and I instantly felt better.

Andy, Gayle and Kaitlyn came to support me. My step got lighter and I quit doing my internal whining. It was a great afternoon because of my wonderful family.

They took a picture of Hannah and me too.

We got back to camp and headed for the dining hall. It was another good pasta and veggies dinner. Very healthy. My favorite part about the dinners was that they had pop to drink so I could have a Coke Zero every night.

This is the dining hall. The only place in camp besides waiting for a shower or medical where there were chairs. Other than that it was the grass.

The skies to the west as I was having my pity party in the tent.

Hannah took off for the showers after dinner and I laid in the tent and felt sorry for myself. I had a bunch of new blisters and my ankle was hurting. I called my sister, Marcia, in Connecticut and she told me I could do anything I set out to do. It was almost like I was trying to grab at any excuse not to finish day 3 but I kept thinking about all the people who were supporting me both by contributing money and by encouraging me every step of the way. So I shook it off and headed for the showers.

After my shower I found out that an announcement had been made that there was a storm headed for us and we were supposed to batten down the hatches, cover up our tents with plastic that they provided, cover all our stuff up and head for the dining tent. We did and made it there just before the storm hit.

Just after we got there we heard a great uproar and looked out at pouring rain and hoards of walkers screaming and running for the dining tent. It was more than a little unsettling to be in that tent with the huge metal poles holding it up in a thunderstorm with lightning. But we made it through.

The celebration continued through the storm. This is the Kids Corp and one of everyone's favorite supporters along the route having fun on stage.

Many of the walkers decided to go to a motel I'm assuming because they were saying it was supposed to rain later on through the night. We stuck it out and it didn't rain again until next morning. I had a little less crappy night and only had to get up to use the bathroom two times instead of the four times the night before.

Day 3

In the morning we had to get our stuff all packed up and then take down our tent. They sent crew around to help. We got a late start out of camp because of that and because I had to get my ankle wrapped.

Taking down the tent.

The end of camp. This time we headed south on Farmington Road. It rained most of the day which was pretty depressing. At the pit stops the grass was all wet and everyone was soggy. But that was part of the deal: rain or shine we had to walk.

All along the route there were people who set up tables in front of their houses and gave us treats, water, Gatorade, medicine, cold wet towels. It was great. But there were some very special people who sort of covered the whole route.

This lady was my favorite. All three days she moved along the route and just danced to music with a big smile on her face to encourage us. There was also a guy in a van with his kids that he called the Kid Crew and they handed out treats. There was a guy who had a big tub of different over the counter medications like Tylenol and Midol. They spent their whole weekend supporting us.

Here are some precious little cheerleaders.

I decided that I didn't care how bad my blisters hurt I was going to ignore it and just keep walking. My ankle actually didn't hurt when I was walking. So I was good to go. It was a very long day and we walked along Hines Drive some more and through beautiful neighborhoods in Dearborn. The cops in Dearborn were awesome and there must be a rule that they be handsome because we were all oohing and ahhing over them.

I thought we were almost there when I took this picture walking along Michigan Ave. It was a long walk down to where we crossed to go in. Everyone was limping at this point.

Before closing ceremony they were trying to group the walkers together. These are the survivors waiting to go in.

We all marched down the middle of the field together with the supporters cheering us in. It was pretty overwhelming (like the whole weekend).

Some of the survivors raising the pink flag.

The end of the closing ceremony.

We headed for home, stopped at McDonalds for dinner because I didn't really care what I ate. We stopped at CVS for blister supplies, came home and I was in bed by 9.

Like I said, it was very overwhelming in every way and I think I'm still processing it. Thanks for reading this and for all of your kind words and support over the last 8 months. Now I have to finish up my last 11 counties but that won't be for at least a couple weeks while I work on these blisters.