Day 2 - Michigan as Wine Country?

The title says it all. Who knew? We spent a good portion of today's ride traversing rolling hills replete with vines of grapes - many of which were quite bushy (Concords I was later told). Of course, where there are vines, there are likely to be vineyards -- and even tasting rooms. Which Climate Ride did a good job of researching to find one that was really quite elegant - Cody Kestra - dare I say approaching California quality? And apparently this was not all that easy a task to do,  as a lot of the Michigan vineyards only make sweet wines (which would not have been well received by our group).

The only fly in the ointment? The location. The winery was at Mile 75 of today's ride. With 10 miles still to go! Yes, we rode over 85 miles today, and, yes, we rode the last 10 of it having tasted alot of wine.

Of course, before the winery, there was a lot of good riding. I even made peace with an old nemesis: they crushed limestone bike path - one of which we were on for over 20 miles today. It had the benefit of going through endless canopies of trees, which not only were gorgeous, but also provided lovely shade from a fairly hot sun. The trade off between the shade and the surface was an easy one to make.

Still, in all, Michigan is not at the top of my list of bike riding States. Maybe it was because it was Sunday, but on the road we had a lot of traffic and not great shoulders (although I will say that Michigan drivers, as a lot, are pretty good passers). The scenery continues to be pleasant, but really never spectacular. It's rural, but the population density is still high enough that there are a lot of houses all along the road, kind of marring any sense of isolation. To boot, few of the houses feature any particularly distinguished or cohesive architecture - although many do come with pickup trucks in their driveways (mostly Ford 150s) and rusted equipment in their yards.

But - there's a silver lining - after tomorrow, when we head into Indiana briefly and then into Illinois, I'll be able to sing "Michigan seems like a dream to me now..."

Today's lengthy route and, of course, a few photos (including last night's sunset from our camp):