August 16, 2013 Midland --> Saginaw, MI -- 46 miles
From the motel we wound through tree-lined and beautifully landscaped neighborhoods back to the Pere Marquette Trail. This took us to the downtown Midland area. Along the way we were greeted by several locals on the trail who stopped to ask questions about the ride. One such local was a retired Dow Chemical worker named Steve, who said he would love to do some touring. Steve took our picture near a beautiful rustic bridge located near the trailhead.
After leaving the trail, we started following US Bike Route 20 through town. At this point, we were still following the AC maps, which led by Ray's Bike Shop. We often stop by local bike shops to ask advice regarding the best roads to follow, or other suggestions regarding cafes, local culture, etc.
We continued to follow US Bike Route 20 approximately 17 miles through lush farmlands. The road was flat, although narrow, and it was a fairly easy ride. Just outside Bay City, we accessed the Bay City Loop Trail which took us to town.
The trail started off as a smoothly paved well-marked path, but all of a sudden it seemed to dump us out on a street with no guidance as to where it was going. We pulled out the maps and Google. Then somewhat floundered our way along the river paths through town, eventually ending up south of town where we stopped for lunch and to re-assess. The AC maps listed the next "main" town (loosely used here) as Frankenmuth. However, there were limited motel options and all were pricey. So, we decided to head for Saginaw some 13 miles away, where there were more reasonable motel options.
The ride to Saginaw started a little shaky. There was a lot of gravel along the shoulder as it appears to have been preparing to undergo some sort of road work. We were literally "riding the white line" (name of Randy's blog) the first few miles. Luckily, the road opened up and there was a fairly broad shoulder the rest of the way to the edge of Saginaw.
The motel situation in Saginaw was iffy. We found the road where most middle of the road motels were located, and were a little dismayed to find that they were almost all run-down looking and, in some cases, a little creepy. To go to the nicer motels would mean back tracking approximately 4 miles or so and paying twice as much. So, we decided to gut it up for 1 night and checked in to a Motel 6 that looked the least creepy. The desk lady was very nice and I felt somewhat reassured by her demeanor. Plus, there were apple trees along the road into the parking lot teaming with pretty apples and that made me feel better as well. Although the rooms were somewhat dumpy, the shower was clean and had hot water. When I met Randy for dinner, he was more than underwhelmed by the motel and had a kind of desperate look in his eye. Randy likes comfort; hence his aversion to camping at all costs. However, I could see this motel was barely 1 step above camping in his eyes.
After dinner, I resolved to find a better motel situation for tomorrow night. What I learned was that there much be some sort of event going on because many of the reasonably priced motels down the road were booked up. I finally located a Days Inn with pretty good reviews some 61 miles away and went ahead and reserved the rooms so we would not have to undergo the trauma of having to find a decent place to stay at the end of a long ride tomorrow.
So...the plan is to ride 61 miles to Imlay City tomorrow and re-group. Will probably aim for Port Huron on Sunday.
