Day 4 - Platte River to Traverse City MI

Miles - 69.3

Trip miles - 271.5


Check out my activity on Strava: https://strava.app.link/9JuPvwIr15b

After the normal morning routine we are once again on the road around 7:15. It's 65 degrees slightly warmer than yesterday. Partly cloudy but rain isn’t coming until tonight. Even though it adds some miles we opt to ride up to Sleeping Bear Dunes. There's a nice path there and some things to check out. Tonight we'll grab a hotel room in Traverse City to stay dry. I'm getting too old to camp in the rain. 

The Heritage Trail is paved and mostly flat. There were signs at the little rises saying caution steep grades. Obviously they have never been to NH. We stopped at the Dune Climb which is cool. You scramble up the face of a big dune and then traverse up and down towards the lake. We walked about a mile to a neat overlook. Didn't have all day to go all the way to Lake Michigan. Impressive anyway.

Dune Climb 

We spent the rest of the morning rolling thru tourist towns. Beautiful country. When possible we choose the paved bike paths. It's amazing how less stressful it is when there are no trucks whizzing by. In Lake Leelenau we found a little grocery to grab Powerade and a pint of butter pecan ice-cream. A quiet little park behind the catholic school was right on the Lake Leelenau and perfect for lunch. 

Along the lake

In the afternoon we rode up a gradual incline and down to Suttons Bay. From there it was another great paved trail the last 20 miles to Traverse City. It's a very pretty resort town with a bike path along the lakefront. I'm so impressed that many places in Michigan are committed to excellent bike routes. So pleasant to ride here. We found a bike store to get Tim some new bike gloves and check tire pressures. The hotel is just a cheap Travelodge. All we need is a place to crash. Checking in we met Mark who is also riding around part of the lake. We had white fish for dinner. A local specialty. Tomorrow we'll probably ride with Mark at least for a while. 

Old stone storage house

Traverse City waterfront

Sunday we ride to Petoskey if all goes well. 


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