The night before, I had gathered some wood to have a fire in the morning and toast a bagel to have with my coffee. It was a little more work than usual for breakfast but worth it. Food tastes better when you are working hard for it.
A few miles down the road I came to Midway General Store. I stopped for some route advice, WiFi and charging. The owner behind the counter was very kind and gave me everything I needed. He said that he and his wife moved up from North Carolina (I believe) and bought the place. I could see the money and love they had put into the place and he knew the names of all the locals that came in while I was there. I think he sent a local guy my way that was a cyclist to give me some advice. Local cyclists’ road knowledge is so helpful to the bicycle tourist.
They got me routed on some gravel forest service roads that made a delightful shortcut over to a Michigan State Park called Palm Book. I wanted to see a place called Kitch-iti-Kipi that is in the park, my friend Eddie had recommended it.
Kitch-iti-Kipi is Michigan’s largest natural spring, 10,000 gallons of water a minute flow from it. It forms a lake of crystal clear water 40 feet deep that you can see all the way clear to the bottom. There is a “boat” (really a floating platform that travels along a cable) you can take out to see the spring. It’s free, I had to wait in line, but it was worth it.
Not long after leaving Kitch-iti-kipi I got onto US route 2. I had been on route 2 back in Montana it wasn’t great to ride then and it still wasn’t now. I covered the last 30 miles to my State Park campground on it, but tomorrow I would be on it 62 miles. High traffic volume roads like route 2 are tedious to ride because I have to look in my rear view mirror at all the traffic to make sure everyone is on good behavior while also looking ahead enough to miss pot holes, trash, broken glass, dead animals and not ride off the road. Doing this for an hour isn’t terrible but when I do it all day it wears me out.
Slow and Steady 
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