Sunsets and Sunshine

Hello again everyone. I must say, these shorter days sure make it easier to find some time to write you all. The first two days biking out of Indiana Dunes State Park in Chesterton, IN we spent biking along Lake Michigan. And it has been nothing but beautiful scenery and towns. If you ever can (if you haven’t) take a drive along Lake Michigan’s eastern shore and visit the small beach towns that dot Michigan’s west coast. One thing also the last couple days was that I had to keep reminding myself that I was biking along Lake Michigan not Lake Huron in Ontario. But I tell you this, the area from Chesterton, IN to Grand Haven, MI look pretty identical to the area from south of The Pinery to Grand Bend, ON: lots of dunes, sand, oak, and tall pines. Beautiful scenery all around and I loved the towns.
As I have said the ride along Lake Michigan was filled with water front views, forests, and dunes. It was been cool along the lake here and boy is it nice to have the lake breeze once again. I have missed it. South Haven had an awesome beach, no stones and was shallow for a fair bit, but a cold breeze. At least we dried off quickly. Me and a friend, Jess Fox also grabbed some ice cream at Sherman’s on the beach. Nice place and good homemade ice cream.
The next day’s ride from South Haven, MI to Grand Haven, MI was again beautiful and very short, 79km. Same scenery as the day before, but just as nice and a few more (and nicer) towns. There was almost a town every 10km, 7 in total. The ones that stick out in my memory are Ganges, Douglas, Saugatuck, Graafschap, and Holland. Unfortunately I forgot my camera’s memory card for this day, so no pictures, sorry. I rode most of the day by myself at a fast pace, but had coffee in Saugatuck with Brian Garret, Sarah Terpstra, as well as a couple from Fredericton, NB who were riding for three days to Grand Rapids. We had a nice lunch stop at Graafschap CRC, the first CRC church in North America. The original church has long been torn down, but the church now standing has a nice older aura to it. A actually scale replica of the original log church was built for Graafschap CRC’s and the North American CRC’s 150th anniversary. In the basement at Graafschap was a historical centre. It was really interesting for me at least because it had the history of the original settlers to western Michigan, the Dutch, as well as a history of the CRC both in North America and back in The Netherlands as well as an overview of the church’s main figures, such as John Calvin and Gijsbert Haan. Holland, MI was also a very nice town. I hope to go back one day and spend more time there, maybe during the tulip season.
Today’s ride was pretty busy from Grand Haven to Grand Rapids. We had about 150 extra people riding for just the day with friends, family, or just because. Again a very short ride of 75km with three refreshment and snack stops hosted by churches, one in Lamont and two in Grand Rapids. Plus a stop at Tyler Buitenwerf (one of the cyclist who was injured and couldn’t continue). That was really nice as Arnie Issette was there was well. He also as it turns out completely severed his Achilles tendon. Very nice guy with a huge personality. Right now I’m sitting in the Prince Conference Centre at Calvin College in Grand Rapids watching the Olympics. Not many people are left at camp here. Lots have billeted out (which is really nice once and a while as I billeted out back in Palos Heights, IL), and lots are staying the weekend with family or friends as a large portion of the riders are from western Michigan or out right now at the local bars. Anyway, it’s nice to catch up with the Olympics again. And I would like to say congratulations to Michael Phelps as he has now won his 7th gold medal. I know he’s American, but he is incredible and I’d be willing to bet he’s clean. I would also like to say congrats the Canadian medalists: Carol Huynh (gold – women’s 48kg wrestling freestyle), David Calder and Scott Frandsen (silver – men’s pair rowing), and to Tonya Verbeek (bronze – women’s 55kg wrestling freestyle).
Peace&GodBless
Matt