I made it to Petoskey, reasonably dry. I abandoned my originally planned route, which was pretty much stuck under a raincloud, and took a chance by going inland. I rode about an hour east, to the village of Fredric, which lies on good old Old 27. Thats the road I took two years ago to get to Mackinac, so I knew it’d be suitable for riding. And it was – so far – experiencing only sprinkles. My hope was to at least get around the active rain and get to Petoskey to make camp before it was deluged.

It worked. The rain system was still drifting eastward, but even at 30mph I could outrun the worst of it. It rose above a sprinkle here and there, but with full raingear on, I stayed pretty dry. My Frogg Toggs – which are designed for hiking – weren’t fully effective where my legs lie on the seat, but that’s just a little damp.

I took Old 27 to a little spot on the map called Wolverine, then took the only paved road winding from there to Petoskey. The whole ride was low on traffic, except around towns, which made an otherwise blah ride more enjoyable. I did pretty much no stopping “to smell the roses”, in part because of my mission to reach Petoskey, and in part because it’s just no fun in the rain.

In the meantime, the north end of the rain system appears to be breaking up. It isn’t over, but it isn’t raining here at the moment, and what’s left should be isolated.

I like Petoskey State Park. I checked out the day-use area when I came through here three years ago, but this is the first I’ve seen the campground. It’s woodsy. Lots of trees and each site is somewhat isolated from the others. And mine has a path up to the sand dunes.

At least it isn’t hot.

It’s been a cold, windy, overcast morning. The temp is about 65F, and combined with some wind and the lack of sun, it’s downright chilly. I even put on my raincoat to cut down on the windchill.

Not an especially scenic ride, either. Largely farmland and some woods. I saw a deer on the side of the road, and slowed down. It backed into the woods then returned to the road, as if getting up the nerve to cross. But by this point I was getting close and it ran back into the trees.

I also passed a small alpaca farm. Didnt feel like stopping to gawk and take pictures though.

One of the roads that was supposed to take me much of the way to Kalkaska ran out of pavement, requiring me to backtrack and take another route. The road I took was freshly (re?)paved, which isn’t as nice as it sounds. It was paved with ground stone, which is usually treacherous for motorbikes, but fortunately they’d sprayed it with just enough tar coating to keep it from acting like loose gravel. And that led to a nice winding road, so it worked out.

I’ve stopped in Kalkaska for lunch, a little earlier than planned, mostly because I got an early start. Trout Town Country Cafe serves a yummy chicken philly sandwich. Also has wifi, which is nice because cell data coverage around here sucks.

The rain seems to be mostly stalled over Lake Michigan, but encroaching on the territory I’m about to ride through. I’m considering trying to take a more easterly route around it. Unfortunately that would mean busier roads.

I honestly don’t know what to make of the weather. The forecast stills says 30% chance of scattered showers when there’s a mass of rain marching this way. The wind is still for the east but the rain comes from the west.

Since I can’t do anything about it, I’m just breaking camp, equipping the scooter for rain, and heading on.

I slept OK last night. I woke up a few times needing to change positions to get comfortable, but that happens sometimes in my own bed.

The wind has been blowing in the trees above all night, sometime picking up enough to ruffle my tent. It definitely cooled off, down into the 60s. A little sprinkling of rain.

The real rain comes later today. That same mass of rainclouds is still trudging this way, slowly. Which means that when it gets here it won’t blow over quickly. At least it doesn’t look especially intense. It’s hard to tell how long before it’ll get here, just that I won’t be able to just wait it out before leaving. Besides, I don’t have a house here to wait it out in.

I’m settling in for the night. A few comments.

The neighbors are quiet. Aside from the air conditioner on the RV next door. The screaming kids are all snug in their campers.

The wind is picking up. Enough that I had to get out of the tent and tighten the rain fly to stop it flapping. And it’s coming from the east, which is odd because the rain is still coming from the west.

The air mattress is going to take getting used to. It’s a bit like sleeping on waterbed, and that’s not a good thing in my book. One key is not to fill it all the way; it needs room to sag where needed. But I still think it’ll be worth it.

I had a pleasantly uneventful late-afternoon ride from Idlewild to Cadillac. I found some easy-to-follow backroads north. What made them easy to follow is that the route I was taking was the only paved road. From time there’d be an intersection where the road I was on turned to dirt, but the pavement would continue around the corner. That was where I was supposed to turn.

Since I was basically riding a few miles east of M37 much of the way, I saw little traffic, mostly just locals. I passed a couple trailheads for motorbike trails, but didn’t try them out. I don’t think my suspension and tires are really cut out for off-road biking. 🙂 The terrain is getting a little hilly, but not too bad. At times the scooter can only get up to 35mph going up hills. Its performing quite well overall.

I arrived in Cadillac a little after 7pm. That’s later than I had planned, but considering that I was 2 hours late getting underway this morning, I consider that doing pretty well.

And to be honest, I don’t think I missed a whole lot by getting here late. Mitchell State Park… is… what it is. It’s… an RV lot. I think it may even be within the Cadillac city limits. Next door to a Burger King.

To be fair, it’s actually in a pretty nice location, on the small strip of land between Cadillac and Mitchell Lakes, with easy access to both of them. It’s a nice spot for people from the area to take their families for an outdoor vacation. And it beats the Motel 6 I was stuck at a year ago when my tent went missing. It has no waterfalls, no hiking trails, and only Mitchell Lake for sunsets. But it has two little lakeshores and a channel between them.

After taking that in, I drew upon the wisdom of the Internet and ended up at Maggie’s Tavern in downtown Cadillac for a late dinner and a couple beers. Good food. Good drink.

Radar shows some slow moving rain over Wisconsin, which will probably arrive overnight. So full rain protocols will be in effect at the campsite tonight.