One problem with state recreation areas is reflected by their name. If you’re there to DO something, they’re great for that. But even though they are often quite pretty, there isn’t so much to SEE (as compared to a state park). Thus it is with the Portage Lake campground at Waterloo. I’m not here to swim or boat or fish. I’m here because there isn’t a state PARK in the area. So after making camp and seeing what there was to see, I got on the scooter and DID.

The first order of business was supper. It seems the most-recommended restaurants around here really are all bars. At least they’re bars too. Tonight it was the Village Inn in the village of Grass Lake, which is in the direction that I wasn’t looking, didn’t look like much (such as not even having the name out front) when I got there, but it had good local recommendations online. It’s bar food, but good bar food, including (tonight) something that was not deep-fried.

Afterward I just rode. Riding out the daylight, really. I headed west almost to Jackson, then took the road that follows I-94 back east, coming back to Portage Lake from the other direction as I’d come this afternoon.

There was still some daylight left so I went for a walk along a nature trail with an annoying number of mosquitoes (which will still swarm and still fly into your mouth, even if you’re wearing repellent), and a twilight look at the lake. Sitting still outside invites too many mosquitoes, so as darkness falls I have retreated to my tent.

I like my tent a lot. It weighs almost nothing and packs into a tiny space. My pillows are bulkier. It’s easy to set up; you can get by with the two collapsing poles and three stakes if you have to (but using all 7 is more secure). It has kept me dry thru torrential rains on Isle Royale, where there simply Are No Motels you can go to if your tent fails you. It doesn’t hold warmth very well, but that’s a sleeping bag’s job, so that’s OK. The one thing I don’t like about it is that it’s impossible to sit up straight in it. If you sit in just the right spot, you still have to bend your head down a little to keep from pushing at the roof. The tight space is adequate for sleeping, but kinda sucks when you’re awake and using it as a mosquito shelter. Like now.

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