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| FALLING WATERS TRAIL |
A path we have been looking at for a while is Falling Waters
which has one of its trailheads in Jackson, Michigan. Realizing that the last day for riding this
season was fast approaching, we took advantage of a good forecast and headed
north, hoping to catch some early fall color.
It was a good call on our part because it was a perfect day for riding,
a beautiful path, and more unusual things “crossed our path,” which come to
think of it, seems to be becoming “the usual.”
We stopped at the rest area/visitors station that is just
over the Michigan border to arm ourselves with brochures for this new to us
area...you never know what you don’t know! As luck would have it, there were
several brochures that gave us great information about the area to which we
were traveling. We scored a great lunch
at a little bistro in Jackson at art gallery in a park…..who knew such a thing
existed without the brochure. We had
brought a snack with us to stretch us , but decided on an early lunch with
snack time to come later if needed. We
made a great choice.
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| CAN YOU FIND THE SNAKE? I BARELY DID BEFORE ALMOST RUNNING OVER IT! |
After eating, we found the trail parking lot, right under
the cell phone tower like they said, and there were a fair amount of cars. After traveling down a sidewalk about 1000 feet
to the trail, we were off. The sun was
out, the sky was blue and the trees just about at their fall color peak made a
for great backdrop. I was cruising
along, enjoying all of this when all of a sudden in front of me was a SNAKE on
the path. While I don’t like snakes, I
certainly didn’t want to run over it and have its carcass on my bike tires for
the rest of the day..yuck!! So I quickly
braked and got a great picture of the snake before he slithered away….score 1
for wildlife!!
The path was straight and even, and eventually took us to
Lime Lake. We stopped several times just
to enjoy the tree colors and the contrast of sunlight on the lake.
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| LIME LAKE |
The path
seems to cut the lake in two, and we spied a picnic area in the park that
accompanies the lake, so we cut over on a county road to get to the parking
area, and prepared for reading, rest, and snacks. While there were several cars in the parking
lot, we really didn’t see anyone, until we looked carefully across the lake….there
was a paddleboarder working his way around the perimeter of the lake, one
stroke at a time. It reminded me of the water-propelled
jet pack person we had seen in Chicago…except this guy WAS his own power. While it was a nice sunny day, it was
definitely too cold to fall into the water, and I was glad we were not called
upon to be heroes and rescue the guy on the paddleboard.
While the tree colors and relative solitude of the area
would be enough to stay, we decided to go back with enough time to stop at key
places along the lake and enjoy the colors.
Again, as on other trips, we were greeted by some unusual signage. First, we came across a tractor crossing
sign. In and of itself it is not too
unusal, but this sign bore a striking resemblance to the Little Tikes Farm set
that the boys played with when small.
Really, isn’t there way to make this sign so that we can be on the
lookout for more farmers than Old MacDonald. |
| ELVIS...REALLY? |
The second sign was
actually an ELVIS SIGHTING…right there on the Falling Waters bike path. AYou just never know when Elvis might cross
your path! Someone in Jackson MI has a sense of humor!
The trip was over, there was always the ride home to finish
our day…but it wasn’t done yet. I
talked Tom into going to a favorite Italian restaurant outside of Angola, IN,
just off of I-69. With soft, pillowy breadsticks
that literally SWIM in butter with just a hint of shredded parmesan on top, Caruso’s
is a favorite of ours in the fall and winter.
As dinner finished, I glanced at my watch and saw that we could go to an
annual fall square dance at Pokagan State Park, just up the road 3 miles, and
listen to our favorite band from Johnny Appleseed a couple of weeks
earlier. Having a full belly, there was
no reason not to go, so off we went.
As the sun went down, we met at the site of the dance, only
to find among the several hundred people there, a teacher that I used to teach
with and his family, and a young couple who are friends of ours and in Jon and
Ashley’s wedding. We bravely (or should I say TOM BRAVELY, as this
stuff was old hat to me) joined this couple and their friends and took a couple
of whirls around a few dances. It was
clear we were out of our league, or was it the 13 miles we had already pedaled
that day, so we gracefully bowed out and finally found our way home, richer for
having spent the day in nature’s fall coloring book, seen Elvis, and do-si-do’d with the best of them….a
perfect fall pedaling day!
The stats: 13.7 (RT), Time: 1:23:45 , ODO: 455.84
Notable Nature Sightings:
a snake on the path….narrowly avoided him AND a head-over-heels crash
from suddenly stopping.
Oxymoron Sighting: Elvis on a bike path in Michigan….Tennessee
maybe, but not Michigan!
