Back on the Grid
Kentwood to Albion – 78 miles
Average Speed – 12.6 mph
Another unintentional late start resulted in a rather late arrival, but it isn’t as if we had anything pressing to do here in Albion. We got drenched between Kentwood and Hastings, but sought refuge from the worst part of the rain under the eaves of a caretaker’s shed in a cemetery.
We modified our route in Hastings and thank goodness that we looked at the maps again instead of relying on what MapQuest said. The printed directions sent us on State St. out of Hastings, when what we wanted was State Rd. Had we not caught this, we would probably be in Lansing right now.
In spite of the long day and some steep climbs, the day turned very pleasant when the rain subsided. We almost, but not quite, had forgotten about all the gravel roads in Michigan. We entirely avoided them by zigzagging across the street grid. As luck would have it, one of our zigs or zags put us right on the road where the motel is located. There really isn’t much here, but getting here didn’t compare to the chaos we encountered yesterday.
A for sale sign reminded me that when we were in Milwaukee, we passed by a religious goods store. We stopped in to buy a St. Joseph to bury in the front yard of the house that we have for sale. I had checked on a St. Joseph in Albany, but don’t know where the good religious stores are. The one I went to, which is a combination religious goods and screenprinting shop (hey, maybe they should also have expresso) had the home seller’s kit for $14 or some ridiculous price. It was basically the same 99 cent St. Joe that I just bought, packaged in a oversized box with a printed prayer included.
We passed by the world famous Turkeyville, located in the middle of nowhere, but right along our route.
We stopped and had milkshakes, which we rapidly burned off on the next few steep hills so regularly spaced on the route today. Guess we are kind of in the Irish Hills area. As we get closer to Toledo, the hills will disappear. The biggest hills in SE MI are highway overpasses.