It’s a Wrap/Alaska by Van
Final Stats and thoughts June 19- August 20, 2026 Total Days: 61 Days Canada: 25 Days Alaska: 34 Lower 48: 2 Total Miles: 7600 Avg speed limit: 50 mph but we averaged 35/mph Miles/gal avg: 18 miles/gallon. Price of gas Canada: $1.95liter $5.27/gal Price of gas Alaska: $5.45/gal Van Life. Days spent in sleeping in van:…
the lower 48…
Day 59…60…61 8/18-8/20/26 Tues, Wed, Thurs They have an expression in Alaska when the residents are going to the “lower 48”… they say they are “Going Outside”. We are going Outside today…returning to the USA at a Washington State border. The border crossing is Blaine, WA near Vancouver BC. Happy Birthday! Let me start today…
Back to the sea
Day 58 8/15/26 Monday Highways. We are on our way to Squamish BC today. Starting the drive this morning and we hadn’t gone very far and suddenly we were on a 4 lane highway, the Trans Canada. We hadn’t been on this type of multi lane highway, with the exception of the city of Anchorage,…
Day of mixed opinions
Day 57 8/16/26 Sunday Mountain bike ride. Let’s start today with a mountain bike ride….attempt anyway. Started, stopped. Chose a trail that’s better suited to hiking. Reroute to an easier trail on the lake. That was good but too short. Did this same start/stop a couple times. The truth is…I wasn’t interested in really mountain…
Smithers BC…sweet town
Day 56 8/15/26 Saturday We departed Stewart today on what is going to be their biggest day of the summer. It’s Community Weekend with pancake breakfast, artists market, hot dog and beer garden this evening with a live band in their center park. It’s another beautiful warm day and the traffic is not busy on…
Hyder AK…bears & glaciers
Day 55. 8/13/26 Thursday evening and… 8/14/26 Friday It’s another last day in Alaska! Hyder AK… the outlier. Two objectives in Hyder today. Bear viewing and driving up the road to the Salmon Glacier. This glacier is actually back in BC. But you must go to Hyder to get there. Bear viewing. We bought our…
Stewart BC/Hyder AK
Day 54 8/13/26 Thursday Health update. My cold has finally relented.. it was a tough 3 days but I finally feel so much better. Not needing sleep, more energy, an appetite, not sneezing and Kleenex attachment! Good morning Mount Edziza!! This morning bodes well for a gorgeous day driving into the coastal/glacial fjord mountains to…
Telegraph Creek
Day 53 8/12/26 Wednesday Foggy this morning. We were/are expecting a sunny day. At some point it will burn off. Dease Lake. Coffee crisis. Didn’t realize how low the supply was when shopping in Whitehorse … let’s see what Dease Lake has. Bought coffee .. Tim Horton’s was the most reasonably priced. Kicking Horse coffee was…
Jade city
Day 52 8/11/26 Tuesday We had a rainstorm last night. It rained pretty hard for quite a while. It sent everyone scrambling inside tents and campers for the evening. Disappointing because it was beautiful and calm on the lake. I, however, still felt pretty miserable from my cold so I crashed out early. We are…
Cassiar Highway start
Day 51 8/10/26 Monday Fairly sunny start this morning. Then it turned to showers. Back to bright but cloudy before the turnoff to Hwy 37. The Cassiar Highway. We have seen several cyclists today. They are riding either north to south or vice versa. Prudhoe Bay to Argentina. Some have shorter routes. Lots of soloists. Cassiar…
How’s the road?
Day 50 8/9/26 Sunday Mosquito count: prevalent in the morning. Several in the van. Weather: This morning is overcast with a cool breeze. As the morning progressed the sun was trying to break through and take the chill off. But it turned into a mostly cloudy, gray drizzle day. Highway conditions. Today’s highways are notoriously…
Leaving the 49th state on Day 49
Day 49 8/8/26 Saturday. Such a coincidence that we are leaving Alaska (the 49th state) on day 49 of our trip. It just dawned on me as I was writing this. Mosquito count: they’re back in Canada Thick!! Weather. Today is a warm day. We both were overdressed and by the end of the day…
Fairbanks
Day 48 8/7/26 Friday Say goodbye to Denali NP. We left Denali park about 11am. High clouds in the sky and very lights winds. Mosquitos were out this morning for the first time in many, many days. Our campground was 29 miles into the park so we have wonderful views of wide open land and…
Bear Bear! Moose! Mountain!
Day 47 8/6/26 Thursday Moose for breakfast. We had breakfast this morning at Jana’s camper. Lance cooked us scrambled eggs (delicious) and Moose bacon! I had never had moose meat of any sort and this bacon was delicious. Fortified with a good breakfast and lunches and snacks packed we were ready to hike the Sable…
Bicycling Denali
Day 46. 8/5/26 Wednesday Denali shuttle bus system. This is how the shuttle buses and Denali roads work. When you check in to your campground at the entrance you also pay $32/each for the shuttle bus. You drive to the Savage River and stop at mile 15 or so where there is a ranger station. The…
Denali bound
Day 45 8/4/26 Tuesday Scenic Route. We drove the scenic way over Hatcher Pass route to Parks Highway. 49 mile route over Hatcher Pass following the Little Susitna River. Bypassing a busy part of the Parks Highway. Once again I am just enjoying the farm scenery of Palmer with red barns and all. We really…
Whittier
Day 44 8/3/26. Monday Weather change for the next couple of days. Wet and windy… mostly windy. This morning temp is 55’F One Way Tunnel. Headed 12 miles to Whittier. Basically a long one way toll tunnel to get there. Toll is $13. No fee on the return. The cue is divided into 6 lanes…
Hike Day in Seward
Day 43 8/2/26 Sunday We had a long casual morning camping on the glacial washout. Not quite the same sunny day as yesterday. The clouds were low and it looked foggy toward the bay. Hike day. We made plans to hike the Tonsina Point Trail at Lowell Point near Seward. At the end of the…
Hero day! Kayaking
Day 42 8/1/26 Saturday We have an expression in snow skiing to define snow texture when it’s so perfect you feel like a hero when you’re skiing… it’s indescribably perfect, the snow is so easy to ski that you feel like you’re an awesome skier! Effortless. If days could have that description than today was…
Return to Seward
Day 41 7/31/26 Friday Time has a way of slipping away. Even though the daylight is long in Alaska it seems that time flies here. Maybe it’s because it’s all new to me and there’s so much to see and explore but even on the quiet days with nothing planned it melts away quickly. Is…
Watchin’ some fishin’
Day 40 7/30/26 Thursday Mosquito count: At sunset they were buzzing. Moose count. 1 Chores. We cleaned the interior of the van. It hasn’t been washed inside since our stop in Whitehorse YT day 17. We did wash the exterior a couple of days ago. As soon as we did it rained… of course. Now…
Salmon fishing on the Kenai River
Day 39 7/29/26 Wednesday Wednesday market. Our arrangement for fishing the Kenai River is set for mid afternoon so we took a trip to the Wednesday market in Soldotna. They have an artisans fair and evening music every Wednesday in the summer. It was a fun “something to do” on a beautiful sunny day. There…
Halibut fishing
Day 38 7/28/26 Tuesday Moose count: 17 (12 cows, 1 bull, 4 calves) Early start. Our day of halibut fishing started really early. Marianne had the coffee ready at 3:45am and we were instructed that AIS (ass-in-seat) was 4:30am. Bagels and cream cheese, coffee to go, lunch and snacks packed and a bag with extra…
Zero Day
Day 37 7/27/26 Monday Mosquito count: 0 Today there is only one photo. It was definitely a “zero” day. Yesterday’s blog was so big everyone needs a break from reading and studying photos. Pivot. Sometimes things don’t go as planned. We had planned to go fishing in the Kenai River but due to circumstances beyond…
A flyout…fish&bears
Day 36 7/26/26 Sunday Mosquito count: 0 Brown Bear count: 3! It’s going to be a good day and a big day! We are getting ready to take a float plane to Crescent Lake in the Lake Clark National Park and Preserve. It will be a long day 1:30-9:00pm from takeoff to return landing. Settle…
Mountains are out!
Day 35 7/25/26 Saturday Expecting to arrive at 7am in Homer when we woke up about 6:30 the sun was shining and I lifted the shade to the best surprise! The volcanic mountains were showing off this morning! As we were approaching the ferry dock about 15 halibut fishing boats came ripping out of the…
A mossy hike…Kodiak 3
Day 34 Friday 7/24/26 Mosquito count: 0 Kodiak Bear Count: 0 Scat count: 2! Termination Point hike. We woke up to another sunny day. It was windy again… but sunny. We planned to go on a 5 mile hike to the end point of our bay and back. There was a loop trail. We walked…
Kodiak… day 2
Day 33 7/23/26 Thursday Mosquito count: too windy Kodiak Bear count: 0. Scat count: 0 Well as we expected the kayak trip was cancelled about the time we got to get ready…6am. Seems to be how our excursions are working for us on this trip. Chiniak Point. This gave us time to take a beach walk,…
Kodiak Island… day 1
Day 32 7/22/26 Wednesday Mosquito count: zero. We’ve been told there aren’t mosquitos on Kodiak… biting flies? Yes, but we can’t prove that yet Kodiak Bear count: 0. Scat: 0 Ferry by night. We made it through the night on the ferry. There was some rocking and rollling in the middle of the night but…
The “Art” of ferry loading
Day 31 7/21/26. Tuesday Mosquito Count: they all drowned today Campground checkout by noon. We had a full day in Homer before we had to be at the ferry station to Kodiak island at 8:30pm. The usual RV checkout duties, gray water, urine bucket, fresh water before we leave the campground. Jim is working his…
Hike to Grewingk Glacier
Day 30 7/20/26 Monday Mosquito count: ZERO Grewingk Glacier hike by water taxi. There was probably about a dozen of us on the 20 minute taxi this morning that departed Homer at 11am. We were dropped off at the shore and walked the beach to the trail head start. Once we started into the woods…
Set sights for Homer Spit
Day 29 7/19/26. Sunday Mosquito count: one or two. The beauty of cold and wet I guess. Officially one month since we left home in Billings Montana We slept well on our highway pullout with rain falling all night long. It was a pretty steady somewhat heavy rain until we climbed up and out of…
Seward Bound
Day 28 7/18/26 Saturday Mosquito count: just a few…very few Our highway turnout camping turned out to be pretty quiet. Not a lot of highway traffic even in the early morning. We woke up to a neighbor camping on the turnout as well. No rush to get to Seward this morning. I think it is…
Bore tide Turnagain Arm
Day 27 7/17/26. Friday Mosquito count: moderate at camp this evening. Headnet to grill. First… Happy Birthday to my 3rd sister Mimi! (I have 5 sisters and 2 brothers… I’m last) Trust me they all make getting older look pretty good😊 We took good care of Jana’s front yard last night. Nice neighborhood and she…
Glaciers & Moose kind of day
Day 26 7/16/26 Thursday Mosquito count: nope… not today Sunshine and mountains…Good Morning! What a delightful surprise to take the van window covers off and see sunshine and mountain tops this morning! It’s been several days and made us excited to get out and do something active this morning. We decided to get the bicycles…
Heading back into population…
Day 25 7/15/26 Wednesday Off the grid Denali Highway to Palmer AK Mosquito count: am = zero. Pm=zero It rained most of the night and we woke up to being enshrouded in fog. I am happy we had a good view last night because this morning it’s like looking into the abyss. The road was…
Eskers and Kames
Day 24 7/14/26 Tuesday Mosquito count: none really. Too cold and windy today. Heard it raining during the night and it’s been a steady rain this morning. It’s an Alaska muck boot kind of day for sure! No need to be in a hurry getting out if camp. What to do? Where to go today? Not…
Denali Highway
Day 23 7/13/26 Monday Mosquito count: yes there are mosquitos today. Sometimes thick and annoying. Cool early morning a little over 50’f. Very calm at breakfast but the wind came up as we were leaving mid morning and now it feels cold. As we depart camp looking for tonight’s stop around mile 20 (we are on…
Trip pivot to Denali Hwy.
Day 22 7/12/26. Sunday Mosquito count: slight breeze slightly so very few mosquitos at camp tonight. A few to slap in the van. We had a nice sleep last night. Even though we were just in a pull off of the highway there isn’t really much traffic. Especially between 6pm and 9am. This mornings view…
Chicken Alaska
Day 21 7/11/26 Saturday Mosquito count: saw a couple. We had a breeze and used our thermacell when we sat outside in the evening Dawson City YT to A view of the Alaska Range AK taking the Top of the World Highway Tour of Dawson. Today we are spending about half the day in Dawson…
Tombstone Mountain Hike
Day 20 Tombstone Mountain to Dawson City 7/10/26 Friday Mosquito count: few…yet again We started our day with a 5 mile round trip hike up to a viewpoint of the Ogilvie Mountains including Tombstone Mountain. In the beginning, for the first half, the trail was riddled with tree roots. Like veins on an old persons…
Tombstone YT
Day 19 7/9/26 Thursday Mosquito count: few and far between Woke up this morning to some sunshine and only partly cloudy. The wind seems to be minimal today. Yesterday was a bit breezy with a cold wind. On the advice of my brother Paul, Holly & Guy (who we met in Jasper) and Lenore last…
Mountain bike Whitehorse
Day 18 7/8/26 Wednesday Mosquito count: very low to none First things first. I found a bread bakery a few miles outside of Whitehorse. It was closed Monday and Tuesday but open this morning. I’d been saving a bread purchase for this place. Landmark Bakehouse. It was just a nondescript warehouse building. Enter through the…
Explore Whitehorse YT
Day 17 7/7/26 Tuesday Mosquito count: low No special plans today. Expecting it to rain this morning so we slept in. Our van has great blackout window coverings. They magnet to the inside metal on the windows. It’s very, very dark inside. Like a cocoon. It was the spam phone calls that were our alarm…
Carcross to Whitehorse, Yukon
Day 16 7/6/26 Monday Mosquito count: campsite in am: high Whitehorse: low Since we are back traveling north and headed to Whitehorse, Yukon we had another opportunity to visit the Carcross/Tagish First Nation cultural center. It was pretty busy with cruise ship busses last time we were here. This time it’s only 9am and the…
Haines Alaska
Day 15 7/5/26 Sunday Mosquito Count: low (cool & breezy) Ferry to Haines AK. Taking our first ferry of 2026. It’s an express ferry to Haines AK. Takes about 50 minutes. We are taking our bicycles with us to take a ride and for transportation to explore Haines. Traveling a 90 mile fiord and as…
Skagway AK USA
Day 14 7/4/26. Saturday 4th of July!! Calm beautiful morning in Atlin when we woke up. The lake was like glass and it was sunny. We had hopes of going to Kershaw’s Coffee Cafe that is so cute but it doesn’t open until 10am. It’s 8am and we’re ready for breakfast so we made our…
Atlin BC
Day 13 7/3/26 It rained all night and we woke up this morning to a dusting of snow on the surrounding peaks of the lake. It’s still really cold outside 43’F with a slight breeze. Doesn’t look like a warm 4th of July. We drove south to the town of Atlin. In the distance to…
Atlin Lake
Day 12 8/2/26 Thursday It’s cold out today. On our drive at 11am it’s only 44’. Good news… fewer mosquitos (maybe). Rain showers were on/off during our drive. Little snippets of sun on occasion. We are taking a tangent today off the Alaskan Highway and headed south back into BC to Atlin Lake. Continental Divide.…
Yukon Territory
Day 11 7/1/26. Wednesday Woke up to a cool, wet morning. Our destination is Watson Lake, Yukon Territory Canada Day! Doesn’t appear to be as big of a celebrated day in the province of BC. As I was talking to a BC woman the other day and mentioned it was almost Canada Day she was…
Liard Again!
Day 10 6/30/26. Tuesday Today we chose to not move forward so it’s going to be an easy slow day. Not much to tell. We started the morning looking for open campsites that were available on the first come-first serve basis. After 3 laps around we settled on our site. It was situated away from the…
Northern Rockies scenic drive
Day 9 6/29/26 Monday Buckle your seat belts… today was a doozy! Beautiful beautiful beautiful Mosquitos Galore Nice camp spot last night. It rained all night. We seldom stepped foot outside at this camp because the mosquitos were thick. I did a video this morning from my window… yikes! Many times when you are “in…
AlCan Highway start
Day 8 6/28/26. Sunday It will be another rainy, cool and cloudy day. Good day to travel and get some miles under our belt. We are planning to camp at Liard Provincial Park Hot Springs tomorrow (Monday night) about 500 miles up the road. So the closer we can get the better… more time to…
North 40 Route
Scenic Route to Alaska Day 7 6/27/26 Saturday Hinton AB to Grand Prairie AB We are continuing north now toward the start of the ALCAN Highway. I have only one objective today and that is to take care of some laundry. It’s been a week and we have some clothes to wash! We’re going to…
Miette Hot Springs
Day 6 June 26,26 Friday Drive Maligne Canyon in Jasper NP to Maligne Lake Tried to take a short hike along the Maligne River in the “bridges” section. It was the only trail open after the fire. That hike didn’t last long… needed our muck boots. The river is high and every little side stream…
Explore Jasper area
Day 5 6/25/26 Thursday Looks like another beautiful windless day. Expecting some rain later in the day. We shall see. Leisurely morning since we are staying put for the day. We have another night in this campground and we intend to bicycle around some trails along the Athabasca River and to Pyramid Lake this morning.…
The color of the lakes and rivers!
Day 4 6/24/26 Wednesday Banff to Jasper BC Another beautiful day. Sunny and pleasant temp. Hoodoos above Bow River Bow River Falls We headed north to Jasper National Park today. There were many places we did not stop because it was far too crowded with visitors and cars. You could wait a long time to…
Banff/Bow Valley Parkway
Day 3 June 23, 2026 Tuesday Free Parking in Banff is a premium. Even though it’s only Tuesday we left camp at 8am to park in the free parking area near the Train Station. Once there we had some breakfast and got the bikes ready to ride our 30 mile out & back on the…
We keep returning to Canada
Day 2 June 22, 2026 Monday Choteau MT to Banff AB Canada Entering Canada on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. The Port of Piegan/Carway near Babb MT. It enters Alberta west of Lethbridge and directly south of Calgary Driving north of Choteau on the Ivan Doig Memorial Highway. Ivan Doig is a famous Montana writer. Some…
Western Montana headed to Alberta…again😊
Day 1 June 21, 2026 Sunday Grasshopper Creek Inn Polaris MT to Choteau MT. We are starting our trip after joining our Spa to Spa friends on their annual bicycle ride around the Pioneers. (See Spa to Spa bike ride in 2025 posts). We left Grasshopper Creek travelling the Pioneer Wild & Scenic road to…
Let’s go to Alaska in a van!
Summer 2026 June 19 – September 4 We are embarking on the longest and biggest trip of our lives. 10+ weeks in the van. Driving from Billings MT to Alaska (Kenai Peninsula) and everywhere in between and then south to San Gregorio CA for a family wedding before heading back to Montana. At this point…
The Loop is Closed
DAY 20 4/7-8/2026 Tuesday/Wednesday AdVANture finish Summing it Up. Essentially we spent 3 weeks circumnavigating Utah and a dab into Wyoming, western Colorado and Idaho in a clockwise direction. From the Colorado western border, south to the Arizona border then southwestern Utah not far from the Nevada border, north through the Salt Lake City madness…
Last Best Hike
DAY 19 4/6/26 Monday Hiking Stats: 5.3 mi. Elev: 1141’ We knew we needed an early start to get a “close to the entrance” parking spot in Zion. After arriving at 10am a couple of days ago and parking 4 miles down, we knew we’d need to start earlier. We were up and out of…
Ride around a Volcano
DAY 18 4/5/26. Easter Sunday Stats: 37 miles AIS: 3:49. Speed: 9.7 mph. Elev: 2312’ A local’s route. Our longest mileage of this trip. Not quite the most climbing we’ve had but definitely some steep climbing moments and switchbacks. Today’s ride felt like a normal bike ride. Most of it was out in the countryside of…
Riding in Snow Canyon
St George Art Festival. Snow Canyon State Park
Brrr… it’s cold to start
Kolob Canyon Zion NP St George UT
Zion! e-bike park
Zion National Park
April Foolishly Cold + Windy
DAY 14 4/1/26 Wednesday Rained some last night. No snow at camp this morning when we woke up. It rained a bit more in the morning. We were in no rush to get going as it was really cold outside… in the 30’s. We were glad we chose that campsite when we saw some of the…
Flabbergasted by Bryce NP
Kodachrome Basin State Park Powell’s Point Bryce Canton National Park
Wow! Just wow! Roads and Canyons
Anasazi State Park. Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument
Hiking in Capitol Reef
Capitol Reef national Park. Torrey UT
Cooler… but Windy
Natural bridges monument, Hite Marina, Swingarm City
Fear of heights?? Good driving skills needed!
Goosenecks State Park, Valley of the Gods, Bears Ears National Monument
Wandering through ruins
Exploring Needles Overlook and Hovenweep National Monument
Utah here we come…
Have van will travel The next adventure… proposal and reality. When I last wrote we were on a winter of ski adventure. As you all know the western US has had a historically dismal ski year. Aside from an epic storm or two the overall temperatures in the Rockies, Utah and California have been abnormally…
Ski Canada
WEEK THREE Following a Bicycle Route we rode Day 16 Thursday January 22 2026 Travel Day. Revelstoke BC to Red Mountain Ski Resort BC We really enjoyed the drive from Revelstoke to Red Mountain. Quite a bit of it was a trip down memory lane from our Selkirk Bicycle trip a couple of years ago…
Ski Canada
WEEK TWO Great Views Great Snow! Day 8 Ski Day #5 Banff Sunshine Resort, Banff Alberta Temp 28’F IKON Pass Window Price: $125 /senior rate Thursday January 15 2026 Woke up at my usual early hour..6am-ish. The wind was clipping on this end of Banff. We are about a mile from downtown but up the…
Ski Canada: Powder Highway BC & Alberta
Traveling in our adventure van north to Alberta and British Columbia Canada for about 3 weeks skiing resorts on the Ikon Pass and camping in our van. WEEK ONE Here we go again… Day 1 Thursday January 8 2026 Billings MT to Fernie BC. 8:45 hour drive Campground: Fernie RV Resort. 1/2 mile on the…
Great Lakes/Michigan…finished!
August 25 – September 23, 2025 Suamico to Suamico, Wisconsin via Upper Peninsula and Lower Peninsula Michigan Final Stats: Total Days of Trip: 30 Total Days riding: 27 Total Layover/Rest days: 3 Total Miles: 1202 Avg miles/day: 44.5 Shortest day: 23 miles (2x) Longest day: 65 miles Total AIS (Ass in Saddle): 110:12 (hrs:min) Avg.…
Day 30. Closing the Loop
9/23/2024. Tuesday Denmark to Suamico WI Stats: Miles: 36 AIS: 3:16 Speed: 11mph Elev. 390 ft Today was great! The weather was just right… the roads were kind… the scenery was Wisconsin iconic…the trails in to Green Bay were smooth and paved. My whiny day yesterday turned right around and we finished with big smiles…
Day 29. Ferry across Lake Michigan
9/22/2025 Monday Ludington MI to Denmark Wi…via the SS Badger Ferry Stats: Miles: 23 AIS: 2:23 Speed:9.7 mph Elev. 800 ft Packed the bikes and arrived about 8:15 at the ferry landing. It was a short ride from the motel. We walked our bikes onto the ferry and they had a “spot” with a rack…
Day 28. The longest ride!
9/21/2025 Sunday Muskegon to Ludington MI Stats: Miles: 65 AIS: 5:45 Speed: 11.2mph Elev. 1249 ft It was 6am when I proposed to Jim that instead of riding to Hart (40 mi) we should bust it out and ride all the way to Ludington…. finishing a day earlier than we planned. I have a great…
Day 27. Everybody was outside today!
9/20/2025. Saturday Holland to Muskegon MI Stats: Miles: 52 AIS: 4:39. Speed: 11.2 mph. Elev. 751ft We wanted to see a few more things around Holland before we headed north today. First stop was the Dutch Windmill. In the spring they have a tulip garden but today we viewed it from the marsh. It is…
Day 26. Short and sweet
9/19/2025 Friday Byron Center to Holland MI Stats: Miles: 23 AIS: 2:05. Speed: 11.1 mph. Elev. 413 ft Edit: Greater Grand Rapids has 1.1 million people! No wonder it was so challenging traffic-wise. And we were just in the south half. I’ve added a couple of maps so you can see all the big trails…
Day 25. Navigating a big city… tough one today!
9/18/2026 Thursday Lyons to Byron Center MI Stats: Miles: 52 AIS: 4:55 Speed: 10.5 mph. Elev. 846 ft So just as we hoped we woke up to a dry tent. The park was dark and quiet so we both slept really well. It was a treat to be on dry ground and all of our…
Day 24. The smallest, nicest towns
9/17/2025. Wednesday Chesaning to Lyons MI Stats: Miles: 55. AIS: 5:05 Speed: 10.8 mph. Elev. 439 ft All the usual morning routine. We are now accustomed to a wet fly and damp tent every morning. It’s usually taken care of by the afternoon sun when we arrive at the next camp. We have had endless…
Day 23. Seeking birth certificate… 1884
9/16/2025. Tuesday Frankenmuth to Chesaning MI via Saginaw MI Stats: Miles: 46 AIS: 4:22 Speed: 10.6 mph. Elev. 239 ft What a beautiful morning it was as we left Frankenmuth. The early morning sun low in the sky shining long shadows and making the yellowing leaves of the crops shine so brightly. Once again we…
Day 22. Our Eastern Edge
9/15/2025. Monday Bay City to Frankenmuth MI Stats; Miles: 46 AIS: 4:12 Speed: 11mph. Elev. 324 ft. Leaving Bay City this morning it was easy to get out of town and on the backroads… no drawbridges to cross. There was about 1/2 mile of bike trail but I haven’t changed my mind on Bay City…
Day 21. Layover Bay City
9/14/2025. Sunday All day in Bay City, Michigan Week 3 Total Stats: Miles: 270 AIS: 24:51 Avg Speed: 10.9 mph. Elev: 3670 ft 0 assholes 0 dogs 0 flats Leisurely “sleep in” means you still wake up at 6:30-7am but you don’t have to get up and start packing. You can lay around awhile…. feels…
Day 20. Bridges, Tridges and more bridges
9/13/2025. Saturday Sanford to Bay City MI Stats: Miles: 34. AIS: 3:09. Speed:,10.9mph. Elev. 255 ft O Assholes 0 dogs chasing bikes. 0 honks 0 waves. Well our stealth camp turned out to be a non-event. We slept great… no people or critters disturbed us. We were not in a big hurry today as we…
Day 19. First stealth camping
9/12/25. Friday Evart to Sanford MI Stats: Miles: 49 AIS: 4:14. Speed: 11.4 mph. Elev. 226 ft Wake up time was 6am this morning. I was determined to start riding at 8am. Sure enough we did start right on time. Woke up to fog all over the campground along the river. The chill didn’t last…
Day 18. Small town America
9/11/2025. Or just 9/11 Morley to Evart MI Stats: Miles: 44. AIS: 4:12. Speed: 10.4 mph. Elev. 472 ft. We noticed immediately leaving Morley the flag was half-staff. It took awhile to realize the date today. An Aha moment! Then there’s always the remembering that horrifying day… and the many days after. We are in…
Day 17. Perfect day, perfect evening
9/10/25. Wednesday Grand Rapids to Morley MI Stats: Miles: 41, AIS: 3:51. Speed: 10.6 mph Elev. 626 ft 0 assholes 0 dogs We had a comparatively short day today so no rush to get going early. We departed shortly before 9am and we were on our bike path within a couple of minutes. Navigating through…
Day 16. Leaving Lake Michigan
9/9/2025. Tuesday Montague to Grand Rapids MI Stats: Miles: 57. AIS: 5:18. Speed: 10.7 mph Elev. 970 ft 0 assholes 1 dog. Came running but stopped well off the highway. Invisible fence maybe? Today’s ride was a long one. Longer than I prefer but sometimes you just have to go further because of logistics all…
Day 15. Start week 3… easy enough
9/8/2025 Monday Ludington to Montague MI Stats: Miles: 45. AIS: 4:21. Speed: 10.4 mph. Elev. 1121 ft. Another chilly morning start 44’ . Because we were warm in a hotel we had our earliest start yet… 8am. Had all the warm layers going but as usual after a few miles and the first climb or…
Day 14. Ludington layover
9/7/2025. Sunday Ludington MI layover day Weekly Stats: Miles: 276 AIS: 25:53. Avg Speed: 10.7 mph Total Elev: 7529 ft. 5 friendly honk 1 unfriendly blast 2 friendly waves 1 assholes. And 1 apology O dogs chasing 3 walk ( Suzy ) 1 walk. Jim Chores of the day: laundry…done. Groceries… done. Bicycle lube… done.…
Day 13. Let’s enjoy some towns!
9/6/2025 Saturday Arcadia to Ludington MI Stats: Miles: 47. AIS: 4:23. Speed: 10.7 Elev. 1335 ft. 1 asshole. Going really fast by us on a secondary road and didn’t move over at all!! Definitely made us jump a little! Great sleep at the Arcadia bungalow last night. Our usual wakeup about 7am with a pot…
Day 12. Surf’s Up!
9/5/2025 Friday Glen Arbor to Arcadia MI Stats: Miles: 47. AIS: 4:34. Speed: 10.3mph Elev. 1643 ft. 1 friendly honk 1 friendly wave out the sunroof 0 assholes 0 chasing dogs Walk the bike: 2 Suzy 1 Jim New top number for climbing on this trip… and I felt it! More about this later but…
Day 11. 43 years ago…this bicycle union began!
9/2/2025 Thursday Traverse City to Glen Arbor MI Stats: Miles: 50! AIS: 4:37, 10.8mph MElev: 1246 1 friendly honk 1 friendly motorcycle wave 1 angry honk 0 dogs chasing 1 hill walk (Suzy) Our host John made us an over the top deluxe breakfast this morning! We had coffee, fried eggs, Canadian bacon, English muffin…
Day 10. Wind and Rain
9/3/2025. Wednesday Stats: Miles: 26 AIS: 2:35 Speed: 9.9 mph Elev. 603 ft Kewadin to Traverse City MI Our gracious WarmShowers hosts Ann and Gary, had a nice granola, fruit and coffee breakfast for us before we departed. On the road at 8:30am trying to get as far as possible toward Traverse City before the…
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cinnicrew 