Lake Michigan Tour Day 15: Montague to Holland, MI

July 3, 2022

I found a good breakfast place within walking distance to start the day off right.

On my way out of town I was able to snap a picture of this squirrel. I’ve been noticing these black or near-black squirrels just in the lower part of Michigan. There are the normal brownish/gray ones as well – but I’ve never seen squirrels this dark.

Right away, my route started on a nice bike path that wound through the woods. It’s probably not ideal to start that way, because as soon as you get to a road, you feel cheated that the path is gone, and you now have to ride with cars.

About 45 minutes in, suddenly there was this roller-coaster on my right through the trees. I did see a sign later for an amusement park, but it was a surprise. It was too early to be open, or I probably would have heard it first.

Eventually I ended up back on roads. My route was following these signs pretty closely, so it felt reassuring that I was probably on the best available cycling route in the area. I’d been seeing these since I got to lower Michigan.

I got off-track a few times getting through the north part of Grand Haven. Poor signage and my GPS telling me to turn on a certain street, but there were 3 streets to choose from and the signs were so faded I couldn’t read them. Each time, I zoomed in on my GPS screen, and realized I was just off the red route-line, and worked my way back. I crossed over the Grand River Channel, then into downtown Grand Haven, where I found a sandwich spot for lunch.

Here’s another one of those inland lakes – you can see the gap to get out to Lake Michigan. This side of the lake has so many more than the Wisconsin side.

The rest of the day was just a pleasant ride. There were lots of pretty homes to look at on the lakeshore as I entered the north side of Holland. Holland is a college town, and the campus of Hope College is very nice. I was actually staying at a hotel the college runs on-campus.

My sister and brother-in-law picked me up again – we had plans to have dinner with her friend from last night, but she had now tested positive for Covid, so we just went out to a local brewery with outdoor seating, and had a nice meal. They head back to Dubuque tomorrow.

Best song today was Loma de Cayenas by Vincente Garcia – I don’t understand the words, but it’s just a fun, bouncy song that’s fun to ride to.

Stats: 62 miles, 857 vertical feet, average speed 13.3mph

Tomorrow I keep heading south to my last Michigan stop of Saint Joseph.

Today's ride: 62 miles (100 km)
Total: 923 miles (1,485 km)

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