31.6 miles tandem, 19.9 miles Trek @ 11.6 mph, Odometer: 2546 – Onaway, MI to Comins, MI
KEVIN – Madison rode the tandem with me today. The tandem ride was uneventful until road construction caused us to ride on gravel for miles behind a pilot car. The line of traffic on the other side waiting for us to clear was long. After Madison left me, I thought I was home free, until I reached a soft dirt road and had to walk my bike the last two miles to the campground.
SUZI – Well this is reminiscent of life when our children were small. I sit down to catch up on the blog and find that I am slowly falling more and more behind. Oh well, many things are more important.
Cedar Valley Campground was another pleasant RV park: clean, quiet, with a swimming pool that had seen hard weekend use but was all ours on a Monday afternoon. We’re still keeping a log of campgrounds but we’ve stopped rating them. As I write this on 6/17, we are relaxing in our 40th campground. The top rating went to Glacier Meadows Campground near East Glacier, Montana. It tied with Manistique Lakeshore on Lake Michigan in our ratings for beauty. That view across the meadow to the peaks of Glacier National Park was unbeatable.
Bathroom quality was the other major factor in ratings points. There was much debate about the vault toilet at Gorge Lake Campground in the North Cascades National Park. Can a vault toilet receive more that a 1 out of 5? Kevin and Suzi argued that a clean building with a locking door, no bad smell, ample toilet paper and hand sanitizer deserved a 2. Lauren thought otherwise. From that point on, Lauren felt that we were obliged to give a 3 to even the worst bathroom with a toilet, sink and shower. Kevin and Suzi still believe that the Gorge Lake Campground bathroom was worlds better than some they have experienced in the past.
These days we set up camp and someone goes to check out the bathroom and report to the group. Cleanliness and shower quality are the important factors. It’s been a while since we had to put quarters in a machine to turn on the shower water. But we would all gladly pay the quarters for plentiful hot water in a clean space. Michigan has been particularly prone to the barely warm, push-button shower which times out very fast and has to be repeatedly pushed. Sometimes Madison and I resort to using our trailer shower, which is a tight fit but reliable for warmth, water supply and cleanliness. $60 per night RV parks without good showers deserve bad reviews. Perhaps I’ll get around to posting some.
Cycling with Kevin & Suzi 