Battle Creek Linear Linear Trail

TJ and I are off! 11:30 and once again "On the Road". It is very nice to have TJ. I have a lot of nephews but I have to admit that TJ is special to me. He isn't the only nephew special to me but he definitely rates high marks.

He has signed up to join the Marine Corp where they supposedly make a few good men. He is proud that he has chosen what he thinks is the hardest branch of the service. It will be interesting to see how TJ does when August arrives and he is off to boot camp. Marine Corp boot camp is definitely and infinitely harder than the football practices he has participated in.

We headed down the Battle Creek Linear Trail where I ended up Thursday. This is primarily a walking and biking trail. There were quite a few others enjoying the Spring weather. We followed the river for a couple of miles and then stopped for lunch. Burger for me and Chicken Fingers for TJ.

After lunch it was back down the trail. One interesting side note is that we saw an Emu at a house along the trail. Around the five mile mark we came to a fork in the trail. I really wasn't sure which way to go at this point. We looked around until we saw a blue blaze. We went the direction of the blaze and headed on.

It turned out that either choice would have been correct at that point but the more rural route would have been the other way. We were at the 7 mile mark and I decided that turning around wasn't an option so we did the over the road trail.

Eventually, we saw the entry to the Fort Custer National Cemetery. Flags were lining the entryway road as far as I could see. The rows of gleaming white head stones put me in an introspective mood.

I have been to the Pearl Harbor Monument, the Arlington National Cemetery and many other sites honoring our dead soldiers and government officials. If you have a heart you can't help feeling the sacrifice these great Americans have made that has so much defined our way of life.

I am definitely nearing the end of my energy reserves and it looks like we are nearing Fort Custer State Park. We have recently passed several military bases. Once again my heart goes out. This time to the soldiers and their families who are serving at this time.

We reached the eastern border of Fort Custer and took a small road/trail into the park. We headed to Eagle Lake and set up camp. TJ fished for awhile and then went back to camp and took a nap. I walked over to a beach I could see from our camp and called Diane.

We talked for almost 20 minutes. I am always pleased to hear her voice. I than filled my water filtering bag and went back to camp. I was gone about 45 minutes. I filtered the water and made a batch of Taco Rice. It was quite good. After I had taken one bite, TJ stuck his head out of the tent and said that we had to pack up and move to the campground.

It was after 8:00 p.m. by now and the first signs of dusk had already fallen upon us. TJ thought that the ranger was going to come back for us but I had to make a decision. It had been more than 45 minutes since she told TJ we needed to pack up and there had been no sign of her since. I didn't know where the campground was, I found no maps at the boat ramp or beach and it was getting dark.

Down the road we went as darkness came upon us. After a few minutes we saw headlights and the ranger returned. She took us to the campground, picked out a site for us, took $21.00 and away she went.

We set up camp and started a camp fire by flashlight. A good nights sleep in the very cold low 30's was the day's final reward.

One good thing about being moved from our first campsite to the campground was bathrooms and showers. That will be appreciated in the morning.