A visitation day

As interesting an area as it is, and with as much fun as I had there, it was time to leave Yankee Springs. I will remeember Deep Lake fondly.

I made sure I packed as much as I could on Thursday night so that I could get started early today. I wanted to cover a few extra miles after taking it easy at Yankee Springs.

I didn't really take it that easy. There were many miles of trail at Yankee Springs and I covered most of them. I had resupplied on one of my side trips here and I was ready to go.

Another motivting factor is that Diane was going to meet me this evening so I knew I would not have to set up a tent and sleep outside tonight. It also meant a good meal for dinner. All of this lead me to believe getting some miles in made good sense.

So here it is Friday, April 23rd and I am on my way by 8:30 a.m.

I did not want to go through the controlled burn area again so I took Yankee Springs Road to M-179 where I rejoined the trail. That left me with about 3 miles of trail before I would be going over the road again. This is a very pretty part of the trail but it is also a little more physically demanding. Quite a few hills.

I left the trail at Peets Road, took a right on Middleville road and headed north on MCCann Road. This brought me to the Paul Henry Trail which runs about 4 miles to Middleville.

The Paul Henry Trail basically follows the Thornapple River all the way to Middleville. It is well maintained and very picturesqe. I saw many swans along this route. Again I want to point out this was not that common 25 years ago. Game management and better practices and awareness has paid off during the past two decades.

The Paul Henry Trail terminated at the Stage Coach Park in Middleville.

For those that have been following my journey I am sure it is clear by now that I really appreciate the opportunities when I can get a good meal. Much to my delight I spotted a Champ's Bar and Grill as I exited the Stage Coach Park.

I settled in via a nice booth and a quiet corner. I checked in with Diane and she had just left the house to meet me. I figured it would take her about 2 hours to get here as long as no McDonalds impeded her progress.

Big Burgers, lots of fries and plenty of beer. Sometimes waiting is half the fun. I decided I should "man up" and try to get a few more miles in before Diane reached me. So back on the road I went.

I called Diane to let her know where I would be and gave her my intended route. She was only about 30 minutes away so I quickened my pace. Less than an half hour later she slowly pulled up behind me until I turned to look.

Greeting me was her beautiful smile.

Diane took me to a nice hotel. She washed my smelly laundry and I washed my smelly self. We got reaquainted and than we went to dinner at Longhorn Steakhouse.

This was trully a great day! Certainly worth the wait.