I still don't know what happens at a Flying Squirrel Snow Cross

Speaking of crosses, we saw and old rugged one today with a memorial to the man who wrote the song. It was out in the middle of nowhere (my definition of nowhere) south of a place called Ashton.  There was a market and a fire dept. in Ashton.  Otherwise, it was all hills, which are just a blur.  Up and down.  For eight miles.

I was going between 40 and 45 mph
when this photo was snapped.  Maybe. 

But I've gotten ahead of myself.  We left Cadillac a little later this morning with two things in mind: 1. The temperature was going to be cooler (low 50's), and 2. We had a short ride, which we believed would be all trail from Cadillac to Big Rapids (David had this information as fact from numerous sources), and the said trail was to be a nice flat or downhill ride.  The trail was called the White Pine Trail, and the first 18 miles was superb.  We had smooth pavement, no grinding truck noises, no traffic at all, actually, and no ominous wildlife.  There were a number of presumably suicidal chipmunks and rabbits, though.  After David posed the question, "If we keep riding like this, at some point do you think we'll hit a squirrel or something?"  I said I thought not, but then several small critters tried their luck in front of David's tires along the way.

David rides an excellent trail and
contemplates bicycle produced
trail kill.  

After 18 miles, we crossed an intersection and discovered that all the rumors we'd heard were false.  The pavement ended, and a dirt trail continued.  After enjoying a fast 18 miles of sunshine and green fields and trees and bird song, we had to reroute and find a real road.  Fortunately we found a road that paralleled the trail for some time, followed it into a place called Ashton, and then switched to another road.  This one had some impressive hills, which were unwelcome since we'd been spoiled all morning.  Eventually we decided that the hills were good training for us and that we at least could burn more calories this way.

We ended up in Reed City for lunch and discovered that the trail was again paved and confirmed with some locals that it would be paved all the way to Big Rapids.  Most of it was downhill as well.

There's a deer up ahead on the left.  Really. 

Somewhere in the middle of that first 18 blissful miles of trail, we saw Santa's House and a place advertised as The Flying Squirrel Snow Cross... something.  I still don't know what that even means, but that's okay. We weren't meant to know everything.  If we did we wouldn't need to hang out with anyone else ever.  We also saw a deer up ahead of us at one point.  We both tried to take a picture before it came to its senses and ran off.  This is my photo.  The deer is the unrecognizable shadow thing on the left in the distance.

In Big Rapids, we were able to locate a movie theater and a taxi service to take us there so we could do something fun for our 21st anniversary.  If you are ever in Big Rapids, I'd highly recommend Crankers Brewery, where we went for dinner.  We walked the 30 minutes back to the hotel (obviously we needed the exercise!) and are working on our laundry now.  Tomorrow's ride will be something like 53 miles to Belding.  We have no idea what sort of roads await, but life is always like that.  Even when you think you've planned a smooth route for yourself, there are too many things you simply cannot control.  Another 45 miles down today.  Happy riding.

A beautiful country morning - this is
really the best riding there is.