We're sorry to miss your Stump Fence Festival. It sounds delightful, really.

You think you've got it tough?
Try pulling this up a hill! 

I was told that today's ride would be about 53 miles.  The grand total was 60.4.  I'm not sure how this happened exactly. I know we missed a road somewhere, realized it 3 miles too late, and rerouted instead of backtracking.  The trail we expected to ride away on in Big Rapids was paved for about 1/2 a mile at best, and so we moved over to a parallel road.  The weather was perfect all day long, and we enjoyed riding through the country for most of the trip.

Road art

We ran into some road construction along the way, and one thing I've learned about road workers is that the guys holding the "Stop/Slow" sign to direct traffic might not be the best people to ask directions. The two we addressed both gave us misinformation. The other unfair generalization I will make about road workers is that they care not in the least for lost soles.  Here is an example of a flipflop that was tarred into place once its owner abandoned it, or whatever happens when a single shoe can be found on the side of the road.

YOU SHALL NOT PASS!!!!!!

Eventually we ended up having to choose between riding on a busy road with no shoulder or riding on unpaved trail for about 6 miles.  We chose the trail, which wasn't too bad, although something we couldn't see followed along for a little longer than we thought was appropriate. David guessed it was a deer.  I decided it was a bear or a squatch. Neither one of us has any evidence to support our claim, so we'll call it a draw.

Even a decent unpaved road has its challenges.  This one had been dammed up by a giant land beaver, we're pretty sure.  We were able to make our way around the debris and continue along the way. David didn't have to use his superhuman strength to clear the path this time. 





Somewhere along the way, we decided that lunch would be sought in a little town called Trufant.  An extremely small amount of research about this town revealed that it was founded in the late 1700s by a French fur trader named Claude Trufant.  Claude had come to mid-Michigan dreaming of riches, and he settled in this particular area after hearing tales of giant land beavers roaming the woodlands.  He made a fortune, founded a town, and the rest is history.  There were many other things we learned about Trufant as well.

I thought I'd heard of every possible festival a town could have to celebrate its individuality (YES!  Asparagus!), but here's a new one: Stump Fence Festival.  One proud distinction of Trufant, MI is that it is the Stump Fence Capital of the USA.  I asked a local about this, and instead of giving me any background, she described the festival. "Oh, yeah. They set up a beer tent."  Riding through Trufant, you can see the stump fence displayed in many yards.  Presumably the giant land beavers of old were quite the nuisance, each chewing through at least 5 trees per day.  The original citizens of the town needed a creative use for the many stumps created by the oversize rodents, and this is how the stump fence originated. 

Examples of stump fence art in front
of the post office of Trufant.

Overall, it was a successful ride today.  After lunch we had about 20 miles left, and I won't lie, the last 15 or so were tough.  We are camped out (in a nice hotel) in Belding now and will most likely crash early tonight.  We were originally scheduled to ride 60 or more miles tomorrow, but we have decided to reroute as the hotel we wanted to get to was much more pricey than expected.  It's not always easy finding affordable places to stay that are reasonable distances apart also.  So, tomorrow will be a shorter ride to Hastings.  I'm okay with a shorter ride after today.  That's good planning. Once again. some of my facts are grossly exaggerated.

Evidence that I'm not making up
the part about the Stump
Fence Capital.  It's too good to make up.