Need big loop tour ideas, west central Mich

In article <[email hidden]>,
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

So the plan is: on Friday pedal out my door in Grand Rapids. And return
sometime on July 4.

Ideas? Suggestions? I'll be light camping on my ATB. Maybe 40 mpd,
maybe more. Last time I did this I lived on PB and banana, with a
purchased cup of coffee and dinner.

I don't have too many suggestions, as I moved away from GR years ago,
but whatever route you pick, I'd love to see a journal about it when
you're done.

--

__o Kristian Zoerhoff
_'\(,_ [email hidden]
(_)/ (_)

I can't speak to a complete loop, but I happened to be visiting family in
the Mattawan-Paw Paw area last weekend, and ran a 15K road race in
Muskegon. As I drove up M-40, from Paw Paw to Holland, I was thinking
it'd make a pretty nice bike tour route. Decent road, wide shoulder, and
scenic as it winds through farm country. As a bonus, when you get down
into Van Buren County, you'll find lots and lots of fresh fruit stands
and a handful of wineries in Paw Paw. Of course, M-40 also crosses the
Kal Haven trail up by Gobles, so you could loop into Kalamazoo or out to
South Haven.

"Veloise" <[email hidden]> wrote in news:1151378021.146457.315670
@u72g2000cwu.googlegroups.com:

Quoted message said:

So the plan is: on Friday pedal out my door in Grand Rapids. And return
sometime on July 4.

Ideas? Suggestions? I'll be light camping on my ATB. Maybe 40 mpd,
maybe more. Last time I did this I lived on PB and banana, with a
purchased cup of coffee and dinner.

Thinking about Saugatuck and lakeshore stuff towards the south and
west, but don't want to just ride the Shoreline route up and down. Some
inland would be good. I haven't yet done the Kal-Haven trail. Orchards
in season? A great small town fireworks display?

My fondest memory of my two-week 1000-mile trip (1979) was meeting
people who'd insist that I share their campsite or pitch my tent in
their backyard. Great conversations, and made it real fun to send out
the holiday cards that year.

TIA

--Karen D.

"Veloise" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

So the plan is: on Friday pedal out my door in Grand Rapids. And return
sometime on July 4.

Ideas? Suggestions? I'll be light camping on my ATB. Maybe 40 mpd,
maybe more. Last time I did this I lived on PB and banana, with a
purchased cup of coffee and dinner.

Thinking about Saugatuck and lakeshore stuff towards the south and
west, but don't want to just ride the Shoreline route up and down. Some
inland would be good. I haven't yet done the Kal-Haven trail. Orchards
in season? A great small town fireworks display?

How about riding on all the trails which have been (or were proposed to have
been) named for Fred Meier?

You could also stop at as many Meier stores as possible while doing this.
There's a store locator here:
http://www.meijer.com/storelocator/default.aspx

Mike "not really suggesting this" Kruger

Mike Kruger wrote:
....

Quoted message said:

You could also stop at as many Meier [sic] stores as possible while doing this.
There's a store locator here:
http://www.meijer.com/storelocator/default.aspx

Can't afford it.

There's a reason the places are known as the "Shifty Takers": you dash
in for a roll of film or a can of motor oil, and stagger out, dazed, 45
minutes later and $50 poorer. The carts have self-guidance systems that
track down *every* aisle in the store, and magic magnetic doo-dads (a
technical term) that causes stuff to fall off the shelves into them.

And did I mention that this is a bike trip and that the four-wheeler
will be left at home? Dang Fred and his big box product.

Besides, I hit one or another Meijer's several times a week. This is a
vacation, dammit!

HTH

--Karen D.
picking up a remaindered copy of a west Mich bike ride route book later
today