Kristen and I did a test-tour to get everything set up before our big 4-month trip around Spain, Italy and France. We decided that a good in between plan was to meet at the Thumb near Bay City and bike around for a few days. We thought about seeing some lighthouses, camping on the beach, and just taking it easy.

Here is a map of where we decided to go on the bike tour: Unionville to Caseville to Grind Stone City to Forestville to Gagetown, back to Unionville. 137 miles, 5 days. Super super easy. AND FUN!

I met Kristen in Unionville and we built our bikes up. It was pretty easy to do and only took about 30 minutes. Most of it was fitting Kristen’s new Ortleib Backroller Classic panniers that she had just picked up from REI.

Here are a few fun pics from the trip:

Kristen with her new Ortleib Backroller panniers

That’s us just north of Caseville in a campsite’s picnic area. It was off-season, and we were the only people around. While we didn’t sleep there, we still used their covered place to cook oats on our MSR Dragonfly Stove.

Trek 1.2 used for bike tour

Here’s Kristen in our MSR Hubba Hubba tent in the woods by the High School in Caseville. We just walked around until we found a nice spot in the woods and set up camp. We didn’t ask anyone if we could stay, and found it to be a great place!

The tent is awesome. Super easy to set up and roomy.

Breakfast!

On our way back from getting some ice cream in Grind Stone City, we hitch-hiked back to where we kept our bikes — Captain Morgan’s Bar. It was a super safe place for us to leave them, we were not worried. When we were moving them out, some people were asking where we were going and where we were staying. We had planned on sleeping out on the end of the little peninsula in town, but the folks invited us to stay in their back yard. We were able to use their bathroom and they showed us around their house. Very neat people. Thanks Paul and Pauline!!

That’s about it for pictures. The big trip is only a few days away! We will keep you posted on a full packing list when we finally decide what to bring!