I'd forgotten how much I love Michigan; it really is the best. I love walking in the Michigan woods. We're out on the Brighton Trails right now, a network of about twelve miles of mountain biking and hiking paths. Most of the trails are designated for mountain bikers, with only one trail held out exclusively for hikers. We are on the walking trail, no bikes allowed, because I have learned from experience that taking Teddie on a biking trail is a prescription for disaster. If she is off leash, which she mostly is, and a cyclist comes careening around a corner on a tree lined path, obscuring his view, twisting and turning through the forest, the rider is focused on the vagaries of the surface and is quite surprised to find a dog astride his path. She has never been hit, but she has caused a biker, or two, to come to a screeching halt, or to almost skid off a path. It is not fair to the biker; so I do not take her on biking paths when I can avoid it.
Speaking of surprises, literally just now, several paces ahead of Teddie on the flats of the path, a buck with a decent rack, startled us both as it jumped out of the scrub from the right and leaped across the path. The deer caused Teddie to start and scared the crap out of me. Now, I could not have ordered that up from Hollywood or the Brighton chamber of commerce. As I fumbled for the camera app on my phone, and kept Teddie from following him, the deer slid off into the deep woods. By the time I exited Microsoft Word and switched to the camera app - it was way too late to capture an image of the deer. So, with a shrug, we kept walking on the Kenosha hiking trail. It is about eight miles long; I'll never make it that far, so, I set a timer to go off after about forty-five minutes. Then we’ll turn around and come back. Back in the day, when I used to be an aggressive mountain biker, I would have loved to zoom along these trails.
While we do the hike, my niece, Aramenda, is off to pick up the girls, my grandnieces Anaka and Josie, at school. I want to spend as much time as I possibly can with the girls. Using this opportunity to get in some exercise, I’ll probably walk about two miles in, turn around, and hike back out. The trails in Michigan are groomed beautifully, wide trails, well-marked, with features, like boot stands to clean your boots, so one does not track in invasive species into the Brighton network, or out to somewhere else.
Very PC. Very smart, too. It’s about ninety-two degrees out. The good news is we’re pretty much undercover, with the trees making a thick canopy overhead. The shade gives Teddie a little bit of relief from the heat. I don’t think we’ll see any water on this hike. Tomorrow morning, however, I’m going to pick a trail that takes us to a lake, so Miss Teddie can take a dip, that is, if we don’t have to walk too far to get to it.
Aramenda and Mathew’s home is fabulous. It sits on about three acres, nestled in a development, fairly hidden from view. It's set back into the woods, with a fenced in portion to strategically protect a small yard with a swing set, a pool, a chicken coop, and a wonderful garden. It keeps the deer out and, by their report, guards against a very large coyote that visits their property regularly The sense of isolation is deceiving, however, because there
I did not do a blog entry yesterday; I was just too darn tired. The night before, Teddy was very restless, she would not relax, reacting to every person walking in the hotel halls by growling, suppressing a bark, and walking around the room. She didn’t allow me to sleep. She kept throwing her weight up against the bed to wake me up to give some love and reassurance; I complied, because I do love her. As a result, yesterday's four-and-a-half-hour drive absolutely kicked my butt. When I got to the hotel in Sarnia, Ontario, I took a nap for about two hours. Then I ordered some food from room service. When I was done I watched a little Netflix and went to sleep early. I got a great night's sleep last night, so did Teddie, thankfully.
I am dictating this blog entry has I walk on the trail. So, it’s a little disjointed in terms of its timeline. Back to observing the trail . . . “Teddie stay!” A fellow just walked by me, coming down the trail from the opposite direction, and we exchanged greetings. Both of us talked about how much we’re both enjoying being out here in these wonderful woods. Technically, Teddie should be on a leash, but she’s so well-behaved and she pretty much reacts instantly to a command stay or sit. She bats about 700. She is not perfect, by any means. So, additionally, she wears a shock collar, that I almost never have to use, maybe once every four months or so, usually to keep her form chasing a squirrel across a street. I’m hoping that if someone objects to her being off leash they will not get upset.
The Michigan Woods are so verdant. Where we are walking right now is almost all hardwood. When you get further north in Michigan, the forests are almost all pine, with a forest floor carpeted with soft pine needles. When I was a kid, I used to love to ride my Sting-Ray bicycle out in the woods on the trails around our home in Westland, Michigan. Those trails were not like these; however, although heavily wooded, they were flat paths, without any hills. I used to pretend to be a soldier, a G.I., mimicking the scenes in a show on 1960’s television named ‘Combat’. It was about the weekly experiences of a squad of American soldiers during World War II set in the European theatre; and I, too, like them, was out searching for Germans.
When I was in high school, the set of guys I ran with, would go up to Silver Lake, Michigan. Not far from here. So, when I exited the highway today, I was quite surprised it was onto Silver Lake Road. I had no idea that Aramenda lived by Silver Lake. Back in the day, my crew would go to Silver Lake, smoke some dope and drink some beer, and try to pick up girls. I remember distinctly, a time when Dan Woodcock was driving us out there, he had just installed Thrush Mufflers on his car. The car was so darned loud that I covered my ears for most of the trip. He was so proud of those mufflers. I never got that. We also went to Silverlake after senior prom. We camped out there overnight. My recollection is, that the police rousted us, because we had an underage girl camping with us. Of course, only a year younger than us. She was a junior. Another memory of Silver Lake, that sticks in my mind after all these years, and I don’t really know why, is of seeing a photo on the walls inside the snack shack showing the results of a person, a swimmer, who had an encounter with an outboard engine. I know that is a disgusting image, but it freaked me out. I've never forgotten it. Funny the things that stick in one’s mind.
I just checked the timer. Got about a minute before we must turn around. Our turn-around is up ahead, at the top a slight incline, where the path appears to diverge, offering hikers another trail option. I think I’ll walk up there and turn around.
