Touring for Independence

Get exercise and work on you tan at the same time



These two Pedalers came from Lansing to ride the Falling Waters Trail



Fun for the Entire Family [5 Kids!]

I thought I would ride the Falling Waters Trail on the July 4th Weekend. I went out July 3rd and was not dissapointed. I saw between 30 and 35 Pedalers. They were out there for fun and exercise and so was I. I still can't get over how cool it is everytime I ride in a shaded area. It's almost as if Mother Nature turned on her Air-Conditioner. This was in parts of the trail were thick forest of trees and ferns were. This must be where the smart animals stay. Today I saw some mourning doves,robins and a black capped chickadee. Numerous Chipmonks, 2 Groundhogs and I think a Ferret. It was too long to be a Squirrel and was brown so not a Skunk.  Oh and I saw a Painted Turtle sitting in the middle of the trail so I set him on the side he was heading for. The side with a swamp.  There are lots of Milkweed plants so I checked them for Monarch Caterpillars. I saw none. There were no chew marks in most of the Milkweed leaves I saw, though I did see a little Peeper on one leaf [Froggy will be in next Post] I suppose the Monarch Butterflies are really going down in numbers. When I was a kid I used to catch them all the time and put them in jars and watch them eat the milkweed leaves and then change into a Chrysalis and a few weeks later crawl out a changed bug into a Monarch Butterfly. I didn't see any Dragonflies today, maybe because the creeks were drying up a bit. Last time I was out, the Dragonflies would fly right over my front tire and stay right there as I rode. Sorta teasing me or taunting me. One bug I could do without was the Horseflies that managed to get a few bites in but I did not itch their bites so I felt little pain. I gotta get down the library and check out some Flora and Fawna books to find out the awesome plants I see there. I think I saw juniper berries and I know I saw lots of rasberries, but many other bushes, ferns and plants I was not familiar with. One plant had these huge philodendron type leaves on it or was it Coleus type leaves? Anyway it was groovy. Looked like it belonged in the Dinosaur age. -Jimio says "Happy Pedaling"