Hello Winter

Outside of storm-a-geddon around x-mas, winter has not showed its face much until recently so a great time to embrace it in the form of a winter mountain biking loop pedal. The Betsie River Pathway next to the Crystal Mountain ski resort near Thompsonville has an ideal 5 mile loop with a nice forest view but not too many climbs. The attached video will confirm it but still scratch my head how trees can be aligned so perfectly.

Trail Head

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtmOmEblyDw&t=2s

Curl On

While I don't recall the sport being too active downstate besides watching it on CBC (Canadian TV), northern Michiganders seem to have taken to the activity of hurling a stone down a sheet of ice while your teammates use brooms to guide the stone to the intended destination; curling. 
The northern Michigan version is a bit different than television as the pros on television aren't sipping on an adult beverage between turns. The local pub has its court outside so Mother Nature is the 'game on/game off' person in allowing play to occur. There isn't enough room for a regulation court but quite an impressive creation by one of the bartenders who has a gift in building things.
There is a waiting list to join the league so I'm going to have to wait out some retirements and continue working on my game.
Trail Head

Operation Mirror Pull - thank you You Tube

This weekend's project involved pulling the glued-on mirrors from the bathrooms. I don't know how we lived without it but thank you to the participants on the You Tube channel offering advice on my latest project. A heating tool, duct tape, a pack of wood shims, a small hammer  and some patience was all that were needed for the project.

Trail Head

A heating tool is not required but ideal.

Wood shims are available at the local hardware store and pretty inexpensive for the most part.

Give the mirror a good dose of duct tape in case of cracks during the pull process. If available, give the heating tool a loop around the mirror for a bit. Start putting in the wood shims until you hear the mirror start to pull away from the glue (you will literally hear a pulling sound from the mirror).

I was fortunate on one mirror that popped out quite efficiently but the other not so much. Thankfully the new mirrors will be mounted and not glued so the under-ugliness will be hidden.

efficient mirror pull

not an efficient mirror pull

tourist mode with no tourists

The large melon put the tourist hat on for the Sleeping Bear Dune area trail walk this weekend for a loop on the Old Indian and Platte Plains trails. With it being January, there are no other tourists around so I had the trail (and M-22 more or less) to myself. I was waiting for a bear attack but no bears to be found. While driving out to the trail, I encountered a pair boat fishing on Crystal Lake. The temperature onshore at the time was around 30 degrees so guessing about 20 on the lake. That is some serious dedication to wanting to fish.

Trail Head

hardcore fisherman