Southern Clime? - Day 15

  The miles today were exceptionally nice because I did not realize how many were going to be off-road. Even most of the road walks were pleasant, like this winding dirt lane.

It does begin to feel as if I have moved farther from home. Osage orange does not grow as far north as I live.

And there are lots more hickory trees.

The nuts have all fallen and are too rotten to eat now. We have hickory where I live, but not as many.

Hundreds of sandhill cranes wheeled over my head all day, rattling and squawking as they began to head south.

I had seen this part of the traiil before at a conference a few years ago. This is the MSU robotic milking station. We got to watch it in action. The cows come in to be milked when they want to. They are automatically washed, the milking machines attach by means of lasar sensors, and when they are done, they are washed again and go back to the fields. We were told this is actually gentler for the cows than some heavy-handed humans. It was really interesting.

I did finally get to see the Hutchinson Prairie. This is the first piece of land purchased by the Park Service for the trail, now that they have the authority to do so. For southern Michigan, this is a great vista, although the cloudy sky kept the colors muted. I'll have to come back when the prairie is in bloom.

It was awesome to see the carsonite post with an NPS sticker below the NCT one, to show ownership of the land. This is something quite new for the NCT, and very exciting.

I was joined for part of my walk by Sandy and Edgar,

and met at the end by Donna and Cruz!

I made really good time today again. Maybe I am getting in shape. My leg is not 100% but it continues to hurt less each day. I'm working on being good and doing the exercises and the ice, etc. The wind was cold enough in the morning that I kept my jacket on, but by mid-afternoon it was 60 degrees!

Miles today: 15. Total so far: 215.5.

See Getting Acquainted