My night stealth camping was successful.
No one saw me and I left no trace. That morning however I awoke to near-freezing temperatures and beautiful rays of sunshine poking through thick leaf cover. I quickly broke down camp and began the push to my next stop. This stop was setup by my childhood best friend's mother, Tina. Tina has a friend living in Mary Esther, Florida that is a fellow Algonac native. As weirdly familiar Florida felt to Michigan, with its numerous forests and swamps, I still felt out of place in Florida. Being able to meet a stranger who knows the same physical and cultural references I do too will be refreshing; and, more importantly, she had a bed open and food waiting. I began cranking as soon as I could with the idea of a home cooked meal cemented in my head. Immediately I was greeted with a headwind. I had wrestled with the wind the last few days so I had the mental chops to easily ignore it and keep moving. I was not acquainted with how to deal with Spring Breakers yet.
I had to navigate slack-jawed crowds of families as they failed to realize that "excuse me, on your right/left" was targeted towards them. Even with repeated requests for them to move, people were so caught up in their own little adventures that I was nothing more than white noise in the background. It was frustrating, but most of the individuals were apologetic and genuinely just forgot about their spatial awareness for a moment. Eventually the families that were unaware, but polite, gave way to the true test: college students.
Now, I know I was a college student too, and not very long ago. I was also a spring breaker chugging down Four Lokos for breakfast before heading to the beach to play volleyball and consume most of my calories in beer for multiple days. However, I was blessed with at least a modicum of some sort of self, spatial awareness. This was a skill markedly absent on 90% of those college-aged individuals as they zig-zagged across pedestrian paths. The cases of frat soda they managed to slam down their gullet while driving their legs in a straight-ish direction was both impressive and horrifying.
I eventually had a run-in with a student. They were playing catch in the bike lane, sidewalk, and front door to a hotel. They respectfully parted like the Dude Sea as I, Broses, approached. The wall of college students laughing and eyeing me as me and my bloated bike tried to carefully float by made me a bit uneasy. In an attempt to be funny one of the guys decided to step in front of me at the last second. I began to swing my handlebars back and forth to both dodge him and keep my balance from going so slowly. He then grabbed my handlebars and began laughing as he did a side-to-side shuffle blocking me. I have no doubt he was merely having a good time, but this crossed more than a few lines with me. I was furious, but what am I to do? I stared ahead, unamused as the guy laughed and began playing catch with his bros right in the middle of the bike path again. I unsteadily began to rebuild my speed as I left them. This became the pattern for the rest of my day. Stereotypical college students running around beach towns chugging beers and becoming moving obstacles.
This was not a particularly tubular day and as the sun set I was, once again, low on calories and out of care to keep riding. Thankfully I was approaching a beautiful home right on the Gulf Coast and not a campsite. There, Tina's friend Michelle, awaited with open arms, food, and a bed. Michelle treated me like I was one of her children and my attitude did an immediate 180. After a shower beer, some food, and sharing stories I was an endless fountain of "thank yous." And I still am.
Michelle and her kids are phenomenal people and I thank them for keeping me in their prayers and their enthusiasm in my trip. It was rejuvenating. And having to leave the next morning was hard. I mean that bed was phenomenally comfortable. It even made me smile long enough for a photo. A blue moon type event.
5/5 stars for Casa de Michelle, will stop by again.