I'm a big, big fan of Christian novelist Karen Kingsbury, and am currently reading her Love Story, which describes the beginning of the Baxter family, central characters in many of her books. As a youth, Karen lived for a time in Ann Arbor, and a key incident in this book is set at Independence Lake, outside of Ann Arbor. So I googled this, not really expecting to find anything ... but there is, in fact, a Washtenaw Country park at Independence Lake. I said that it had a couple of miles of paved trails for hiking and biking, so I figured, "Well, I'll have to do numerous laps—but I think I want to check this out." So I loaded the trike onto the rack on our car and took it up there (near Whitmore Lake).
It was a confusing time at the park, however. First, the online description said it was open year-round, with a daily admittance fee of $6. I found this curious for late fall, but I was prepared. However, when I drove in, no one was manning the shed at the entrance, so, after sitting there perplexed for a moment, I finally drove on in.
Without a map, I was kind of navigating blind, but I found a trail and began riding. However, I had not gone far before encountering a sign: "NO BIKES ON TRAILS." This, of course, went directly counter to what I had read online ... but, as the park was nearly deserted, I decided to push on. A short time later, though, I passed a couple of groups of schoolchildren—and not wanting to set a bad example, I decided to terminate my ride quite briefly, ending up doing 4.3 miles in 31 minutes, in chilly, gloomy conditions.
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