Traverse City Adventure: A day of rotten news
DAY 28 • 8 SEPTEMBER 2017 • SAUGATUCK
I’m a man of faith. Tom Draper was a man of faith. And I know because of that faith that he is now rocking in God’s loving arms.
But it still feels rotten.
It felt rotten Thursday when news came in that Tom had been airlifted to Baltimore’s shock trauma unit after being hit on his bicycle by a truck. It felt rotten when word came in Friday morning that those injuries killed him.
It makes the rottenness a little more tolerable to think that at the time he was struck, the mists of a September morning were rising off the soybeans in the fields around his beloved Fairfield home on Primehook Road; that he was reveling in that beauty, eyeing a few fat doves lighting on utility wires, feeling the cool morning air on his face, and contemplating the many blessings of a life he lived to the fullest.
Becky and I thought of Tom a lot as we pedaled northward from Saugatuck to Grand Haven along Lake Michigan’s shores. We were extra cautious on this subdued day: fresh batteries in our flashing tail lights, armored fully in reflective orange vests, staying on trails and sidewalks all day.
Tonight we’re camped on a Lake Michigan beach in Grand Haven State Park at the mouth of the Grand River. So happy to be camping again and staunching the flow of motel bills. The West Coast of Michigan presents one nice town after another and there are lots of campgrounds as we work our way northward.
Today’s 35 miles brought our total to 945.
On to Muskegon tomorrow.
Don’t forget to spread lots of love around. It’s the best balm for sorrow.
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Dennis Forney has been a journalist on the Delmarva Peninsula since 1972 and has been writing his Barefootin’ column for The Whale and then the Cape Gazette for more than 30 years. Like his Barefootin' Facebook page to get notified of blog updates.
