Sometimes our dog Laya wakes me up but today it was some strange dog walking with his owner. Who takes their dog for a walk at 4am? Oh yeah, maybe a farmer. The forecast is for 97 degrees so we better start early.
We only saw two people on the trail today. I expected more but I suppose the locals are smart enough and they can just wait for a cooler day. We had to make two detours because they are repairing the trail. On one section, apparently the nearby river took out the entire trail in 2019 and they still havenāt fixed it yet.
For lunch, we bought a burrito from the food truck and took it to the park in Clearwater. This giant tasty burrito and the hot windy weather were perfect ingredients for a food coma. An hour later we woke up and tried to figure out camping plans. We called the Clearwater city clerk, Angie and she said we can camp at this park so thatās a good fallback plan. She even came by to say hello on her way home. We soon decided that we would splurge and stay in an air conditioned motel 10 miles down the road in Ewing. Vonnie is the owner of Two Rivers motel and she turned on the A/C so our room would be cool when we arrived. She even gave us raspberry tea with ice. Thanks for the hospitality Vonnie!
By the way, itās called the āCowboy Trailā (not the farmer trailā because that was the old name they called the Chicago & Northwestern train route. The name stuck.
Summary: we rode 47 miles from Battle Creek city park to Two Rivers motel in Ewing on the Cowboy trail with 2 detours on highway 275.