On Tuesday, I did my second Gravel Tramp® in two days, completing a 7.66-mile loop and taking way too many photos in a hair over two hours.
Unlike Monday, there was no sun, and the temps hung at just about freezing. I saw a lot of great stuff (like Amish school kids playing soccer at recess!!) and a lot of fucked up shit, as you will see further on.
I wanted to share a few more words than usual in the photo captions for this post, so the format is a little different. Also, there is a photo towards the end that is pretty graphic, so I have blurred it. It’s up to you if you want to click it or not.
14.70 miles of Gravel Tramping® in two has my legs a bit sore today, so no lumbering today. Just some attempts at home repair that may or may not result in me having a breakdown before I reluctantly call Al The Handyman.
Enjoy the photos!
Later
First things first, find a parking spot next to what is CLEARLY not a public beach.
The return to gravel roads means endless No Trespassing signs. “Stay off my property, Libtard!”
I need a tetanus shot just looking at this.
Just an old barn doing old barn stuff.
I’ve photographed this old abandoned stone house that sits next to the barn seen above numerous times, but this is the worst it has ever looked. Sad to see.
Farm waiting for the summer heat.
#foundsignage along the road. I love the hand painted lettering and the use of what I think is scrap house siding.
Lakeside gimp house. Shot this one with my Canon s95. Everything else was shot with the Nikon z50.
As soon as the lake melts, this thing is ready to sink. I can’t tell if it’s an old pedal boat or a sexual torture device.
I saw this near an Amish farm. I theorize that it’s either a very low-key hunting blind, or the last place a gangland murder victim sat.
It’s been a while since I got any shots of bovine; this big ol’ one is Stella according to the ear tag.
Fluffy bovine framed by trees. No name was provided.
So that’s where I parked the Olds!! I don’t know what it says about me, but I can look at this pic forever, trying to piece together the whats and whys. I like the extra step they took to keep the driver’s side seat dry by adding a towel.
This is a barn that sits on what was an old farmstead. I have a number of shots (some seen in this old post) from when the abandoned home and some old cars were on the site. The home and vehicles have since been leveled and removed, but the old barn remains.
This one photo pretty much sums up the dirt roads of Michiganderburgh.
This dude went full-on F-Troop for his hunting blind. Side Note: I have NOTHING against hunting, although I do have everything against any form of gun, so that is a bit conflicting. I also question the time and cost-effectiveness of erecting this for the sake of bagging a deer. I mean, you can get meat at the store for a lot less, and it most likely has just as many chemicals in it as the deer that roam mid-Michigan eating farm fields sprayed down with pesticides. It kind of makes me think that the person just wants to be able to kill shit and not get in trouble. But hey, we all have our kinks. You don’t want to know what I would be doing up in that thing! However, I would recommend spraying some disinfectant around when I’m done.
I’m jumping back in here with some actual words because this next one is pretty disturbing.
I was about a mile from finishing the Tramp when I saw something on the barbed-wired fence along the road ahead. I was starving and tired at the time, but as I lumbered by, I stopped and took a hurried photo. I knew it was a dead deer, but I didn’t realize the absolutely horrific way it must have died.
If you clicked, you know what you saw. If you didn’t, I will just say it was a deer hung up on some barbed wire along the road. Yes, the same barbed wire that I photographed above, but on a different side of the property.
It makes me sick because along that very road were countless hunting blinds that big tough outdoorsmen build and use, but they can drive by and see the remains of one of the very animals they pursue with their high-powered rifles entangled in barbed wired for all to see. Why would you want your kids to see that? It’s horrific and the height of disrespect towards wildlife. I hope to drive by later today and see if it’s still there. I’m going to take a big ol’ shovel and see if I can get it untangled. So freaking disrespectful!!
THURSDAY EDIT: I stoped by on Thursday morning to try to knock the departed deer off the wires, but it’s frozen into the wires right now. Fail.
THURSDAY NIGHT EDIT: I also dial back my animosity towards the nearby tough guys; thing’s head was frozen.
OK, let’s end this mega pixel post with some more cows! I did’t take this shot while tramping, but rather as I passed a farm just up the road from where I parked.
Fin.