Day 108 - Wixom to Shelby Township - Two Far 2022 Reunion Bound (the long way around)

August 25, 2022

Day 108 - Wixom to Shelby Township

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We are on the way to Ontario, trying to stay far enough away from Detroit to avoid traffic problems. Today's route went through some very busy areas on the west and northwest of the city. It was great to have some trails to ride. Leaving Wixom, we got on the Michigan Air Line Trail. It is a paved rail trail.

I never think of wetlands in Michigan. but we went past a lot of marshy, swampy, wet land today.

This boardwalk carried us across some of the wetlands.

After about five miles of paved trail we connected with the West Bloomfield Trail, also a rail trail, for about seven more miles. The West Bloomfield was not paved but had a very good hardpack surface.

As we were riding, we saw another touring cyclist on the trail. We stopped to talk and found out we had met another CycleBlazer! This is Jeff Teel, from Morton, IL. He immediately recognized us from our journals. He told us a story about trying to meet us to welcome us to Morton on our 2020 trip. He said he missed us by about an hour and a half. I'm glad that we met today! He's on a 1,200-mile loop tour from Morton now.

While we were getting acquainted with Jeff, I was also watching all these ducks on a trailside pond.

The ducks blended in with the vegetation as they bobbed for food under the surface

They were constantly "ducking" down into the water.

After our visit with Jeff, we rode on up the trail. There were more wetlands, including this big swampy area.

The trail ended and we were back on city streets. We had the most traffic that we've encountered since we started the "Rebound". There was road construction and traffic backed up at lights. Impatient drivers are not the best one with whom to share the road. But we made it safely and had no real problems.

This new building in Auburn Hills is an Islamic center.

We visited the former Packard Proving Ground in Shelby Township. When we arrived, we learned that reservations for tours were needed. We were lucky and one of the volunteers was there and agreed to give us a tour.

Volunteer Ken and executive director Mary Anne

Ken gave us a tour of the facility. This picture shows what it was like in the 1930's. The serpentine track and the 2.5 mile oval were used for development and testing of Packard cars.

1916 Packard owned by company president, Henry Joy

During WWII, Packard built ship engines, including ones for PT boats.

A 1953 concept car - one of the designers of this car left Packard and went to Ford the year before the Thunderbird was introduced.

The long boulevard that leads from the buildings to the test tracks

Here we are riding the remaining 100 feet on the test track - not much of a thrill to be had.

Today's ride: 35 miles (56 km)
Total: 3,428 miles (5,517 km)

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