I left the Tantre’ farm on Sunday morning with a great deal of emotional baggage hanging over me. My stop there was truly one of my favorite stops on this entire journey thus far and at some point I would like to make a point of going back. But the show must go on and I needed to get moving west towards Kalamazoo. After an early morning wake up call to help milk the dairy cows and another beautiful organic breakfast I headed off into the blue sky and puffy clouds in search of Battle Creek, Michigan.

This ride was pretty uneventful however there was one little hiccup I encountered when I refused to listen to the road closed signs posted in big orange colors. I figured that meant cars only and I could simply “sneak” by on my bike. I was wrong. When I got to the construction zone there was essentially a 15 foot drop with a creek bed running pretty strong. I then walked my bike up to the rail road tracks and pushed roughly .5 mile on the big loose rocks. When I reach a point in which I could actually ride my bike I was still faced with a very rocky road full of big craters, rocks and sand. Brutal.

I arrived in Battle Creek with no plan as usual and after a 67 mile ride I decided to grab a cold beer. I was told in Marshall that Battle Creek was home to the Arcadia Brewery and they had fantastic microbrews and I figured there was just one way to find out. I parked my bike out front and as usual this created a bit of a scene. It is fairly uncommon for someone to ride up on a bike with 4 bags full of gear and beyond that I have taken it upon myself to marker in “Maine 2 Seattle” on my big camping bag. Within 30 seconds I had a really nice customer sitting outside offer to buy me lunch and to consider it a donation. Once again I am always impressed with the kind people here in America.

So as I enjoyed my fresh micro brew and my wood oven baked pizza another group of customers had started a conversation with me and within a few minutes I was offered a place to stay. The interesting thing about this particular place to stay was that I would be staying with the Jeremy… the President and founder of BCMAMS also known as the Battle Creek Metropolitan Area Mustache Society.  One of the things I enjoyed about staying with Jeremy and his wife was the fact that they were voluntarily creating small steps at home to protect the environment such as collecting rain water, composting, using green cleaning products and of course reusing and recycling. These were great people and they were very kind to have taken me in. I would have honestly liked to have stayed in Battle Creek a bit longer but I simply had to move on.

Before I headed out of town I had a meeting lined up with the Mayor of Battle Creek Mr. Mark Behnke. He was a very nice guy and as we enjoyed coffee he went over many of the new initiatives and eco friendly projects Battle Creek has taken on. One of the most impressive was in partnership with Waste Management. The city of Battle Creek and Waste Management have created the Think Green Rewards Program which allows people to track their recycling productivity and gain rewards. In my opinion more cities and towns across America really need to adopt this both educational and incentive driven type of mentality in order to keep trash out of the landfills and keep our planet both beautiful and productive from an environmental standpoint.

After this very enlightening meeting with the Mayor I biked my way into Kalamazoo which thus far has treated me very well. When I arrived here I had no place to stay and no plan… however once again the power of twitter had changed that when @physicsduck who also happens to be the founder of a nonprofit organization known as the Geek Group opened his doors to me. So as I sit here in the headquarters for “all things educationally geek” I must say that the beat rolls on and the good journey continues.

Until next time take care and take action!
Please support me in cause to protect land and nature and donate to my fundraiser!
http://firstgiving.com/follownathan