Ride Day 130 and 131

So I rode from Hersey to Merrill about 90 miles with a lot of it on bike baths that were nicely paved. The campground in Hersey the night before was a good time and I enjoyed my neighbors and the setting called Blodget Landing. There was a gurgling river making nice white noise to sleep to and no loud rutting neighbors or other loud party animals keeping me up all night. I got some good sleep which for me is rare. I also hung out at River Junction bar and restaurant which was a good time. I took a day off I was enjoying it so much. After my rest in Hersey, I jumped on the same bike path the next morning and rode it to the end near Clare Mi then followed various country roads all the way to Merrill about 90 miles total where I checked into a campground that was insane. It was a water park and was full of screaming kids and tight quarters for the campsites. There was very loud noise until about 1am so I did not get a good night of rest. Plus it cost $31 which was too much. I should have camped along the road somewhere. Lesson learned. The ride from Merrill to Charlotte was very peaceful. In the first fifty miles I only saw 5 other vehicles on the roads. I never hit traffic until just before Lansing. A lot of the roads in Michigan are gravel and I had to ride on a lot of them. They aren't too bad to ride on except that you have to pay close attention to the road instead of being able to look around at the scenery. I spent a large share of today looking for monarch butterfly caterpillars but found none at all. they live on milkweed plants and there was a ton around but zippo for monarchs. When I was a kid there were millions of monarch butterflies around and every single milkweed plant had at least one caterpillar on it. In fact today I only saw 6 butterflies in total, five small white ones and on small yellow one. I rode past 90 miles of fields full of flowers and other perfect butterfly habitat but there were none around. Where have they all gone? I hear people talking about the disappearance of bees but nobody ever mentions butterflies being gone. Do people just not care? I am afraid that most insects are going to be in decline now with all the genetically modified plants and the spraying of pesticides everywhere. Butterflies are not pests they are innocent victims here for the most part. Enough ranting for now. I ended up spending the night with old family friends from Janesville and I enjoyed the stay. In the morning I head to Detroit but am thinking of making it two 50 mile rides instead of one 100 mile ride. I will decide at around 49 miles tomorrow... pics later when I have better wifi