Land Between Lakes: Bike Ride

I slept incredibly well last night—ten full hours that I clearly needed. The morning moved at an easy pace, the kind where doing nothing feels like the right thing to do. I spent a little time organizing the van, sipping coffee, and just enjoying the quiet.

Later, I decided to go for a leisurely bike ride, but the trails near the campground turned out to be a disaster. The asphalt was decades old—broken, heaved up by tree roots, and full of ruts. It was rough enough that I kept thinking it might’ve been smoother without any pavement at all. The narrow turns and constant ups and downs made it feel more like a hiking path than a bike trail.

After giving up on the trail, I rode loops around the campground instead. It was enormous, and with Halloween coming up, nearly every site was decked out in decorations. Some campers had turned their sites into full-on haunted villages—skeletons hanging from trees, glowing pumpkins, cobwebs draped over lawn chairs. Judging by the setups, a lot of these folks had been here for weeks, maybe all season. There were fifth wheels with porches built out front, flowerpots, string lights—little semi-permanent neighborhoods on wheels.

It reminded me of growing up camping in central Pennsylvania. My parents started a camping club, and we’d spend months at a time traveling with other families. Seeing groups of people gathered around campfires or riding golf carts between sites brought a lot of that back.

Speaking of golf carts—there were tons of them. Almost every family had one, many decked out for Halloween too. Kids zipped around on e-bikes and scooters instead of walking. It felt like a small suburban town that just happened to be mobile.

I spent about two hours riding, stopping here and there to take in the decorations and the late-afternoon light. Back at the van, I made dinner and took it easy for the rest of the evening. Once it got dark, I grabbed my towel and walked over to the shower house—a simple end to a laid-back day that turned out to be exactly what I needed.