Fall Trip 2025 Day 9

21 September 2025

This was an easy day driving up the western coast of Michigan and then over to Grand Rapids, just 140 miles on back roads at an average efficiency of 3.9 miles/kWh. It was a gray and rainy day with the high in the low 70s, and this was the view that greeted me outside my hotel window this morning (and believe me, this view was the nicest part of that property):

Even though my route gave me frequent glimpses of Lake Michigan, the fairly constant rain argued against stopping for pictures! So here’s my route (the dark blue line) and you can imagine that I was able to see the lake occasionally:

I started the day with a 79% charge and stopped before getting into Grand Rapids at an Electrify America (no photo this time). There were six chargers at a Meijer store and they were busy! But I only needed to wait as long as it took to make a very necessary bathroom break before I could claim a vacated charger and get on with things. I charged from 43-80% in 16 minutes with a max rate of 144 kW.

I’d stayed at a Staybridge Suites in Rockford IL that I wasn’t thrilled with, so I was a bit concerned about staying two nights at one in Grand Rapids, but the one I’m at now is really nice. It’s much more modern than the previous one although I have to say that the TVs are still pretty old (although very serviceable). There was this lovely planter pot outside the door nearest my room:

I’m in Grand Rapids another night so I won’t be doing a lot of driving tomorrow and probably won’t charge, but I’ll post tomorrow anyway as I’ll be heading north about a half hour to Cedar Springs for Second Meal™️. For now, here’s where I’m at in this trip with seven more days to go: