"The Looking Glass River Wate ..." a Grand Ledge Travel Page by atufft

At Exit 90 on I-96 in Grand Ledge, Michigan there is a Flying J Truck Stop. I had to stop here for a day to wait for a load of apples destine for a produce processing plant near Atlanta, GA. If I have more than a few hours to kill, I do my best to put on my walking shoes and get away from the truck stop. I want to not only get some exercise and lose the calories gained eating truck stop food, but also appreciate a little about the place through which I am traveling. On this occasion in early spring, I began by walking along West Grand Ave into the countryside just outside the town of Grand Ledge.

Walking along West Grand Avenue, which is a rather busy highway, I found the sign pictured here. I learned that I was within the watershed of the Looking Glass River, a tributary of the Grand River. The Grand River is the longest river in Michigan, and the cities of Grand Rapids and Lansing, as well as the small town of Grand Ledge, are located on this river. Grand Rapids received it's name from a series of cataracts on the river, rapids which have since been eliminated by river engineers.

In any case, I decided to continue my walk along the less busy back roads of this particular area. The landscape is of wetland forest, undulating corn fields, and periodic red barn in disrepair, all of which are gradually giving way to country estate horse farm and smaller rural estate home properties. Although it was a warm and pleasant day, it was still early spring and the trees were just breaking bud. Mating bird songs filled the air, and occasionally, I would see a jack rabbit run across a field.