Category: Uncategorized

I got up early so I could get to the dock in St. Ignus to catch the first ferry to Mackinac Island (pronounced “MACK-in-awe“). I almost missed it, the ferry company has a “slow ferry” and a “fast ferry” and they leave from different docks. The first ferry to the island is the fast ferry and I was at the slow ferry dock. Luckily I figured out my error and got to the other dock in time. The ferry was fast! Most of the passengers were workers who commuted to the island for work. Many of them were on bikes and e-bikes and would ride them to their jobs on the island.

“Mackinac Island has no cars because they were banned in 1898 when a backfiring automobile frightened horses, which were the primary mode of transportation. The ban helped preserve the island’s historic, tranquil atmosphere and protected its natural beauty by preventing the pollution, noise, and disruption that cars would cause. The car-free status is a core part of the island’s unique character and appeal, which is now maintained by a state law and is important for preserving its historic heritage.” Google AI

The main town on Mackinac Island is called Mackinac Island. I know, sounds strange but what about New York, New York?

I picked up a map of the island and was astride my bike studying it when a guy asked me if I wanted some local insider information. I said sure and that is how I met a wonderful human named Matt. Matt is a construction contractor on the island and today was his 65th birthday. He is wrapping up work for his customers and will retire when he is done. He has lived on the island year round for a number of years and gave me his recommendations of what I should see while I was on the island. He told me about the best place to swim and told me about a couple chairs he had on the beach that I could use while eating my lunch. Then he said he was going to get a breakfast sandwich across the street and asked “can I get one for you?” We walked across the street, the place was packed but he knew the people and managed to order a couple sandwiches to go. We ate our sandwiches on a bench and had a great conversation about life and the world. He told me a little about what Mackinac Island is like to live on in the winter. Apparently people ride snowmobiles across the ice to the mainland but the ice can crack and pile up making the trip very dangerous. Thanks Matt for your time on your birthday and all that you shared with me.

I had to visit the iconic arch rock.

A swim in Lake Huron and lunch was perfect after riding the high lands of the island and Matt provided the perfect spot.

There is a hotel appropriately called the Grand Hotel that I wanted to see. It is famous for its porch with rocking chairs. I later found out that the minister, Hal Owens, who married my wife and I (31 years ago) was staying at the hotel the day I was there. Small world.

I was amazed at the skill the bicycle porters who transported luggage to the hotels had. I can’t imagine riding with the loads they had balanced on their bikes. The luggage blocked much of their view of where they were riding.

I took another ferry from the island to Mackinac City on the lower peninsula of Michigan. Then I still had to ride 20 miles to get to Jen and Doug’s, my Warm Showers hosts for the night. They were terrific. We watched a bit of the Tour de France and Doug told me he knew one of the riders, Matteo Jorgenson. Jen and Doug split their time between their place on Douglas Lake in Michigan and Boise, Idaho. Jen made a wonderful dinner that included a salad from her garden. It was wonderful staying with them. They sent me off in the morning with snacks for the road and some good recommendations for my route. Thank you Jen and Doug, my stay with you was marvelous.

It had been a long time since I had to use a manual pump to get my drinking water.

It didn’t look like the one in the movie but yup, I rode past the Bates Motel.

Today’s ride may have been on a less than ideal road for cycling (US route 2) but I would have many views of Lake Michigan.

I finally came into view of the Mackinac Bridge that connects the Upper Peninsula of Michigan with the lower Peninsula of Michigan. It really is a spectacular engineering marvel but I won’t be going across it tomorrow even though it only costs $4 to get a ride across with my bike (good job Michigan). Instead I will be taking two ferries one to Mackinac Island from the Upper peninsula and one from the island to the lower peninsula.

I lucked out at Straits State Park. There were no tent sites left and while I was talking to the helpful campground hosts about my options, a guy named Jim showed up and said I could set up my tent and camp on the site he and his wife were set up on. We visited for a while and they shared some food with me. Very nice folks.

The night before, I had gathered some wood to have a fire in the morning and toast a bagel to have with my coffee. It was a little more work than usual for breakfast but worth it. Food tastes better when you are working hard for it.

A few miles down the road I came to Midway General Store. I stopped for some route advice, WiFi and charging. The owner behind the counter was very kind and gave me everything I needed. He said that he and his wife moved up from North Carolina (I believe) and bought the place. I could see the money and love they had put into the place and he knew the names of all the locals that came in while I was there. I think he sent a local guy my way that was a cyclist to give me some advice. Local cyclists’ road knowledge is so helpful to the bicycle tourist.

They got me routed on some gravel forest service roads that made a delightful shortcut over to a Michigan State Park called Palm Book. I wanted to see a place called Kitch-iti-Kipi that is in the park, my friend Eddie had recommended it.

Kitch-iti-Kipi is Michigan’s largest natural spring, 10,000 gallons of water a minute flow from it. It forms a lake of crystal clear water 40 feet deep that you can see all the way clear to the bottom. There is a “boat” (really a floating platform that travels along a cable) you can take out to see the spring. It’s free, I had to wait in line, but it was worth it.

Not long after leaving Kitch-iti-kipi I got onto US route 2. I had been on route 2 back in Montana it wasn’t great to ride then and it still wasn’t now. I covered the last 30 miles to my State Park campground on it, but tomorrow I would be on it 62 miles. High traffic volume roads like route 2 are tedious to ride because I have to look in my rear view mirror at all the traffic to make sure everyone is on good behavior while also looking ahead enough to miss pot holes, trash, broken glass, dead animals and not ride off the road. Doing this for an hour isn’t terrible but when I do it all day it wears me out.

Slow out of town again, you see the pattern? There always seems to be a coffee shop or bakery with a strong gravitational pull that I have to pass before leaving town.

Besides leaving behind the magic of Marquette, I was also leaving behind the, not so subtle, beauty of Lake Superior later today.

Back home when I was planning the route for this trip, I came across a place on Google maps labeled Lakenenland. I remember thinking it would be a cool place to see and it was right on my route. It had dropped off my radar until I saw a sign for it and rode in. It was pretty cool. It is an outdoor sculpture park. I think one guy did most of the sculptures. Obviously he is a talented welder.

It wasn’t too much longer and my route peeled away from the Lake Superior shoreline, sad to see her go.

Soon I road into Hiawatha national Forest. It was quite beautiful. Eventually I settled on staying at Petes Lake Campground, it was a national Forest Campground with a very kind campground host. 

I hit the road with my coffee so I could cover the 50 miles to Marquette and get there in time to visit the Saturday morning farmers market. It was an excellent market.

Next I went to Trenary Toast Cafe for some smorrebrod (Scandinavian open faced sandwich). I checked if any of the Warmshowers hosts I had messaged had responded to me. None had. Then I remembered that one host’s profile said that if they were slow to respond, just show up. The host was listed as “The Marquette Climbing Co-op”. A couple of the members of the co-op welcomed me and let me take a shower and do laundry.

I was impressed with the Marquette Climbing Co-op. This is their code of living:

“Leave no trace, respect the space.   Seven generation perspective.   Live sustainably and intentionally.
This is a safe space to fail, challenge yourself!   Give more than you take.   Teamwork makes the dream work.   Value family time.
Concern for community.   Promote growth.   Give and accept feedback.   Safety is sexy.   Foster a spirit of play.
Communication is key.   Everyone is a V.I.P”

It made me feel good to see these young folks living their ideals.

The co-op has a bouldering cave that they welcome the local community to use, a system to track water use, a garden and a greenhouse.

I wanted to ride around Presque Isle, a park just North of town on Lake Superior. I found a thrift store on the way to see if I could pick up a wool blanket to keep warm at night. When I walked in the thrift store a worker told me they were closing. Briefly explaining my need, I asked if they had any wool blankets. The woman who said they were closing walked me over to where they would be and there weren’t any but she said she had three wool blankets in her car that she uses to put out fires and if I waited out back while she closed up, she would give me one. The whole time I waited I wondered who has three wool blankets in there car to put out fires? Was this woman a fire fighter?

When she came out back, I had to ask. Her answer was “No, I’m not a fire fighter, I’m a fire dancer.”That is how I came into possession of my fire dancer blanket.

Presque Isle was a beautiful place. It had a paved road close to the cliffs that went down to the water, hiking/ biking paths even closer, there were stone beaches, cliffs folks were jumping off of and large stretches of exposed bedrock sloping down to the water. It was what I imagine it will look like when I get to Acadia National park in Maine at the end of my tour (except it will have tide pools and maybe seals!).

When I got back to the Marquette Climber’s Co-op, Annika, a resident, asked if I would like to join her for dinner tonight. She made homemade pierogi and a beautiful salad from the organic farm she works on. Dinner was dynamite and it was great to get to visit with Annika and get to know more about her and the co-op. Thanks Annika and Marquette Climber’s Co-op.

I wanted to make enough miles so that I could make it to Marquette fairly early the following day so I could enjoy what it has to offer. Of course I didn’t get on the road early enough.

Not too far down the road I came across a sandhill crane that was hunting on the side of the road.

I love a good farm stand, so when I saw one, I stopped and three young boys ran out to attend to me. We had a nice conversation and then their grandmother came out also. I bought a kohlrabi and a box of raspberries. I think it was a half pint box and I polished it off while standing there talking, raspberries don’t travel well on a bike tour anyway. I mentioned that I was sorry I couldn’t get a bunch of beets because it would be too many. And then the grandmother said she had some beets she boiled and she would be happy to send one with me. Her husband and son showed up and I tarried in conversation some more.

So once again I was heading down the road uncertain of where I was going to set up camp. And it started raining so when my route took me right past a state park campground, I decided it would be smart to make dinner under the cover of a picnic pavilion because I would most likely be stealth camping somewhere down the road that wouldn’t have any protection from the rain. I asked at the front gate if I could make my dinner there and they said sure.

After eating my farm stand enhanced ramen, I continued down the road, eyes peeled for an opportune place to camp. Eventually I came to a State of Michigan boat ramp and decided to check it out. There was a good spot to set up my tent but there wasn’t too much of a screen of vegetation so I decided to cover my bike with a green tarp that would hide the bright yellow bags and reflective materials on the bike. It wasn’t the most ideal campsite but no one showed up to boot me out and I got a good night’s rest.

I broke camp and had decided to take the advice of a woman I was talking to in Ironwood yesterday, her advice was to go (out of my way) to the Porcupine Wilderness State park. She had just hiked and camped there and said it was fabulous. I called the park office before I left because online there was mention of the road through the park being washed out a year ago. The road was good. Then I asked the ranger on the phone what I should try to see coming through the park on a bike. She said the Presque Isle River waterfall hike was a short hike and offered amazing views of many waterfalls. So that’s what I did. The falls were amazing and fairly close together giving me a high enjoyment/time off the bike ratio. Which is what you want on a bike tour.

I spent the night at the home of a Warmshowers Host in Ontonagon, his name was James. He fed me home made Pizza and parsnip cake. We talked of travel and books over tea. Thanks James.

I said farewell and thanked my hosts Adam and Kristi and hit the road. It was raining, it would rain almost all day and stay in the low 50s. That was okay, I was ready to cover some miles after the last two short days.

I crossed into Michigan at Ironwood, MI and stopped for a hot cup of coffee at Contrast Coffee Company. Maybe I was just cold but that cup of pour over Papua New Guinea coffee was pretty spectacular.

From Ironwood there was a paved rail trail called the Iron Belle Trail that took me most of the way to Wakefield, Michigan where there was a town campground on Lake Sunday.

The temperature was cold enough there was fog blowing off the lake. And that night it got down to 47 degrees. I was having trouble falling asleep because I had sent home my winter sleeping bag and only had clothes and a sleeping bag liner to sleep in. Eventually I remembered I had a Tyvek ground cloth and thought if I wrapped up in it, it might trap enough heat for me to be able to get some sleep. It took an hour to warm up enough to sleep but it worked.

Sorry, this is a long one.

Once again the bike shop gods were smiling down on me. Jerry the mechanic came in to work and I was outside with my bike. He took the time to talk to me and find out what I needed before he even got in the door and then was working on my bike even before the shop was officially open. He ended up tweaking the derailleur hanger with an Allen wrench and making my shifting work with the shifter on indexed shifting! I was so happy.

A storm was moving in as I got on the road but somehow for the next 20 miles to Ashland I stayed on the edge of it. It would sprinkle and then I would ride out of it over and over again till I got to Ashland.

On the edge of Ashland when I was taking the picture below and a truck pulled up and I was pleased to see familiar faces, it was Sarah and Jeff, my Warmshowers hosts from a couple nights ago. They were going to Ashland to patronize two of the places they had told me about that I was planning on stopping to patronize also. I saw them later in the Chequamwgon Co-op grocery. I hope we keep running into each other.

I had enough time to stop by the Ashland Baking Company and relocate to the Chequamwgon food Co-op before the storm hit. They had a nice bench out front with a 6 foot roof overhanging the sidewalk. I thought it would be plenty to keep me dry while I ate my lunch but the wind driven rain found me.

I looked at the forecast and it was calling for thunderstorms till just before dark. I didn’t really want to leave the Co-op without a plan. And maybe a number of backup plans. The hotels in the area were a bit pricey, the only Warmshowers host was not hosting at this time and the campgrounds were all RV parks that coat more than I wanted to spend. So I ended up asking Michael (a Co-op employee) after he asked about my bike tour, if he knew of anyplace to camp near town or anyone willing to let me stay in their garage/shed/porch. He said he would think on it. A little later he found me in the cafe and said he does know someone who could help me out. He handed me a piece of paper with the Name Adam and a phone number on it and said just call for directions.

I called Adam and he said my place is six blocks down the street. I asked what can I pick up at the co-op for him? Coffee? Chocolate? Wine? And I showed up at his building with a bottle of wine a half hour later. Adam and his partner Kristi lived in the 2nd of the building and the ground floor was commercial and rented to the local Lake Superior Lake keeper organization. When I got there, they said they were going across the street for a little while to work on a 2nd building they had bought. It had a rented commercial space on the 1st floor and a residential apartment above. Whoever lived there (before they bought it) smoked, had cats and did not reliably take out the trash, so it needed work.

I said if you guys are going over there to work, I am going over to work too. Adam was doing some electrical work, Kristi was cleaning walls and she scrubbed an old cast iron tub to make it look as close to new as was possible. They had me measure for replacement windows and I scrubbed the walls of a bedroom.

It felt good to help them and I was inspired by their determination to put in the sweat equity to get the place fixed up. I think it will be an Airbnb so I hope to come visit someday.

We went back to their place and had a wonderful dinner that Kristi had made, opened the bottle of wine and had a marvelous conversation. Thanks Adam and Kristi, you really saved me. And they cemented in my mind that Wisconsin is a magical state.

In the morning I helped Jeff clean up a tree that was down in the yard and took a dip in Lake Superior before hitting the road.

I took my leave of my wonderful hosts Sarah and Jeff and was quickly reminded of my shifting issues when I hit the first hill. I decided I needed to stop later in the day at the bike shop in Bayfield to have it sorted out.

I was coming to Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, it was one of the reasons that I made my route go along the edge of Lake Superior. I had been so focused on the imperatives of covering the miles, finding food, water, shelter and bathrooms that I didn’t look down my route and realize I was getting close to Apostle Islands and I should make a plan to get in some kind of boat to see them. So I was feeling a bit of a failure when I saw the first beach access called Meyer’s Beach. But I could see Lake Superior not too far down the entrance road and decided I should at least go and stick my foot in the water.

The parking lot was packed with folks getting ready to hike or kayak and there was a park ranger making sure everyone was informed and following the rules. I walked down and saw the beach and when I got back to the parking lot, I started a conversation with the park ranger, telling her my sad story of not planning ahead. She said there must be four different kayak outfitters in the parking lot right now and I should ask them if they had an extra boat that could join them on a tour in. So that’s what I did, the first one wasn’t going out in the afternoon but he introduced me to Morgan and Brooklyn, guides for White Cap Kayak outfitters who were going out in a half hour. And it took a little digging but they came up with room in a kayak, a paddle, a spray skirt and a life jacket! Now all I had to do was pay and fill out the paperwork on my phone.

I was paired in a tandem kayak with a young woman named Aiden. I’m afraid I talked her ear off and was taking pictures when I needed to be paddling but she was kind and gracious and forgave me. She lives in Wisconsin and is currently going to school to be an early childhood teacher, such an important job, she will be great.

After we carried the kayaks down to the beach, Morgan and Brooklyn instructed us in the basics of kayaking and safety. Then we paddled down the mainland coastline to what they called Sea Caves. I think they should be called lake caves but what do I know. They were incredible! I was almost giddy.

Morgan and Brooklyn were very knowledgeable guides and did an excellent job leading us. Thank you!

I think I had totally forgotten about my shifting woes but I was quickly reminded. And after getting through Bayfield, WI, I pulled into the parking lot of Howl Adventure Center to see about having them sort out my shifting. The only problem was because of my Apostle Island National Lakeshore outing, I was too late. All the bike mechanics had gone home for the day. The Howl Adventure Center was also a cafe and microbrewery so it was open and the good folks there let me borrow some tools to try to fix my shifter. I was coming up empty so I called my boss, Chris, at Bike Line in Middletown Delaware and he FaceTimed me to give me some insight. I still couldn’t figure it out and it had started raining so I went out back and set up my tent. I would have to see if the mechanics who came in the morning could work it out.