Around 5:30, the seagulls started going nuts. Being a South Dakota boy, I don't have a lot of experience with seagulls. I awoke to discover that they are loud! My exhaustion allowed me to go back to sleep, but it was punctuated by seagull created interruptions.
At 6:30, my alarm went off. I dragged myself out of bed and into the world. The guy in the tent next to me was already up and making breakfast. "Seagulls wake you up?" he asked. We chatted for a bit, then I headed out for a run.
I had brought my running shoes along with the idea that I wanted to get at least two workouts in during my trip. I ran down the park entrance road, then headed east on a quiet street. The morning was beautiful. It was cool, but no cooler than the previous evening. Certainly warmer than the previous morning! Being early on a Sunday, there was very little traffic.
I ran along a road that was surrounded by trees and was quite beautiful. A deer crossed the road about 200 feet in front of me, then disappeared into the brush. By the time I had run about three miles, I was fully awake and in a much better frame of mind to face the day. Besides, the odds of this day being as bad as the previous were pretty slim.
Back at the park, I broke camp and loaded up the bike. About then I noticed the guy next to me was returning to his tent, having obviously showered. This puzzled me as I hadn't seen a shower in the building the night before. Then I noticed that he had come from a different building further across the campground. I just hadn't seen it in the dark.
I was already packed up, so I decided to forego a shower for the day. I wouldn't be seeing anyone who might care if I smell anyway.
I hit the road and decided to explore the river front drive on my way to getting some breakfast.
I passed the Superior Dome. Marquette is the home of the University of Northern Michigan. Interesting looking structure.
Out in the bay I could see a lighthouse. I took a picture of it, but didn't have my zoom set correctly so you can barely see it.
Marquette has a beautiful waterfront area with a cool bicycle path that runs along the lake shore. It was very pretty. In a lot of ways, Marquette reminds me of my home town of Sioux Falls, except our bike path runs along the Sioux River instead of the biggest lake in the world.
I stopped at McDonalds for breakfast. So far on this trip I hadn't eaten anywhere really interesting. I was going to try and rectify that as the trip progressed.
By the way, I didn't take this picture because I'm enthralled with McDucks. There was a seagull trotting alongside the building and I thought it would make a cool close-up shot. Unfortunately, by the time I got my camera ready it was nearly behind a truck. Once I snapped the picture, it was barely visible in the glare.
I had some breakfast and a monster coffee, and reviewed my route for the day. Today's route was going to be around 350 miles, which was going to be a bit easier trek than the previous day. Once I finished eating, I slathered my face with sunscreen and donned my chaps. I already was wearing my thermal underwear top. It was currently around 60 degrees, but I wasn't going to have a repeat of the previous day. I would rather stop and take off some clothing than get chilled and not be able to warm up.
I headed west out of Marquette on highway 28. I needed gas, but it took me three attempts before I pulled into a station that had pay at the pump. I just wasn't in the mood to go inside somewhere and pay, I guess.
The ride along highway 28 was pretty cool, the first 30 miles or so with Lake Superior visible on the left. At Munising I would see my last view of Lake Superior. I said my goodbyes to the lake (I really audibly did this; yes, I know I'm weird) and continued along highway 28.
Without the lake on my left side, the road was similar to the last 200 miles of the previous day's ride. I tried to get an action shot of some scenery in my rear view mirror, but didn't have my camera positioned correctly. "A" for effort, I guess.
Here's another shot of my spur. You can also see my chaps. I'm a cheap skate, and I bought these chaps about six years ago for $19. They are made of all the little cut off scraps left over from some other leather goods. It looks like they sew the scraps into big sheets, then use these sheets to make more leather goods. I suppose it's an efficient use of resources, but it is a little corny looking. That's OK with me though, because they do the job.
Because they're made in a similar fashion as processed meat, I call them my Chicken McChaps.
At Seney, I headed south on highway 77. This took me through an animal preserve, although I didn't see any animals. They must have been preserved inside.
In the town of Germfask, there was a tank sitting beside the road. Not sure why, but it was cool.
Once I hit highway 2, I headed east again. This was a fairly busy stretch of road, but I noticed that in Michigan they do a good job at providing passing lanes every few miles. This helps greatly with keeping traffic from getting backed up.
I also noticed that in the upper peninsula of Michigan, everyone runs about 20 mph over the speed limit. In a 55 zone, I was moving along at just under 70 and I was getting passed quite a bit, and didn't pass too many people myself.
A little ways down the road I saw another biker pulled over. I slowed and gave him the thumbs up and then thumbs down. He replied with thumbs down indicating he had a problem, so I pulled over.
He had a flat rear tire, and thankfully he made it to the shoulder safely. He had already called for help and was just waiting for it to arrive. I offered him the few resources I had (tools, cell phone, etc.) but didn't have what he really needed which was a plug kit. My bike has tubed tires, so I carry a few spare tubes instead of a plug kit. He thanked me for stopping and said he'd be OK waiting until a tow truck arrived, so I went on my way.
Further down the road I caught my first view of Lake Michigan.
There were quite a few rest areas designed for people to pull over and take pictures, and maybe have a picnic.
The area was getting noticably more tourist oriented. The highway was lined with little shops advertising antiques, fresh cherries, jams and these mystery things called pasties.
After I passed about the 10th place advertising pasties, my curiosity got the best of me. At the next shop, I pulled in to find out what they were.
I went inside and asked the woman behind the counter what a pastie was. The first thing she did was correct my pronunciation. I called it a "paste-ee" (rhymes with tasty, no innuendo intended) and she said it is pronounced "past-ee" (rhymes with nasty.) She said they were a mixture of meat, potatos and vegetables baked into a crust. She encouraged me to try one. Well, it wasn't quite lunch time so I decided to keep moving but look around for a pastie stand when it was lunch time.
As I was pulling out, my left leg slipped on something and I looked down and saw that a truck had spilled diesel fuel all over the place. Diesel is very slick. I had to make sure to be careful for a few miles, until I wore the fuel off of my tires.
The day was beautiful. Highway two runs right along the coast, so it was very scenic.
I could see in the distance the Mackinac bridge (pronounced mack-in-awe for all of us non-Michiganites.) This thing was huge. It is the only bridge that connects the upper peninsula to the lower. It is about seven miles long, and the road surface is about 250 feet above the lake. When I snapped this picture, I was about 15 miles away.
As I got closer, I started to become a little nervous about crossing this bridge. Because it's so exposed high above the lake, the crosswinds are quite strong. Cars have been known to blow off of the thing, although I was told that that hasn't happened since 2005 (what a relief.) The bridge is two lanes wide in each direction, with the center lane being steel grate. I planned to not ride that lane if at all possible.
After taking the picture of the bridge, I was returning to the bike when I was accosted by seagulls. I noticed that in just a few short hours they had turned from fascinating to annoying.
Around St. Ignace, just a mile or so before I was to cross the bridge, I decided to stop for lunch. I found a pastie stand and ordered one. There was no seating inside the shop, but they had a few picnic tables outside. So I sat down and experienced my first pastie.
Very bland. That's how I would describe it. There wasn't enough ketchup in the world to make this thing interesting. People were buying these things like hotcakes, even getting bags full frozen to take home. I really don't understand the fascination. Later I was told that pasties have their origins in English cuisine, which would make sense because they're like a portable shephards pie. I often times find shephards pie to be bland as well.
As I was eating, another biker sat down at the table next to me. I struck up a conversation. As it turns out, he had come from the lower peninsula and was heading up to where I had been earlier.
I asked him how it was crossing the Mackinac. "It sucked" he said. Apparently there was road construction on the paved side, forcing all traffic to use the metal grated lane. Great.
One thing the pastie stand didn't have was a bathroom, of which I was in dire need. I swung into a gas station a little ways up the road and used the stop as an opportunity to slather my face with more sunscreen.
At the base of the Mackinac was a little park with information about the bridge and a good picture taking opportunity. I seized it.
My pictures just don't do justice to how big this bridge looks in person. I believe it is the third longest suspension bridge in the world. It was the longest until 1988 when two other bridges were opened (one in Japan and one in Denmark.)
I hopped on I-75 and got in line to cross the bridge. There is a $3.00 toll to cross, and I felt the anxiety welling up inside me as I moved closer and closer to the booth. I tried to calm myself by noting other motorcycles coming off the bridge in the other direction, who had obviously survived the trip. I waved. None of them waved back.
It came my turn, so I paid my toll and headed up the ramp. No turning back now! The roadway climbed and climbed and I felt like I was on a roller coaster going up the big hill. The speed limit was 45, and there was no way in heck I was going to go any faster no matter who might honk. As it turned out, I think everyone else was just as scared because they kept the speeds quite reasonable.
The center suspended section was when the steel grating started. Grating like this tends to make your bike wander a bit, kind of like you're riding on ice. Your natural instinct is to death grip the handlebars to try and correct things, but this will just make it worse. The best thing you can do is try and relax and trust the bike to stay upright. Any directional corrections should be very subtle.
The crosswind at the top was strong, but certainly not the worst in which I've ever ridden. It still was pretty nerve wracking, however. Pretty nice view with Lake Michigan on the west side and Lake Huron on the east. I must admit I didn't spend too much time looking around.
Across the other side, we started to descend. Once I hit flat pavement on the other side I suddenly exhaled. I have no idea how long I had been holding my breath, but apparently at some point in the journey I inhaled and just kept it in. Glad I didn't unknowingly pass out!
I continued on I-75 for a few miles, then got off on highway 31. This would take me all the way in to Ludington where I would spend the night.
I noticed 2 things about the lower peninsula as opposed to the upper peninsula.
First, the upper part of Michigan is more scenic than the lower part. It's not that highway 31 was barren by any means, it's just that there were fewer trees and more fields. Not as exciting. On the map, it looked like 31 pretty much followed the coast for much of the way, but in actuality Lake Michigan was only visible occasionally and once I left Traverse City it wasn't visible at all.
Second, while everyone on the upper peninsula drove 20 miles over the speed limit, everyone on the lower peninsula was driving 5 miles under. I was constantly at the back of a line of cars, none of which were trying to pass anyone.
I stopped for a quick gas up in Petoskey, then continued on my way. I really don't remember much about the stretch of highway 31 from there to Traverse City except for the town of Charlevoix that was having some sort of arts festival. That looked like a neat little town (with another wire grate bridge) and I would have liked to have stopped had I not had a lot of miles in front of me.
I came into Traverse City which seems like a very nice area. Lots of money floating around this town, at least along highway 31 which runs along the coast.
In Traverse City I found myself behind an orange mid-70's Dodge truck that was making the scariest noises I have ever heard from a vehicle. It sounded like the whole bed of the truck was going to let loose at any minute. I did my best to get in front of the thing in case shrapnel was going to come flying off, but then I would hit some traffic and the next thing you know that burnt-orange truck would be in front of me again. The driver didn't look too concerned, so maybe it always sounds that way.
On the south side of Traverse City I stopped at a gas station for an iced tea, a dose of pain killers and a good stretch. The temperature was probably in the low-70's, but the wind was blowing pretty hard so I was still in my thermal underwear, jacket and chaps.
I got back on the road with about 90 miles to go and decided that I wanted this to be my last stop before the campground. I was ready for a few hours of relaxation after the previous few days where I pretty much rode until it was dark.
This plan worked out as there really wasn't anything scenic or noteworthy about this stretch of highway 31. I just sat there as the miles rolled by and occasionally changed my feet and arm positions to try and remain as comfortable as possible.
After what seemed like an eternity, I got to Ludington. A quick check of my map gave me an idea where I was supposed to go. At one point, I turned left where I remembered I was supposed to turn, but the road name didn't match. I followed the road a few miles, then came across the road for which I was looking. Later on upon reviewing what I had done, I had made a wrong turn earlier and just lucked out to happen upon the road I needed. In any event, I found the campground. It was down a secluded road you wouldn't normally travel unless you were specifically trying to find it.
I didn't have reservations for this campground, so I was hoping they had a space for a tent. The campground was larger than I had expected, and also a lot fuller. I rode through the park until I found the office.
I pulled up at the office right as the owner was returning. He greeted me and I asked if he had any spaces for a single tent. As it turned out, he had two spots left. He gave me a choice between them, but seeing as they were within 50 feet of each other it didn't seem to matter. He said the one closest to the hill might be a little more sheltered from the wind, and given my experience setting up the tent in the previous night's gale, I took it.
As I was leaving the office a woman came up to me and told me that they don't allow bikers at this campground. I could tell she was joking around because she had the worst poker face I'd ever seen. She welcomed me to the campground and asked where I was from.
The campground is right on the coast of Lake Michigan. There were steps leading down a cliff to the beach, but I never did go down. Come to think of it, I went by three of the Great Lakes and never stuck my hand into any of them!
I went and set up my tent. As I was doing so, a guy pulled up in a car and asked me where I was from. When I told him South Dakota, he said, "How did you find out about this place?" I replied that I had done a search on the internet for campgrounds in Ludington, and picked this one. He smiled and said, "Well don't tell anyone else about it!" and drove off. He went by a few times during my stay at the campground and always would smile and wave. Friendly guy.
I wandered up to the restroom area to freshen up a bit (boy that sounded girlie) before I headed out to find some supper. I ran into the owner again and asked him if he knew of a good Chinese buffet, as I was in the mood for one. He gave me driving instructions to his favorite one.
I then asked him how many quarters I would need to take a shower (as they were pay showers.) He thought about it and said, "I don't know! I've never timed how long the water runs on a quarter. Maybe five minutes?" I made a mental note to get some change at supper.
I rode into town and found the buffet. The food was great, and I stuffed myself silly for $10. It was a nice change of pace from the previous two nights to be able to just sit and enjoy dinner at a relaxing pace.
After supper, I rode down to the docks where I would catch the ferry in the morning. I decided it would be better to figure it out now rather than search around in the morning. I found it quite easily, and they were in the process of loading the ferry for the 8 PM crossing.
I thought about maybe bumming around Ludington or catching a movie, but then I decided I just wanted to take a shower and curl up with a book.
Back at the campground, I took my quarters up to the showers. As it turned out, a single quarter bought me more than enough time. In fact at the end I was just relaxing under the stream because I had paid for the water.
After cleaning up and in fresh clothes, I was feeling pretty good. I went back to the tent and called my wife and son. Then I laid down and started to read.
A few minutes later I hear a woman's voice outside my tent. "Hello?" she said.
Not expecting this I replied, "Yes?"
She said, "I'm from camp site number 38, and we're building a campfire. You're welcome to join us!"
So I got up and put my clothes back on, and wandered up to camp site number 38, which was up past the office. As it turns out the woman was the one who was joking with me earlier, and her husband rides.
They had a bunch of lawn chairs and people from other campsites had gathered together around the fire and were eating peanuts from this huge bag they were passing around. They explained that they had been coming to this campground every summer for around 30 years and that the regulars are like a big family. So that's why the guy in the car didn't want me to tell anyone about this place (oops! I just told the whole internet!)
We talked and laughed and had a great time. At 11 PM I decided I'd better get some sleep. I reluctantly said my goodbyes and wandered back to my tent. After pumping up my mattress, I hit the sack.
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This page last updated on 06/28/2018