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Day 10 - Escanaba to Menominee MI

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Miles - 63.4 Trip Miles - 622 https://strava.app.link/NIN2IojLa6b There was some rain this morning. Had to pack all my gear inside the little backpack tent. We were out of breakfast food and ride about 4 miles into town for breakfast at a diner. Then picked up some pasties to have for lunch. “Pas-tees” are a UP specialty. They basically consist of ground meat, potatoes, and rutabaga. This is rolled up into a thick crust so you can eat them as finger food. Everywhere on the UP you see signs for Pasties. Each sign says best pasties on the UP.  Escanaba Waterfront  We took a quick trip through Escanaba which was deserted at 900 AM. There’s a beautiful park along the lakefront. Our next road is M35. Honestly if you close your eyes you would be unable to distinguish from US 2. Fast cars and trucks, good shoulder most of the way, totally flat, and lake on the left. Rain fell on and off all morning. Rode 60 miles and only passed one town which barely qualified as a town. One gas stat...
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Day 9 - Manistique to Escanaba MI

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 Miles - 53.7 Trip miles - 558 https://strava.app.link/RSM0cyI685b We had a good night sleeping in the RV. Bill kindly drove us to Manistique. After a quick breakfast and some supplies at Jack’s we met up with Mark and continued on Rte 2 west. The weather was nice. Cool and no rain. Some more seemingly endless flat straight riding. In Rapid River we are meant to catch up with Mark’s brother Tom. His sister in law Maryjo is there but Tom is on his way from Escanaba.  Manistique waterfront  And lighthouse  Tim and I enjoy a park lunch and chat with the farmers market host who is playing Irish music and getting things ready. Very nice spot. Now heading south we eventually run into Mark’s brother.  There is some scary riding on busy roads heading into town.  A bit before Escanaba Tim and I say goodbye and set up camp at a county park. Nice campground with big sites right on the river. Fairly empty as well.  We celebrated our half way point with a nice dinn...
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Day 8 - Mackinaw City to Manistique MI

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 Miles- 94.1 Trip Miles - 504  Check out my activity on Strava: https://strava.app.link/Vyqlx8W085b When I started riding today I realized my cadence sensor was missing. Went back to the campsite and checked the lost and found at the ferry terminal but didn't find it. Disappointed but it doesn't bother the bike at all. Not sure where it fell off. We met back together at the small booth on I75 at the base of the bridge. The process is to call the Mackinac Bridge Authority and they send a truck to pick you up and shuttle over the bridge. There's no safe way to ride over it.  Waiting for Bridge Transport  Next we paid the fee for the transport and began to head west on US route 2. A long flat straight road across Michigan's upper peninsula. The UP. Honestly it is a boring slog. There are occasional nice views of the lake. Some rain is falling in the morning.  We drop into the Sand Dune Inn to wait it out and get a second breakfast. The waitress is sweet and brews a...
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Day 7 - Zero day in Mackinaw City

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 Miles today - 13.7 Trip miles - 410 Check out my activity on Strava: https://strava.app.link/feEUBlYE55b A rest day was clearly in order. Old guys like me can't ride 75 miles every day. Didn’t get out of my tent until 6:30. Relaxed for a bit and rode into town for buffet breakfast. Needed a quick ride back to camp for my hat before catching the ferry to Mackinac Island. It was still foggy so the ride over on the ferry was cool but still nice. Could not see the famous bridge which connects the upper and lower peninsula of Michigan.  Mackinac Island is a bit of a tourist trap but there are some neat things to do once you get away from all the fudge shops on Main Street. We enjoyed the historic fort and some of the "cottages."  There's a nice flat ride around the island about 8 miles long with interesting things to check out and constant views of Lake Huron. Also pedaled up to the Grand Hotel which is spectacular. They wouldn't let us in because we were not wearing ...
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Day 6 - Petoskey to Mackinaw City MI

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 Miles - 48.5 Trip miles - 393 https://strava.app.link/iw6NFHXJ35b Our plan is to ride half a day to Mackinaw City and rest and do laundry. Then a zero day om Mackinac Island before heading west accross the UP. We've been riding hard and rest is important. That still leaves us 4 days to cover the roughly 280 miles to Green Bay by Saturday. It's raining when we woke up. We gathered our gear and cooked an egg breakfast under the pavilion at the beach.  It seems we always start at around 7:15 when it's light  enough and we are ready to go. By the time we get into Harbor Springs it is raining again. This is a pretty town with rows of huge old mansions along the lakefront. After some back and forth we chose to follow the lake rather than the shorter but gravel trail to Mackinaw City. This turned out to be a good choice. The roads were quiet and mostly flat. In the tiny Cross Village we got out of the rain and had coffee with blueberry muffin. The woman in the store was so frie...
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Day 5 - Traverse City to Petoskey MI

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Miles - 75.7 Trip miles - 347 Check out my ride on Strava: https://strava.app.link/TOd5Ug8u25b It was a good choice to stay in the hotel last night as it rained quite a bit. I enjoyed sleeping in a bed and waking up dry. Also easier to get going when I don't have to break camp in the morning. We arranged to meet Mark and his nephew Neil and head a few miles out to Bob Evans for breakfast. The light drizzle ended soon after we left.  There's a trail out of town and then some great country roads past horse farms,  apple, peach, and cherry orchards. Very rural. The cool temp and overcast skies make for wonderful riding conditions. We went through another picturesque coastal town named Elk Rapids before ending up back on US 31. This is the main route for northwest Michigan in the lower peninsula with trucks and fast traffic. There's a good shoulder and a rumble strip so relatively safe. The 4 of us work together in a pace line to get through it. A good 20 miles. Ugh.  Neil, M...
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Day 4 - Platte River to Traverse City MI

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Miles - 69.3 Trip miles - 271.5 Check out my activity on Strava: https://strava.app.link/9JuPvwIr15b After the normal morning routine we are once again on the road around 7:15. It's 65 degrees slightly warmer than yesterday. Partly cloudy but rain isn’t coming until tonight. Even though it adds some miles we opt to ride up to Sleeping Bear Dunes. There's a nice path there and some things to check out. Tonight we'll grab a hotel room in Traverse City to stay dry. I'm getting too old to camp in the rain.  The Heritage Trail is paved and mostly flat. There were signs at the little rises saying caution steep grades. Obviously they have never been to NH. We stopped at the Dune Climb which is cool. You scramble up the face of a big dune and then traverse up and down towards the lake. We walked about a mile to a neat overlook. Didn't have all day to go all the way to Lake Michigan. Impressive anyway. Dune Climb  We spent the rest of the morning rolling thru tourist towns. ...
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