Day 34 – Wiarton, Ontario (Thursday, June 4, 2015)

I started out from Little Current at 6:19am to be sure that I could get through Manitoulin Island and made the ferry at 11:10am from South Baymouth.

I had a beautiful ride.    Perhaps the best ride of the whole trip so far.   Manitoulin is quite flat.  I had always thought the beauty of the terrain was sub-par compared the outcrops of the Canadian Shield but the during the serene morning ride everything looked just about perfect.

When I arrived at South Baymouth I had time for a serious, French toast breakfast at about 9:50am.

I had a bit of lunch on the ferry – fresh fruit and a muffin and I had supper at Irish Pub in Wiarton – yet another local recommendation.

I stayed at the Waterview Inn in Wiarton which was recommended by the proprietor at Irish Pub.  I was unhappy with room #11 which smelled like a rodent.   To be fair the owners had done quite a bit of work upgrading the Inn.  It is likely an unfortunate issue that will be rectified.

Day 33 – Little Current, Ontario (Wednesday, June 3, 2015)

I had breakfast along the way, had a late lunch in Espanola, and settled at Anchor Inn in Little current.    Anchor Inn was recommended as the best restaurant in Little Current by a girl at the ice cream place at the north end of the town.

Anchor Inn had pretty good food and was well maintained by I did not have a good sleep because of soft sound of running water that even my ear plugs couldn’t stop.

Little Current was much nicer than I had remembered it from previous visits.  The town and the marina were all well maintained making it a good place for visitors.

Day 32 – Blind River, Ontario (Tuesday, June 2, 2015)

Had lunch in Thessolan at Subway.

Good ride.  Relatively good wind.

I wanted to stay at a place called McIvers but I didn’t have it plugged in correctly in my GPS.   I ignored my rule about asking people when I entered the town and ending up driving right through.   I ended up staying at another place that did the job but I was disappointed.

Itching to get home.  Little time to write.

View of Lake Huron from a restaurant near Thessalon.

Someone with a love for bicycles.

Lake Huron looking south.

Day 31 – Sault Ste Marie, Ontario (Monday,  June 1, 2015)

Felt good in the morning. Made good pace in spite of the ~10 mile/hour head wind.

Stopped a nice restaurant just east of McMillan for breakfast. Chatted with a guy named Brad from McMillan on his bicycle who had ridden to get some pastry.

Had a conversation with another couple who had connections in Ontario and visit Stratford regularly. I recommended Niagra on the Lake as an alternative.

I had lunch in Newberry only 6 miles after the restaurant I had breakfast at.   Apparently that was the last significant stop before Sault Ste Marie (40 more miles) so I had to take advantage of it.

I reached Interstate 75 about 5:30pm and headed North. Late but ok given the late start and doddling. I stopped at a road side rest area for my usual water and stuff. As I was leaving I was greeted by a state trooper then he told me I was reported by someone. I couldn’t ride on the interstate. So I was escorted  2 1/2 miles to the exit.  I would have liked to point out that the cities are much more dangerous than the interstate but no one would have listened.

I managed to cross over the bridge into Sault Ste Marie, Ontario without mishap and am now staying in yet another hotel for the night.   It was too late to look for camping spots so close the city.

I was happy to be in Ontario.

Day 30 – Seney, Michigan (Sunday, May 31, 2015)

Hard day. Didn’t feel like getting going.

I had breakfast in the Perkins restaurant and set off against a tough North by North Eastern cross wind bringing cold air in from the lake.

At a rest stop not far from Marquette I met a “serious” cyclist on a time trial bike.  He was on his way to Munising and back for a four hour workout.  We both complained about the cross wind but it didn’t do any good.  At the same stop I met another fellow who was planning a trip across North Dakota.

The wind made the trip tough and I made Munising for a late lunch and met a man who owned a bike shop in Esanola (south somewhere).  There were certainly a lot of cyclists in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

After Munising the highway runs further from the lake and the wind subsided.   I originally wanted to make Singleton but I felt fine at Singleton and in good time so I kept going to Seney.

Given the tough morning I was happy to have made Seney by the late afternoon.  As I entered Seney I met some ladies at a general store all bundled up and asked about a restaurant they could recommend.  They mentioned a bar/restaurant down the road and a campsite (they couldn’t recommend the restaurant because they doing go to bars).   I went to the bar/restaurant and stayed at an old motel with a nice room in the rear.

Ralph taking a rest.

View of Lake Superior from the rest stop just east of Marquette.

Sand dunes beside the road to Munising.

Day 29 – Marquette, Michigan (Saturday, May 30, 2015)

It was still cold and wet from rain in the morning.  I packed up the tent and made my way to the coop for breakfast; a wrap and sandwich – not very satisfying.

As I set off I discovered that my rear rack had broken.  A fellow cycler happened by and fixed me up with some wire.

It was about 9am before I was on the road.  Much later than I would have liked to make Marquette.

Lunch was not memorable.

I arrived in Marquette in the late afternoon and stopped at a DaysInn with a laundry, a pool and a good Perkins restaurant adjacent.    Throughout the restaurant there were tributes to the pioneers that had established the surrounding area.

Day 28 – Bruce Crossing, Michigan (Friday, May 29, 2015)

I set out to make Kenton, Michigan (that unknown state to the east).

I had lunch in Wakefield (the first real town in Michigan) at a place recommended by a variety store at the west end of town.  Wakefield was important because I had to leave highway 2 and head off across the Michigan’s Upper Peninsula via highway 28.    I was anticipating this all morning.  However when I finished my lunch I had forgotten completely about the fork and continued along highway 2.

I would have travelled along highway 2 for a long time – perhaps all day – if I hadn’t been interrupted shortly after leaving Wakefield by a driver of a car who was interested in talking to me as a rode – of all things.  He drove next to me at my speed opened the passenger window and commenced to carry on a conversation while we were travelling down the highway.    Well that wasn’t going to work for long so we stopped.   He was interested in my ride because his parents were setting out on their own trek from Portland Oregon to Maine on a custom made tandem recumbent.   (I have never seen one.)   We exchanged stories and as we were departing I told him I was heading to Kenton today.    He pointed out that if I was going to Kenton I was on the wrong road.   When there you go.   There was a benefit in conversations after all.

I corrected my course by heading back the short distance to Wakefield and made my way along highway 28.

I approached Bruce Crossing the town just west of Kenton just as it was starting to rain.  Bruce Crossing was a real town.  It was small but it had everything people needed; a coop, gas stations and a camp ground.   I  asked, as I have become accustomed, “what’s available in Kenton?  Is there a camp ground there?” etc.  It turns out that there is nothing really in Kenton so I ate supper in a sketchy restaurant, passed on the beer because the pub area was too dark and pitched my tent in the rain at a park behind the coop at Bruce Crossing.   I mentioned in one of my texts that there is a certain comfort tenting in the rain.   The rather soothing sound of rain on the tent makes for a good sleep.   After all, the rain is really the reason you have a tent and my new Big Angus , by the way, performed beautifully.

Day 27 – Ashland, Wisconsin (Thursday May 28, 2015)

I left Superior happy to put the bad memory (re: traffic) behind me and set off east.

I think I had lunch in Iron River but I can’t quite remember because I am writing this a week later.   Anyway I had lunch.  I am sure I had lunch.

I travelled less than 70 miles today.  I could have and should have gone farther by the people in Wisconsin didn’t have any confidence that there was anything beyond their border.   No one could really give me a good description of the towns to the east – in Michigan – and I didn’t particularly like the prospect of travelling distances that were too long to cover in the daylight.

So I stayed in the Best Western in Ashland.  (I had supper somewhere too but it was not as memorable as lunch.)  The hotel was a 1980ish reconstruction of a historic hotel that apparently was burnt down twice.   The hotel was nice but it didn’t have a laundry and, to be honest, the historic architecture and history was lost on me.  All I needed was a bed and an uneventful sleep.

The property was on the shore of Lake Superior that is adjacent to a small marina.   It sat next to another property that had some chemical contamination – big tourist draw.  I’ll have to ask David what polyaromatic hydrocarbons are.  With all the signs, fences and big tent like buildings like they have in the X-Files, they can’t be good.   Apparently they were in the water too.  There were information posters assuring the public that as long that the goo wasn’t disturbed there was nothing to worry about.    Pretty disturbing.   But they were doing their best to show professionalism and reassure us all.  Good thing I have had all my kids.