August 25, 2021
It rained during the night and that’s a nice sound when it is hitting the rain fly on the tent, especially when everything is staying dry inside. It seemed that every time I woke up there was the sound of raindrops but when I got up around 6am it had stopped. I got my running gear on and decided to run down to the pond that is part of this camping site’s property. The whole place feels really vacant with only 2-3 other vehicles around since, as I mentioned in another post, this is the type of place that people haul their RVs to “for the season” and, most likely, only come to stay on weekends.
I ran down the dirt path/road to the pond and could see that the owner had mowed a grassy path around the whole thing. I went to the left and ran to the end where it narrows and then around to the other side of the pond. The pond is very mossy and I could hear the occasional splash: frogs, fish? When I got near the end of my lap I came across a muddy area. It had two wheel tracks through it and I figured by staying in the center I would have good footing. Wrong! I made a forward motion to carry me over it as I planted my left foot down and it immediately sank and my momentum moved me forward and the bog sucked the shoe off my foot. I stepped back into the mud with my stocking and, with some difficulty, pulled my shoe out. I always wear two pairs of socks so it was no problem to pull off the outer one and re-shoe that foot and get going again. I took an uphill trail that took me on a loop around the end of the property and back to the pond where I did an out-and-back to the mud hole before returning to the camping area.
After a cool-down and a shower, I started the packing process, something that I am getting quite proficient at doing. I had to make some changes as to where things go to keep my wet and muddy shoes and socks away from the dry stuff but eventually got the bike loaded and was ready to move on.
The goal today is to get to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. I set the app to head me north on the non-highway route and off I went. Although, with a full tank, my bike has a range of over 330-miles, when I get to about a half talk, I get gas. For one thing, it gives me a break and, for another, I get to have a different gas station experience. I think I mentioned in an earlier post how much I dislike gas pumps that have the LCD video screens blaring commercials as I pump. Putting a highly flammable and explosive product in a container mounted over a hot engine is nothing to be taken lightly and I really don’t like the distraction of someone screaming at me about buying one thing or another that I don’t need. Add to that, there are usually a half-dozen pumps doing the same thing and they are not in synch, delivering a cacophony of noise. There should be a law. And, here’s the latest in gas pump technology: a full screen LCD panel for controlling the whole experience.
And, yes, it ran commercials while I was filling up.
BTW, my bike continues to get 55 miles to the galling and it is designed to run on regular.
I went through lots of small towns as I’ve been doing for the past couple weeks. In Perry, MI I stopped for this photo.
The next door neighbor had this sign.
Along the way I stopped to take some pictures of what the road was like.
One of the best things about these backroads is getting to drive through so many small and medium-sized towns. Occasionally one strikes my interest and I file it away for future research. Chelsea, MI was one of those places. As I entered the town I passed the Chrysler Proving Grounds, certainly a nod to that state’s history with the automotive industry, but it was the warm feeling I got riding through the downtown and all the beautiful and well-kept older homes that really grabbed me. It really does appear to be a nice place to live.
After that the routing app somehow switched me to Hwy 33, which turned out well because not only was the speed limit the same, there was virtually no traffic.
I finally got close enough to get my first view of Lake Huron.
The big event occurred just a few miles up the road. The Mackina Bridge, AKA Big Mac, connects the bulk of Michigan to what is referred to as its Upper Peninsula. It is famous for its length, about 5-miles, as well as the conditions on the bridge while crossing. I heard that they actually escort batches of cars across in the winter. I’d done some homework and noted that there are 2-lanes in each direction with the left lane made up, mostly, of the dreaded steel grating, an anxiety-producing ride for motorcycles. Add to that the ever-present crosswinds and we have what was refereed to back in my younger day as an “E-ticket ride.” (At Disneyland you’d buy a ticket book and it came with tickets that ranged from “A” through “E.” “A” tickets were for riding the trolley down Main Street and other benign experiences and the “E” tickets were for the good stuff like Matterhorn roller coaster.)
I rode along the highway and stopped for gas before making the crossing. I pulled out of the station and before I could psyche myself up, I ended up on the on ramp to the bridge. There is a pretty long uphill approach and I could feel the crosswinds as I gained elevation. The speed limit is 45 mpg and I stuck in 4-gear to give me speed as well as some control. I ducked down behind the windshield a bit to make less of a sail and that helped.
I had gone to the bridge’s website and it indicated that the conditions were good for crossing, as in “no construction.” That was a lie. I planned to stay in the steel-grating-free right lane all the way across but as I neared the first big support column, they had that lane blocked off for some reason and over on the grating I went. The trick is to loosen the grip on the handlebars and just let the bike do its thing. It wiggles and wobbles but I have to trust the physics that tell me that it’s going to keep upright even with the crosswind. As I passed behind the first column, it blocked the wind, giving me a respite, but it returned with a gust that shifted the bike over a foot or so. About the time I reached the summit, the right lane reopened and I swerved to its safety. Now it was all downhill to the toll booth. That piece of fun was only $4.
I rode to the bridge viewing area to take a photo.
Five Harley riders showed up and we had a nice chat. They were on a 1-week tour from central Pennsylvania, something they do together once every year.
I headed west on US 2 and got clear of the whole Mackinac thing before I thought to pull over to check out camping options in the area. There weren’t any as everything was full up, even for tenters like me. I decided that, since I still had lots of sun, to ride on for an hour to get away from the tourist area and check online again. My cell service got sketchy but I found that Milakokia State Park had 35 primitive tent sites. The RV crowd avoids places like this so I pulled in and found it mostly empty, grabbed a site on the lake and called it a day.
392 miles.
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