Day 60, Croton MI 62 miles

We woke up very rested and warm. Said our farewells to Bill and Robin, and set off for Croton. The changing leaves are beautiful, it was rolling hills all day, and the weather was in the 60's and sunny. We couldn't have asked for better weather. A great day for a ride! The only issue we had was finding a place along the way that served lunch. We kept on stopping but nowhere was open, so we went the entire distance to Croton without a meal! We were a little hungry, to say the least, and cranky when we rolled into the campground. We dropped our bikes and walked over to the Mexican restaurant and chowed down on some delicious food.  We settled in for the night, the campground was on a lake so we had a beautiful sunset! Later that night we also had a great view of the Harvest Moon.

Big Jackson, MI ... not so big

snack time and map time

view at from our camp

Day 59 Luther, MI, 54 miles

We finished our morning routine and decided since it was a short day, we were gonna hang out inside and head out when it had warmed up to 40! The ride was gorgeous along the lake shore, and through the Manistee national rainforest. We decided to do lunch in Garlet Corners, Sally was happy that they were still serving breakfast at 1pm. We got directions from our warm showers host that took us off the busy roAD and back through some rolling hills with beautiful scenery. We sayed with Bill and Robin just a mile north of Luther. They were very hospitable, Bill made us a wonderful dinner and we had great conversations.

Off to a late start, but it was much warmer inside

the fall colors!

more chain problems

Luther, MI

Day 58 77 miles to Interlochen MI

We woke up at 6:30 and it was still pitch black out. Since we had negotiated the price of the BnB down, we had to make our own breakfast. When we left at 8 the sun had finally come out, and we were off , the beginning of the day started with some very steep rolling hills, which was good it helped keep us a little warm. Starting temp was about 36F. We made it a whole 7 miles and stopped at a cafe to pee and decided to get some tea and coffee, and food. Once we warmed up the three of us left for our lunch stop in Rapid City. We rode along the lake with beautiful views and small rollers. We passed through Alden right before Rapid City and we should have stopped in Alden... Oh well. Bar food it was, had our fill of grease. There is a nice bike path around Travers City that we rode for 8 miles. We stayed at a warm showers place, a Creek Side Cottages and Hostel owned by Holly Jo in Interlochen.  She was very nice and accommodating. It took all 4 of us could figure out how to turn the heat on, but it was soon warm and toasty.  Dinner was much better than lunch, veggie burgers, then some ice cream from Bud's across the street we warmed up and went to bed.

a cold and somewhat misty morning start

our morning warm up spot

Best Road Ever!

Sally and Kayleen already passed out, but our lovely accommodations

Day 57 East Jordan 77 miles

We started out  with cool temps, but didn't see any frost so a bit warmer than some of our other mornings. Nothing a mile or two of riding won't fix.  The morning was along the lake, sun sand dunes, maples, oaks, pines and ever so pretty.  We hit 45 miles and had a delicious lunch at a Thai restaurant in Petosky.  Kayleen treated us to a delectable cupcake and we finished our ride on some steep but short climbs followed by "the wall" which was a steep and short downhill into East Jordan.  We hit 45 mph on the downhill. The owner of a B&B stopped us at the top of one hill and told us to stay at his place, but it was too expensive.  We decided to negotiate and got him down considerably, even though he told us we were "killing" him.  My first negotiation!  Now we are warm and comfy for the night.  We are ready to start camping again as the weather is better.  A great day on the bikes.

Finally over this hill!

Day 56, 17mi, Rest day Mackinac Island and City

We started out our morning eating cold pizza from the night before...yum. Matt got another flat on his trailer, 2 days in a row. Once all the bikes were in working order, we rode the 5 miles into town to catch a ferry to Mackinac Island. Lake Michigan was much calmer today. And a correction to yesterday's blog... The wind was 30-45 mph!!! The ferry took us under the bridge. Fun fact for the day, the bridge separates the Great Lakes Michigan and Huron? Once on Mackinac Is we dropped our bikes off at the Grand Hotel bike rack, and attempted have lunch there but it was $10 to get into the hotel and then $40 for the buffet. Even our bike touring appetites are not worth that much for lunch! We promptly turned around and headed downtown to grab lunch elsewhere. We walked around downtown, stopped into the peace frog store, fudge shop, and picked up some other goodies. Then road our bikes around the perimeter of the Island for 8.5 miles, and boy were we exhausted! It was time to bid adieu, so we caught the ferry to Mackinaw City, checked into the hotel and did some much needed laundry! Even wool has its limits.

Sally and Kayleen had to much free time today!

Day 55 64 miles to St Ignace

Didn't get up till 7, what a luxury. We enjoyed a delicious breakfast at the BnB, the night before they spoiled us with pie and Ice cream. We had a little later start than usual, Matt had a flat on his trailer, the wires from the semi tires have given us the most flats. Spent all day on US 2, with a nice wide shoulder and a tail wind for the first 40 miles. We stopped in Epoufette, and enjoyed views of the shore while we ate. The next 24 miles were harder than the the first 40. The wind had picked up to 20-35 mph from the SW, so we had mostly cross winds, and when the 2 was on the shore we were pelted with sand. Wasn't looking to be exfoliated or have our right ears sand blasted. The views of lake Michigan were beautiful, with the white caps rolling onto shore  We made it to our hotel a few miles outside off St Ignace, and hurried into our room to get out of the wind. Had some pretty good pizza delivered, we didn't find anything that looked like it would have groceries all day.

Leaving Blaney Park

Day 54 70 miles to Blaney Park

Up and riding before the sun! It was a pretty cold, but once the sun made it up it was a little warmer. About 17 miles in the sun was gone, again,  and we were freezing so we stopped at a convenience store to warm up. We chatted a while with some of the locals, and then were off to our lunch stop in Manistique . Things were looking grim for lunch spots, but we found the one open cafe. Many of the so called towns are closed for the season up here, and the random places in the middle of no where are closed too. We stopped at the grocery store on the US 2, grabbed dinner, and set off for for Blaney Park. We lucked out it had been threatening to rain most of the day, butd it only rained for the last 10 miles of the ride. We rolled into the BnB at 3, unloaded and enjoyed the company of our BnB hosts.

Headed out before the sun's all the way up

Day 53 we were rudely interrupted!, Gladstone, MI

We started out our day with a big delicious breakfast at the BnB. We heard that the temperature was 29 outside... Brrr. The three of us geared up for another cold/rainy day, but surprisingly the sun was out and kept us nice and warm. The first 40 miles of the day was great we had a tailwind and nice slow downhill. Crossed into Michigan and had lunch at a nice cafe in Escanaba before noon. While in this booming metropolis of less than 14000 we set to our errands, Sally got a new front tire, Matt got new globes, and we stocked up on food and toiletries at the evil Walmart, boo! Really we don't have a lot of options. Then back to the road with very dark skies and a massive head wind, not fun. Made it all of 12 miles and had stop do to the strong wind, rain, and inability to see. We stayed at a hotel right on the outskirts of Gladstone. We only finished 52 of our 77 miles we had planned to do, but we will make up it up when the weather is nicer, and we can see where we are going. 

That's the way we're heading

the rain is continuous

Day 52 we made it to Michigan, 86 miles, Foster, MI

Up and at 'em with the expectation of it raining all day. Kayleen had some trouble with her front derailleur, but Matt fixed it right up, despite the rain and cold, he was so happy about it and that glorious mechanic from PDX! The temp started in the 40's with the expected high of 52... yippie. The sun kept on peaking out of the clouds most of the day, with occasional blue skies. We stopped in Nelma, which we thought was a myth, there is no actual physical town. There is a bar that we grabbed warm beverages and chatted with the locals at. From them we got the scoop on Nelma and her sister Alice, another semi real town. Crystal Falls was our lunch stop, the food was typical Midwestern fair, fried greasy crap or Subway and each had put own foot long... Matt had 1 1/2! With full bellies we got back on the bikes and road to Foster City, where we stayed in a nice BnB. The owner was nice enough to make us omelets for dinner, seeings as the closest open restaurant was 6 miles away!

Sally ready to battle the wet and cold road

What you don't want to see at your lunch stop, pest control!

Senior Pose

Michigan, home to M-69, I-69, exit 69 Big Beaver Road, and exit 68 Moore Head Road

Yes it works!