Round Lake Michigan - Day Seven

Manistique, Michigan to Escanaba, Michigan

The original online journal entry:

Actual Date: 2005-07-18
Uploaded: Mon, 18 Jul 2005 21:18:34 -040
Distance: 88.24 km

Today's distance might seem small and insignificant but it was very hard fought thanks to a strong south-westerly wind. I don't think that this was the strongest headwind that I've been in but it comes a very close second. I can remember one day on Lake Huron that was a bit stronger.

While one of the bicycle tourists heading in the opposite direction reported an average hourly speed of 29.8 miles per hour, I am proud to report that I was able to keep my average hourly speed more then 6 miles per hour. Yippee!

I met several bicycle tourists today. A married couple riding a recumbent tandem circling the lake, a Milwaukee bicycle messenger riding to Montreal and a teacher from the Dominican Republic who is riding a Dahon foldup bike along parts of the lake.

The clouds were fascinating to watch today. All kinds of changes from gloomy overcast right through to blue skies with puff ball clouds.

Apparently I am 500 km from Milwaukee. To arrive by Friday night/Saturday morning I need to cover 125 km per day. Barring further windy interventions this seems like a very doable requirement.

Almost ran over a snake on the highway today. It was a tan colour with some black diamonds. Relatively small in size. I didn't like him anymore then he appeared to like me.

Time to start getting ready for bed. Tomorrow might have a north wind. Since this is a tail wind then I might be looking at some easy distance. Not counting on it but it would be a nice to have my first tail wind of the tour.

~Jamie N

Post tour comments about this day:

One of the most unique things about this day was the constantly changing cloud conditions. As you can see by looking at the pictures the day started off with clear skies. When the wind started picking up clouds began to appear. Within a short period of time the clouds darkened only to break up and once again float across the sky. This cycle was again repeated just before nightfall.

I mentioned earlier in my journal entries that I had been looking forward to riding on US2. Part of what triggered that anticipated enjoyment was the thought of relatively quiet roads like the ones I rode from St. Ignace to Saulte Ste Marie or the hilly but beautiful scenery that accompanies Highway 17 on the northern shore of Lake Huron. Both were experienced during my Round Lake Huron tour last year.

US 2 is a different kind of road. It's a flat highway with decent paved shoulders but especially on a Sunday the road is a busy one with lots of traffic including RV's and large camping trailers. It's not really a remote highway either with motels, restaurants and convenience stores readily available.

I stopped in at the local post office this morning and mailed home 7 pounds of gear that I didn't really need after all. One of the items was my trusty water filter. Obtaining good water hadn't been a problem on this tour so far and looking ahead it seemed like it wouldn't be a problem later either so home it went. Other stuff included some cool weather clothing and a few pieces of camera equipment that I wasn't using.

I met three bicycle tourers. Two of them were going clockwise around the lake while the remaining one was travelling in the same general direction as I was. It was interesting talking to them and finding out what route they had taken to get to where they were on this day.

The first bicycle touring couple were riding a recumbent tandem. I encountered them while fighting a head wind. When they told me that they had started in Wisconsin that morning I was a little bit shocked at first since I knew that with the wind strength I would be lucky to be even close to the state border by nightfall. As the story came out they mentioned that they rode to the end of the Door penisula and then chartered a fishing boat to bring them across the lake to a state park very close to where I met them.

The second tourer is a Milwaukee bicycle messenger on a touring adventure from Milwaukee to Montreal. We talked a bit about the roads from St. Ignace to Espanola that I covered during my tour last year. He was travelling lighter then I was. Being extremely fit and with a helpful tailwind he had already covered a lot of mileage and hoped to cover a lot more before the day ended. It was him who provided the comment about a 29 mile per hour average speed.

My third adventurer of the day was a gentleman who is a teacher in the Dominican Republic. He has a folding bike that he is using in conjunction with buses to take him around the lake. He likes to cycle the interesting areas and use the bus to speed him along to the next area of interest. He is the first tourist I've seen riding a Dahon folding bike. He had a different perspective on the "hot" temperatures that we were experiencing based on his summers on the island.

During any bicycle tour you often see some interesting things sitting on the shoulder of the road. If I had been so inclined today I could have assembled a pretty decent toolset. I saw a hammer, wrench, chisel, hatchet, screwdrivers, visegrips and needle nose pliers along with at least forty or fity of those black rubber straps with the steel hooks on each end.

Interesting sights today included what appeared to be an old train deraillement that is still being cleaned up. It's amazing how damaged rail cars can look following this kind of problem.

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