July 8, 2021
Charlevoix - Harbor Springs, MI
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Today's route was a dilemma. There is a bike path along the lake the entire distance. What's not to like? If you are Jacinto, you want more miles! What to do? We spent considerable time in the evening, making a longer, country route. I called to see if we could get in our room early. Sandy was doubtful. That cemented the plan to ride the longer route. Jacinto planned his usual 11 AM departure. Even with a 7:30 alarm clock, we were scooting out the door at 10:56. The motel owners were literally waiting at the door to clean the room.
I hadn't eaten oatmeal this morning, but thought I would try Jacinto's method of eating real food in the morning. I had left over BBQ from last night, a banana, and some orange juice that John and Diane gifted us. In retrospect, I didn't eat enough.
We had debated again how to dress. It was 55 degrees and not forecast to warm up. Cloudy skies, but no rain. We hope. Jacinto did the double shirt again. I added a vest to my usual outfit.
We hadn't gone two blocks when Jacinto stopped to add gloves. I added ear warmers. The wind was unfortunately against us.
Bertha wasn't talking to me again today. I told Jacinto to watch out I made the turns. We were on pleasant country roads almost the entire day. I suspect I did miss out on water views, but I certainly appreciated riding country roads. There were many too choose from. This would be a good area to be a cyclist.
We went five short miles before we had to take a ferry to continue. What? A ferry? Jacinto's Komoot app breaks the ride down into road types - dirt, pavement, path, etc. Including ferry! I did a little google research and discovered that we did indeed need to take the Ironton Ferry across the south arm of Lake Charlevoix. It is .50 for each person and .50 for each bicycle. $3.00 for a car. The ferry quickly passes back and forth. It was perhaps a three minute trip.
I think probably Jacinto and I can't ride together much longer. At first he was much slower because of the extra weight and we had about the same speed. Jacinto is already accustomed to the weight and now has to wait for me regularly. I was pushing a little too hard because I knew he was waiting. The end result is that I didn't take too many photos and I didn't eat when I wanted to. I ended up being a little fried at the end.
We did have one surprise, on East Bear Road. There was about a mile of good dirt. It was wet, because of the recent rain. We were passed by three four wheelers, which were very noisy and a little scary until they got past.
I was more than ready to get to town. We were dumped onto a section of the bike path as we went through what I think was the tail end of Petoskey. I saw a brewery that looked good. I knew that wouldn't be a dinner choice for us, we still had three miles to ride. Would we ever get there? I was so ready and today was only a 44 mile day. Tomorrow is 50 miles with the pressure of getting to the ferry. 50 miles takes us around through the tunnel of trees. 33 miles would take us the direct road on 31. I don't want to go that way, even if I'm fried today.
We pulled up to the Best Western. I was anticipating a nice stay tonight. Just what I need. The ladies at the desk were pleasant and helpful. One lady pulled up the ferry schedule, because I'd read yesterday the ferry quits running at 2:30 (thus the pressure to ride faster). No - the ferry runs until 9 PM, which makes total sense. I don't know how I got 2:30.
They have a hot breakfast in the morning. Hurray! No bicycles in the room. They have a locked room we can keep them in, or outside of the room door is ok. We were carting our items inside when the phone rang. It was the front desk, calling to see how we like our room. Darned if I know, I'm still busy going back and forth. I didn't say that. I said it was delightful. I also asked if we could keep our bikes in the room with a deposit. I thought that was a fine solution in Traverse City. No - that isn't a choice. Damn. We seldom have a place we can't keep the bikes in the room. This is twice this trip.
The only place to eat close to us is a Polish Restaurant that closes at 7. We walked over at 6. They had a line out the door and an hour wait for food. What to do, but wait. It must be good. We are waiting now. We came back to the room so I could finish this.
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Today's ride: 44 miles (71 km)
Total: 335 miles (539 km)
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3 years ago