July 10, 2021
Mackinaw Island rest day
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We had a delightful sleep in this morning. We barely made it downstairs in time for the sack breakfast. Hard boiled eggs were the only protein offered. Jacinto is hoarding leftovers from two days ago for his departure breakfast tomorrow. We do have a fridge, so at least they've been refrigerated.
I was advised to go early for a ride around the island, before the crowds get out. I left at 11 AM. That wasn't exactly early. There's road construction, so I knew I would have to double back as opposed to ride a circle. Traffic was terrible. I was stuck multiple times behind buggies and wagons, other bicycles, people not paying attention and weaving all over. Small children who hadn't been taught trail etiquette. This is exactly why Jacinto doesn't like bike path riding. The little snippets of views I dared grab were outstanding. I hope their construction is doubling the width of the path. I had a hard earned 13 miles - the most stressful of the trip.
Jacinto left at 3 PM for his ride. I advised him to stick to the interior paths and absolutely don't ride the outside. He just got back. He ended up with 20 miles and thinks he rode every path on the island. He was also able toride the entire circle - which is puzzling, because it was sure closed this morning!
Perhaps the secret is to leave late. Jacinto says he got stuck behind one wagon on a dirt path on the interior. That was the only time he had to slow down to pass someone.
Jacinto met a 20something man riding coast to coast. He was riding the loop and then getting the heck off of the island. I saw a tandem couple (not John and Diane) with well worn red panniers on the back. They might have been touring. Certainly they weren't casual day riders.
BTW - we ate at the Broken Spoke last night. The food was excellent, as was the service. Jacinto ordered a hamburger and it came with a bicycle wheel embossed (if that's the correct term) on the top bun. We didn't have a camera, so didn't take a photo. For dessert we bought one cup of ice cream with two scoops at the adjacent candy shop. $10. for two scoops. We did not buy fudge, but are planning to get some tonight. Hopefully at a place that doesn't require us to buy a giant slab.
We ate dinner tonight at the Gaslight Bar and Grill. We started out at the Seabiscuit, but they had a 20-30 minute wait. We got a table right away at the Gaslight. The food was excellent. That is one thing I will say for riding in tourist country. There is a wide variety of food, and it's fresh. The service has also been excellent - our waitresses really know their game.
We stopped at JoAnn's Fudge and bought two half slices of fudge. I picked chocolate cherry walnut and have eaten it already!
Our stuff is exploded all over the room. It will take forever to pack up in the morning as we need to go up and down the stairs to the bike. I am suspecting that we will be leaving the island at the same time as everyone else and it will be crazy busy. We go out towards St Ignace , perhaps there's less traffic than Mackinaw City?
We've had a good break here. The room is nice and the food was tasty. We have only one more day off the entire trip.
Today's ride: 13 miles (21 km)
Total: 399 miles (642 km)
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