Traverse City - Charlevoix, MI - The Only Thing Fast On This Tour Is The Ferry

Traverse City - Charlevoix, MI

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I slept well, for someone who anticipated riding in the rain all day long. When I did wake up and look outside - yes, it was raining. We had agreed to go to breakfast (! yay, no oatmeal!) and delay until check out time to depart. There was supposed to be a window of not too much rain around 11 AM. Waiting to leave is not my style. I told Jacinto if I had been riding with Oren, we would be riding, rain or not.

We were at the restaurant when they opened at 8 AM. They had a modest three tables of people. That's quite a change from the packed restaurant with a waiting line last night. Our omelets were good. We should be fueled for the day.

We debated on our degrees of preparedness for the rain. I pulled my raincoat out and put it on. Jacinto looked horrified I was going to admit defeat from the start. He went so far as to wear two layers for the cold, but didn't even put his coat on the top. I had over mitts in my pocket, but didn't wear them. Jacinto didn't even wear bicycle gloves as he didn't want any more wet things than he had to have.

I debated if I should cover my thin foam bicycle seat pad. It would fit in a trash bag, but then it would probably be slippery. I settled for a layer of Saran Wrap between the foam and the mesh seat bottom to (hopefully) keep the rain from soaking through on the bottom. As long as I sat in the seat and didn't expose it to rain, it should be dry.

At times it was raining so hard that the rain was bouncing in the parking lot! As not fun as that looked, I kept telling myself it wasn't the rain that the Andersons' had experience. Count ourselves lucky.

Shortly before 11, I went over and asked to have our room inspected for damage. Kaylie said it looked fine and to expect our $25. deposit to be credited back within 5 business days.

We rode down the sidewalk for .4 miles until our first turn on the Airport Access Road. Traffic on 31 was fast and heavy. There was zero shoulder in this area. The sidewalk was the best choice.

We were on a short section of bike path. Then dumped onto Bunker Hill Road, which was indeed a hill. Then there was another two miles of bike path. Of course, it was raining lightly and any locals were probably home, but I wondered how many local cyclists ride this little piece of trail. There wasn't much trail for the amount of climbing. The trail on the other side of town was much longer. I bet if we return in a few years, this end of the path will be extended.

We had to cross a busy road. A nice truck stopped for us. Which prompted the vehicle on the other side of the road to stop and we could hurry across. I don't know when we would have crossed if the truck hadn't helped us out. We were on Bates Road next. I saw a house that had a cooler outside with a sign above that said "Free cold water for cyclists". That made me feel warm and fuzzy. Just past there was a farm with the cutest farm animals made from painted metal barrels. I'm kicking myself now I didn't stop for photos. They had a cow, a pig, and one more animal I couldn't see enough to identify. I should have stopped. It was raining lightly at the time and I had my phone in a plastic bag. Plus, Jacinto was in front of me and I didn't want to stop and get further behind. I still wish I had photographed then.

At mile 18.5, we were onto Highway 31. It was busy with a barely adequate shoulder. I snuck a few snacks as I rode and kept pedaling. I didn't want to drop too far behind. All of the traffic was polite. We saw a few double full size semi trucks hauling large rocks. There has been a notable lack of big trucks this trip. I haven't seen or even heard more than 1-2 dogs either.

What I keep meaning to write about is how clean the state has been. Zero. Absolutely zero trash on the roadways. It's amazing! How does the state manage that?

We saw two other bicycle tourists today. They were completely bundled up against the rain. The man in front had a white beard. The second person I couldn't say man or woman, the clothes covered them so well.

We were moving right along. I was surprised when Elk Rapids came up. We were supposed to get off of 31 and go around on a different route through town. Jacinto said to forget that, he just wanted to get down the road. I speculated that we were routed around because the bridge wasn't bicycle friendly. Jacinto said he'd rather give the bridge a try than cross the road and have to cross back again. I had to agree on that. We continued. Crossing through town was totally fine. There was no reason to route around.

Our day was half done. It had basically quit raining, although there was spray back from passing vehicles. Sometimes I noticed a headwind. Sometimes I didn't. It wasn't too much of a factor for the day.

I tried to look around and pay attention to the scenery. Mostly we were hurrying down the road, racing the rain.

The miles were ticking away in a pleasant manner. Jacinto said we were off of Highway 31 again at mile 44. That couldn't come soon enough. Shortly before that the road was blocked with several men in safety vests directing traffic. Great. Would all of this traffic be going on our back roads route?

I pulled up to one of the workers and told him our intended route. He confirmed that we should continue straight. Yay! We could get through. Traffic free. We speculated why the road would be closed. South bound was still moving, north bound had to route around. A man was getting his mail from the mail box. I pulled up next to him and asked if he knew why. He wasn't terribly friendly and said he didn't know why, he had just come outside. Hmm. Thank you. Have a nice day.

I was afraid when we turned off of 31, we would climb. Yep. That's just what happened. We took a right on Brown, which had a couple of interesting climbs and descents. We followed Barnard Road into town. The road surface was not good. The right side was crumbling and had been repaired. In much of the road, up to half of the road had crumbled and been coated over.

I was admittedly riding to the left of the crumbled area when I had a light yellow truck pass me and honked. Perhaps it was a friendly honk. Probably not. I gave an energetic five finger wave back. I could see the man raise his hand. If it also have five fingers up, or just one, I could not tell. I was too happy about how nicely our bad day was going to be worried about this man.

We were almost there and hadn't gotten too wet. At one point the road way had started to dry out, but it was spitting rain again.

I stopped for a couple of photos, feeling guilty for not having more. Jacinto didn't take a single photo all day.

I made careful note of the grocery and several restaurant as we got to town proper. We are at the Villa Moderne Motel - it is on the south side of town right across from a rib restaurant, a McDonald's and a grocery store. There is also (finally) three convenience stores very close to us. We still think there is a big shortage of convenience stores in Michigan.

We pulled up to the motel. When I checked in the man asked if we were the bicycle riders who called in the morning for a room. No, that wasn't us. Could it be John and Diane? They had been camping. Perhaps they wanted to dry out. Yes. it was! It's a small world sometimes.

Feeling slightly guilty about the wet grime on the bikes, I confirmed that bicycles were ok in the room. Yes, definitely! Thank you. I even got a couple of rags to wipe the bikes with.

This is an older motel with an old bathroom with a couple of colors of tile in the bath. It is very clean. All of the windows were open and the door also. We thought that was a little odd. Maybe they are airing things out. COVID? The wi-fi is only medium good. We are at the far end from the office. It's roomy enough and I'm so happy to be inside, warm and dry, that I think it is an excellent motel. The beds are firm and the pillows are soft. The towels are thick. The soap is itsy, bitsy. I've never seen such small soap. I'm still happy.

Jacinto announced he wasn't washing his clothes because there was no chance they would dry in this humidity. Perhaps the rain moisture would dry if they were just hung to dry. I didn't think too long before deciding that was the wise approach. I'm not excited about putting crusty clothes on tomorrow. Dry beats crusty.

I want to go eat at a taco shop that has only to go food. I think Jacinto wants ribs. Let's see where we go for dinner.

Tomorrow we have a short 28 mile day scheduled to Harbor Springs. I think we are going to look for a longer, backroads route. The weather is supposed to be good.

Side note- Jacinto is watching some true crime program on TV. They are discussing a local man from Delta, where I grew up, Alan Helmick, who had been killed by his second wife. We are finishing the program before we go eat.

After dinner commentary - John and Diane are in the room next to us and coincidentally were going to dinner at the rib place at the same time. We ate together and sat around talking touring until we were kicked out. John had gone and done laundry nearby. What are the chances? I just presumed there wasn't a convenient place for laundry . . . . we might see each other again. We end up on Mackinaw Island on the same day.

Now Jacinto and I are going to take the google guy for a walk and see what we can come up with for tomorrow.

Ridewithgps absolutely would not go from the end of the bike path to the road. It insisted on routing back around.

A store outside of Elk Springs had great yard decorations.

Jacinto had on two shirts, but never got out the rain coat. The high temperature today was 63.

These were the brightest colors I saw all day.

I couldn’t figure out if this was a house or a barn. It was falling down too far.

See the four small antenna looking things on the roof top? What are they?

Today's ride: 50 miles (80 km)
Total: 291 miles (468 km)

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Scott AndersonGlad you didn’t get wetter. Also, note that we haven’t gotten wet much either on this tour. We complain about the rain a lot, but we manage to void it most of the time.
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3 years ago