Schadenfreude Strikes Back: Day 42 - Lake Michigamme to Munising Mi - And Then We Pedalled...... Cross Canada 2015

July 14, 2015

Schadenfreude Strikes Back: Day 42 - Lake Michigamme to Munising Mi

So yesterday we were taking our guilty little pleasure on the back of the Detroit guys who were biking in the rain all day.

Our rain started during the night. Not real hard, but enough to tell us to smarten up and mind our own business.

Still raining when we set off but we decided that just our rain jackets were enough. Twenty km's latter as we pull into Ishpeming we spot a McD's. We pull in. Martin and Claude are there too. They've just taken over a corner and turned it into a semi laundry. The three of us pull in and complete the scene.

It's actually pretty cold out, 10 c at most with drizzle and wind. A few cups of coffee, dry socks, FULL rain gear, we hit the road again for Marquette. As we were sitting in McD's we kept seeing the weather channel reports for Marquette saying 0% chance of rain and clear skies ..... something to look forward to.

After a few km's we came across a sign for the Michigan Iron Museum. It was about a kilometre off the road and it turned out to be quite good. It's in the middle of a ~90'km system of trails and interpretive centres that show the history of the early mining industry in this region.

It was also a stroke of serendipity as there was a 'bike trail' that lead to Marquette from here. Turns out the first 20 km was gravel, not good on loaded touring bike, but the adjacent very quiet country road was an A+ ride into Marquette. Did I mention it was down hill for most of the way. And that the clouds disappeared. And that there were paved bike paths leading out of the city. And that the views of Lake Superior were fantastic.

Our penance must have been served. It was a great ride from here to Munising cruising along the shores of Lake Superior. The first 10 km east of Marquette were along lakeshore drive, a very quiet rural residential road. Beautiful this time of year but we were also imagining what it could be like in winter with the storms coming off superior.

We had an inkling of what it's like in the winter when we kept noticing 35 mph speed limit signs along the 'bike path'. This is really fast even for racing bikes, until we realized these were not 'bike paths'. We were merely borrowing them until winter comes and the snowmobiles assert their dominance over their kingdom.

Once lakeshore drive ended we were back on hwy 28, nice wide shoulders and not much traffic. Up ahead we saw some touring bikes and thought we were catching up to Claude and Martin again. We had a decent tailwind so we dialed it up on the prairie slayer and soon caught up. Turns out it was a different group, three folks from Grand Rapids on a tour of the Upper Penisula.

Five km later we do come across Claude and Martin. Their bikes are lying on the side of the road and we see them bent over in the ditch. Strawberries. Really good ones and lots off them. Another serendipity moment. When you answer natures call she sometimes rewards you!

We were comparing notes on the day, they were trying to get well past Munising so had a lot left to do. None of us had had a real lunch so we decided we'd stop at the first restaurant we came across.

Turned out the first restaurant was about another 10'km up the road, the Brownstone Inn, a beautifully refurbished stone cottage serving up some amazingly good food! Serendipity strikes again (I think I need 'word of the day' as well as 'song of the day').

Fully fed we said our farewells to Claude and Martin and continued the last few km's through Christmas (yes they make a play on the name) and then to the really nice municipal campground at Munising. It's right on the shore of Lake Superior, tucked in bay that's sheltered by Grand Isle. Terrific spot.

The campground was full but they made a spot for us. Believe it or not, we were not Aliens on a new planet. The Grand Rapids bikers were there as well as a group of four guys from Illinois doing a tour of the UP.

Even the rv's were real people doing real things. Mary Jo and here husband were here from California doing some kayaking. There were families out hiking, biking and kayaking. Everyone in the campground was moving around talking and interacting.

And an angel decended upon us. Ok, I exaggerate, but Carrie and her husband Ben had overheard that we were biking across the country so she brought us a great meal of vegetable beef soup, just because. These are not the same RV people we have been seeing for the last 4300 km's! Munising is different, and we like it!

Amazing sunset, a cool verging on cold night making it very easy to snuggle into the down bag and get a good night sleep, all in all a day that ended well.

Heart

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Song of the day:

Thumbalina by the Pretenders

A rockabilly sounding number about taking a trip accross America. This struck a chord with me as we were riding along the lakeshore, pretty happy with our decision to include this piece of America in out tour.