1997 Lake Michigan Bike Trip (2)

I talked with Steve, and he updated me on some of the facts of the ride. I can recall now that we camped just short of Cedar River (no, not the one in Mancelona) and the next day we rode, quite hard, to Palms Book State Park, just West of Manistique. Here is found Michigan's largest spring, called Kitchitikipi ("Mirror of Heaven") by the Indians. The big spring is a pond, 200 feet across and 40 feet deep into which 10,000 gallons of water a minute gush from fissures in the underlying limestone, keeping the pond a constant 45 degrees, all year long, according to the park's website.

They have stocked the pond with trout, as you can see from the glass-bottomed raft:




The next day we rode almost all the way to the Mackinaw Bridge, to Pig Island camp ground, where we met a couple of Steven's friends, Lisa and Mohammed. We had a nice cookout, had a swim in Lake Michigan, and crashed ... I got onto the Google Maps website and traced our route along the the Lake Michigan shoreline on satellite photos, from the Wisconsin state line almost all the way to the Mackinaw Bridge.

This picture is from that day. You can vaguely see the Mackinaw Bridge in the background. Even though Lake Huron and Lake Michigan are theoretically one body of water, the bridge marks where one lake hypothetically ends and the other begins.



The second-to-the-last day, we rode from there all the way down to Petosky. You can't ride your bicycle across the Mackinaw Bridge, but there is an office, and if you stop in, they'll take you across in a pickup.

Steven has county maps for all of Michigan, and I recall that the ride that day was very pleasant, no main roads, a dip now and again in Lake Michigan.

On the last day of our trip we made it back to Mancelona. Exhausted, but happy with that feeling of having pulled off the adventure.

1997 Lake Michigan Bike Trip (1)

It's been 10 years since that ride, and many of the hairs that I haven't lost have turned gray. But it was one of two long bike trips I made in my life. The other was a two-part trip, first a loop in Spain from Avila to Salamanca via the Sierra de Gredos, and then from Gaillac in southern France to Bretagne in the north. Both were great experiences.

Back in '97 I recall tht we first spent a week in Mancelona getting our bikes ready. We took them apart, re-lubed all moving parts and put them back together. Luckily for me, my brother did most of the work ... I'm not the most mechanically inclined person.

Then my dad dropped us in Manistee. The first day we rode only 35 miles or so, down to Ludington. Here we are, preparing to set off.



Here's an image from the Ludington campground at the end of the day. 35 miles on a bike is not that much, but if you haven't really trained, and you're loaded with camping stuff, it's a good day's ride. We ate pizza and drank beer that night, and slept in the park.



The next day we woke up early and rode the ferry over to Wisconsin.



We rode that day from Manitowoc to Green Bay, and decided to sleep in a cheap motel. After sleeping in a bed, we were ready to ride the next day. We made it back into Michigan, crossing the state line at Menominee. We had a nice picnic of smoked whitefish that afternoon, and camped in a park somewhere around Escanaba.

The next morning we ate heartily at some restaurant and hit the road. To be continued ...

MarkoZombie

Mark as a zombie brain eater. Jim, you're sick. Thanks for the pic

Green and Red Supper

Red: gazpacho
Green: pasta with basil pesto
Red: wine
Green: peppers in the salad
Red: peppers in the salad.

Re: Two Things ....

Guess what I have in my bag ...



Two cans of beer. My brother and I went skiing that day. At a certain point along our route, there are the ruins of a long-abandoned house, surrounded by an apple orchard. A lot of deer in that area. Sometimes we see impressions in the snow where deer have been sleeping. There is also an enormous, fenced-in private "ranch" where monied "sportsmen" can shoot captive animals. That's got to make you feel manly.

The Two Things that I Most Miss About my Hometown

1. Going mushroom hunting in May.

2. Cross-country skiing.

Indian Wedding Band, Bangalore (1997)

This is the shit. In fact, I saw James Brown in concert at the Durham Athletic Park the previous year and his band's uniforms were pretty much the same. Plus JB had dancers, one of whom was Isaac Hayes's daughter.