Day 47. Chatham, Ontario, Canada

Hi Everyone,

In case Ruth contacts you, I don't know where Ruth is.  I saw her last in
Port Huron hanging behind at a constant 100 yards or so.

We rode to Port Huron this morning which was only 5 miles or so and rode
along the water, hoping to find the underwater tunnel that would take us to
the other side of the river instead of tackling the bridges. I talked to several
bicyclists and joggers on the waterfront bike path. Ruth would catch up then
and would let me get a head start of a hundred feet or so before starting
herself. The bad news was that the tunnel is only for trains and bicyclists
have to use the bridges.

Eventually the bike path looked like it was ending so I asked another jogger
about getting to the south side and she said to get onto the street and follow
it to the right and it would take me to a bridge that I had to cross.  To get to the
street, I had to go through misadjusted sprinklers that were watering the sidewalk
so I went through them, went on the street and kept the water to my left and
eventually saw a marina on my left and I had to turn. I asked a cook at a cafe
and he said to turn left at the end of the block and cross the bridge.  I didn't see
Ruth catching up with me but I assumed that she would as always so I turned
left at the corner was crossed a dinky little bridge shorter than a freeway overpass. 
I was worried about this?

Now I was on  Business I-94 W and since Canada is to the east, I-94 can only
go west so I kept on going and stopped to ask some girls walking two Yorkshire
terriers how to get to St Clair and Marine City on M29.  They didn't know but
said that their mother would know but the dogs kept barking so I left them and
rode on and stopped at a bakery.  Now theta owner of the bakery knew her stuff. 
She told me that I was on M29 but that the sign for it wouldn't appear until the next
traffic light.  Also M29 was closed for construction and that I should not go to the
right (detour route) but should go into the construction zone (local traffic only)
and then turn off at another street. Under no circumstances should I go to Gratiot.

I told the woman that Ruth was behind me somewhere and took off.  I went
through the construction zone and rode on the closed right lane, the shoulder,
and sometimes on a bike path.  I even rode through a bank parking lot to
get around one barricade.  Eventually I got to the construction crew. 
They were digging up huge sections of concrete in the right lane. 
It was a good 3 feet long and a full lane wide.  I asked  if I could keep
riding on and they agreed but to watch out and make sure that I
didn't fall in one of the holes.  It was only another 100 feet of digging so
I was through in no time.

I kept on going through St Clair and then I was in Marine City and saw
the sign for the ferry.  I stopped to call Ruth on my cell phone and got her
on the second try.  She was still in Port Huron at the misadjusted sprinklers! 

She wanted me to wait for her, but I was mad at her so I told her that I was
taking the next ferry to Canada. She said that she didn't have the maps so
I left the remaining Adventure Cycling maps with U S Customs at the ferry
terminal (the only building belongs to Customs). 

I took the next ferry to Canada and talked to a local about the route to
Wallaceburg and Chatham. He told how to get to Wallaceburg but told
me not to stay there and gave directions how to continue to Chatham. 
For a border crossing, Sombra has very few signs.

I got to Wallaceburg and there was a big detour for Hwy 40.   The Selkirk
 Bridge was closed so I had to follow the detour.  No sweat.  I had a
great tailwind and the miles went by.  Then I noticed that none of the signs
had the same numbers as on my AAA map.  They all had names like
Centerline.  At least name the roads after the town that they go to. 
I stopped at a major intersection and asked a man mowing his lawn. 
He told me that I had gone too far and had to double back a
distance, but that he recommended that I continue on the other
towns which he wasn't sure had motels or not.  I decided to double
back into a headwind.

I eventually got to Chatham and added some 10 miles to my journey.

Ruth has the full set of Adventure Cycling maps so she can go along
Lake Erie to Niagara Falls / Fort Erie / Buffalo and continue on through
New York to New England and Maine.  She also has the Route Verte
book that I left at home so I will to buy it in Montreal.  Neither of us has
the bike trail book from Niagara Falls to Montreal.  I may buy it in Niagara
Falls but it is too big to carry on a bike unless I cut out the map pages
that I want and throw the rest away.  There are some 69 PDF files on
the website for the entire bike path and I am not sure how to download
and store PDF files on my iPad. 

Now Ruth can ride 100 mile days, campout, and ride in the rain like she
says that I should do.  I prefer to ride 60 to 70 miles days, stay in motels,
and stay out of the rain.


Steve in Chatham, Ontario, Canada

Hi Everyone,

It did not rain last night. It did not rain this morning.  The only thing on radar
 was what I assumed to be fog miles down the road. 

So we started the morning as usual.  At McDonalds, I asked the local where
there was any food available on M24 going south toward Lapeer.  I was told
to stop at Mayville and then it was guesses past Mayville.  We stopped at a
gas station at Mayville and it was a good thing that I asked about the thin
black line road between Lapeer and Imlay City as I didn't want to go on I-69.

I was told that it was all torn up and under construction.  I was given several
options but the one that I chose was the simplest.  Continue on M24 and go
left at M90 (traffic light) and right on M53.  Soon it was obvious that we would
get to Imlay City too early so we kept on going to Yale which had a motel. 
With a westerly wind and what appeared to be a headwind going south, I
decided to stay with the tailwind and go for Lake Huron so we headed for
Lakeport just north of Port Huron.  A few miles from Lakeport, there were a
few drops, just enough to make me ask myself whether or not to put on the
rain covers on the panniers and not enough to require no decision at all.  I
decided that I was so close to Lakeport that I would be there before I could
put the rain covers on.  Then it cleared up.  Oh, I forgot go say that it was
one of tons raindrops while the sun was shining things.

After getting in the motel, I checked the radar and it showed green, yellow,
and orange over Port Huron so it was a good idea not to go on to Port Huron. 
Also the dark clouds were to the south.  I did see two flashes of "dry lightning"
in about an hour while riding today.

Tomorrow we should be able to cross into Canada easily. 

Oh, the motel has wifi but the firewalls (physical fire) block the wifi signals.
However the is AT&T 3G here so I don't need wifi.  I don't know what I will
do in Canada.  I don't know if Rogers will sell me 3G service on a month to
month basis as AT&T does in the US on the Apple iPad plan.  Maybe I will
have to use wifi only in Canada.

The Statistics:  76.29 miles and 341 feet of climbing.



Steve and Ruth in Lakeport, MI on Lake Huron just north of Port Huron
and close to Marine City where we will enter Canada tomorrow.

Hi Everyone,

Before I forget, the farmers in Michigan have the widest variety of crops
that I have seen on this trip.  There is corn, lava beans according to Ruth,
kale, potatoes, alfalfa, grass for hay, sunflowers, and other stuff I can't identify. 
I haven't seen any wheat, but I assume that it is around. And there are oil
pumping rigs also. 

Last night I saw storm cells moving toward Midland but there was a possibility
that just the tail end would hit Midland.  This morning around 6:30 there was a
heavy downpour, thunder, and lightning.  We waited for a couple of hours for the
storm to pass and left only an hour later than usual.

Today we used the Adventure Cycling route again and they were fine except in
Bay City.  I don't know what Adventure Cycling is trying to do in the cities, but
their instructions are hard to follow or overly complicated.  It would be easier to
stay on the main roads.

We asked a runner for information on the rail trail we were on and he suggested
that we take Center Ave, M25 and we did that.  Then I asked a gas station cashier
 where the next turn was and she said that it was 4 major intersections ahead but
hat the zig zag route on the map was overly complicated and that she didn't want
 us to get lost.  She recommended a simple route of right turn at Farley and left
turn at M138 Fairgrove Road for us to go to Fairgrove.  The Adventure Cycling
oute zig zagged on 7 different roads.

Tomorrow I will be using my on route that has us staying on a state highway for
the majority of the day.  A lot depends on the weather.  It is predicted for a 50%
chance of rain. Today was also the same prediction and it was essentially an
overnight storm. 

Tomorrow we will still be in Michigan.   Monday we should arrive in Marine City
just south of Port Huron and north of Detroit where there is a ferry to take us
across the St Clair River into Canada. Tuesday we should be in Canada. 
This is assuming that there is no all day rain tomorrow.  A few hours delay will
not matter as Sunday and Monday are two fairly moderate days based on hotel
 availability in towns and not how long we want to ride.  The problem is that we
want to go at least 50 miles and there is a hotel available in that town but the
next hotel may be in a town that is 80 miles away.  We have run into that before.


The Statistics:  56.00 miles and 124 feet of climbing.


Steve and Ruth in Caro, MI

Hi Everyone,

This morning we left in fog again, only this time it was heavier
 than I liked because there was more traffic than in previous times.
 The drivers were courteous and there were crazy speeders.

Eventually, the fog cleared then we made a left turn in a small
 town and went right back into the fog.  Then I saw an 18 wheeler
 parked on the road and the driver asked me for directions. 
 I didn't even know which way the house numbers were going down. 
 After all, most houses were farmhouses.

Eventually we got to M115 which others had said had a lot of 
truck traffic but it wasn't bad and there was a good shoulder.
 Also most of the time it was four lanes (two lanes in each
 direction with no median strip). However as we got some 10
 miles from Clare, there was a sign warning about construction 
on M115 and recommended taking US 10 which we couldn't do since
 it is a freeway and bicycles are not allowed on freeways.  

The gas station cashier said to turn left at Surrey to the end
 at Jakes and then go right and that would take me into Clare. 
Well, after a coulee of miles, I stopped at a gas staion and asked
 again about Surrey and they gave me the same directions, only
 this time they said it was another 3.5 miles. This gave me a 
better feeling as I kept thinking that I  should turn right at 
any one of the cross streets. Eventually we got to the intersectio
n and it was Jays and not Jakes.  The road was Clare Road and it 
led into Clare.  Later I looked at Google Maps and my sense of 
directions was wrong because M115 goes at an angle NW to SE and
 the left turn on Surrey got us going east as we wanted but I 
thought we were going north.

Going through Clare was easy with instructions from pedestrian
 but finding the Pere Marquette rail to trail was difficult 
even though we asked at a gas station who could have pointed 
it out to us because it was just across the parking lot.  

The Pere Marquette rail to trail is a 29 mile long old CSX 
railroad track that has been paved over and is now a beautiful
 asphalt 14 foot wide bike path.  It is essential straight and
 flat with very few people on it except near Midland where a lot
 of it is in Midland.

By the way, I did not get a flat today, but had a fast leak.  
I stopped at a gas station for a Coke, felt my bike handle mushy 
and the front tire was soft.  I pumped it up and when I got back
 on it, the tire was soft again.  It was in the same location of
 the stone cut in Havre, ND.  I even put a boot on it and filled
 the cut with superglue.  The superglue was no longer in the cut
 today and if the boot has been cut with a new rock, then I'll
 have to throw the tire away.

Midland is a good size town with the motels scattered about. 
 It is also a major facility for Dow Chemical.


The Statistics:  86.86 miles and 381 feet of climbing.  

It was easier today than yesterday because it went up only 86 today. 
 This morning it was cool because of the fog.  There was also a slight
 headwind but not enough to affect riding.  The Pere Marquette trail 
was lined with trees so it kept the heat down.



Steve and Ruth in Midland, MI
  



Sent from my iPad

Hi Everyone,

Last night we asked the gas station on which road was best bicycling. 
M66 was said to be patched up from pothole repairs so we decided that 
M31 that we took into Charlevoix had been great so far so we stayed 
on it.

At Eastport, I asked the manager about the best way to go south on 
Torch Lake.  Adventure Cycling recommended the east side and M31 is
 on the west side.  He told me that the east side was a good road 
with a two foot shoulder and very little traffic and he lives on
 that road.  Also it would lessen the amount of riding on M72 later
 which is a terrible road/traffic.

We also met someone who was interested in our bikes.  He wore a Stones
 Clinic t-shirt and I asked him where Stones Clinic is (orthopedic clinic)
 and he said near Crissy Field in San Francisco!  He is here visiting 
a college buddy who has a summer place here.

We saw several bicyclists, usually locals, on the east side of Torch
 Lake.  One was a recumbent rider who had ridden across the US about
 seven years ago and also had ridden from Sequim, WA to Mexico. He 
just happens to live in Portland, OR and comes here on vacation 
(family summer place).

The road was as advertised.  Great asphalt and narrow shoulders but 
there was very little traffic.  Later the road merged with other
 roads and there was more traffic, but the shoulder got wider. We
 turned onto M72 east away from Traverse City and to Kalaska where
 I asked about motels toward Lake City.  It was just noon and we 
wanted to keep on going, but Google indicated last night that there 
was no motels after Kalkaska until Lake City some 28 miles down the 
road.  That was confirmed but M66 was said to be a good road unlike
 the condition near Charlevoix.

It was hot going on M66 and there was only one place to get food or 
liquids on the way - a bar. But the highway was good and the shoulders
 good.  It was just hot!  89 degrees in Lake City!

We never saw the 300 bicyclists on the special League of American 
Bicyclists tour. They must have taken a different route than we did. 
 Maybe they took the local side road route that the motel manager recommended.


The Statistics:  81 miles and 1230 feet of climbing.


Steve and Ruth in Lake City, MI



 

Sent from my iPad

Hi Everyone,

Yesterday the hotel wifi did not work in the room so I had to go 
to the office any time I wanted to access the Internet.  Later
 at night AT&T Edge started working as cell phone customers got
 off their phones.

Today we left in humid partly cloudy weather.  For a while we 
had bad shoulders (asphalt with many cracks) which is odd for 
Michigan.  Later it became better and at the end we had great 
lane wide asphalt shoulders.

Today I rode through Petoskey which I had heard about as a 
student at the University of Michigan as Petoskey rock and 
seen the name of the town on highway signs but had never been
 to.  The traffic was terrible there because it is a real town 
and the highway runs into the downtown area.

We are now in Charlevoix which is a name that is easy to remember
but to which I had never been either.  This is an interesting town 
with marina which reminds of Honfleur, France across from Le Harve. 
 The traffic jams up in downtown because of people parallel parking
 on the main highway.

At a stop at a gas station/convenience store, the manager mentioned

seeing the five guys on recumbents yesterday that I saw in the 
Upper Peninsula two days ago.  As we got into Charlevoix, I saw 
them again.  The motel owner said that a big bunch of bicyclists 
are arriving in town tomorrow.  300 bicyclists are riding from 
Traverse City to Charlevoix tomorrow as part of the Ride the Lake.
 We should see them as we go toward Traverse City tomorrow.

The Statistics: 54.83 miles and 434 feet of climbing.  

We could have gone further but I was afraid of the 60% chance of 
rain and there were a few drops as we entered Charlevoix.


Steve and Ruth in Charlevoix, MI
 

Sent from my iPad

Mackinaw

Hi Everyone,

You are probably confused over Mackinaw and Mackinac.  I know I am.  
 The island and the bridge are Mackinac.  The city that I am in is
 Mackinaw.  But Michiganders call both spellings the same - Mackinaw.

Today we left Brevort in light fog (overhead type with good visibility)
 and I did not expect to arrive in St Ignace until after 10 am and did
 not worry because I didn't expect the fog to burn off until then and 
I wanted the ferry ride to Mackinac Island to be in the sun.

We arrive in St Ignace just as the fog burned off and as the ferry was
 ready to leave but they held the ferry for us. Two employees wheeled
 our bikes on board with many others and the ferry was almost full but
 I stood at the loading doors most of the way to take pictures.

The captain took us under the Mackinac Bridge and it was a treat for
 Ruth who is impressed by the bridge.  Then we got Mackinac Island and 
it looked European in a way.  There are no motor vehicles allowed on 
the island except for 4 emergency type vehicles and maybe a construction 
vehicle. There were people walking and people riding bikes.  And of course,
 there are many horse drawn carriages and people to clean up after the horses.

I wanted to take a photo of the veranda of the Grand Hotel but the guard 
wanted $10 for a pass to walk pass hr and it would not have been a good 
vantage point for a photo.  The photos that you see are shot from the air.

We "returned" to Mackinaw City on the lower peninsula and had to tell the
 ferry employees that we wanted to go to Mackinaw City and not St Ignace.  
This time the ferry was only 10 to 20% full.  

In terms of maintenance on my bike, I had to tighten the front bar end 
shifter on the second day,I replaced the rear tire several days ago, I 
replaced two batteries for my speedometer a couple of days ago, and I 
replaced the speedometer sensor unit yesterday.  Today I replaced the 
chain.  It was making noise and I decided that it was time to lube it
 or replace it.  I saved weight by replacing it plus it had enough mileage
 to warrant replacing it.  I do not have a ruler to do the 12 inch plus 
1/8 to 1/4 test for chain stretch but the rule of thumb for mileage was 
easily met at 2374 miles. 


The Statistics:  32.62 miles and 333 feet of climbing plus many miles on a ferry.


Steve and Ruth in Mackinaw City, MI
  

Sent from my iPad

Steve Gets Weighed on a Truck Scale

Hi Everyone,

Yesterday the motel we checked into had one car parked in front of
 the units and two cars parked in the back where I assumed the
 employees parked.  So why did the owner check her reservation list
 to assign us a room?  Last night I found out the answer.  The motel 
was full last night because a local woman turned 100 yesterday or 
today and everyone was at her house or a place where they were celebrating.

Remember yesterday when I changed both batteries in my speedometer 
and it didn't correct the problem and then it started working later? 
 This morning it did not work and had the same symptoms.  If I ride
 the bike, the speed and distance do not work.  If I slowly move the 
magnet pass the sensor, it works.  We were waiting for the convenience
 store to open for breakfast so I had time to work on the speedometer
 and this time I got the spare sensor and moved it rapidly pass the 
magnet and the speed and distance worked!  I replaced my sensor unit
 and everything worked fine today.  The sensor unit on the bike was
 an old one from my original CicloSport CM434 that must be 5 years old.
 My replacement is a brand new one that came with the new CicloSport 
CM4.4A that I bought his year.

This morning we started in foggy conditions but with no visibility 
problems.  Hwy 77 had narrow shoulders but little traffic and the 
drivers were courteous.  Then we got to US 2.  We stopped at a gas
 station convenience store and met three men from  Vermont and Maine,
 canoeists.  They were very familiar with Nova Scotia and the ferry 
to Bar Harbor.

It is a good thing that US 2 has a wide shoulder because the traffic 
on it was heavy at times and there are quite a few trucks, trailers, 
and RVs.  A few trailers and RVs drive on the shoulder white line, 
but they don't go past the white line because of the rumble strips.

In one town where we stopped for lunch (pasties) the waitress gave 
us good information on motels down the road and information on the 
ferries to Mackinaw Island and the general weather conditions there. 
 Her daughter works on Mackinaw Island!

As we ate, five bicycle tourist arrived but decided not to eat there. 
 All were on recumbents pulling Burley trailers.  They are from Omaha,
 Nebraska and are doing the loop from Green Bay through the UP and down
 Michigan along the west coast to Luddington where they will take the
 ferry back to Green Bay.  Ruth and I thought about taking that ferry
 from Green Bay to Luddington earlier but decided to stay north so
 she can see the Great Lakes.

Ruth was properly impressed with Lake Michigan.  I don't think that 
she believed me when I first described the Great Lakes or maybe 
thought that I was exaggerating.  I told her that it was like the ocean. 
You look out and all you can see to the horizon is water. Also you can
 see the horizon curve to give you the idea that the earth is round and
 flat.

We are in the town of Brevort, MI about 20 miles from St Ignace where
 we will go to catch the ferry to Mackinaw Island tomorrow morning.  
After a couple of long days, I was not able to ride 85 miles today 
to St Ignace.

No wifi here, but AT&T Edge comes through again.


The Statistics:  64.50 miles and 469 feet of climbing and a light 
headwind all day.


Steve and Ruth in Brevort, MI 

Sent from my iPad

Hi Everyone,

All day yesterday and last night, the weather forecast was for
 rain and thunderstorms. First it was 70% chance, then 60%,
 then the weather channel said 50%.  The motel we stayed at
 had wifi that worked only in the front and of course we were
 in the back so I couldn't use wifi unless I walked to the 
front. AT&T was so slow I could not run a speed test.  After 
I went to bed and got up to use the bathroom in the middle of 
the night, I tried AT&T again and it worked.  Maybe all the 
other users went to sleep.  

I checked Weather Underground for the radar and it showed the
 big storm cells south of Marquette and moving further south.
 A couple of small cells were over Lake Superior but were not
 going anywhere near Marquette.

This morning I awoke to cloudy skies but no rain or threat of
 rain.  The ground was dry.

We ate breakfast at McDonalds and when we left, my speedometer
 did not work.  For several days I have had to slowly move the 
bike so that magnet moves across the sensor slowly back and 
forth to activate (wake up) the speedometer.  Once it shows 
a speed, then it works fine. This morning it would not wake 
up.  Then I replaced the sensor battery and the head unit 
battery. The head unit showed time and altitude only so I 
did a total reset and started the setup sequence.  I could 
not find a way to get into the distance/wheel calibration 
and the speedometer would not give me speed or distance. I 
gave up and rode to Munising without speed or distance.

In AuTrain we stopped for a snack and I had a beef pasty, 
the first one since Wales.  My first pasty was in Detroit, 
my second was in Los Gatos, and then I had them in Bath, 
England, and Wales.  They originated in Cornwall by the 
Cornish miners.  They came to Michigan's Upper Peninsula 
with the Cornish miners.

As we left AuTrain, I tried the speedometer again, and then 
time I pushed both selector buttons quickly like I do to 
change from Bike 1 to Bike 2.  The distance and speed showed 
up!  I quickly set the wheel/tire calibration and everything
 worked fine again.

We rode through Christmas on the way to Munising and got to 
Munising during the noon hour and I though that it was too 
early to quit (only 40 miles to Munising) so I suggested to 
Ruth that we go on go Seney, another 35 miles away.  I knew 
she would say yes because she keeps on saying that we should 
go farther all the time but she is much stronger than me and 
we have restraints on where the motels are.  The problem today
 was that after Munising, there are no motels for another 35 
miles so it is 40 miles or 75 miles, there is no option for 
50 miles or 60 miles.

After the prerequisite climb up a hill out of town, Hwy 28 
is a straight, flat road with the gravel shoulders with a
 narrow paved strip.  I had thought well of Michigan drivers
 until today, but I was warned weeks ago by a Michigander 
not to travel on Fridays and Sundays when people from the 
big cities go on weekend trips.  Today we saw the impatient 
drivers rushing to get home.  

Today, one driver passed by closely and I wondered why he 
didn't move over a few feet, especially since there was no 
oncoming traffic.  Well, after he passed me, I found out 
that he did move over a few feet for me.  He normally drives 
with the right wheel on the white line!

It ended up being a sunny day but humid.  I believe that it

 was 82 when we got to Seney.  

Tomorrow is predicted to be a nice day and we plan to get 

close to St Ignace (85 miles away) so that on Tuesday we

 can get into St Ignace early, take the ferry to Mackinaw Island,

 ride our bikes on the island (no motor vehicles allowed on the 

island), take photos of the Grand Hotel, and then take the ferry

 to Mackinaw City on the lower peninsula, thereby not having to

 take the Mackinaw Bridge where bicycles are not allowed anyway. 

 For a dollar, the bridge authority will transport bicyclists across

 the bridge.


The Statistics:  76.38 miles


Steve and Ruth in Seney, MI


Sent from my iPad

marquette, MI

 

Hi Everyone,

This morning we left Three Lakes at a chilly 48 degrees.  It later warmed
 up and we had a nice sunny day until we got to Marquette where clouds
 showed up but that seems to be the weather pattern here.  Clear skies 
early and clouds in the mid-afternoon.

Today we met an interesting local bicyclist at a gas station who told 
us of a bike trail along Lake Superior in Marquette and who told us of 
the best ways to get to the lower peninsula (main part of Michigan) and
 how to take the ferry to Mackinaw Island and then continue onto the
 main part of Michigan.  He also gave us advice on taking different
 roads than Adventure Cycling because he goes to that area quite
 often on his bike because his mother lives there.  When I first
 met him, I wasn't impressed with him because he was smoking a
 cigarette.  But as soon as he started talking about the route
 into Marquette, etc it was obvious that he knows the roads 
around here.

Marquette is a good size city in area and has a great park at
 the lake.  It is the most impressive city that I have been 
to on this trip.

So far most of Michigan has been trees. Every now then I see
 a farm but then it is back to trees.


The Statistics:  52.36 miles and 493 feet climbing 1402 
feet of downhill.


Steve and Ruth in Marquette, MI


Sent from my iPad

Fred and Marti  

Start at Port Townsend at Pat and Anne Roach's. Steve, Anne, Ruth 

 

 

 

Start at Port Townsend