Westward Ho

June 15, 2013

Today marks a significant milestone of my journey in that each mile hereafter will reduce my 2376-mile distance from home.

I woke to a beautiful sunrise in Saint Ignace and settled for a through-the window-photo from my second floor room, knowing I'd never make it downstairs and out the door before the color left. Actually, the elevated view was better. The downside is that the picture includes the mesh of the window screen.

The sky had changed to light gray by the time I got to the lobby for my $40 breakfast. That was an inside joke between Cousin Jim and I as we pondered motel prices in Texas. Seemed the ones offering a full breakfast were about $40 more than places like Motel 6 where you're lucky to get a cup of coffee in the office. Nevertheless, Quality Inn offers a pretty good breakfast and it lasted me to my destination at Marquette. I could have gone farther but, by the looks of the map, Marquette is the farthest town with observable population on the Upper Peninsula. 

Westbound at the city limits of St Ignace I read a sign saying, “Hwy 2 is not a freeway,” an admonishment to drive careful and mention of just a few passing lanes in the next 128 miles.  I rode through scrubby forest, beside bogs and along the sandy shores of Lake Michigan, an isolated route spotted with shabby businesses relating to tourism, the emphasis on fishing. Most businesses were tourist-deficient, some even abandoned. Lack of tourism is probably due to the recent stormy weather, which equates to "light traffic" and good news for me.

Speaking of stormy weather, I faced only a 30 percent chance of rain when I left St Ignace, according to my last glance at the weather channel. No need for rain gear, though the road-rolling nip in the air made me glad I had leathered-up. Wished I'd have put on thicker gloves, too.  Less than an hour into the ride, sprinkles made me rethink my decision not to don rain gear. Sprinkles aren't a problem but are too often a precursor to the real thing. Waterlogged leathers can stay wet for days. Not good. Best to stop and suit up.

Not wanting to perform the familiar one-legged fog-line-dance (pulling rain pants over boots), I welcomed the appearance of an in-the-nick-of-time-rest-area and handy picnic table on which to sit for the task. What I hadn't counted on were mosquitoes the size of hummingbirds (could be the Michigan state bird?). Though only my face was exposed, my hands were too busy to bat them away and I think I may have lost a pint of blood before I was out of there and back up to wind speed.

Soon, I was heading north to the opposite side of the Upper Peninsula, to Lake Superior. I marveled at the sparseness of population. Granted, most of today's travel was through the "Hiawatha" and "Ottawa" National Forests where towns aren't expected, but isolated homes and farms did appear from time to time and I wondered what those folks do for a living? 

I rode through the tiny towns of McMillan, Seney and Shingleton before reaching the fair-sized city of Munising and catching glimpses of Lake Superior all the way to Marquette. Having been as high as 1300 feet yesterday, today's elevation ranged between 600 and 800 feet, meaning the Great Lakes themselves are a few hundred feet above sea level. I guess I knew that. After all, big ships negotiate "locks" traversing their routes. It's just that the sandy shores of the lakes give them an ocean appearance and seems they should, therefore, be at sea level.

Civilization increased as I neared Marquette, a major port on Lake Superior with a population in excess of 21,000. It was founded in 1849 after iron ore deposits were discovered in this region first explored in the 1600's by the city's namesake, Jacques Marquette, a French Jesuit Missionary.

I programed the GPS for the Days Inn in Marquette when about 7 miles out of town. Having noticed a Motel 8 on a hill with a restaurant next to it and, after going on to and discovering the Days Inn had no close eatery and is in a busy part of town, I returned to the Motel 8 only to spot this Best Value Inn across from it, still within walking distance to the restaurant, and a sign saying rooms are $49 and up. So here I am, after paying $55 for my $49 room.

P.S...... it never did rain. Sun's shining.
 

Below is a two-part video of today's ride:

Sunrise, as seen through the second story window of the
Quality Inn at ST Ignace, Michigan (June 15, 2013)

St Ignace to Marquette, Michigan 162 Miles