A short ride of 55 miles to avoid some rain and have time to rest up. The plan was to travel another 40 miles or so but there was some significant rain moving in as well. At least I made it to the remaining sections of the tour that have been mapped out by the Adventure Cycle association. Until this point, the roads I chose were a combination of google bike route planning and me.
More vacation homes on the right on Lake Michigan. I only had one road to ride on today. The directions were pretty simple stay on Highway 35 until Escanaba. The first 17 miles were wonderful a nice wide shoulder with a rumble strip dividing myself from the cars. The next 20 miles the nice wide shoulder dropped to 2 feet. I had to be diligent watching for cars and especially trucks because Highway 35 is a main drag. The rest of the way from mile 38 to Escanaba had the nice wide shoulder again. The only bad thing about a flat road is that you must keep on pedaling all day long.
There was not a whole lot to see. Well there was the roadkill – that cute deer and raccoon – why were they looking that way at me as I passed them? Sunny ride and a light wind. As I was checking into the motel the wind picked up and the temperature dropped a few degrees.
So once again my schedule has changed. It will now take five days to get to St. Ignace. I plan to ride at least 70 miles tomorrow and then look for a place to stay as long as my legs keep moving.
Parking in Escanaba may not have been the best choice. I thought the motel roof, velomobile roof and cockpit cover would be good enough but a significant amount of water from the rain overnight made it inside and soaked the camp towel’s and hat that were left inside – and I had a tarp along that would have kept it dry!
