Spring 1997 - Cincinnati to Yukon
Journals - 9 May 1997
Day 39 - Macinac Island, MI
9 May 1997 (overcast and cold! windy [surprise!]; mileage = 55.7) -- X -
When I got out of the tent, I saw (surprise!) two guys with camo outfits
and guns wandering around. That's so unnerving. We had a relatively quick
take down and we took off down 31. We stopped at a bakery thrift store for
some high cal/$ food. I also got H2O. There we had very good winds at
first, but we turned (them into cross winds) eventually. At Petoskey, we
stopped at a park to have some coffee. It was 60 degrees in the tent this
morning, but here it dropped down to 38 degrees. The wind was howling off
the lake and we were freezing! I started out the day just in shorts. I
fixed that mistake. Later, we stopped by a creek called Maple River. The
water was clear like a brown beer bottle, kind of amber. We finally got to
I-75 and crossed it into Mackinac City. The bridge here is HUGE! We didn't
go through town, just straight for the first ferry to Mackinac. We took
that to the island. Wow! This is Michigan's guilty conscience for its auto
industry. No cars! Bikes and horses rule! There are bikes everywhere. It's
like a bike commuter's dream. We saw the UPS guy with his clipboard and
packages -- on a bike and trailer! There is a paved road around the island.
We took it to the far side of it and went inland and up on some dirt roads.
We found horse trails and rode to the island's north overlook point and set
up camp. Two things here are very lame 1) There's no camping. (Not us?) and
2) The only autos we saw were park ranger trucks. LAME! They should set an
example.The road is almost completely free of pot holes. Go figure. This
place is neat. We saw some snow leftovers, too. The forest is very lush.
It's swampy down below, but up here it's just misty. Neat.
![[Bike]](./only2500b.gif)
