Spring 1997 - Cincinnati to Yukon
Journals - 11 May 1997
Day 41 - Near Manistique, MI
11 May 1997 (cloudy/drizzle/brief sun/thunder storms; mileage = 62) -- A -
We had frost on the tent this morning and what little wind there was was a
tail wind. Hurry up and pack up! We took off at 7. My fingers threatened to
fall off for quite some time. I added heavier gloves and they were still
cold. We stopped and ate our donuts at a neat little sand dune spot on the
lake and they were still cold. They did eventually warm up. The sun poked
out a little to help. We stopped at a tourist spot with mini-golf in the
shape of Michigan to fix our lunch. It was a disappointing mix of mashed
potatoes (made with milk!), sour cream, and canned peas. It was so bland we
couldn't finish it. We were enjoying the easy riding today. Route 2 has a
nice wide shoulder on most of it. Not too much traffic, rest stops (one
even was heated with flush toilets and warm water!), and lots of views of
Lake Michigan. Unfortunately, as we ate the wind picked up a little and we
were headed for a change of direction -- yep! Right into the wind. I can
really feel my knees grinding when the wind is going and Chris is even in
the lead 99% of the time. I'm not sure if I'm not doing something right, or
if that's just the way it is. We struggled through the tough stretch of
southbound road and turned west again and began to look for our landing
spot for the evening. There were more houses and less trees than the last
several miles, so it looked like a yard might work again. So Chris asked a
woman in front of a house. She said she didn't have room in her yard and
got her husband who wanted to give us directions to a campground.
Eventually, he said we could camp in the woods next to his house (I don't
think owned by him [X - He did.]) (We and 100 of our friends could have had
room to camp in their yard, by the way.) We went to the woods, which seemed
fine, until we noticed all the turds everywhere. The ground was absolutely
carpeted with these turdlets. It was so incredible! We kept walking
(carefully) aound and found some tufts of fur and some mounds that could
have been a turd-producing animal's home and decided not to stay there. Two
other people wouldn't let us camp and then we rode past a driveway with a
truck whose driver waved, but we didn't ask him. Then their dog ran out to
us and they all started shrieking at him (not supposed to be loose in
traffic?). We stopped to detain the dog until they could get it. Chris
asked for a place to stay and here we are. It started raining again and is
coming down pretty good right now with occasional thunder. Probably no
baths tonight. X - The sun did come out again. That's 3 or 4 sun/rain cycles!
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