Cycling

Another morning moon.

The campground is quiet at 8 a.m. I’m enjoying lying here, floating with a gentle sway. I put a tarp over the hammock, and this is keeping away the morning dew. The first human sounds break the stillness. The birds continue uninterrupted, the way a musician plays through a cough. Then the camper door opens, and the jungle of tags on a collar takes the stage. Moe leads Nancy to my resting spot. The day begins.

The girls next site over come to see Moe. Plans are made to walk Moe. They have waited all night to hold the leash as Moe sniffs his way through the campground.

 Nancy is in the screen tent eating oatmeal. I am cooking toast and eggs. I check the weather app: rain overnight and into Monday. I roll up the tarp and hang the sleeping bag on the ridge line to air.

We hike the trail around the edge of the park. The path of destruction.

The girls are back from the beach. I go visit the fathers, Tyler and Zack, and talk about touring, camping, and the places we have been. It is dinner time, and Nancy bring over my dinner. The girls offer dessert: crushed Oreos in vanilla  pudding.

We pack for the rain tonight. We hope to leave in the morning with most of our things dry.

I begin this day looking at a bright noon.

Then I clean the dinner dishes from last night. We had a late meal, and after I lost the energy to clean.

I’m sitting in the screen tent, and Nancy is taking Moe to the Nature Trail. I decide to join them.

Nancy suggests blueberry pancakes for breakfast. Well, yeah, of course, that would be a great first meal of the day.

Greg and Livia, the couple biking touring, are packing to leave. I go over to wish them a safe tour. Time to clean the breakfast dishes. I fiddle with gear and adjust the undersized tarp over the hammock that’s keeping the night dew off the sleeping bag.

Nancy starts the task of planning campgrounds from here to Mount Gretna, PA. We will cross into Canada once again. This is the shortest route to Gretna on this time-restricted end of this year’s tour.

Dinner is in Bay City at the North Peak Brewing Company. The Walleye fish and chips are very good. I try a few samples and order a flight, four six-ounce glasses. Every selection I try is very, very good. The Havoc, to my delight, has an aftertaste of weed.

I leave with a twelve-pack to further investigate.

We are back at the campsite. Moe is playing fetch with the children in the site behind us. Nancy is once again the camp grandma. I am writing a blog with fond memories thinking of sips to come.

The rain last night soaked the ground and left water on all surfaces. The cover over the bike is wet with splashed sand on the bottom edges. The picnic table is a lake on legs. I begin by washing last night’s dishes; I was too tired to clean after dinner. I’m ready to cook toast and eggs on the camp stove.

We are packed and ready to head to the next campground with a short day in the car.  Nancy spots a soft-serve and sandwich shop; she drives into the park lot. There is a nice shade area so Moe doesn’t need to sit staring out the side window glaring.

Now with about thirty miles to the campground, we are on the road clicking off the miles.

We arrive and set up. A touring couple, Greg and Livia, ride into the site behind us. We wander over to visit. They set up their tent and ride the few miles to a restaurant. We tidy up and find shade. It’s late afternoon, and the sun is above hot and bright. As we sit reclined in chairs, the incoming caravan of overly large condos on double axles streams by. Some ramble by; others stop and inch back and forth to the perfect spot in the site.  Some settle after a while into the just-any-place, tired from trying.

Moe is happy anywhere there is sun.

We take Moe for a walk on the beach. We meet and talk to a few people; Moe is a good icebreaker.

Back at the site, Nancy cooks dinner while I hang the hammock.

I lie in bed waiting until 8 a.m. to wake Nancy. We hope for an early start to get to the next campground, a two-hundred-forty-mile day. Grand Marais is on the route, so we stop for breakfast. This is the only place to get enough cell service to blog. Out of town is zero cell. While eating, I load the photos of yesterday into the blog. My story was made last night. This slows breakfast.

Finally on the road, over the hours, we make our way to the Yoop on the road I rode last year. We stop at a lookout on the northeastern tip of Lake Michigan.

We cross the lake on the Mackinaw Bridge and begin driving along the shore of Lake Huron. With still hours to go, we stop in Cheboygan for groceries, gas, and to swap the propane tank on the camper. Back on the road, we just keep driving until 5:45 p.m. Moe is starving; his dinner is two hours late. I am now in a mental shutdown that started around 3 p.m. Moe has been fed, and Nancy takes him for a walk; he needs to burn energy. I walk the short path to the beach.

It is dinner time for us. We need to get my bike and gear out of the camper after it is leveled and unhitched. I take a shower, much needed, and Nancy starts dinner. Nancy makes changes with the campgrounds to have shorter days in the car.  It starts raining; we bring our food inside.

It is dark as I try to write yesterday’s blog and upload photos. Yesterday’s blog is done. Finally at 10:30 p.m. I have finished today’s blog.  Tonight’s sleep will be short; morning will soon be here.

Lake Superior Facts:

Surface Area: 31,700 sq mi/82,1.00 sq km

East-West: 350 mi/563 km

North-South: 160 mị/257 km

Max. /Av Depths: 1,276 ft (389 m)/ 489 ft (149 m)

Volume: 3 quadrillion gallons of water/ • 11.4 quadrillion litres

Av. Water Temp.: 40° F (4.4° C)

Water Turnover: 191-199 years

This is our last day on Lake Superior. Yesterday was a busy, long day. This day, I’m relaxing, taking it slow.

Breakfast lingers into noon. Noon stretches into mid-afternoon. Nancy takes Moe to explore a trail. I putter around with mundane tasks.

It is 3 p.m. and I hike the Lake Trail to a cabin that is reservable. It is a three-quarter-mile hike from the campground. This has a deck and stairway to the beach.

We have befriended, or they us, a family of the father and four lovely children. The wife stayed home for this trip to be with their dog and have some downtime.

Dinner is chili and enchiladas. Then we take Moe for his nightly walk around the campground. I slip into the hammock for a peaceful last night in the campground.

I slept in the hammock last night, the first time since Minnesota, shaded from the wind and with no mosquitoes. It was cold overnight, but putting my mattress under me kept me warm from the cold.

It is just about time for the sun to peek through the trees. I am enjoying the silent morning. Just birds and waves are all I hear. Most people are tent camping. There are a few small campers, and this place does not allow generators. Soon I will hear the kids in the loop up and playing. For the moment, I am alone in nature.

Nancy is picking blueberries for pancakes. This is a treat.

We are fed, and dishes are cleaned. We plan to hike to the shore. The trail today, Mosquito Falls, is a forty-mile drive. The road in is packed with cars parked on both sides, leaving barely room to drive between them. We park and begin the half-mile walk to the trailhead. A car that is going out stops to let us know that a few spots are now open, so Nancy goes back to drive the car to the parking lot. We start the hike on the overcrowded trail. With two options to get to the beach, I choose to hike out on the longer, four-mile, to the Falls.

We go by the group campground for hikers before reaching the beach. We climb down to the water and sit on rocks watching the wave rush up the sand and slip back to the lake.

We now have two return options without retracing the trail. One is a two-mile trail through the woods. The other is a six-mile trail. We choose the shorter option. Leaving the beach, we stop to help a woman find her way back to the trailhead. Her husband went to the beach; she chose to wait for his return. He soon comes back, and the four of us begin a lengthy conversation after discovering that Debbie and Nancy both went to Mount Holyoke College. Ted and I talk about touring, cycling, and woodworking. The four of us hike together back to our cars. This is when we find both our vehicles side by side. We exchange contact info. Hopefully, we will meet again on some other tour.

It is now late, 7 p.m. We drove past the campground and are now in Grand Marais. Dinner is at the brewery. They have a dog-friendly patio. Moe is joining us for dinner. Nancy chooses the ribs. I order the pork. This is the best pork I have eaten, tender and juicy, with wonderful flavors in every bite.

The moon is up, and Nancy stops the car so I can get a photo.

It is now time to sleep.

This is an easy morning. Last night we packed and got things ready to leave. It did rain overnight, and the screen tent and chairs are dry. We skip breakfast and drive out of the campground. We will stop a few kilometers up the road for breakfast sandwiches and coffee. These are eaten, so we drive a few more kilometers to get apple fritters; these are the best that I have ever eaten. They are similar to fastnachts, light and fluffy.

With the treats in hand, we head toward Sault Sainte Marie looking for a nice spot on the bay to enjoy the treats. We find a spot and walk to the beach, sit on driftwood, and enjoy breakfast’s dessert.

In the Soo, we find the bridge to the US border. Getting through Customs is a breeze; we are back in the state.

I feel a bit saddened to be here. It is like the feeling at the end of the 2022 tour. Sad to be back home. In less than a mile, the highway is riddled with litter. The whole time in Canada, I never saw any trash on the roadside.

The miles go by quickly. We drive into the small town of Grand Marais for groceries. This is a nice town with a nice brewery. I buy a growler after a few samples. I’m hoping to stop on our way south in a few days.

The campground is another fourteen miles on a small road through the forest. We turn into the campground and find our site. It is set back from the overlook of Lake Superior. This is a nice, clean, and quiet place. Our site is protected by trees from the strong cold wind coming off the lake.

I set up the hammock and walk to the lake to watch the sunset.

The rain came last night with soaking water. As I walk to the restrooms, I see many tent sites with lines strung and wet sleeping bags, sheets, and clothing hanging desperately hoping to dry this damp, cloudy morning. Nancy wishes for eggs this morning, so I’ll cook four. I set up the camp stove on a wet picnic table and begin short-order cooking. Moe is beginning his luckiest day ever, with two egg plates to lick clean.

Our next campsite is primitive, with no pit toilets or water. When we stayed at White Lake, there was a water warning: must boil. Nancy brought water to the site in our two five-gallon water containers. After breakfast, we put bleach in them and filled them full with water. Then, we went for a hike.

The first trail brought us into the woods on a rocky path and a steep bank. The path, millions of years old, was the edge of Lake Superior.  Above the bank was the shore.

The trail ends at The Rock, which is four billion years old and was deposited here by the glacier.

Retracing the trail brings us to another trail that leads us to a driftwood tepee.

We now are walking the trail along the lake.

After dinner, I step outside to wash dishes. It begins to sprinkle, and the forecast is for overnight rain. We will be leaving in the rain tomorrow. Nancy begins taking down the screen tent, and I finish dishes. It is just light drizzle; we get everything put away to stay dry. Coming back from a shower, I see a rainbow over the campground.

It is raining. Today we will need to move to a nearby campsite in another loop. We will be near the showers and laundry but also closer to the road. The Trans-Canada is a busy road twenty-four hours a day. We will be here for two nights.

Nancy makes pancakes for breakfast. Um, why not? We are at Pancake Bay. We start planning where we might go next. We will be heading to Nancy’s brother’s house in Mount Gretna, PA, to pick up Inky.

At 11 a.m. we hitch the camper and drive a short distance to the new site. The rain stopped, and to simplify, I followed Nancy on my bike.

We are now settled in and drive the three kilometers to a store to get lunch and groceries. Then off a little farther to get apple fritters, everyone raves about. They are every bit delicious.

Now it is time to do laundry. Back at the site, I snack for dinner, relaxing with a beer. This has been a well-deserved no-exertion day.