Bike Across America – Days 36 and 37

Monday, July 24, 2017 / Tuesday, July 25, 2017

Start: Manitowoc, Wisconsin
End: Ludington, Michigan
Mileage /cumulative: 7 / 2,598
Elevation Ascended: 0′

Start: Ludington, Michigan
End: Mt. Pleasant, Michigan
Mileage today/cumulative: 113 / 2,711
Elevation Ascended: 3,202′
Weather: Sunny, 53° at start; partly cloudy, 78° at finish
3D Relive Video (approx. 1 minute)

A trip like this requires creating a daily routine that can be done in the most fatigued state. It prevents leaving things in hotel rooms, enhances efficiency, and keeps us on schedule every morning. We are semi-robotic in our routine and when it’s disrupted, everything feels out of sorts. That’s how things were yesterday, our fourth rest day. Instead of sleeping in and having the day to ourselves, it was up early for breakfast, load luggage, ride our bikes around the dying town of Manitowoc, Wisconsin, before going to the ferry terminal where we waited around for two hours to take a dreadfully boring four hour ferry ride across Lake Michigan. Fortunately, the weather was nice enough to sit on the deck for most of the ride, because going below deck, even to use the restrooms, was barf-o-rama. The ferry arrived late in Ludington, Michigan and we lost an hour somewhere in the middle of the lake when we crossed into the Eastern Time Zone. Then it was a mad rush to disembark the ferry, get our bikes, and ride the three miles to the hotel, with a quick stop for a photo at the “Welcome to Pure Michigan” sign, before dark. I don’t know where the state of  Impure Michigan is but I’m glad we’re not riding through it. We arrived at the hotel at 8:45 and ran across the road to get Subway sandwiches (gag) for dinner. Finally, back to our room to prepare for today’s 113 mile ride.

After all of the chaos and boredom of yesterday, it was a joy to get back on our bikes. We had a pretty fast group of five riders today and our route from Lake Michigan to the Canadian border is flattening out. Less farmland, more trees; fewer rollers and more flat road. We’ve also left “Minnesota nice” far in the rear view mirror. We are definitely in “Michigan cranky” country. People here just aren’t as friendly as those Minnesotans, whose ancestors probably arrived in Michigan and said “gosh darn it, why the heck are these people so cranky? Let’s keep going west.” Regardless, we’re enjoying the countryside and looking forward to what else Michigan has to show us for the next two days.

And, finally, the 2017 Tour de France has ended but our Tour de America continues. The pros rode 21 stages; we are riding 45. They rode 2,200 miles; we are riding 3,650. They ride on closed roads; we navigate traffic all day. They have team nutritionists and chefs; we eat Holiday Inn breakfasts, Dairy Queen, and hotel banquet chicken and pasta. The pros are a bunch of wimps.