Author: Greg Pezoldt

Great news this morning. It did not rain last night and the “nuke” next door did not suffer a catastrophic core meltdown. All is good.

Well, mostly good. I have always claimed that Murphy was a cyclist. The weather this morning is again threatening rain and the wind is blowing fairly hard. It is NOT blowing toward the east. NOT a tailwind! This might be a long miserable day.

At least everything is dry. Wind always dries everything out. At least I got everything packed up quickly. So I set off with anxiety with what the day would have in store.

My route will be pretty straight forward today. I will follow Ohio Hwy 2 in the morning, detour onto the peninsula north of Sandusky Bay, then come back down to the mainland and continue on US Hwy 6 eastward through Sandusky and toward Cleveland.

Right out of the gate, there is a huge rain cell right in my path in the distance. You never know about these things so I just kept going and hoped that it will move out if my path. And luckily, this cell did move. So at least I didn’t get wet first thing this morning, but the wind is not diminishing at all.

The peninsula was pretty nice. Not really busy on a Thursday after Labor Day on an overcast, windy day. But the towns are nice and “touristy”. There are a few light houses on the peninsula as well so I had to go see a couple of them.

Then it was back to the mainland. I took the Hwy 269 across the bay. The bay was a little wider then I thought it was going to be and the Thomas A. Edison Bridge was a long ride.

Getting into Sandusky, I found a place for lunch. Sandusky was also nice. They have a nice marina and downtown.

After lunch, the weather seemed to get better. The wind was still blowing as a headwind but not as strongly and I could almost see the sun.

I had a strategy for the afternoon. I wanted to get close enough to Cleveland so that I can get through tomorrow in a reasonable timeframe and still have enough day left to get far enough away on the east side that I can find a reasonable place to camp or get a cheaper motel. I thought that if I could get to Lorain, that wound be close enough. That would leave about 30 miles to go and could get another 30 miles afterwards.

Once there, there wasn’t a place to camp anywhere near Lorain and the motel that was identified on my map was torn down a few years ago. This was not looking very good. I ended up traveling off route to Amherst which was only 3 miles to the south.

So now I get to watch Thursday Night Football in the Motel 6 tonight. Serendipity!

My stay at the motel last night allowed me to get an early start. It seems like it has been a long time since I was able to get on the road at a decent time. And the nice sunny weather seems to be holding, for now.

Today, I again will try to make it to Ohio. I think I stand a pretty good chance today. It is only about 15-20 miles from here.

The morning’s ride went through Monroe which is the home of General George Custer. I know this because there was a big sign at the city limit letting everyone know it. And there was a statue too.

After Monroe, it was only 5 miles to the Ohio border and it went by quickly.

And the border is also the city limit for Toledo. Now in Ohio, I had a new agenda. An Ohio map. It took a few stops to find one but eventually it was mission accomplished. Then after a lunch, I set about negotiating my way through Toledo and heading east along Lake Erie.

I looked forward to getting to Toledo for several reasons. It marked a new state, not that I was disappointed with Michigan, but rather that I was in Michigan for what seemed like a LONG time! Also, traveling south, I have been bucking a steady south westerly breeze. It was never terrible, but it knocks you back a couple of mph and takes its toll on you eventually. Turning the corner so to speak in Toledo I finally got to get a partial tailwind which has been a long time coming. And finally, reaching Toledo marks the end of the predominate southern direction I have been traveling in and now I will be going mainly east and north into New England eventually.

After Toledo, I am following the coastline of Lake Erie. I have yet to actually see it. My route seems to be a mile or inland of the lake. But I know it is out there somewhere. When I do see it, it will be the third of the Great Lakes that I have seen on the trip. Michigan, Huron, and now Erie. They are all impressive.

Today I also did something else I haven’t done in a while. I stopped riding at 5:00. I got to a private campground at Turtle Creek. Turtle Creek has a pretty dominate skyline to announce your arrival.

The cooling tower of a nuclear power generating station! This is the first one that I have seen on this trip. Well, the first OPERATING one. There was a decommissioned one on the Mississippi River in Wisconsin a while ago.

After getting settled in at my campsite, I took a walk and guess what I found?

Lake Erie! Only a few hundred yards away.

OK, mystery solved. Now I have to get back and cook dinner and do all that camp stuff. And see what tomorrow will bring.

This morning the tent was wet from storms last night. AGAIN.

So after getting things dried out AGAIN, I headed into Novi. I tried to contact Jerry again, but it looks like he is still out of town. Well, I need to go into Novi anyway. I had another broken spoke to get replaced. I really hope that 3,500 miles of potholes and rough roads are not beginning to fatigue my wheel spokes. If they all begin to fail, it will be a long end to the trip. Today, it seemed like the roads were especially rough.

This pavement might as well be Belgium cobblestones (or Pavé as they say in France).

Adam at the Performance Bicycle Shop fixed my wheel right away while I had lunch. Then he helped me find a route out of the area for me.

He told me about the I-275 Metro Bike Trail. The path might not have been in the most bucolic setting, but it was the perfect route out of the area.

Since the weather cleared this morning, the sky has been clear with no sign of thunderstorm activity for the whole day. And it is HOT. Hot and Humid. I sweated a lot and had to stop on a regular basis to re-hydrate. Between the heat, humidity, stops and negotiating the urban environment, I did not get as far down the road as I had hoped. I had high hopes of reaching Ohio today, but that ended up being a bit ambitious.

I made it to within about 25 miles of Toledo, Ohio. I found a good place for dinner in Carlton, but struck out on a place to camp. I am in a cheap motel tonight.

Assuming that there are no major calamities, I should be out of Michigan tomorrow and into Ohio.

As I said yesterday, my camping neighbors said it was going to rain in the morning. Specifically, they said 6:00. It started raining at 5:40! I was not going to get an early start… or even an average start for that matter.

The rain stopped and the sun was out by 10:00. I got the tent dried out and camp packed by 11:00 and headed toward the Lancing suburbs. I had lunch there since it was lunchtime by the time I got there.

From Lancing, I was now heading toward Detroit. WHAT?

Of course there was a reason for this. Normally I would steer clear of a major metropolitan area. Well except for Denver and Colorado Springs, but my reason for going near Detroit was similar. I have old friends, Jerry and Elizabeth Brusher who live in Novi, a Detroit suburb. I had not been able to contact Jerry, but I was hoping that he would back at work on Tuesday and I would have a chance to meet up with him and Elizabeth for lunch so I turned toward Detroit on a chance.

There is an Interstate that runs from Lancing right into Novi. Of course I am not going to ride on the Interstate, nor is it legal. But there is a parallel road, the Grand River Road that also goes right to Novi that I rode.

There was one little problem. I should clarify that. There was one small problem and one really large problem. Afternoon thunder storms. One small one that I mostly rode through and one really big one that drove me to cover for close to an hour. This was causing me to ride well into the evening. I was hoping to camp at Island Lake State Park since it showed that there was camping on my map. Once there, I found out there was camping…. if you had a canoe! The only campsites were only accessible by canoe. My bike was not going to get me there.

My next option was a motel, but there did not seem to be one around the area. So it was another 10 miles to Proud Lake State Park! It was going to be around 7:30 by the time I would get there. I would have to get the tent set up, cook dinner, stow my stuff all in about an hour before dark. It worked out pretty well except I also took a shower so I ended up eating my dinner in the tent by headlamp since it was thundering again and threatening rain.

These afternoon and evening thunderstorms are getting old. I could use a nice high pressure system over Michigan and Ohio. I would like some nice clear weather for about 3 weeks. That’s not asking too much is it?

It rained off and on all night in Mt Pleasant but the weather cleared around 10:00. I thought I might have to intrude on Jenny and Sammy for another day at their house but with the clear weather I headed out for the day.

My stay with Jenny and Sammy was terrific. They were fantastic hosts and the next cyclists they host are in for a nice stay with them. It was also great to have seen Lynne as well. If they ever get to Wenatchee they have a place to stay!

Once on the road I found a nice bike path leading out of town to the south. It went for a few miles and then turned east which was fine so I kept following it to Shepard. I was going to be picking my way southward toward the city of Lancing, the capitol. Well, not Lancing but skirting around the suburbs.

Riding through this part of Michigan started looking and feeling a lot like Iowa. The terrain was flattening out just as the latter part of yesterday was. There was a lot of corn and soy beans just like Iowa too. And it was getting hotter and more humid. The sound of crickets and frogs as the background noise in northern Michigan was again replaced with the sound of cicadas.

There were more trees to remind me that I really wasn’t in Iowa. And there was the occasional dairy farm along the way too.

Dairy farms are more a part of what you would expect from Wisconsin, not Iowa. I guess Michigan is a hybrid state when it comes to its agriculture.

As I mentioned earlier I did not want to go into Lancing. I picked the Sleepy Hollow State Park as my goal for the day. It might be a little dicey though. It is Labor Day Weekend and campgrounds tend to fill up, especially ones near urban areas. The Sleepy Hollow SP is only about 12-15 miles from Lancing.

Pulling into the park, I was relieved to find that they had a “rustic” camp site that was available. It is “rustic” because it does not have a place to park the a car and you have to haul your gear into the site. Of course, this is right up my alley.

I set up my tent, but asked my camping neighbors if they had seen an updated weather report. They said it was 100 percent that we would get rain in the morning. I put the rainfly on!

This morning is NOT sunny. It isn’t raining either but it looks like it might. Time will tell what the day holds.

I got off to a decent start today. I will ride on the Sunrise Lake Road until I hit Road 80. Then ride south to Evart.

Riding on this sparsely traveled county road in the middle of nowhere today I experience the most surreal moment of my trip so far. Riding out there I was passed by the Oscar Meyer Weiner Mobile! Just came out of nowhere and was gone just as fast. Just as a note: it is the third time that I have seen it. It is always surreal to see it no matter where it happens.

Around noon, I rode into the little town of Weidman and I wanted to get some lunch there. I couldn’t find a cafe so I went into the market. Just as I went into the store there was a few really loud claps of thunder and then the skies opened up. I was save in the store but by only a matter of seconds. That was a stroke of good fortune. I got some food for lunch and ate it on a bench outside of the store under the awning. And I sat there for 3 hours waiting for the rain to stop. So much for an early arrival in Mt Pleasant. Finally about 3:30 the rain let up enough that I felt that it would worth it to try to ride. I had about 17 miles to Mt Pleasant and I could almost sprint that in just over an hour. As long as I knew that there was an ended in sight, I could handle the rain and getting wet.

So odd I went. And the rain just stopped and the sun came out! I wouldn’t be getting drenched at all it was beginning to look like. To make matters even better, the terrain flattened out a lot making the ride even a little faster.

So one thing is becoming clear to me as I get closer to Mt Pleasant. There isn’t a mountain there. There isn’t a hill there. I am not sure where they came up with the name “Mt” Pleasant.

I am heading for Mt Pleasant for a few reasons. One is that I need to begin heading more east to skirt around Lake Erie and second I have an invitation to stay at some new friends house for the night. Way back in Montana you might remember that I met 2 women from Michigan on the side of the road. They invited me to stay with them if I ride through Mt Pleasant so here I am! It is really helping me out. Camping is pretty “iffy” during the Labor Day weekend. Campgrounds tent to fill up fast so staying at their house takes some of the stress out of that element. Plus, I can do that laundry that I desperately need to do. And they can tell me all about their trip which is always fun.

So I got to Jenny’s house around 5:30. I felt right at home. She and one of her roommates Sammy had some friends over including Lynne who was Jenny’s travel friend who I also met. They were all nice. I got a shower, did my laundry and even got some dinner. They were great hosts. And I got a nice soft sofa to sleep on too. Life is good.

No rain last night and sunny skies again this morning. I am hoping to put in a big effort today. I am heading for Mt Pleasant and it is a 2 day ride to get there. I want to ride a long day today and minimize tomorrow’s ride. It’s a good plan if the weather holds up.

As I was tearing down my camp, I had a continuous conversation with Rodger, my camping neighbor. He and his wife were really nice people. But eventually, I had to take off.

First things first though. I pedaled over to the Brick Wheels bike shop to see if they could replace my broken spoke. They said they could and it would take about 30 minutes. That is pretty good service.

So far I have found that the bike shops will really help out cycling tourists if they possibly can. It must be some sort of unwritten rule.

Today as I head toward Mt Pleasant, I will be leaving the Lake Michigan shoreline. I will miss the continuous beauty that it provided. But the interior of lower Michigan is still nice and offered good riding. Much like earlier Midwest states, there are a lot of county roads to ride on and miss the highways. The roads are decent with rolling hills that never seem to stop. The forested countryside is broken up with large tracks of farmland.

I am heading straight south out of Traverse City in these country roads. Today, my legs are a little tired. All of the constant hills might be taking a toll on them. I usually feel better in the afternoon after my lunch break. I am hoping that today is no different.

The roads in this part of Michigan are like the roads in Iowa in that the tend to run either north- south or east-west. Hwy 115 is an exception and I am going to try it and see how the traffic is. Just to the northwest of Cadillac City is where I will intersect Hwy 115. It is getting late in the afternoon at this point and I am a little concerned about it. It is Friday before Labor Day weekend and there might be a lot of Detroit traffic heading for the lake. And i am not sure about the shoulder width either. I guess I am about to find out answers to all of these questions. Well, the answer is that this decision is a complete disaster. The traffic is fierce and the shoulder minimal. So I need to get off this road and go back to the inefficient south, then east routine that I dislike so much.

With this new plan, I have my eye set on a campground on Sunrjse Lake to camp at tonight. It is about 12 miles north of Evart and will leave me around 50 miles to travel tomorrow. I think that will work out pretty well. I have also met my goal of riding a long day. I need to figure out the mileage, but I got to the lake really late and had to set up the tent and cook dinner in the waning light of the day.

I am really looking forward to the shorter day tomorrow. I even hope to do laundry in Mt Pleasant. That in itself will make the long day today worth it.

I woke up to sunshine! Yes! It has been a while since I have seen a real sunny day.

Today , I am riding to Traverse City. I took off down Hwy 31 along the coastline. About lunch time, I came across a farm produce market. Good news! Michigan peaches are in season! I like peaches. Obviously, I had some along with lunch.

Next, I was able to get off Hwy 31 and took the east side road along Torch Lake heading for Elk Rapids. What a nice ride. And what a bunch of really nice expensive houses along the lake!

I ended up riding a bit back north to Elk Rapids before turning south again, just to get around some of the lakes in the area. Getting to Traverse City from there and missing the heavy traffic on Hwy 31 was a chore though. I had been given some turn by turn instructions from the tour lady from yesterday. That was the only way I was able to get through that maze and I was grateful again for her help.

The last 10 miles into town were on a nice bike path. The TART. I am not sure what it stands for but that is the name of the pathway. It went right past the Traverse City State Park where I was going to camp. I got my camp spot paid for then went in search of food and a cold beer. And I needed to find a bike shop again. Somewhere along the line I had broken a spike that I wanted to get replaced before it started to domino with more broken spokes. Luckily there was a bike shop right in the area that I found and would go there first thing in the morning.

So after eating an entire pizza and a few beers at the Filling Station Brewery, I headed back to the campground.

Back in the campground, I enjoyed talking to my neighbor campers Rodger and Melanie. They have family in the Cleveland area and gave me some contact information for them if I needed any assistance when I am traveling through that part of the trip. That was really nice of them.

We talked until dark and agreed to continue the conversation in the morning. They understood when I said I needed to hit the sack. I was pretty tired from a long day of riding.

It rained and rained all night. I stayed perfectly dry and warm, but I was in the tent for 14 hours!

Obviously, I got a tremendously slow start this morning. I barely made it out of the campground still in the morning. It stopped raining, but it was still looking like rain so I did something I had not done all trip so far. I wore my rain pants. The first time all trip I had long pants on while riding.

My route would hug the Lake Michigan coast today for the most part. And it would be a lot of navigating. Lots of turns.

The “Lower” part of Michigan still looks a lot like the U-P so far, but there is more farming down here. Still lots of trees and hills as it turns out.

I had lunch in Cross Village at a convenience store that sold sandwiches. It was the best I could do today for lunch. I did take a short cut straight south instead of the longer shoreline route to save some time today because of the late start.

Just before entering Harbor Springs, a bee flew under my bike helmet and stung me. That was not fun, no not at all.

Riding through Harbor Springs, I ran across a lady who was a ride leader for an organized tour through area. She loaned me their bike pump so I could top off my tires. She said my forehead was swelling up pretty good from the bee sting so she also gave me a small bag of ice to put in it. That seemed to help. She also gave me some navigation tips for traveling south and some camping information. She was a great help.

From Harbor Springs, I got to ride on bike trails most of the way through Petoskey and through Charlevoix.

My camp ground was just 3 miles out of Charlevoix. Fisherman’s Island State Park. It was very basic and sparsely used. Still it was nice, right on the lake shore. The wind was blowing on the beach so I took my rainfly down there and got it mostly dried out. That allowed me to set up a dry tent which is always my goal.

Getting ready for bed, I took off all my rain gear. It never rained a single drop on me the whole day.