On July 20th, 2013, my friend Brian Knight and I embarked on a bicycle tour around Lake Michigan. We planned for it to take 15 or 16 days, and were to take a clockwise route around the lake, starting and ending at Navy Pier in Chicago. We completed the tour successfully, on August 2, one day earlier than expected, for a total of 14 riding days. What follows is a consolidation of Facebook postings I made during the tour, as well as additional narrative for days I did not get a chance to do that (due to time or bad phone coverage). I'm posting it here for those of you that were following on Twitter but are not friends with me on Facebook, and therefore did not see the original posts. I've made a number of corrections, and, as I mentioned, added content to fill in the gaps.
I hope to add photo's to this also, and produce one or more videos based on the (gigabytes of) pictures and videos we took on the trip, but that will have to come later. I wanted to get this up while people are still interested :-).
Day 1 – Navy Pier (Chicago, IL) to Cliffside county park, Racine, WI, 84.3 miles
Our first day of riding, from Navy Pier to Racine, WI, is for the history books. We could not tell you exactly how we got here, but none of the roads was very bad, and we got to use a lot of bike paths. Stopped at Einsteins in Lake Forest for lunch, and Chartroom Charlie's for fine outdoor dining in Racine. Got a fair amount of Lakefront riding in, which was great. The campground is really nice, with some of the best shower houses we've ever had the pleasure of using. Looking forward to a great ride to Kohler Andrae state park tomorrow. Planning a breakfast stop on Milwaukee. Good night, all!
One final note. What a wonderful surprise it was to be waiting for the Metra train this morning with Caryl Medsker, to have the Rev. Elizabeth Butler Jameson jog up, with Howie the yellow lab in tow, and offer to ask God's blessing for me AND my bike. Elizabeth is going to be the Rector of Saint Simon's Episcopal Church starting in August. What a wonderful gesture, from a wonderful friend!
Day 2 – Racine, WI to Sheboygan, WI, 87.7 miles
We had a good, early start at 7:30 this morning. There were lots of lakefront trails to ride into Milwaukee, and the waterfront is very nice. We fixed a woman's front wheel rubbing problem along the way there, so our good deed for the day was complete. We had breakfast with Megan, Brian's daughter, and her boyfriend Shawn, at a nice coffee place in Milwaukee just off the trail. We rode out of Milwaukee through some pretty nice neighborhoods, with interesting houses, and some good lake views. Stopped for a bit in Port Washington, and then caught the Inter-urban trail North to Belgium. We headed toward Sheboygan, and Kohler-Andrae SP then, but got caught in the rain around 3:30 or so. Arrived at the park soaked, and a little cold, and decided to ride into town (2 miles or so) to a restaurant recommended by the park staff, who were very helpful. It was an hour wait for a table when we got there, but worth it. However, it was a cold ride back to camp! My rear wheel was rubbing on something on the way back, so will need to check that out in the morning.
Day 3 – Sheboygan, WI to Denmark, WI, 80.4 miles
Today's ride was 80 miles or so after
the dinner ride (computer is on bike, I am in tent)... We saw
sunshine upon waking up today, much nicer than the hours of rain we
got yesterday. Brian had some wet stuff but used the "bicycle
clothesline" to dry much of it out while riding today. Had a
delightful breakfast with his parents in Sheboygan, and were on the
road again a little after 9. The ride up to Manitowok, and through
Two Rivers was lots of lakeshore and very pleasant. Stopped at The
Broken Spoke bike shop and picked up some new brake shoes for my
Fuji. Last night I noticed that the brake was rubbing in back, and I
thought I would need to find a bike shop to figure that out. This
morning, which is light and not raining, I found that the bungee cord
I wrapped around my seat stays had hooked on the brake caliper, and
once I fixed that, all better! Anyhow, my pads were somewhat worn,
and one got some extra bonus wear so I may replace them when I have a
chance.
After turning Northwest (we are bypassing Door
County), we had a long slog through Mishicot and then Denmark, before
arriving at our campsite. Brian gets the polka dot jersey again this
year, based on how well he climbed the hills we ran into today.
We
had great pizza tonight at The Twenty-one Gun Saloon (no firearm
allowed), but missed the ice cream parlor's last call by a few
minutes.
Got back to camp before it started to rain here,
fortunately. Everything got stowed, including us, and the rain has
stopped now.
Tomorrow we head to J.W. Wells SP in Michigan.
State #3. That will be 85 miles or so. Time to hit the sack!
Day 4 – Denmark, WI to Menominee, MI, 96.5 miles
Gonna try this, hope it makes it
through! Long day, 97 miles, most of it against a stiff headwind.
Breakfast in Green Bay, lunch in Oconto, and a Kernel K's pastie that
we picked up in Menominee, but ate when we got to camp (they were
very good!). The camp is right on the water, and we saw a huge,
awesome moonrise over it tonight.
Tomorrow we ride to
Manistique, to stay at Indian Lake SP, Southern unit (the one with
showers!). After that, one more day on the UP will take us to St.
Ignace, and off M35 onto quieter roads. Both days will be in the 90's
mileage-wise.
Prayers for our safety are appreciated, and also
for the safety of all adventurers such as ourselves.
Hope to
post tomorrow, but if not, see you Thursday.
Day 5 – Menominee, MI to Manistique, MI, 95.4 miles
Today's big events happened in Escanaba, where we had a great lunch (referral by the bike shop guy in Escanaba), at the Ludington Grill. I had been experiencing a persistent cough, so I went to the walk-in clinic about a mile down the road from lunch, also recommended by the bike shop guy (!). There, a nurse practitioner saw me and gave me a perscription for antibiotic and something for my cough also, which got better within a day or two after that (and which is gone now). They even gave me some good tips on which pharmacy would be able to serve me most quickly, since we still had hours of riding ahead of us.
Brian took advantage of the time to do laundry, so we made good use of the break.
We had strong tailwinds on our way out of Escanaba, so made good time. We stopped for ice cream in Rapid River, well worth the time spent! Our dinner stop was about 8 miles short of the Indian Lake SP campground at the Sidetrack Restaurant and Bar, where I had spaghetti (a classic biker's meal) and more.
We arrived a little after dark at the campground, so we didn't have much chance to check anything out, as we were pretty beat and ready for bed.
Day 6 – Manistique, MI to St. Ignace, MI, 101.4 miles
Long day of riding, mostly on US Route 2 across the top of Lake Michigan. We got a late start, but had a good breakfast at the Cedar Street Cafe in Manistique, where we have both been before. We got a photo of the lighthouse in town, but only from a distance, given the time it would have taken to walk all the way out to the end of the long pier that it was on.
Route 2 is busy, and has lots of large trucks (Michigan allows 26-wheel trucks), but the shoulder is wide and there is a rumble strip on the inside so it was not too bad. Just really noisy. There is also a lot of stuff on the shoulder to avoid running over, and when I ran over a bone fragment from a road-killed animal it punctured my rear tire. So, we had to fix that (including putting a folded up dollar bill over the hole in the tire, in between the tire and tube, to give it more strength). That tire would be replaced later in the tour, fortunately.
We had to navigate through a construction one with one lane, alternating traffic directions, and didn't make it to the other end in time before the turned the traffic around. Fortunately, we were about to easily ride on the other half of the road which was closed off to cars, so it was not a problem. Along this route, we met Patrice, a French-Canadian thru-biker going to Costa Rica from Quebec City. He was riding a recumbent with a trailer, and had everything he needed to camp, with or without a campground. We exchange contact info and had a delightful, if short, conversation. Thru-bikers have a lot in common with each other!
We had a great early dinner at Wildwood Pasties, which I had looked up before the trip, at mile 74. Highly recommended if you are in the area!
Day 7 – St. Ignace, MI to Mackinac Island to Petoskey, MI, 79 miles
Great morning on Mackinac Island, we caught the 7:30 ferry there. We biked all around the island, and then ate, and then biked some more. Late morning we caught the other ferry to Mackinaw City, where we saw two lighthouses. One was at McGulpin Point and the other was the Old Mackinac Point lighthouse in the shadow of the Mackinac bridge (impressive structure!). We got rained on hard, on the way to Petoskey, and stopped in Harbor Springs (a pretty up-scale place) to try to regroup and figure out what to do next, given that we were soaked, closer to hypothermia than we liked, and still had miles to go before the Petoskey SP campground. We looked into motels but did not find any vacancies, of course. On a whim I emailed the rector at the Petoskey Episcopal Church (Emmanuel Episcopal) to see if they might have an indoor location where we could crash and dry out some. He called me back within the half hour and offered indoor accommodations, with showers, at their facility. A parishioner, David Jones (“DJ”) let us in and showed us around, and gave us some good recommendations for breakfast places. We had carpeted floors and bathrooms with showers, and some hooks to hang wet things up to dry, all of which made this much nicer than a wet tent, for the evening. We ate in Harbor Springs before going to the church, at the Bar Harbor. Not as impressive as some other places we ate, let's just say.
We are so thankful to Fr. Greg Brown and the people of Emmanuel Episcopal for accommodating us! God is good.
Day 8 – Petoskey, MI to Traverse City MI, 67.5 miles
We estimate that we have gone just
short of 700 miles so far. We woke up in Emmanuel Episcopal Church,
having been given a roof over our heads for the night there. Many
thanks to Fr. Greg Brown and to DJ who let us in and showed us
around. We also got a great breakfast recommendation from DJ.
Our
ride today was wet, again, though not as bad as yesterday. We did
have some narrow shoulders to navigate at times, but otherwise had
wider ones or a separate bike path. Went through Charlevoix, and Elk
Rapids, which had a great coffee shop that we availed ourselves of.
It was cold, especially when we stopped and were wet so hot drinks
were great!
Stopped at Einstein Bikes just short of the
campground, and I got new brake shoes installed, and a new rear tire
(you may recall I hit an animal bone and flatted a few days ago). I
was glad to get a new tire, even though the old one seemed to be
holding up. The bike shop guys were great, and took my bike on
immediately even though they were actually closed. I was especially
glad to get a new tire once they inflated the old one some more, and
it blew right through the dollar bill :-).
At Traverse City
State Park, they were full, but we were offered to set up our tents
on the site of young couple, Matt and Ashley, after Matt had asked us
about our trip. People are awesome!
Finally, we got to the
legendary Red Mesa Grill, and met friends Barbara
C. Simcoe Higgens and Trey
Higgens there, where the smoked refried beans are awesome. What a
happy coincidence that Barb and Trey were in town (they assure me
they were not stalking me...).
Tomorrow, up the Leelanau
peninsula to see the lighthouse, and then to Sleeping Bear Dunes to
camp. Probably be 95 or more miles.
See you tomorrow!
Day 9 – Traverse City, MI to Empire, MI, 94.2 miles
Today we left Traverse City SP around
7, early for us. Got just a few miles down the TART bikeway, near the
nice TC downtown, and the skies opened up. We fortunately were able
to step into a nice omelette restaurant for our second awesome
breakfast in a row. Traverse city is yet another cool place that I
wish I could have stayed at for a longer time.
The rain
stopped by the time we finished eating, so we got started on our way
up to Leelanlau SP, to visit the lighthouse there. It threatened rain
a member of times on the way up but that never materialized. Stopped
in Northport for lunch and provisions, at which time Brian also
determined that his rear wheel quick release was, well, released.
Gravity had kept the wheel in place, but we're glad that got fixed
without a major incident! We then went the rest of the way up to the
SP. Nice lighthouse, and shoreline (that's me on the shore in the
photo), but we didn't stay long as we had a lot more distance to
go.
On our trip back down we started to get rain off and on, a
couple of times really hard. Pushed on and paused in Glen Arbor at a
bike shop to ask about the Sleeping Bear Dunes CG we were
considering. The guy assured us that there were showers, but when we
got there we realized that it was "Rustic". The ranger
gave us a reference for a township CG a few miles away, with showers.
We took off for the new place, and it was still drizzling. The last 3
miles or so ended up being hill after huge hill, and I was bonking by
that time. Thinking about the lovely dinner I was carrying helped me
get through, though. As I write this I an safe and dry in my awesome
MSR tent, listening to a pretty hard rain coming down. The hot shower
was worth the extra miles!
Not sure of our destination
tomorrow, since we are at an unplanned location tonight and this is
the part of the trip that is less structured (mainly since there are
lots more places to camp).
More people asked us where we we
going, and we invited some of them to follow in on Twitter (hash tag
#pedalthelake).
Thinking
about my family and cousins that were in Door County without me this
weekend, and wishing I hadn't missed that. I will see you all next
year!
If you are the praying sort, maybe you could ask for
Brian and I to be given the grace to rise above the rain (and any
other unpleasantries), and have a good time anyway!
Good night
and God Bless.
Day 10 – Empire, MI to Manistee, MI, 72.3 miles
Today we rode from Empire to Manistee.
We had good weather, finally, though a bit cooler than ideal. No rain
is the thing we are very glad about!
We packed things wet this
morning, as it was still raining when we got up at 7. It rained all
night as far as I could tell (however I slept well). The rain did
stop before we rode out of camp, and the day cleared up after
that.
After the 3-mile ride into Empire. From the campground,
we stopped at a place recommended by a couple of folks we had seen
out walking on our way in. Great breakfast #3 in a row was the
result.
We headed South on M22 towards Frankfort. The route
today was hilly, and we had to climb a lot as a result. I haven't yet
had to get off the bike but it takes me a long time to get up some of
them. You at least get to coast down the other side eventually, and
it's during those descents that I'm thankful for my new brake
pads!
In Frankfort we did laundry, which was a big help, not
having to worry about all your clothes being wet. We also had lunch
there, at The Fusion Restaurant, which was Asian, and
excellent.
Stopped at a fantastic scenic overlook, and were
able to see Sleeping Bear Dunes. I left my trail mix at the top of
the Multi-hundred stair climb, and so had to go back up to get it.
More exercise!
Dinner was on the river on Manistee, with ice
cream after trying to get to the beach on time to see the sunset (we
missed it by a few minutes).
Saw quite a few more thru-bikers
like us today, and talked to lots more people about our trip. That's
one of the most fun things about the trip.
Hoping for more
good weather tomorrow, as we ride toward Muskegon and points south.
Camping plans are still not finalized.
So, good night, all!
Day 11 – Manistee, MI to Montague, MI, 90.9 miles
We got started a little late this
morning, but made it to the restaurant on time for the $3.99
breakfast special. It was pretty chilly, but the day warmed up and we
ended up having ideal riding weather. Before leaving the campground I
met Katie, a thru-biker going from Ann Arbor to the Porcupine
Mountains, solo. She is taking lots of photos for an art project.
We've seen many more thru-bikers in the past few days than earlier in
the tour. They always have interesting things to tell you about!
We
took a back-road route and around 23 miles into the day we stopped in
Ludington for lunch, Subway, always a favorite. We sat on a
sun-drenched park bench next to the water in the marina, and worked
on the route forward, finally deciding to go to the local bike shop
to ask (the guide book was lost earlier in the trip so we are reduced
to using the scanned version of it on my phone). After a little
wandering we made it out of Ludington and had some more climbing to
do, on more back roads. We passed over a really interesting bridge
that it turns out overlooks a hydroelectric generation plant, which
was pretty cool.
We stopped in Pentwater and had ice cream. We
stop a lot for ice cream. We made a reservation for tonight's camp,
and got some more directions, this time from the information center
people. We took another back road route, and found a really nice
county park that had a great beach on The Lake. I waded in but Brian
decided to take a complete dip, and appeared to enjoy it immensely
.
Those back roads took us toward, where we picked up the Hart
Montague bike trail. That took us to Montague, to the Trailway
Campground, but not before we stopped for more things to eat at a
great farm/restaurant/food shop. It's all about the food when you are
burning over 4000 calories a day!
When we arrived we heard
live music from a nearby bandshell, so Brian got to go check that out
for awhile. Usually we see the announcement flyers for concerts but
they are on some other night...
While Brian was enjoying the
concert, I got into a conversation with a retired couple that were
staying at the campground, and it turns out he is a retired UCC
pastor and we both know some of the same people (and some of the same
jokes!). They are both bikers and we had a delightful conversation
about a number of topics.
Have I mentioned how great people
can be?
We had to go on an adventure for dinner when we
finally were ready for that, and discovered that most places are
closed by 9. We found a good place, though, and used the bug-free
environment to plan and log.
I adjusted my saddle this
morning, and it was noticeably more comfortable -- a great day of
riding!
See you tomorrow!
Day 12 – Montague, MI to
Holland, MI, 61.9 miles
This morning we woke to the sound
of rain STILL coming down on our tents. I ignored it hoping it would
go away, but Brian was up moving all of his stuff to the picnic
tables under the pavilion next to our campsite. I got up and found
that my things stayed dry, but we still didn't feel like riding in
the rain, AGAIN. So, after some re-organizing/foot dragging we left
our bags in the pavilion and went to the restaurant across the street
for breakfast. We were treated to yet another great breakfast for a
very reasonable price, at Dawn's Place in Montague. We did some
paperwork while there also, and then returned to our site to load up
and go. Brian scored some trash bags so we each fashioned "Boy
Scout Raingear" out of one and put them on. Fortunately we
neglected to take any pictures.
We took off down the bike
trail (nice not to be on roads for awhile!), and the rain stopped
very soon after (yay!). The trash bags came off shortly thereafter as
they were pretty hot once we got moving. We are saving them for
future use, a future we hope doesn't happen! For today, though, we
had no "rain riding", and are happy about that. It was very
nice weather.
The paths were wet, with some wooden bridges,
and our first "man down" event happened when Brian tried to
brake a little too much on a wet bridge and dumped his bike. He's
fine (and so is his bike), but his elbow might be a little sore
still. We both have tried to be more careful since then.
Muskegon
was the first major town we got to, and we stopped to look at the WW2
ship on display and checked out the info center also. Getting through
Muskegan was not the lovely experience of back roads, light traffic
and smooth pavement, to say the least. We had quite the opposite, but
made it through, even navigating a wet gravel "street" for
a few blocks.
Once out of Muskegan we had pretty good roads
and paths to get to Grand Haven. On the way, Brian saw a doe in the
bushes just ahead of us, and slowed to point her out to me. Just
before we got to the point on the path adjacent to her, she bolted
(never saw a deer run so fast!), and just missed blasting into him.
Close call!
When we got to Grand Haven we got a few groceries
from Walgreens and had lunch at a park next to the channel. We then
road to the lakeshore, taking a look at the large Coast Guard cutter
moored there, and walked out to the end of a long pier to check out a
couple of lighthouses. I was impressed with the nice beach in Grand
Haven.
Then it was off to Holland, where we were going to camp
for the night. It was a nice segment of riding, with lots of good
bike paths. We stopped at Ottowa county's Tunnel Park, which has a
concrete tunnel through a dune to provide beach access (nice beach
there also). That was just a couple of miles short of our campground,
and we arrived before 6:00 PM, a first.
Dinner was at the Itty
Bitty Bar, a few miles down the road (all on a bike path!), and was
very good.
Tomorrow we'll go to Warren Dunes SP, or possibly
something a little shorter if one is available.
Until then,
rubber side down!
Day 13 – Holland, MI to Warren
Dunes SP, MI, 92.3 miles
Today we had glorious sunshine
from the time we got up until we arrived at camp. Temps in the 70's
and moderate tailwinds made for a lovely day of riding.
This
morning at Holland SP, we met a husband-wife thru-biking team (Tom
and Teri) from San Diego making their way North as we went South.
Even though Tom was pulling a trailer with all their stuff, neither
Brian or I thinks that this arrangement would work with our
wives.
We stopped in Holland (we had to backtrack inland along
the channel a few miles to get to Holland proper) and found a great
coffee shop with even greater cinnamon rolls. We then went down the
other side of the channel to check out the lighthouse there, and put
our feet in the water on the beach there. Perfect weather day for
that!
We headed South again for Saugatuk, and did go through
the busy downtown area there but didn't stop. The next town was South
Haven.
The first thing we did in South Holland was to go to
Sherman's Dairy Bar and have ice cream. never mind that we had not
even had lunch yet! The dairy bar is attached to their factory, so
the ice cream is made right there. There is also a blue cow on the
roof.
South Haven also has a lighthouse at the end of a long
pier, and after ice cream we of course went to see it. There is a
great beach there, and lots of ritzy houses, like other places along
this route. After a little bit of hill-climbing we were on our way to
St. Joseph. We had lots of calories from ice cream to work off! Along
the way we stopped at a roadside area that had picnic tables,
porta-johns and a beach, which met our requirements. We ate, but not
a lot (still working off that ice cream), and got back on the road
quickly. It was around that time that I realized that I left my
parachute cord/clothesline at yesterday's campsite <sigh>. It
joins my "Sweat vac" headband/beanie that I dropped
somewhere yesterday on the list of lost items...
After some
highway riding (but not high traffic), we arrived at St. Joseph,
which is situated next to Benton Harbor. We crossed the big
drawbridge over the inlet, and Brian recognized that we were only a
block or two from a very nice and bustling downtown. We walked our
bikes around and window shopped, and decided to have dinner there at
a Mediterranean place. We dined on the sidewalk tables they had,
listening to a live singer/guitarist in perfect weather.
We
got on the road again, figuring we had about 10 more miles to camp,
but it turned out to be more like 15, on a low-traffic highway with
less shoulder than we would have liked. However, we made excellent
time and got to Warren Dunes SP in time to see the sunset on the
beach. Barely! Our final clue that we were approaching the park was
the pall of campfire smoke that wafted over the highway. Lots of
campfires do have that effect. Since we were so late, the
registration office was closed and we had to find our own campsite
and self-register, so it has turned into a late night.
Another
day of riding and adventure awaits us, so off to bed! See you
tomorrow.
Day 14 – Warren Dunes SP, MI to Navy Pier, Chicago, 100 miles
Today was our last day on the road! We had some “issues” with our planning worksheet and miscalculated the mileage for the various segments on the last 1/3 of the tour. We didn't have as many miles go to as we thought, once we got to Wednesday of this week, and we then had to make the decision regarding whether to do a couple of very short days or to arrive home early. We chose the latter, for a number of reasons, and so today, though long, was our last of the tour.
We awoke to steady rain on our tents, AGAIN, and gave me a reason to roll over and get a few more winks. Unfortunately, ignoring the rain did not make it go away, so eventually we ventured out to get our things packed and ready for the day's travels. We charged our devices on the 50-amp electrical post (I guess we don't need as much power as those big ol' RVs, but it's important to us nonetheless), and tried to keep things that were still dry from getting too soggy while packing them. Between the sand and the water, it was quite a mess, but we relished in the thought that it was our last day so it DIDN'T MATTER if stuff was wet and dirty! We were going home to washers, dryers, deck railings and other things to help us deal with that. A few snacks were in order before leaving camp, not only because it was over 10 miles to New Buffalo and breakfast, but also because the more we ate the less we had to pack away and carry. Fortunately, by the time we actually got going (almost 10 ET), the rain had mostly cleared up. Unfortunately, that meant a pretty late start! But start we did, as we figured we would need to cover over 80 miles before the day was over.
The route to New Buffalo was partially on the Red Arrow highway, which was not all that busy but did not provide a great shoulder on which to ride. We were able to get off onto a residential set of roads after a few miles, and complete the ride to New Buffalo those. They were not in good repair on some stretches, but we didn't break anything and it was not not having the cars zoom by all the time. As with many other similar roads, there were some very nice homes along these, which were fun to see. Many of those homes blocked the view of Lake Michigan, unfortunately, so we did not see a lot of the lake, except here and there, on the way.
We stopped at a great coffee shop/deli in New Buffalo, ate breakfast sandwiches and cinnamon rolls, drank coffee and tried to figure out where to ride next to get home. If you are ever there, we can recommend David's Delicatessen there.
It was off to Michigan City next, after crossing the state line into Indiana (Michigan City is in IN, of course). There, we found a post office so I could mail the last of my post cards. There are not nearly as many of those blue post office mailboxes around any more, and we never did find any way to mail our cards on the trip, except at post offices. Sign of the times, of course.
Not a lot of time was spent there but shortly after Michigan City we entered the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore area, and had lots of riding through that natural area. We also stopped at one of the beach access areas, and went down to the water to cool off our feet. The issue we have with doing this is that you then need to clean off all the sand before putting on your riding sandals back on, to avoid, well, having sand in your shoes. But it was worth it, and very enjoyable. The weather by this time (and place) was perfect for such a foray, with temps in the mid-70's, low wind and plenty of sunshine. If there is one thing that I had to choose to spend more time doing, it would have been being lake-side, perhaps with a book and chair (neither of which I was carrying on my bike!), and my feet in the water. Maybe next time!
We left the Indiana Dunes area and took the Calumet trail (crushed limestone, with way too many larger rocks and big puddles, but actually not all that bad). This took us into Chesterton, IN, and we wound our way through some industrial and residential areas to find another bike path, the Prairie Duneland Trail, that was to take us much of the way West to get across the bottom of the lake. We stopped for lunch at a rest area on that path, in the town of Porter, IN, and had the only meal for which we used the camp stove (instant noodles...). We were trying to use up our food so we did that instead of stopping for a sandwich somewhere. During lunch a couple of other thru-bikers came through, on their way to St. Joseph from Chicago (and not packing any camping gear like us). They gave us some information on the routes into Chicago from there, some of which turned out to be incorrect, but it was nice to talk to them anyway :-).
By the time we were done with lunch, the clouds in the sky were gathering again, and we thought we might see some rain again. We also tried to make use of the info given to us by the thru-bikers to cut some distance off our route (the bike path we were on, which Google Maps directed us to use, went quite a ways South out of our way). After an epic fail of an attempt to find and navigate a shortcut, we went back to the trail and followed it again. We had some street riding to do in between that trail and the Erie Lackawanna trail, which took us back up Northwest toward Chicago again (nice to be going in the right direction again!), and during that time the skies started to open up and we got rained on, off and on. Once on the new trail, we got pounded by a sudden sideways-rain thunderstorm, but were able to take refuge under one of the excellent shelters that are placed regularly along that trail. We were joined by another biker that was just a couple of miles into her ride when the rain started, and had a nice chat.
Once the rain subsided in a few minutes, we were on our way, looking forward to “only” about 30 miles to go to Navy Pier. Near Cabela's on I-80/94 it started to rain hard again, and we were able to gain shelter in the bike path tunnel that goes under that road. Another few minutes, and we were on our way again. After a couple of miles, I noticed a new noise, and determined that my front rack was loose, so we had to stop to replace a lost screw, and tighten the other one holding that side of the rack on. During this exercise, it started to rain hard again, and this time we just had to get wet...
At the end of the Erie Lackawanna trail, we had to navigate our way to the Burnham Greenway, which is a bike path that forms the very Southern part of Chicago's lakefront bike path system. We remembered some of this from our Grand Illinois Trail tour last year, but not all. Once on it, we were able to follow it until it ended, under the Chicago Skyway, and then continue on the signed bike route, toward the Chicago Lakefront Trail. We did get lost a couple of times on the way, and even after getting on the Lakefront Trail strayed off it as well. I guess the long ride was taking its toll on our sense of following signs :-).
The final ride up the lakeshore was very enjoyable, and we got to hear a bit of the Lollapolooza bands on the way by, riding carefully to avoid collisions with the many occupants of the bike path. We loved seeing the skyline of the city appear and get bigger as we got closer to the end of our ride, and DINNER. We decided to eat at Bubba Gumps at Navy Pier primarily because we wanted to keep our bikes safe and in view, and they have outdoor seating that allows for that. We arrived at Navy Pier at 8:24 PM, got some photos and checked in to Bubba Gumps. We had a great meal (there was shrimp involved), and were done in plenty of time to go catch the 10:30 PM train. The ride to the station put us right at 100 miles for the day, our 2nd “century” day of the tour. Unfortunately, once we arrived at the track for our train (in the midst of a bazillion Lollapolooza attendees going home for the night), we were informed that bikes were not allowed. I guess we both should have known that, but it escaped our attention, so we were now wondering what we could do. Fortunately, our good friend Reinout, with whom we toured last year, answered his phone when I called, and immediately agreed to come down in Henneke's truck to fetch us. We are very blessed to have such generous and thoughtful friends! In 45 minutes, we were loaded in the truck, along with yet another poor cyclist that had brought his bike downtown on the blue line from O'Hare (and couldn't take it on Metra), to be dropped off in Bensonville. Mary came in to pick up Brian at my house, so we all converged there and unloaded, loaded and said our goodbyes (and thank-yous!). It was a tour! The preliminary mileage total calculation shows almost exactly 1200 miles, which is a little more than we thought it would be, but not by much. Total days were 14, of course.
Thank you all for following us on Twitter, FB and elsewhere. I hope to get more photos, videos and some sort of video production posted in the weeks to come, so stay tuned. We hope you've enjoyed our tweets and posts, and that perhaps they have inspired you to give something a try that you may not have otherwise felt prepared for. Hey, if a couple of old guys can ride 1200 miles and haul all their stuff, think of what you might be able to do!
God bless, and thanks again.
Trip Summary
Day 1 – Navy Pier (Chicago, IL) to Cliffside county park, Racine, WI, 84.3 miles
Day 2 – Racine, WI to Sheboygan, WI, 87.7 miles
Day 3 – Sheboygan, WI to Denmark, WI, 80.4 miles
Day 4 – Denmark, WI to Menominee, MI, 96.5 miles
Day 5 – Menominee, MI to Manistique, MI, 95.4 miles
Day 6 – Manistique, MI to St. Ignace, MI, 101.4 miles
Day 7 – St. Ignace to Mackinac Island to Petoskey, MI, 79 miles
Day 8 – Petoskey, MI to Traverse City MI, 67.5 miles
Day 9 – Traverse City, MI to Empire, MI, 94.2 miles
Day 10 – Empire, MI to Manistee, MI, 72.3 miles
Day 11 – Manistee, MI to Montague, MI, 90.9 miles
Day 12 – Montague, MI to Holland, MI, 61.9 miles
Day 13 – Holland, MI to Warren Dunes SP, MI, 92.3 miles
Day 14 – Warren Dunes SP, MI to Navy Pier, Chicago, 100 miles
