Best in US

Day 58. Marquette to Munising. 54 miles. 3,553 miles TTD. 1297 feet elevation. Weather warm but tailwind.

Michigan is definitely my favorite of the three states on this route. And today was the best of Michigan. Marquette has embraced the idea of being a waterfront community and made beautiful Jetties and piers. Additionally, they’ve paved a trail for miles down the coast, and even after the pavement ends, it goes on for several miles more with a very nice crushed limestone surface. The clouds were gathering and the Thunder was rumbling behind me, but I was able to make it out of town with a nice Tailwind. With a relatively short trip to Munising it was a very pleasant day overall.

As I’ve said before, a bike is a wonderful way to see the country. In a car, I never would have noticed these narrow little tracks leading into the woods and down to a secluded beach. There was no one in either direction that I could see for miles. I thought about skinny dipping but decided I didn’t want to get a charge for indecent exposure in Michigan. I settled for soaking my legs, which was quite pleasant and the cool water. I wish I had brought lunch because it would have been a wonderful picnic spot.

With the rain coming, I jumped on the highway to avoid mud on the trail. It was not only beautiful to have the shoreline just to my left but also pleasant because there were many turnouts and rest stops. Many of the other places I’ve been I’ve gone for tens of hundreds of miles without a rest stop. Today, there was one about every 5 miles, it seemed. Bravo Michigan.

In the town of Munising I risked going to a Mexican restaurant. There really was just relatively fancy food rolled in pretty pathetic tortillas. There was no Spanish coming from the kitchen nor anybody that appeared to speak spanish. The food was good, but we’re a long way from Mexico.

This evening in the hot tub, yes, I soaked in the hot tub. There was a couple already soaking when I arrived. I bravely entered and started talking to them. What was terrifying is they talked back and continued to talk. I was hoping they had been soaking long enough they would leave when I arrived. However, with Goal number two on my mind, I chatted away, and we had a good 15-minute conversation before they decided to hit the sauna. That was definitely a better experience than when I tried to engage the kid that was the cashier at the grocery store. When I asked him how he was, he said, ” I’m here.” Perhaps it’s being lonely or being alone, or maybe it’s just working on my goal, but I really am finding it enjoyable to engage with other people and try to learn about them.

Tomorrow is another relatively short day into Newberry. Then on Friday I’ll pedal back into Ontario.