Nothing says, WAKE UP LEGS, quite like hills and a headwind.

When we started at 6:30 we had a beautiful sky. The scattered clouds we thought had just not burned off from the morning, but they won over the sun within the hour, but not before we caught our shadows in the early morning sun.  Still saw remnants of the storm as we biked through town, but the sound of generators had been silenced.

We battled the rolling hills in the headwind for about an hour and a half, then turned to enjoy it to our backs.  Oddly enough, the hills seemed to flatten when we turned.  This one’s for Scott/Pam and Dave/Lynn; the closest we will ever get to Nascar.

One last day of beautiful Wisconsin farmhouses; think we got a shot of everyone we passed but will only share a few.  Red is obviously the favorite color, but this white one holds it own.Thinking of doing our next tour one these. Still more fully packed apple trees and huge Weeping Willows.

On our approach to Manitowoc, we saw the CedarCrest Ice Cream cow but didn’t stop as we had a date with a Badger, even though it was just before 11:00 and our boat didn’t leave until 2:00. Got our first glimpse of Lake Michigan as we rounded the corner to the dock.  With tickets purchased and a guaranteed seat on the boat, we biked into town for an early lunch.

A bit of trivia:  The S.S. Badger is the last coal steam powered ship in the United States.  It was named in honor of the University of Wisconsin; inaugural voyage was March 21, 1953.

It is a four hour trip across Lake Michigan from Wisconsin, but by the clock it took us five hours with the time change.  Finally able to disembark around 7:15 p.m. and traverse our last eight miles.  On our approach to the dock in Michigan, we’d noticed a substantial coastline and were hoping that was not within our last few miles.  We were not that lucky, but energized by the seven hour rest and being almost there (even though the sun was low in the sky), we covered the distance “relatively” quickly.  Our last mile was downhill to stay with a friend/neighbor from The Brac.  Kent had prepared a fabulous dinner of steak, fresh sweet corn and a to die for salad.  It was a wonderful relaxing evening, as typified by the sky.To top off the evening, Kent drove us to town for ice creamCapital of Ice Cream in Michigan…..is there anyplace better to be?!

Day off today and with no internet and eight miles from town, that is exactly what we did and exactly what we needed. Plus the calm effect of sand and sea (ok lake, but you can’t see the other side, so same effect).  We do have a couple of the pictures of the darling townand Victorian homes from our ride in last night.We did take a nice stroll past a tiki bar and then to the marina, watching the salmon head boats returning from a successful day of fishing.

Oh, and we did find a masseuse that came to us.  A great day of relaxing…..we will see you tomorrow.

Hayward, Wisconsin to Ludington, Michigan

367 Miles

2 States, Time Zone Change

By the time we left at 7:45 this morning, the salmon fishermen were already at their task. Though the 55° felt quite cold, there were less clouds than yesterday, so we hoped the sun would warm us.  For over a half an hour we biked the country roads with the pungent smell of oil drilling, finally confirming our scent.  The sun didn’t seem to want to break through, but the exertion from the rolling hills was keeping us warm.  Our country roads had us going in every direction today; east, west, north and south; adding distance to the much shorter straight shot.  But the scenery,lots of deer,and lack of traffic made it worth it.

M.E, this one’s for you, still looking for the tree with the full bottles.

At 40 miles we stopped for a delicious lunch and to determine how far to go, 50 or 70 miles.  Still early in the day and with no internet at the 50 miles stop, we opted for the longer of the two.  We continued to wind through villages and townships, our course becoming quite a bit hiller.  It was taking so long, the trees were changing as we biked.  We’ve seen a lot of dogs on leashes, but a cow?

The clouds were really building and we hoped our legs would hold out before the storm let loose.  By the time we dragged ourselves into the township of Le Roy, we felt much like this sign. Seventy four miles (63 as the crow flies) was quite enough for today.

A warmer (60°) humid morning. Right from the start we hit the hills and didn’t get a break for 16 miles.  As always, the country roads provided beautiful scenery, including a barn or two (dozen).Within the hour, the sky had cleared, but the air remained cool.

The fields in Michigan seem much scrappier, not as neat or expansive as we have seen in other states; probably due to the very sandy soil we are seeing.

A turn off our country road to our first flat road since our start and it was blocked by a ROAD CLOSED/DETOUR sign. The sign indicated we had four miles before the road was blocked, but no telling how far the detour would take us; we decided to take our chances.  The construction site was not the worst we’d been through and the workers waved us through; it was a good choice.  We enjoyed another six miles of flat road before returning to the rolling hills,fields and farms.An hour after the sky cleared, the clouds started rolling in, againbut didn’t mute the roadside flowers, pretty forests or continuing leaf changing.We passed several lakes loaded with vacation homes.Finally got a deer to pose.About five miles from our destination, we stopped for a light lunch,turkey and mashed potatoes on top of Texas toast and smothered in gravy.  Good thing we had an easy ride into town on a Rails/Trails path.A nice even 50 miles (40, if we’d taken the highway) completed today.

A frigid blast of wind from the north hit us as we stepped outside this morning. It was 45°, but the wind chill felt like minus 2°. We biked for a couple of miles along our Rail Trail hoping to warm up, but had to stop to put on more clothes. Took about an hour for the feeling in our fingers to return and we settled into the beautiful ride.

Thankfully, we were traveling east, so the strong north wind was just off our shoulder until an occasional gust hit us head on. Lots of barns, one with our initials. We enjoyed our trailfilled with beautiful flowers for 31 miles until we reached Midland, a delightful college townthat took us seven miles to weave through then back on straight, flat roads; though Jerry did want to stop and watch some curling.  Christmas tree farms abound in this areaNot saying it was freezing, but we still had ice in our frozen water bottles at 1:00.

We reached the outskirts of our destination, Bay City, by noon and began our quest for lunch. We followed the course weaving in and out along the Saginaw River finally stopping at 1:30 for lunch, the first place we found.

We have no idea what possessed us to even consider going further having already completed 58 miles. Maybe it was the disenchantment with the city from our ride in, cool weather keeping us comfortable or the fact that our course past Bay City turned south, putting the wind at our back. Whatever the reason, by 2:00 we were back on course. It was truly a beautiful day and great ride; have we mentioned how much we like the wind at our back?

What a surprise our final destination was.  Frankenmuth, the church and town founded in 1846, is called Michigan’s Little Bravaria, filled with all the charm (and flowers) we remember from our northern Europe ride. Albeit, hokey  and extremely touristy,it was a wonderful surprise. We arrived in town by 4:14, but chatted with Bill and Pearl from Ontario for so long we didn’t get checked in until 5:00. We were back out of the door by six.

Ironically or coincidentally there was a Brew Pub right next door and next to them a Wine and Chocolate tasting….so all was worth it.  We ate and drank down the pretty street and found dinner with waiters in full dress.Dinner was a smorgasbord of German food. We each ordered a plate, but the side dishes just kept coming, much like a buffet, except it was all served tableside.  A good thing we did 83 miles today.

We were prepared for the cold this morning, wrapped up as if we were going skiing; leaving an hour later was an advantage, too.  The other end of Frankenmuth was just as charming and we were sorry to pedal away from this hidden gem. The wind was still blowing out of the north, so just off our left shoulder.It was another gorgeous morning, with clear blue skiesand a couple of things we had yet to see.We had about six miles on a rail trail, protecting us from the wind; with no “under construction” sign, we did not expect our trail to be blocked.We managed to walk our bikes around the truck and linesman putting up electrical poles.    By mile 20, we were back out on the open road in rolling hills.An occasional turn in the road had us battling the wind, but that did not change the spectacular scenery. Definitely more difficult than yesterday’s ride, with no wind assist.  Plenty of  fields, livestock and barns surrounded by white fluffy clouds that had moved across the blue sky.  The small towns we pedaled through were dotted with neat yards, Victorian homes and the occasional church.We stopped for the evening in Yale, looking for our diploma; they promised it would be mailed.