If you ever consider cycling through the UP, here's a friendly tip: pack some snacks because you never know when you'll come across a place to eat, and then there's no guarantee it'll be open. From what I've seen in the past few days, things open late and close early up here. Just because there's a sign advertising dog sled rides, it doesn't mean it's open right now. Well, that one's common sense.
Today we'd traveled over half way between Manistique and Escanaba before we finally found a place to refuel. I should also mention here that the UP isn't particularly vegan friendly. It's hard enough finding something to eat without meat involved. We rode for an hour after I had decided I was hungry looking for any place to get a bite to eat. I wondered at what point we should just pull over and make up some PBJ's. We finally saw a sign saying there was a restaurant 5 miles ahead. It was a long five miles.
We encountered little wildlife today: three deer, one porcupine, and some old guy on a bike carrying his little dog in a basket up front and balancing a rake across the handlebars. I wanted to get a picture of the porcupine as I had never seen one alive in the wild. We've ridden past plenty of evidence of failed porcupine road crossing, so I knew they were around here somewhere. When I heard David yell,"porcupine!" I should've kept quiet, stopped my bike, and tried to get a picture. Instead, I also blurted out, "porcupine!" further spooking the critter, who waddled too quickly into the tall grass for me to photograph. I also would have liked to get a picture of the old guy with the dog, but he had a rake, and I was unarmed.
The third deer we saw did what deer often do when we see them in the road: stand there and stare as if waiting for instructions. It finally ran off after David hollered.
Overall, it was a smooth, easy ride today. We're all feeling strong, and we probably could've ridden quite a bit further. There may not have been sunshine today, but at least there was no rain. You can't have everything, and that's okay. We met a couple of guys in Traverse City who had been riding for over three weeks- they started in Bar Harbor, Maine- and were headed west. This morning, when we left the hotel and I wasn't feeling much enthusiasm for a bike ride, I wonderd what kind of mental state you'd have to develop in order to ride for so long. We have a deadline, or at least we know how many days we have, but they didn't. It must take great discipline and patience to attempt such a long trip. I have some mental toughness to develop if we're ever going to be able to do that.
We saw a dumb movie this afternoon, had a great dinner, and soaked our tired muscles in the hotel's hot tub. Tomorrow may be a rainy one, so we're watching the weather tonight trying to determine whether tomorrow will be a travel or a rest day. We've ridden around 375 miles now, and we have only four more riding days scheduled. On Monday I wasn't sure I would make it this far. I'm pleased that I have.
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