GreatLakes

Day 10

Saturday, 6 Jun 2009
Cheboygan, MI to Alpena, MI
82.0 miles, 6h12m, 13.2 mph
Elapsed Time: 8h38m, Max speed: 23.9mph
Total Climbing: 2548ft, Max elevation: 822ft
Total mileage: 624.6

Another sunny day, but this time it was cold. It was going to be a long day, so I took it easy. Breakfast at the Best Western was woefully inadequate, but I'd accumulated enough spare food over the last few days, so I just climbed back on the bike and hit US 23 south. I wore my cold weather outfit, which is the same as my cold-and-rain setup, except with my wind jacket instead of my rain jacket.

They have some really nice rest areas along the roads here in Michigan. Some of them are quite scenic, and the first one had beach access, so I took care of some unfinished business with Lake Huron.

Typical US23 rest area.

I touch Lake Huron. Three down, two to go!

This might actually be a different rest area.

I made it a habit to stop at all the rest areas and scenic overlooks. At some point I bought some cookies in a little general store and I'd eat a few at every rest stop, sit on a picnic table, soak up some rays, warm up. Bicycle touring paradise...except for the part about needing to warm up.

About 10 miles outside of Rogers City I stumbled across the 40-Mile Point Lighthouse. They had a nice little park there, complete with the pilot house from a Great Lakes freighter, a shipwreck on the beach, and, well, a lighthouse. I toured them all.

This isn't one of those lighthouse hardship assignments out on some rock
in the middle of a lake. This one comes with a nice house.

This is the shipwreck. It is part of the side of the Joseph S. Fay, a wooden steamer,
which was driven aground here in 1905.

The people at the lighthouse were really pushing me to use the new bike path to get into Rogers City. It had just opened a couple weeks before, so they really wanted it to be a big success. There were several bikes at the park, so apparently people were using it. I was a little reluctant because the shoulder on US23 at that particular point was pretty sweet, but I tried out the trail and it was of excellent quality.

Ridin' the trail toward Rogers City

In Rogers City I was looking for lunch in all the wrong places, and eventually I left town hungry. I found a place a few miles down the road and grabbed a burger, but not before getting a look at the world's largest limestone quarry. So, I can check that off my list of world's largest things I've seen on this trip. (Let's see, world's largest chainsaw, Indian, rifle, limestone quarry, lake...I know I'm forgetting something).

Yeah, it's a big hole in the ground.

After lunch it was just a long grind to Alpena. Turns out my room has a jacuzzi again, so I'm gonna soak a bit during the hockey game.

The weather looks pretty bad for the next couple days. Tomorrow is supposed to be raining and cold. I may have to bail on riding if it's too bad, but that would put my touching Lake Ontario at risk. We'll see what happens...after all, the room has a jacuzzi.

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