Day 25 - July 16 - Naubinway MI to Sault Ste Marie MI (Canada border) - another long last day in the woods

Weather: 63F (17C) at 7am with very smoky skies and a light North wind. It remained cool all day with the temperature never exceeding 75F (21C).  The gloom and smoke lifted a bit around 1pm as the wind from the north increased.  The sunshine could not really penetrate the smoke and by 5pm, the smoke worsened.  As I was mostly going in an easterly direction the wind was a cross-wind but for about 25 miles as I was going to the north, it was a head wind.  The last 6 miles to the finish was a tough ride into a strengthened wind.

Distance: 104.3 miles (168 kms)

This long distance was not planned. Unfortunately, I left my wallet in the hotel room and when I was alerted to this, I was already 12.5miles up the road to Sault Ste Marie (the Soo as it's known locally).  So I turned around immediately and tried to rationalize the extra miles as a) a warm-up for the day's ride and b) it would give me at least one 100 mile day on this journey.

Elevation gained: 1755 feet (535 meters)

Total calories: 3422

Estimated sweat loss: 6.3 liters (213 fl oz)

Average moving speed: 14.7mph (24kph)

Shvitz index: 2/10 - it was a cool day, cool enough in the morning for a light gilet over the bike jersey.  I don't think I ever really sweated though my throat was dry from the smoky air and I drank a lot of water.

As noted, the original route was planned as 78 miles but the doubling back for the wallet added 25 miles.

I don't really remember any real climbs but the computer registered over 1700 feet

It was so smoky early on that the gloom blocked the sun.  About 11am, the sun made a sort-of appearance.  The reddish-orange ball then disappeared till about 2pm.

Much of the early miles were on empty county roads (and then repeated) with few houses, hunting cabins and many abandoned derelict homes. 

To stop was to invite attack by hordes of insects - I identified at least 4 types - black flies, no-see-ums, mosquitos and large biting flies of some sort.  I don't know how anyone could be outside in this place without the most effective insect repellent.

This house decoration caught my eye - might be a good place for all the old bikes we have.

The second half of the day was on busy state highways but thankfully, most had decent shoulders that allowed for fast travel.  I would guess that I averaged over 15mph over the last 3 hours

I was forced to make a detour by more highway construction.  The site foreman told me that there are two seasons in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan "snow and roadworks", The detour did bring me to Brimley on the shores of Lake Superior.

In the last 20 miles into Sault Ste Marie, I saw signs warning of the presence of Amish horse and buggy travel in the region.  I was aware of the Amish in southern Ontario, in Iowa, eastern Ohio and other places outside their heartland in Pennsylvania, I did not know about Northern Michigan.  Their presence here was confirmed by the evidence of lots of horse manure on the highway shoulders.

There are primary elections in Michigan in a couple of weeks.  I was on the watch for election placards for Democratic candidates since I entered the state but all I saw were signs for Republican candidates.  Coming into Sault Ste Marie, I saw the first Democratic ones.  Abdul-El-Sayed who is running for the nomination to replace retiring Senator Gary Peters has a TV advertisement that announces that he is "a great candidate,  not so great name"

About 6:30pm, Sault Ste Marie was quite deserted.  This impressive bridge has a sign that the city was founded in 1668 by French missionaries, making it one of the oldest US cities.  Despite an impressive stock of retail establishments in the downtown area, many are empty as the usual flight to the car-outskirts has occurred.

I went directly to the Soo Canal and the border with Canada..No one was around and the only greeting I got on completing my journey was from flocks of screaming seagulls. I sat for a bit thinking that it seemed only a short time since I left New Orleans, though it's almost 4 weeks and almost 2000 miles ago.

Later I celebrated with a great local IPA (Two-Hearted Ale) at dinner and a mountain of ice cream.

Tomorrow morning I will take the bike to a local bike shop to be packed up and then I'll take it with me on the plane back to Denver,  It will be weird not to wake early and get ready for another long day on the road.

Later when I have time to digest all I saw, heard, touched and smelled, I will probably compose an epilog on the "good" (some very kind people helping a stranger), the "bad"(appalling poverty) and the "ugly" (the ungodly sprawl of a car-obsessed society) of the United States.