6-26-10 Day 22: Manistique, Michigan to Norway, Michigan: 96 miles in 6:35 hours. Rt 2 west the whole day.
Another kind of ominous day, with a very thick fog hanging over Manistique this morning that pretty much blotted out all sights in and around Rt 2. Matter of fact there was a very light drizzle or spritzing of rain from the thick fog I was riding through. Got on the bike around 7:50 AM and was hoping to make either Norway or Iron Mountain today with close to or a bit over a 100-mile day. I was cruising along at about 13-14+ mph early with a very, very slight westerly wind, but no hard enough to really make it feel like I was working to push into it. I’d hit stretches along the lake but could barely see out onto the water due to the really pea-soup thick fog.
Cant’ complain though as the temp was a very good 62 degrees. I had bought a quick gas station coffee and a couple of muffins so I though about just trying to go the distance without making a lunch stop. Temps like that are great for me because I don’t sweat a lot and I don’t get super hungry or thirsty. Made it to Rapid River in good time and noticed again all the little mom and pop businesses that were OOB. There I spotted 2 out of five little efficiency motels that were still viable. The other three had for sale signs on them. Same with several restaurants. Made me sad, myself being a small business person, seeing people’s lives gone down the tubes with this crappy economy. It’s hard enough to make it nowadays when the times are good in that business, but what do you do when the flow of tourist traffic just kind of dries up as it appears to have done over the last few years?
I mean it’s just crazy up here, almost like in a depression state. Makes me pretty thankful for what I have and what I’m able to do. So anyway, I’d pass through these little towns that used to be much bigger players in the tourist trade, towns like Rapid River, Masonville, Kipling and Gladstone, and just see so many places OOB. Seems that the tourists are now just completely bypassing these little places and going straight to the bigger cities like Escanaba to find hotels/motels, gas and food. I say this because when I went through Escanaba it looked to be pretty healthy. It’s a fairly big place for the UP, and has all the big grocery stores and the bigger hotel chains and fast food restaurants. My thoughts are that people traveling just go an extra 30 min or hr down the road to the bigger city rather than staying in some little place just off the beaten track. Add to that the fact that many people just are not traveling like they used to – and this is what you get – near ghost towns with no services available. Sad state indeed.
So I made it through Escanaba in 3:20 hrs, and decide that I felt pretty good, had decent weather and just might as well put in a 6:30-7 hour day in the saddle. Better make hay while there’s hay in the field. Rt 2 stayed totally awesome with that great big spacious 6-foot berm. It’s just wonderful riding on something like that where you don’t have to cringe when semis come barreling by. And the rumble strip kind of keeps all the vehicles out of my little lane. Went through Spaulding and Powers, and they displayed the same ghostly appearance as many of the other little towns. When I got to Hermansville the road began to roll more. Now I’d been dealing with these long, long gradual false flats for the better part of 2 days. But west of Hermansville there was more of a roll in the road. Not enough to make me hit the middle cookie, but enough to send me out of the saddle time and again to get up over the crests of the rolls.
I’d made 2 stops by the time I hit Hermansville, and those were just quick bathroom breaks. Made one more stop just outside of Cunard at a rest area where I refilled my water bottles. From there I just kind of decided that I’d make it the whole way without a food or coke stop. Had an average of 14.5 and enough gas to finish in either Norway or Iron Mountain. About 7 miles outside of Norway the road really started rolling up into tougher pitches. Kind of made me think: “yea stupid, that’s why it’s called Norway!” So went from pretty flat to pretty rolling all the way to Norway.
By Norway I had 96 miles and a choice to make: take it another 7 miles west to Iron Mountain or just find something in Norway. Didn’t see any camping on the way into Norway so just for the hell of it I stopped at one of those little mom and pop efficiencies – the Viking motel. It was totally dead, and just a block away was a Subway. Went in and was dumbfounded that the room was 25 bucks. That’s 5 dollars more than a campsite!!!!! It’s totally crazy. Got the efficiency and it’s pretty dog gone nice for 25 bucks – shower of course, with little frig, cable, air. I mean it’s just unbelievable how cheap lodging is up here. And that was 25 bucks out the door – no tax.
Got settled in……and I even have motel wifi…..and then went to Subway. Got 3 footlongs, 2 I ate there and the third I got for this eve or tomorrow morning. Again, the weather could be a factor for tomorrow as the all knowing weatherpeople are forecasting rain for tomorrow with a chance of severe storms. If I get up and it’s not dumping down rain – game on. Drizzle – game on.
Now if you had read the itinerary you notice that I deviated off course today, staying on Rt 2 rather than going north on Rt 41, and then west on Rt 28. I did this because I’d been through that 41/28 area numerous time in the past, several times when I was in college and doing solo tours up here in the summer. So I’d seen that territory before up around Marquette. Decided last night to go into some territory that was new for me. Never been on the stretch between Escanaba and up to Ironwood. This area is so unlike the Michigan that most people know of and are familiar with. This is like a different state up here, kind of like the bush country of Ontario, Canada. It’s miles and miles of nothingness. I really dig this kind of countryside!
Hi Pete:
ReplyDeleteWhat an adventure. Will sent more later.