The last of the Great Lakes

Thursday, June 5 (Day 20)

Distance: 46 miles

Average speed: 10.7 mph

Max: 25.3 mph

Total: 1192 miles

I got up to the luxury of no wind, no bugs, and still having my own bit of sunshiny beach. As I began to break down camp, a dog came over, not heeding his owner's requests to return. He took his time sniffing my things (and me) before moving on. His owner, my neighbor, came through and invited me for a hot chocolate in her RV. She also treated me to a warm breakfast and very nice conversation. She's very nice and lovely to talk to, and has two adorable dogs.

Her name is Brenda, and I was in her RV for over two hours. She told me all sorts of things about her life and her family, and at some point Sandie also came by.

I found out that her campground is for sale and she can't afford to buy it, which makes her even more incredible than I thought she was!

Brenda said her "grandma instinct" kicked in and she worried about me and gifted me with drink mixes and tissues and sent me off with her phone numbers and address, telling me that if I was still in Michigan and had any trouble, I could just call her. 

The campground had very interesting toilets too, they reminded me of Pompeii toilets (they sat next to each other and socialized in the bathroom...)

So after my wonderful morning, I set off to ride 55 miles. I quickly realized that I had miscalculated and 55 miles was actually 85 miles, so I stopped much closer than I intended to. 

Riding in the upper peninsula of Michigan has been nice because it's mostly state and national forest (the soil isn't suitable for farming and there's nothing really valuable to mine).

I realized that I really haven't been eating enough, which is why I haven't felt like riding much the past few days. My immediate remedy was to eat, so I went to a restaurant, where I only realized at the end of my meal that I was the only person in the quite crowded place to be alone. I don't mind so much anymore. In fact, two days ago I was completely alone in my campsite and it didn't really bother me, or at least not as much as it did the last time that [almost] happened.

Lots of wind tonight, which means no mosquitos! What a luxury :)

I'm sad to leave Lake Michigan behind tomorrow, and to leave the Great Lakes for good. It's been such a beautiful ride, and they really are wonderful lakes.