Marquette, Mich. to Alpena (where?)

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Odometer at start: 32496km

This day started with a latte and great scone at Coffee Break in Marquette. The owner is an old guy, which means he is my age, and a keen cyclist. He had lots of photos in his window of local races, so I had to ask him what goes on here for cyclists. He said the highlight of the year is a criterium they have every fall. They do the regular catagorized races for the aces, but they also have several open events. he was pretty proud that the open event this year had people from 7 years old to 72. I thought that was a great idea.

I left without getting his name. I really need to make a point of doing that if I'm going to do any travel writing seriously. When I'm reading others travel stories I find it frustrating hearing of this person and that person with no personal reference It also makes for boring reading. And so does this, so I'll get on with my story.

I SAW Christmas today. The town of Christmas is just west of Munsing. Not much to it, but yes, it had a Christmas store. I wonder if Santa drops in there first on Christmas Eve?

I left the shores of Lake Superior and wound my way across a sort of isthmus between Superior, Michigan and Huron lakes. The road finally dropped down and I got my first view of Lake Michigan. I drove along the shoreline and stopped several times to bury my feet in the warm sand. I find wiggling my toes in the sand very therapeudic and just what was ordered after all the time they had been sut up in my motorcycle boots. All ten of them were very pleased.

I need to keep correcting my writing to say shoreline rather than coastline. I might be wrong, but I think of the coast being where the land meets the ocean.

It is special to me to walk along the shore of a lake and listen to the small waves lapping on the sand and rocks. There is no ocean swell and no ocean rollers crashing on the shore. The locals told me that with a strong wind and in the right direction the Great Lakes can produce some very large waves, but I never saw any. I think I like the sound of the lake on the shore because it reminds me of my younger days at our family cottage on Katepwa Lake in Saskatchewan. I find it fascinating that the senses of sound and smell can produce such vivid memories. I've always thought of them as softer senses that are just a support to sight and touch, but they seem to be much more than that.

I finally reached the Mackinac Strait, paid my fee, and drove across the Mackinaw Bridge. It is not only quite a feat of engineering, but I think it is also quite aesthetic. Most of my engineering friends will understand that - I hope. Driving across it on a motorcycle was an experience.

The roadway is open steel grating in the middle, faster lane for cars, and the outside slowere lane for trucks is paved. I started in the middle lane, but the combination of the steel grate making the bike dance around a bit, my top and rear heavy loading making the bike inherently more unstable than normal, and the strong gusts of wind that made the bike slither sideways on the metal grate, made me rather nervous. I swallowed my ego and slipped over behind the trucks in the slower lane with a better surface. I must say, the height of the bridge roadway off the water gave me a funny feeling as well.

At the south end of the bridge I noticed a sign at a resturant for Pasties. All the way along the highway I had been seeing these Pastie signs, so when I saw quite a few people at this place I decided to give them a try. Each one I had seen claimed to be the best pasties in Michigan. This one, The Mackinaw Pastie and Cookie Company claimed the same. "Serving the finest pasties to the finest people since 1964." I tried their chicken pastie and I'll try to describe it for you. The pastry was similar to the first pastry I ever made, flat and leathery. Although the filling was OK and had lots of chicken it had that taste of too much salt AGAIN. (OK, that is enough. No more talking about salty food. Maybe I'll make special comments only when I find the food isn't salty.) So, no more pasties down here for me. The ones I had in England are still my favourite. Mind you, there were some bad ones over there as well.

On this day I passed through several towns that sounded familiar. I'm not sure if they are in songs or mentioned in movies, but Munsing and Cheboygan ring a bell for me.

Rogers is a town that's not familiar to me or probably to you. You need to know that Rogers is notable as it spawned the womans scrub softball champions of 2001. I know this because it says so on their town signpost. Yes, they actually spell it Rogers - no apostrophe. I'm sure Lynn Truss would explain why.

I arrived in Alpena and found everything a traveller might need: a motel, Wal-Mart, and a cyber cafe. (Here we go a-blogging.)

By the way, there was nothing special drawing me to Alpena. It was just a distance I had to travel so that I could get to Goderich, Ontario tomorrow. Mission accomplished.

I guess the only bad thing about the day, as will be the same tomorrow, it is all about riding hard and long to put the miles under me. There is no time to meet characters along the way.

Odometer at the end of the day: 33006

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Photos

First view of Lake Michigan
Sand everywhere.