August 5-11, 2012
Our tour began in the northern section of the lower
peninsula of Michigan with a bus ride from Mackinaw City to Montague. Across
the five mile long bridge in Mackinaw City is the Upper Peninsula of Michigan,
a very wild, scenic and remote part of the U.S. Across from Mackinaw City is
Mackinaw Island, a very pricey island for the rich and famous to build
summer-home mansions and the minions of tourists to invade. Even though it was
a $32 ferry ride ($8 to bring a bike) for 15 minutes on a high-speed catamaran
ferry, it was well worth the money to explore. No vehicles are allowed and the
primary transportation is bike or horse-drawn carriage. The Grand Hotel was
truly grand. The wealthy from Chicago, Detroit and Cleveland built stately
Victorian style mansions in the late 1800’s. As stunning as the mansions was
the landscaping. It required stopping the bike and standing in awe at the
beautiful flowers, stone-work and prolific foliage. Mackinaw Island has an
eight mile road around the circumference, just for bikes. The coastline is
rocky with a few beaches and dense forests of Maple, Beech and many evergreens.
The governor of Michigan has a summer home on the island. The village area is
bustling with restaurants and shops, a mecca for the “Fudgies”. Homemade fudge
can be found all over this scenic area of Michigan so the nickname for the
tourists coming to enjoy the cooler weather and outdoor beauty while sampling
some of the best fudge ever made, is “Fudgies”. My personal favorite was the
Rocky Road fudge. A close second was the Mackinaw Island Peanut Butter Fudge
ice cream. Another culinary treat was the Whitefish served on a plank.
The bike tour began the next day with a three hour
bus ride to Montague, MI. The over-night towns and daily mileage is as follows.
From:
|
To:
|
Miles
|
Montague
|
Ludington
|
70
|
Ludington
|
Frankfort
|
70
|
Frankfort
|
Traverse City
|
70
|
Mission Point Ride
|
50
|
|
Traverse City
|
Charlevoix
|
65
|
Charlevoix
|
Harbor Springs
|
52
|
Harbor Springs
|
Mackinaw City
|
45
|
422
|
Each night we camped at on a local school ground
with access to the facilities for showers and breakfast/dinner. We spent two
nights in Traverse City, camped on the grounds of their Civic Center. We were
very fortunate weather-wise with only two rains which occurred at night while
in the tents. But a lucky few of us also had “rain” in the version of a
sprinkler system that went off at the Civic Center causing us a bit of delay
getting out of the tent for breakfast. Riding temps during the day ranged from 60
– 80. A couple of days had 20 – 30 mph headwinds so it felt cooler causing me
to wear my leg and arm warmers all day – in August.
Flowers seem to grow on steroids in this cooler
climate with a shorter growing season. Some popular varieties were Black-Eyed
Susans, Hydrangeas, Hosta and Lavender.
Growing wild in the fields was Sweet Pea, Queen Anne’s Lace and Purple
Loosestrife. Near Elk Rapids was fields of Sunflowers planted like you see in
France during the Tour De France race. Often seen as part of the formal
landscaping or, just growing wild, was birch trees, those beautiful trees with
the white bark which settlers used the bark 200 years ago as paper.
In the 1800’s this section of Michigan was thick
with White Pine. After 40 years of harvesting the pine and transporting them
down the lake to railcars, the resource was depleted. Harbors built for the
logging industry are now used for recreational boating. During this same period
was the introduction of the “car ferry” only “car” meant for the railcar.
Industry has now turned to orchards, vineyards and
farming. We passed so many fields of corn that I felt I could be in Iowa. For
the beer-lovers, have you ever seen Hops growing in the field? Hops grow on
vines trained on poles and twine extending 20’ tall. Your next question might
be “Is Hops a grain or seed”? Neither. Hops is classified as a berry which
looks like a small pine cone. Orchards
are prolific primarily growing cherries and apples. While we missed the cherry
harvest, we were often treated to dried cherries or chocolate covered cherries.
My favorite way to sample cherries was the local Moomers ice cream flavor of
Cherry Moo-lata which is ice cream with cherries and dark chocolate. Speaking
of food, another common sighting was smoked fish which I partook of several
meals of either smoked salmon or white-fish.
While mostly rolling hills, we did encounter some
significant climbs. On day two near Frankfort we climbed the Three Sisters
which the most strenuous being Arcadia Hill (12% grade for ½ mile) a.k.a
Watermelon Hill since our SAG stop provides us watermelon at the top. To get
even higher, we climbed the steps to the top for the most panoramic view of
Lake Michigan. We were blessed with a clear sunny day and spotted a bald eagle
flying below us seeking his prey from the water. On this hill we also met two
very inspirational young women on their 4th week of a cross-country
tour going east-to-west (into the winds) from NYC to Seattle. With limited
funds, they were riding heavy bikes with wide tires and limited “technical”
gear. They just loved riding and adventure knowing they had left a bit late in
the season and will most likely encounter snow in the Rocky Mountains before
arriving at their destination in three months. Ah, the spunk of youth! Speaking
of age, the average age on the tour of 400+ riders was 55 with the oldest being
83. Looking at the masses each day, the
average age looked older which if you pull out the kids on the trip, the
average age would be closer to 60. That’s inspirational in itself, that many
active adults capable of riding 400+ miles in a week.
Another significant climb was on the 7-mile scenic
loop to the Sleeping Bear Dunes Park. The dunes peak at 480’. The road takes us to the top where tourists
can take the boardwalk for viewing. The adventurous tourists make the steep
roll/walk to the lakeshore. Coming back up the dunes literally requires walking
on hands and knees for the slog back to the top.
While on the topic of age, the best music we saw
this week was two very different bands on the opposite ends of the age
spectrum. On a street corner in the tiny town of Pentwater we saw a 7-piece
string band playing old-time tunes like “5’2, Eyes of Blue….Has Anybody Seen My
Gal”? The musicians must have been 80+ including the woman on the Hammer
Dulcimer that reminded us of Eleanor Roosevelt with her narrow brimmed fabric
hat. They were raising money for the local fire department. In the wealthy harbor town of Charlevoix, was
a Caribbean steel drum concert rocking out to the masses. What was unique? All
members were white, aged 12 – 18 and no dreadlocks. It was the 30-piece band from a nearby school
in Petosky. The band was formed 18 years ago with a few drums and has grown to
30 members via funding from their summer concert series and sale of CDs. They
perform at 21 concerts during the summer, receive no school credit and must
have an adult drive them to each concert. They receive $300 each ($15/concert) which
would cover gas money. That’s commitment and passion. It was such fun watching
them rock out in their beach shirts and flip-flops.
Charlevoix is home to the fanciful Mushroom Houses. Built
by local architect Earl Young during 1918 – 1975, the eight houses left a
lasting legacy of strange and adorable houses. Built mainly of stone and
shingles, the houses are cute and cuddly, some with fireplaces which appear to
have icing dripping down the sides. One was even for sale and could be yours!
Our final day returned us to Mackinaw City as we
rode our bikes under the five mile long Mackinaw Bridge. It was great fun to
explore a new section of the U.S. While the summers there are beautiful, the
weather can be a bit nippy for this southern gal. It must take a sturdy person
to endure the winters of northern Michigan. One shop owner commented they only
got 90’ of snow last winter, way down from the typical 300’. Yes, it’s time for
this Georgia Peach to head south. Winter will soon be in this “neck of the
woods”.
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