Day 43 - Newberry to St. Ignace, MI - 62 miles - 669 feet of elevation gain

So let’s ride bike again today! I can’t even tell you how weird it is to just get on the bike and call 62 miles an easy day. In the world before “life on a road bike” a longer ride would be anything over 40 miles. Now I would say anything over 90 is a long ride. Of course terrain and wind condition play a factor into how the legs respond to the miles. Today was relatively flat until we hit the southern coastline and had some rollers.

We left the hotel around 9am and headed east. Then just when the newly paved road was beginning, we turned south. For about 15 miles we were on a side road with not too much traffic. Then we hit the coastal byway and had a nice wide shoulder for much of the 30+ miles. One section had terrible shoulders but we kept rolling with no flats! The thing I liked about today’s ride was we could actually talk while riding. It was nice to have some chatting opportunities.

We stopped for a break along some train tracks on the southbound road. As I was leaving I looked down the tracks and saw a light. I yelled for the guys to hurry to get on the other side of the tracks. We waited for like 5 minutes and the light wasn’t moving. Not sure if it was workers or what. Micah L. said it was two guys on one of those old cars with the seesaw lever thing, which is why it was taking so long. We made one stop at mile 31 for a scenic overlook and the option to add more layers. It was in the low 50s when we started out and didn’t get much warmer. Our next stop was lunch at a scenic overlook where we caught our first view of the Mackinac Bridge.

As we were leaving lunch it started to rain. So we booked it to our hotel, which was 4 miles away. Then it was free time until the dinner “bus” left at 6pm. Some of the boys jumped in Lake Huron. I spent the time catching up with family and friends. As I was on the phone a baby otter started coming towards me. I wasn’t sure what it was at first so I called the boys over and got behind them in case it was going to pounce or chase me. It didn’t pounce, it was just out exploring. Before we got to the restaurant we made a little detour to see Castle Rock, an overlook with views of Lake Huron. After dinner we had devotions on the deck of the hotel lobby. I then returned to the lake and made a call to my sister, and perched on a rock with water lapping the shore. Then the moon popped out behind a huge cloud cover. It was a perfect way to end a day!

Tomorrow we take the ferry to Mackinac Island to explore. Then another ferry to Mackinaw City, which lands us on the glove of Michigan.