Bookend Flats

Day 42: Bruce Crossing to Michigamme Lake, MI--64 miles

David started the day with a flat before we even left the room! This, in my opinion, is the best time to have a flat. His tire had a slow leak, and he fixed it while I made phone calls for work. Then we got all dressed up for the big rain that was in the forecast, and headed out!

Our thought for the day was about time--and how an hour of driving up here equals a DAY of cycling! At least on our schedule... People up here refer to distances in terms of time--and I'm wondering if that's because they're so close to Canada. Since Canada has kilometers instead of miles, the time reference is probably much easier for everyone to deal with. For us, we just know that if something is 3 hours away, we won't be seeing it for a couple of days...

The ride today was very pleasant--gradual uphills, not too much wind, and part sun. The rain never materialized, and we were happy about that. The gradual uphills made me feel like a rock star because I didn't struggle up them--and I had fun chasing David over the U.P.!

This area is really interesting. It was settled by Finnish folks a long time ago, so you get lots of Finnish names and see lots of Finnish flags flying all over the place. There is also a strong American Indian influence, so many of the towns have Indian names (Negauwnee, Ishpeming, Michigamme). Many of the surnames are Finnish, and the people definitely have that Nordic look to them! It's a little stressful to try and pronounce these names, but the locals are very patient no matter how many times I butcher them!

About 10 miles into the ride, we stopped at Agate Falls--one of the more than 200 sets of waterfalls in the state. It was a truly beautiful spot and the falls were really nice! There is a LOT of water moving around this area--and it doesn't seem to slow down much as the summer progresses.

We had some more narrow shoulders today, and more of THOSE drivers--once again I ended up in the gravel. But no falls--just freak outs! Overall, it was a good riding day until we hit about 50 miles. Then things slowed down a bit for me. I got tired or something, and just couldn't get those legs to go around!

About 20 yards uphill from a roadside rest area, I got my flat to end the day. David (once again) came to my rescue and fixed me up for the remaining 14 miles. We went through the town of Michigamme and missed several shopping opportunities--bummer! But David wanted to check out the Lake--he said he had heard of Lake Michigamme for his whole life. I said--I think that's Lake Gitchigoomie, isn't it? He said "Close enough" and turned in to the lake! We got a picture and then continued on our way. Just a note--David thinks some of his relatives used to come to this very lake to fish, so he had REALLY heard of Michigamme before!

We found a campground right on Lake Michigamme that still had a slot left, and decided to camp. After all, I was slowing down. Our campsite had a great view of the lake (which is huge) and we had great weather all evening. The campground was packed with vacationers who were there to celebrate the 4th of July. Kids everywhere--cycling like maniacs (and most did NOT wear helmets--what were those parents thinking???). There was a lot of boating and tubing going on, and we were thrilled to cool off in the lake. Fun!

We packed up much of our stuff in case of rain, but left some things out to dry and a bunch of stuff on our picnic table. We went to bed pretty early, but the rest of the campground did not. But we finally fell asleep to the sound of cribbage games and other campground noises.