I wonder how many times I'm going to start a blog post with something like "well, I rode 95 miles today, but not on purpose!" It seems that the majority of the time I do 95 miles it's not on purpose. No sane person does that on purpose.
But first I need to tell you about last night. Remember those horseshoe playing Yoopers in the park I was camped in? They did come back and they brought really yummy homemade pancakes at about 9:30pm, it was a great late night snack! I love those yoopers!
So, today is best narrated in linear fashion, so I'm gonna do that. It was a long day.
The first 44 miles weren't bad. I got on the road about 7:45 AM and made it to Escanaba (pop 11,000) by around 12 central time. On the way there I crossed into Eastern time, so I lost an hour. That comes in to play later.
I went to the store for supplies, and when I came out there was another touring bike parked behind me! I ate some food and soon Jeff came out; a retired fella on day 75 and mile 3,800 something riding from San Fransisco to Delaware on mostly his own routes. Yay! Being back on the Adventure Cycling routes I'm sure to be meeting lots of baggers like I did from Oregon to Missoula. Jeff and I talked for awhile, and then it was time to shoot out of town since my break was getting long.
Except not. As I was about to leave town a huge storm rolled in. Being a midwestern raised stormophile I got a good figure on how strong it was and how long it was going to last, and figured this one was best to wait out. If I hadn't had my own figure on it, all the people running up to me and saying things like "Ya aren't going northwest are ya? Thars a big storm there ya. 60 mph winds and [insert random change demoniation] sized hail too." So, I did what any brave adventurer would do in my situation. I went to a diner and ordered a coffee and cheeseburger.
The storm blew through, no hail but insane winds, and I finally got back on the road at 1:30 central 2:30 eastern time only at mile 44. The next good stopping town was mile 59 but I felt good and the riding conditions were good (overcast, no real wind) so I decided to push on to a store that was on my map about 13 miles away. I figured there would be somewhere I could talk myself into a camping there. Nope. Store was closed and for sale; area was abandoned. That was mile 72 and it was 6pm local.
Ok, so not there. Next on the map was a small town about 7 more miles (it was really 10) so I headed there. There was a store there with a nice lawn and nothing else, so I figured to ask about staying there., The guy didn't really give me a chance, ethusiastically directing me instead to a rest area about 1/2 mile further that he said I could walk behind into the woods and camp. So I went there.
And it was terrible. He wanted me to walk through nipple high brush and camp in that. What the hell? Now it was getting after 7pm local and I was at mile 83. I figured keep going and camp the first spot I could find.
Eventually I found another rest area right on the lake, but camping is not allowed. However, the underbrush is more managemable and there is natural spring water here so I am stealth camping. 95 miles, 6:18 on bike, arrived at 8:15pm local time. Damn. I maybe had about 45 minute of daylight left and there was a bigger town (3k) about 7 miles away, but when you have a bird in hand you camp in the that thing.
The good news is this means I can do 80 miles tomorrow and camp right next to Mackinaw Island so I can have a full day of it the next day. That's awesome.
I don't particularly like stealth camping because it's a pain in the ass. Staying hidden and quiet sucks. I can't even enjoy the lake view because I must stay out of site in case highway patrol comes by. Luckily I'm prepared for it.
I'm not really a planner. Plans get in the way of things. Loose plans are fine, but the more work you put in to plans the more you feel the need to follow them and soon plans are the anti-adventure. I am, however, a preparer. My preperations have backup preperations which also have backup preperations. Being prepared for anything allows you to say YES to adventure and go off-plan.
For example, I was prepared for the possibility of stealth camping even though I never planned to do it. The UP is about as populated as the damn Montanna desert but with less places to stay (unless you want to pay, I don't.) Because of this I bought my dinner in Escanaba to cook tonight figuring it might be my only chance. Good call me. Also all my gear is designed for possible stealth camping. My off bike gear is dark colors and my tent is grey. My headlamp is a dim red. Everything reflective and hi-vis is hiding in the tent. In dim light or dark I'm invisble unless you are right on top of me. Every piece of gear I have was chosen with the idea of hiding in mind. Winning.
I also had a fully charged backup battery to run my phone right now, and fully charged bike lights in case I hadn't found this spot and had to keep going. If I'd been caught in the storm I was fully prepared to weather that as well. Preperations are what made this day not terrible. Actually, I found it pretty fun.
ILYI
Winning for sure, man.
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