Day 37. Iron River, WI to Ironwood, MI, 65 miles

The predicted rain doesn’t arrive until 4:30/5 and is over by 6/6:30, a real boon, since it means I can get up and go about my morning business not being rained on. I move all my stuff to the pavilion (bike tour activities are not always the most efficient) and set the tent to drying. Last night the campground owners had offered to drive me back up to the main road, US 2, in the morning, since the gravel road in was “a lot,” in the wife’s words. I had already indicated plans to accept, and that was my intention this morning, especially now that it would be muddy. The husband wasn’t leaving until 8:45 or so, so I took my time and entertained myself watching a family of ducks that live in the pond/lakelet.

Karl does indeed give me a ride, and as we make the drive I’m so grateful: the road is a mess of puddles and wet sandy gravel. He tells me it’s particularly bad because it was just graded two days ago, but that they regularly have to help out motorcyclists and folks towing smaller trailers. He drops me at the turnoff, a wayside park called Wayside Park, after I decline his kind offer of a ride 30 miles further to Ashland.

And I ride! Wisconsin is sunny and green and blue-skied, and the hills—sometimes quite steep—continue. I’ll end the day with 1900+ feet of climbing, the highest daily total since the day I left Bismarck. Wisconsin’s shoulders on 2 are variable and not as good as Minnesota’s. That may be my overall feeling about Wisconsin. I’m excited about Michigan, which is excellent since I will spend two weeks in it, even more time than I spent in Montana. This is due in large part, Andrew points out, to Michigan’s Chile-like coastal grab. They have a LOT of Great Lakes coastline.

But in the meantime, I am doing my first Great Lakes riding of the trip, which is 💯. I love catching glimpses of Superior through the trees, and I drink it up, since a lot of the road I’ll take through the U.P. is actually not directly on the lake. Dirty secret: Superior Circle tour is kind of far from the lake most of the time on the U.S side.

As I get to Ashland the road gets even more unpleasant, and when I see a trail across the way along the lake I jump on it. I pull over to a vault toilet only to discover it’s actually this!

I’m pretty sure Joyce and I encountered this previously, but I’m just as thrilled as if it were the first time. As I tell Aimée during a cemetery rest stop text chat, Adir would be amazed how much actual water I’m drinking. I fill up and move along on Ashland’s alleged waterfront trail, which doesn’t exist on my device or Googlemaps and does in fact disappear from time to time, throwing me back on 2. It’s lovely for a mile, then lousy, then pretty nice again, and then it spits me back onto 2 at the Walmart on the outskirts of Ashland.

Ashland does, however, net me a prime snack prize: sugar snap peas! I eat them outside the gas station in an ecstasy of sweet, green crunchiness and text mom about it.

And then I’m in Michigan!

Curry Park, where I’m spending the night, is much cuter than Saginaw, with a retro feel and decently shaded spots. Its showers are pretty good; the vibe is low-key, even on a Friday night; and there are enough empty spots that it doesn’t feel crowded. I’m at the far edge of the park, and my view is down a hill around the corner from the main road to a few houses facing the park, where a couple comes out to sit at twilight and later a guy strums his guitar and sings a bit while enjoying the evening. A real pleasant scene, all in all, which is weird because on the highway itself, which the park fronts on as I walk to the bathroom, is a strip mall whose anchor client SNAP FITNESS has a red lightbox sign. Dueling realities.

I’ve got a short day tomorrow, 30+ miles; I’m planning to do laundry in Ironwood in the morning and then head to Bergland, where Andrew has reserved us a cabin at a roadside, lake-accessing resort. (In the U.P. this, along with lodge, generally indicates a fishing-oriented establishment; Yoopers, please correct me if that’s inaccurate.) It is on route and just a mile from town and eating places, and I am pleased as punch. I’m gonna have clean clothes and a shorter day, stay in a cabin, take a rest day on a lake, and see my favorite guy, in pretty much reverse order of priority.