Yous better check yourself before yous wreck yourself

6/30 Thursday

Hot riding
Beautiful rolling countryside down to lake – reminded me of the bodensee in Germany
Pub crawl in port wing
Local drunks are astonished and amused by the dumb things done by people on a show called ‘dumbest things done by people’
Got to cornucopia aka corny just in time for weekly town live music party
Shout-out to the whitecaps – men our age playing music for boomers
Watched local witch dance with abandon
Zach’s drawers were rescued by good samaritans with bad judgement
Camped at amazing spot 20 ft from Lakeshore
Took first dip in the lake – 5 stars

Bayfield was busy with tourists
Great bike shop right outside of town – unfortunately the attached brewery was not open yet
Greg nearly experienced death-by-hammock
Great little coffeeshop in Washburn
Took another dip in the lake, taking care not to disturb any fortnight birthday cakes
Great bike trail through Ashland
Camped at frontier campground/bar/grill/gas station
Had post shower nightcap at bar, but any conversation was inhibited by gambling machines

Rode to cute Finnish museum – learned that the word ‘sisu’ is only for Finns
Learned that the next town, hurley, used to be known as a wretched hive of scum and villainy
Picked up some Finnish salty licorice – yum
We just barely missed embarking on a life of sin in Hurley, thanks to the bike path
Crossed into Michigan – again, no sign
Began amazing 20 miles long bike path in ironwood
Met loquacious local who has mastered the art of comedic indirection. Met him several times on the trail – he cannot drive for medical reasons, so the trail is his lifeline. He’s never left the area, and is a local celebrity – he truly is ironwoods ambassador. And, as Randall would say, there’s some humor in that, if you think about it
Stopped at visitor center in Wakefield – friendly volunteer advised us that ‘da yoopers’ are not appropriate music for Sunday school
At pizza pub, met previous owner, who used the proceeds from selling the bar to buy a house down the street from where she grew up
The bar’s new owner is still figuring out what kind of wine “piñot” is
Great ride through forest to campground on the lake – gorgeous sunset was observed.
Weren’t even bothered by the outhouses that were just upwind

Another great ride through the forest
Another great swim in the lake
Another mediocre square-cut pizza
Met tandem cyclists on a day ride – one reviewed our entire route, and gave ‘no opinions, only observations’
Had ice cream in Ontonagon before making a delicious curry at the very nice town campground
Another great lake sunset

Wet
Wet
We both woke up to find the waterproofing on our tents did not stand up to the rainstorm
Everything we own was wet and filthy, including our souls
Added 20 pounds of water weight to our bikes
Soggily dripped into Syl’s for breakfast – towels were provided
Zach procured ill fitting pvc hazmat suit from ace hardware, which would keep him wet, dry, hot, and cold simultaneously for the rest of the day
Rode through the rain all day – it was quite a slog
Disappointed that beer belly bob’s was closed, along with the rest of the town of Greenland
Greenland’s fourth of July festivities appeared to have been washed away
Made burgers at convenient pavilion in Laird township – 5 stars
Finally made it to Baraga, where we had a hot meal, but they were out of everything from a busy weekend, including humanity
Decided that, rather than set up our soaking wet gear in the rain, only so it could get more wet, to just stay at the hotel where we ate
Celebrated our nation’s birthday in the best way possible – watching Independence Day between commercials
Absolutely destroyed the bathroom trying to clean/dry our gear