Gregolas and Mikeagorn ride again

Tue July 5

  • Cleaned hotel of woodchips and sand from our tents
  • “The Hilltop” breakfast. Giant cinnamon roll.
  • Greg broke “no food left behind” rule because granola side was more sweet than cinnamon roll
  • “Connies” for beer on the route. 
  • Google route through the back roads of Ishpeming, ended up at Grandpa Joe’s in the Cleveland mining district. 
  • Huge feast was prepared for us
  • Late night jam session on guitar, clarinet, and autoharp. Only situation I would ever play Coldplay

Wed July 6

  • Another feast for breakfast prepared by Joe and Amy – perhaps the most hospitable people I’ve ever stayed with
  • Gorgeous 15 mile bike path ride into Marquette with Mike, Claire, Rosie, and Sylvie. 6 year old Rosie rode her bike the whole way! She taught me a lot about how to ride a bike, and together we even went 17 miles per hour!
  • Rosie thinks people in cars are bored and that there should be more bikes and less cars. Rosie for president!
  • Marquette is a very nice little town with plenty of urban amenities
  • In Marquette, Grandpa Joe picked up Claire and the smalls. The three of us beelined for the brewery.
  • Beers + lunch at co-op cost us half the day
  • Greg briefly broke the no crashing rule when he experienced the first de-clipping failure of his long career. He brushed it off and avoided being placed on the DL
  • Mike rebuilt his headset on a sandy pullout halfway to our campsite
  • Sight confusion as we had not clarified which campground we were meeting Claire and the girls at – it turned out to be the one after the massive hill
  • Rosie took us on a mushroom tour of the campsite
  • Dinner was made, beers were drank, good times were had all around

Thursday July 7

  • Family road trip to pictured rocks Lakeshore trailhead in that most magnificent of chariots, Mike’s minivan
  • Lovely hike to lighthouse – entertainment was provided by Rosie’s games of 20 questions, and Claire’s wild flora expertise
  • Lighthouse had separate privies for the lighthouse master and the lighthouse assistant
  • Rest of day post-hike was spent lazing on the beach. Zach practiced skipping stones. Rosie tortured Zach with cruel tests of endurance, but later gave Greg a relaxing sand and stone massage on his elbows
  • On the ride back home, we learned Mike and Claire’s secret to parenthood – Thin Lizzy soothes and pacifies their children. Surely the result of some sick Pavlovian conditioning
  • Later, back at camp, Rosie made us all freshly burnt marshmallows. At one point, she ramped up production to four marshmallow roasting at once. Nonetheless, Sylvie seemed unimpressed
  • Greg’s camp chair got it’s first use after 500 miles – big hit with Rosie and Sylvie
  • Exposed Rosie to the dark path of 20-sided dice
  • Late night music listening/story swapping session – Sylvie is a huge Ween fan

Friday July 8

  • Mike passed us in his prized minivan leaving the park as Claire leaned out window and told us to “get a job.”
  •  Rode to Munising: vegan pastie, museum, brewery
  • Stopped at kitchy general store for a cookie as big as a hubcap
  • Kingston lake camping. Cheesy broccoli casserole. 

Saturday July 9

  • Breakfast.  
  • Bicycling.
  • Greg swam on 3 miles of sandy beach
  •  Stopped at visitor center for Pictured Rocks national rec center, old man told us about shipwrecks. 
  • Arrived Grand Marais: brewery, brian the bartender is kind of a lot; we both had the whitefish specials; hardware  store and depressing grocery store
  • Bought candy from a kids candy stand for 10cents per jolly rancher
  • Left town on a paved road, which turned into a gravel road, which turned into a road made of sand.
  • Hard riding. 
  • Corner store with old outboard motors for decor
  • Camped at Perch Lake; mushroom cheeseburgers for dinner

Sunday July 10

  • Breakfast at camp;
  • first store in miles the clerk said we rode on the worst road in Michigan
  • Stopped at brewery in Tequomenon state park; guitar guy sings john prine, tom petty
  • Ride to Paradise and another depressing grocery store; heavy metal golf cart
  • Stopped at Tequomenon river mouth campsite—lots of RVs.
  • Mac and cheese.  
  • It rained.   

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.