1 August Sunday Naubinway, MI – St. Ignace, MI

Starting Point: Naubinway, MI
Ending Point: St. Ignace, MI
Via: Epoufette, Brevort and Cedar Lake
Mileage: 40.4   
Time: 3:41   
Mph: 11
Terrain: gentle hills
Vertical climbing: 604
Temperature High: 84
Temperature Low: 71
Lunch: tomato/cheese/turkey sandwich
Dinner: pasta
Weather: sunny
Lodging: Straits State Park (night 1), Getaway Inn & Suites (night 2)
Cumulative Mileage: 2,712
Miles to Go: 1,488
Projected Distance: 4,100
Days completed: 57 (including 6 rest days)
Distance Completed: 66%
Days to Go: 30

To pledge: http://pledgejohn.lungne.org
Fund-raising Status:
Amount Raised: $32.384
Amount Collected: $32,243
Amount needed to reach goal ($250,000 for 15 years of fund-raising): $1,180

Beach View - North Shore of Lake Michigan

     Dean and I rode together most of the day today and we urged each other on to take the time to find beaches on the lake and swim instead of “racing” directly to the campground. This was a helpful and positive aspect of the day. It was a short day in terms of riding distance so we took our time at a café in the morning for a real breakfast where we had a conversation with someone involved with rails-to-trails development in central Michigan. I thought I would try a modified approach to asking for donations while in Michigan. It still didn’t work this time, but I’ll keep throwing out the seed of the idea in the hopes that someone might respond.
     Swimming in the lake was, again, a peaceful experience. The water was still clear and cool and the bottom was firm rippled sand. A couple was throwing a ball out as far as they could for their golden retriever who was exerting great efforts to do his or her job.

Gulls Waiting and Hoping for Lunch

     We had a long conversation with a Polish man from Chicago who was married to a Mainer. He had been in the army prior to the fall of the Iron Curtain in Poland, was put in prison then forced to leave the country and seek asylum in the U.S. He had many stories about that process including about his CIA debriefing. They didn’t want to know military secrets. They wanted to know who was drinking what, how often, who was sleeping with whom and how often, who was stealing from the government and details like that. He was such a striking, interesting person that I thought it important to mention him here even if a pledge wasn’t involved.
     Tomorrow is a rest day. The first night I did spend in the campground, but when I woke up it began raining and so I sought shelter in a motel. The first motel I went to was the same one in which Giovanni was staying, Aurora Borealis. I thought it would be a smooth process checking in and all that. I mentioned to the owner that I was on bicycle and he responded that he had a basement where I could store the bike. Then he made a call asking to have a room on the second floor prepared. I asked if I could have a room on the ground floor and he thought that was a bit lazy on my part. I mentioned that I had a trailer that I didn’t want to have to roll upstairs. He said that the trailer wasn’t allowed in the room. On the counter there was a sign that specifically said, “NO bicycles in rooms.” It didn’t mention trailers. When I pointed this out, he took out a piece of paper and wrote, “NO trailers” and put it next to the official announcement on the counter. Further, he added, that no one was holding a gun to my head telling me I had to use a trailer with my bicycle and that it was my choice to be bicycling. As a final note he added “Go buy a motel and you can do anything you want.” Naturally I didn’t stay there. Up to this moment all of my encounters with Michiganders have been very positive. I thought it too out of the ordinary to not report it here.

Mackinaw Bridge with Queen Anne's Lace in Foreground

     The motel I ended up at had a helpful human being on the other side of the counter.