Half Century Cycle: Glove plus one

“I went off to the right

Without saying goodbye,

Where does it go from here?
Is it down to the lake I fear?”

The two parts of Michigan are often described as a "glove and bat" — I'm travelling across the bat, the Upper Peninsula, UP ("Yoo Pee"), or Yooperland as they call it here. The main reason I've gone down through the States is to avoid going through the north shore of Lake Superior on the Ontario side again, as that was one of the most gruelling portions last time I biked across this way. Although the terrain down here has definitely been tamer, it is also less scenic. The direct route goes mostly through forests — not much of a view being inland from Lake Superior.

I made it into the Michigan border at Ironwood after exploring Ashton WI, and soon decided to make it a short day since I was about to lose another hour going into Eastern Time Zone. The town certainly has a glut of motels, a few of them have closed or are for sale, so it was a cheap place to stop.

Although I dodged all the heavy rainfall, I was still treated to this rainbow

Not just one rainbow, but a double

It has been cold and windy lately, with the north wind blowing chilly damp air from the lake. There have been frost warnings at night, and here and there I have seen a few leaves start to change colour. Where did the summer go?

I made good distance the next day going almost 170 km to Lake George/Michigamme — not by choice but because the place I had intended to stay in had gone out of business. I had to continue on to the next town, making it a long tiring day with the wind against my favour and some hills to climb. At one point the GPS directed me to a short cut on an old section of highway. I didn't realize it was horse-and-buggy-ancient for it had deteriorated into an unpaved road for quite a stretch.