"Leaving Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario...."

Here Don is beginning his day of riding, leaving the hotel parking lot, on his way to Iron Bridge, Ontario. As you can see in this and the following photos, the day was foggy and overcast.

This ship was docked east of the hotel.

A replacement lifeboat for the ship......

I drove back to a park, located on the bank of the Saint Mary's River, where we'd stopped the night before, to these early morning photos. We'd forgotten the camera the night before, so I was hoping to get a photo of the International Bridge, which you can just barely make out through the fog. This is the bridge that Don rode his bike over the day before. :)

This was also taken from the same park. The freighter was HUGE! It also shows the size of the power plant located on the Michigan side of the river.

"Naubinway, MI, to Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario...."

Day 6 dawned foggy and overcast, with occasional sprinkles of light rain. When looking through the photos taken during the trip, some days stand out significantly and others kind of blend into "THE TRIP", meaning that I don't have much memory of that day. This is one of them that I remember specific things from, but the rest of the day is a blur. Perhaps it is because the route was taking us away from the shoreline and much of the wooded area looked all alike? :) I'm sure that is part of it. The photo below shows much of what we traveled through that day. Beautiful to be sure....and quiet, but not too many unforgettable stopping places, except for the few we documented with photos.
Don's GPS made his ride truly easy. I guess I shouldn't say his ride, but following his route was made especially easy, as the GPS beeped and let him know of each turn before he got to it. I had hard copy maps that were printed from the GPS program and were great, too (as long as I read them correctly, that is). :)


I'm afraid that I have no idea as to the village's name where this was taken, but I'd stopped at the volunteer fire station/park as one of my regular 3-5 mile stops, and there it was. There wasn't any plaque explaining the significance of this log, so we've come to the conclusion that it was just because of it's size. Even "my size" pales in comparison! :)

Of course, Don makes it look MUCH larger. :)

Here is one of my "National Geographic" photos.....some cranes (I have no idea as to the kind) out in a field. I was struck by the size of the flock(?). (double click to enlarge)

We came upon this outside Sault Ste. Marie, MI. It had something to do with the public school system, but it wasn't clear as to what. It was honoring someone, perhaps a previous superintendent? I stopped and took a photo of it though because of it's setting. It was pretty and the spot was well taken care of.

We arrived in Sault Ste. Marie, MI, paid our toll on the Michigan side, and headed over the International Bridge to the Canadian Sault Ste. Marie in Ontario. Yes, Don did ride his bike over the bridge and when stopped at customs, was asked a few questions, but mainly ones like" how was your ride?, why are you doing this, yada, yada, yada.....", while I, on the other hand, was questioned thoroughly, had to get out of the car, go inside the customs office, was checked out on the computer for my "record", and was searched (not physically but the car was), ending in, of course, with "have a nice day". :) This is what I get for looking like a terrorist, eh? (notice the "eh?".....I was now in Canada) :)

"A Day Off From "Trip" Blogging..."

I thought I would take a day to show some of the knitting things that myself, and Angela, our neighbor, have been knitting.

Below are Scooter and Weezie, both Brussels Griffons, who's papa's are Michael and Dean, friends who live in Florida. I knitted these sweaters for them and received these photos of the modeling session last week.
Here is Weezie, not looking too thrilled at being a model. :)
I found this yarn in a shop in Toronto. I had wanted to make our friend/neighbor Jeanan a scarf and thought this the "right" yarn to knit it in. I used a size 13 needle, cast on 20 stitches, and knitted it in garter stitch until I had used the entire ball. I was happy with the way it turned out, but it was a slippery knit. :)
This is Jeanan "sitting" for a photo. We caught she and Rob before they were off to a photography opening at the university.
Angela also has been busy. She is working on yet another baby present for one of her friends. She's finished with it except for the sewing in the ends and attaching buttons. Nice, eh? :)

"Cooks, MI, to Naubinway, MI...."

We awoke to a gorgeous day! Maybe it was because we were right on the water, but the sun seemed so much brighter and the air was so crisp! As luck would have it....... again....., the only restaurant was closed. Seems we were up too early for them that day. :( So......Don had to make do with a few pieces of deli meat, cheddar cheese, and the "almighty" Gatorade, until we could get to a place to eat, which in this case, was to be in Manistique, MI, about 20 miles from Cooks. It was a beautiful ride to get there, because we were able to begin taking a back road route (there actually were some!) and get off of the highway.

This is the old water tower in Manistique.
Fortunately, a woman working at a convenience store outside of Cooks, had told us the night before, that Manistique had a "Big Boy" restaurant. Luckily she did, otherwise we may have stopped at one of the 1st fast food places we saw, rather than continuing on until we located the "Big Boy" on the outskirts, east of Manistique. There was a park across from the restaurant where I stopped and took this photo of the lighthouse. As you can see, the wind was still strong enough to cause "breakers".
Naubinway, MI, is the only, still working, fishing village on Lake Michigan. Or so we were told or we read that somewhere. I'm finding that pretty hard to believe, unless many of the fishing boats were out fishing while we were there. The Village of Naubinway is in the background, across from the harbor. It isn't very large, but was one of the largest villages/towns that we went through while in the UP. Unfortunately, most of the businesses and many of the homes were for sale, (including both places we ate, as well as the motel where we stayed), due to the poor economy.
These 2 boats were the only ones in the harbor/marina.
One of the very few photos of Don in "non-biking" gear. :) This was taken at the Naubinway Harbor. (remember you can "click" on a photo to enlarge it...)

"Marinette, WI, to Cooks, MI..."

More photos from our day leaving Marinette, WI, to our destination of Cooks, MI. Our route basically took us along the Lake Michigan shoreline. As you can see in the photo(s), there was a breeze off the lake and since it was also overcast, it was a bit chilly at times. :)
A photo from another boat launch. It is amazing to me, that the launching area is so close to the lake. It must be something when the wind brings in waves from the southeast.
Taken at a roadside park. I had mentioned to Don the day before that I thought we'd see more roadside parks. As soon as we were in Michigan, there were. :)
Taken at the same roadside park........
I believe that this was taken outside of Rapid River, MI. We stopped at a park on the shore of Little Bay de Noc.
This route (Marinette, WI, to Cooks, MI) was the longest day that Don had to ride. It totaled 94 miles. That in itself was bad enough (although he didn't seem any less worse for wear at the end of it), but the last 10 miles or so was all under construction. It was bad enough driving through it let alone riding a bike on the torn up surface, plus having cars MUCH closer with less of a shoulder to ride on.

Our motel that night, was "interesting"....... It was an old one that had seen better days, but it was clean and comfortable, although I'm sure the mattress was older than me!!! :) We were just over the highway from Big Bay de Noc, which extends out into Green Bay. Since the days route had been so long, the only restaurant in that area was already closed, so I made sandwiches for us. Believe me, they were better than nothing, although I have to admit, not much! :(

The days weather ended on a high note. We'd left Marinette with an overcast sky, had sprinkles/drizzle along the way, but before getting into Cooks, the sky became clear and we had bright sunshine. A beautiful ending to an "at times" stressful day. :)

"Outside of Appleton to Marinette, WI...."

I'd forgotten to mention that before we got to where we were to stay the 2nd night, in Kimberly, a northwestern suburb of Appleton, it had begun to rain. It had been somewhat sunny when we'd left Waupan, but had progressively gotten more overcast the further north we went, finally sprinkling, then turning into a steady light rain as we neared our destination. Don had done an excellent job in planning the route. He'd taken us through the outskirts of Oshkosh and Appleton, or as much of it as he could, keeping us on secondary roads until it was no longer possible. I, of course, had anxiety attacks with Don riding his bike through the busy traffic areas, but he rode through like it was nothing at all.

Our 3rd day was to take us to Marinette, WI, which is on the WI/MI border. It had continued raining all night, but by the time we'd gone out to breakfast and came back to the motel, the rain had stopped. We were (in my opinion) fortunate that it was a Sunday as we had to go through a fairly populated area. Being Sunday morning, things were very quiet. :) The day was overcast, but that was fine since it wasn't too warm and Don didn't have to be as concerned about getting too much sun.
The photo below is from somewhere on the route. :) It seems that it was an Elk farm.
It started raining again sometime during the morning. Our route took us through the Oneida Indian Reservation. This is an elementary school that I thought was interesting. I was intrigued by the entry area....almost like the opening of a huge cave which gave one the feeling of safety/home. It was very welcoming...... Another interesting thing that we saw on the reservation, was gas stations that had small casinos attached to them. When I say small, I mean no larger than what a small restaurant might be.
Thankfully, as we got closer to Lake Michigan/Green Bay, the rain subsided and things began to clear up. I took this photo at a boat launch called "Stoney Point", which lead right out into the Bay.
I took this photo as we were to going through a small town. This was totally abandoned, but I thought very cool. I couldn't understand why it was in such shape. I did walk to just inside the front door and the place was a wreck. I would love to have such a house!

The entire structure was covered with earth except the entry way , south facing wall, and garage. It was huge! Very cool....very sad to see it in such shape.We made it to Marinette, WI, that day and stayed in a hotel where our room had a beautiful view, overlooking Michigan. :) That night we crossed over into Menominee, MI, where we ate at the "Pirate's Cove", a bar that was across from a lake shore park and marina. On our trip through Menominee 2 summers ago, we stopped here and walked out onto the breakwater. It is a very beautiful spot......

"The Beginning....."

As many of you know, we have been on vacation for the past few weeks. Using the word vacation very loosely, too, I might add. :)
Don had given himself the goal, after his surgery in January, deciding to train all Spring/Summer, and then ride his bike to Toronto, Ontario. We left on August 17, 2007. The photo below is his leaving the house in Madison, beginning the trip. I, of course, was not riding a bike, but drove "back up" in the car, carrying our needed items for the trip (clothes, replacement bike parts, food/drink). :) The food was brought along for those places when we weren't able to find anywhere at the appropriate time for a resting/restorative stop.
On this 1st day, we found a place called the "Shamrock II Bar" to stop at for lunch. The woman who waited on us had seen him ride in and asked where he was riding. When he told her, "Toronto"..........she exclaimed.... "CANADA??!!" When he said yes, she then exclaimed "You're shittin me!". LOL We all had a laugh about that!
Our days route took us as far as Waupan, WI, where we stayed at "The Inn Downtown". Surprisingly, we both slept good, although the mattress was very hard. Below is Don doing his stretching before getting onto his bike for day 2's ride.
Don was going to take the "Wild Goose State Recreation Trail" for some off road cross country riding. Where he planned on getting on was located not far outside of Waupan. The people in the background of this photo, stopped and talked to us for a bit. I had made my 1st stop of the day here, since Don was going to take the trail from this point on for awhile. The man and his 2 kids had gone by me once, so on their return trip back into town, I got out and told them why I was sitting there. Fortunately, Don was almost to the trail and was able to chat with them as well, verifying my explanation. :) I'm sure many people wondered throughout the trip, why I was sitting at various places along roads.
Don making the "crossing" at Oak Center, WI (a VERY small village).
I finished my 1st piece of knitting that day and made Don try it on to make sure it was long enough, etc. It is a cowl for Julie, Patrick's girlfriend. I knitted it as a Christmas gift for her. I can write about it because I know neither of them have access to the internet and do not check out my blog. :)