Crossing the Mackinac bridge, and heading west

Mackinac Bridge

On the road by 6:30. Cool (8C/47F) but sunny. By 8am we were having breakfast near the ferry landing at Mackinac. Watched a hovercraft ferry coming in from Mackinac Island. 

Cool and quite windy, windy enough that we had to join a convoy and follow a pace vehicle over the bridge. Sometimes, like today, speeds are limited and escorts are provided. Of course if it’s really windy, they close the bridge.

Spring season seems to be several weeks behind us here. Trees aren’t fully out, trilliums are just starting to bloom. Followed #2 after the bridge crossing. It follows right along beside Lake Michigan for a while - a lovely shore drive for 3 or 4 miles. You can see the lake for many more miles, through the trees.

At 11 am it’s 5C (41F), dropping as we go north. Gorgeous and sunny though. Stopped for coffee outside Munising, right on Lake Superior. Lovely beach, deserted of course. Made coffee on our little 1-burner stove. Just one of many scenic roadside parks along that way.

Michigan UP (Upper Peninsula) has many places advertising a local delicacy – Pasties (rhyme with pasta). This is the first place outside England we’ve seen them so readily available. So we stopped at Lawry’s bakery outside Marquette on #28 for 2 very filling and delicious all-beef pasties. 

Stopped in Ironwood Mich, near the Wisconsin border. Cath went in to a quilt shop, got 1 ¼ yards of material towards Meagan’s quilt, on sale at 40% off. 

Supper was at a tourist info place in Superior, overlooking Duluth Minn. We had a simple road supper of cheese and spinach ravioli with pesto sauce, cheese and herb baguette, and watermelon! After an hour supper stop, rush hour had cleared, and no problem getting through town.

 

About 8pm, near Deer River, we went in a gravel road to check out a National Forest campground. It didn’t appeal (isolated and lots of mosquitoes). On the way out we got a flat tire! Our first one with the van after almost 80,000 km, and of course the tires are almost new.

The tire was destroyed, something had slit the sidewall. It took 25 minutes to change it and "of course" the spare was somewhat soft, and the tire pump didn’t work (it ended up quite a ways from the road, into the nearby swamp). Thank goodness for mosquito repellent! We shoulda taken a campsite after all, I guess.

Notice the flat tire track

 

Quite a large sidewall slit

 

Ended up at Nodak cg on #2 at Bena (?), about 9pm. With just the van and long daylight, it’s no problem stopping late in the day. Lit a Pic for the mosquitoes, then showers, beer, and bed by 10:30.