Day 10

Not much to report today that you haven't heard before. Just another great day for riding, with abnormally warm weather. The winds were pretty abnormal too, constantly coming from different directions at different strengths. Occasionally colored leaves would be falling past me, which would have made for a nice autumn atmosphere if it was slightly cooler.

I crossed into Michigan again, and this time the "Iron" town I went through was Iron River (I think Ironwood is a bit too far for me to go to get the "Iron"-trifecta). I had a nice breakfast of crepes at a classy place built inside a railroad dining car, and then spent a bunch of time in the library doing internet stuff. US 2 going west out of Iron River is one of those beautiful biking roads: brand new smooth black asphalt with an 8-foot shoulder. Of course there was hardly any traffic anyway, which is actually surprising in this case, because not only is it the main road in the area, it's basically the only road in the area. So then it was equally surprising to see that perhaps 20 of the 48 campsites here are taken, but I guess that's what happens when you're at a place that has showers.

After talking for a while with the old man working at the Ottawa National Forest Vistor's Center about the crazy wind, he mentioned that when he was a teen he and his friends would ride their bikes up from Chicago to Crystal Falls (which is just east of Iron River). Said it would take them two or three days. I couldn't figure out if his memory was shot, if he was boasting, or if they just lugged a lot less heavy crap with them than I do.