Back on the road after short interruption

24th July: Ashland to Bergland, MI

Odometer: 114 km, Start: 9.15am, Finish: 4.30pm, Avg: 21.6 km/h,
Weather: Cloudy then sunny intervals, Temp: 18-23°C
Mosquito Bites: 79, Hills walked: 0, Dead raccoons: 2
Road Conditions: #2, 0.75-1m shoulder, good surface. Light, occasionally moderate traffic. #28, 0.75-1m shoulder, reasonable surface, light traffic. Regular gas stations en route. Services: Iron Wood (60km). Ascent: 400m/300m.

I was back on the road after a short interruption to give my ankle further rest time. I decided to spend an extra day in Ashland to make sure a slight injury didn’t become troublesome. I managed a full day’s riding (taking it reasonably easy) and I don’t seem to have any reactions this evening. Success!

Nice collectables shop just out of Ashland

I was still on the #2 and it was a pretty quiet sort of day, mostly rolling through pine trees. The road went through the Bad River Reservation early on and this was marked by a large and rather out of place casino complex. (Native Americans often have gambling enterprises on their land, it seems).

Flower of the day with guest appearance from a fly

A little while after this I stopped at a signed viewpoint hoping to get a view over Lake Superior. Unfortunately the trees had grown obscuring the indicated view completely! I spoke instead to a couple also at the spot and they were suitably impressed with details of my exploits as they presented me with a still warm pasty they’d bought in a town a while ago! It was tasty and better than the plastic gas station sandwich I was just about to eat.

The major town of the day was Iron Wood and it was just after the state border to Michigan. I’m now in Michigan until I get to Sault Ste. Marie and return into Canada, probably in another 4 days time. I didn’t visit Iron Wood’s business district as it was off the highway, but I passed an unusually large number of budget Motels along the main road. (I counted at least 7). They all seemed to be racing each other to the bottom with the prices at around $30, the cheapest I’ve seen! I thought it was funny for some reason.

Michigan cars don’t have front license plates. So some people make up their own...

At Wakefield (90km), I debated stopping for my ankle but I was still feeling fresh and had no issues, so after sitting by the town’s nice lake to eat some food, I pushed on. The extra day off had allowed me to use the internet to establish exactly what towns had what for the rest of my time in the States, so I knew what was ahead.

Sunday Lake, Wakefield MI

Nee-Gaw-Nee-Gaw-Bow (Leading Man) carving at the lake

I made Bergland my new destination and arrived there again still fresh, but decided not to push it anymore as there’s always a danger of doing too much after a rest day when you’ve got more energy reserves. I’ve also lost another hours recovery time this evening as I’ve crossed over onto Eastern Time.

Close up of head