Day Twenty Eight - 354 miles
I'm writing this three days after the fact, and things are starting to blur, on the road at least. Where was I yesterday? Oh yeah, Toronto.
Today was a pretty leisurely day. There was more lakeshore to be seen as I skirted the north shore of Lake Huron.
I stopped for lunch at the ubiquitous Tim Hortons - a Canadian chain coffee/fast-food place I have seen all over Canada, but never stopped in until now.
I got to Sault Ste. Marie around 4PM. I had this idea that I'd be blasting through Michigan by 4:30PM, but it took almost two hours to cross the International Bridge at the Soo Locks.
At first, I was kind of bummed with the delay crossing into the U.S., but as we progressed across the bridge, it provided a great view of the Soo Locks, which are the world's busiest.
Massive ships called "Lakers" use these locks. Some of them are over 300 meters, and are so big they are confined to the Upper Lakes because they are too large to traverse the Welland Canal on the St. Lawrence Seaway to the Atlantic. Many of these lakers carry iron ore from the mines around Lake Superior down to Detroit to build cars. Also, a lot of grain from the midwest finds it way down to the Seaway through the Soo Locks.
The locks are really quite impressive. I've always been fascinated by the Great Lakes. I remember as a child, my brother had a big map of the Great Lakes on our bedroom wall.
It's amazing how big they are, and how "sea-like" they are, right down to the terrible storms that have taken so many ships at lives over the years. Lake Superior always seemed the most mysterious - the largest, the deepest, the coldest. It's astonishing how many ships have been lost here. The Great Lakes are one of the most shipwrecked areas in the world.
I finally got to the U.S. Border, and after fifty-million questions about who I was and why I was going where I was ushered through.
I was going to be staying with my friend Jessie's folks over in Gladstone, Michigan - I had a message from her father Gary inquiring as to an ETA. I had my phone/helmet hook-up dismantled as I crossed the bridge taking pictures, so I had missed the call.
The weather the last few days had been good to me. I had not seen any rain, and temperatures were just perfect for riding. Two layers, opened a bit if it was warm, zipped up if it was cooler, was working out real well. However, by the time I had gotten gas and a quick snack on the U.S. side, things were looking like rain. I phoned Gary, and he told me they were having rain down there, so I thought it wise to suit up. Just as well...
The Upper Peninsula of Michigan is known as The U.P. by locals, and they go by the moniker "Yoopers" (from "U.P.'ers"). They seem to consider themselves a little "separate" from the rest of the state, and are very proud of their area. From what I could see, heading across to the Lake Michigan side, from the Soo, it is pretty sparsely populated.
It was threatening to rain, but just before it did, I got to find out something I've always wondered about....
There I was, driving along through the U.P., when suddenly zooming in from the left at about 20 mph, to my 60 mph, was a large black insect. THUW-WHACK! It hit me fairly hard, and I was thinking, "Wow, that was a big one. That hurt!"
Usually, these thing bang you pretty hard in the face, and bounce off. Sometimes they get kind of "lodged" there, and you kind of flick them off.
This one kind of still hurt a lot though, and SUDDENLY it was really, REALLY HURTING. Oh shit! It's stinging me! I glanced down in the mirror, and I could see this fairly large insect right above my right eyebrow. I had to get this damn thing out of my face, so I quickly slammed on the brakes and pulled over.
I was DYING to get my helmet off: Undo the fastener, off with the glasses - and we don't want to get stung again - if this is a wasp or hornet, it can sting multiple times. I finally get everything off - takes about seven to ten seconds. As I pull the helmet off, this pretty large (1 1/2 inches) hornet falls to the ground by my feet, wings still buzzing, stumbling around on the ground. "Better kill this bastard," I think. I stamp on it, and it's still moving. Stamp again, then stamp with the edge of my boot. I finally decapitate the wretched creature.
Hornets and wasps are not creatures you want to hang around after you kill them. They release a pheromone that summons "help." If you are unfortunate enough to be near their hive, you could find yourself in very serious trouble. NOTE: If you ever kill a wasp (yellow jacket in U.S. parlance), dispose of the body, and CLEAN UP the area. I, too use the old expression, got "on my bike" and buggered off fast, with a throbbing head. The visor stayed down for the rest of the evening.
While the sting was still smarting pretty good, I hit a fairly massive storm I had been sort of skirting and dodging. Looking back, it wasn't the worst thing to happen. I already had the rain gear on, and between the lightning and having to concentrate, it kind of distracted me from the pain of the hornet sting. Oh....the thing I'd always wanted to know? Does a hornet sting really hurt? YES. IT DOES!
I finally was getting some good views of Lake Michigan. It was almost dusk, but I got a few shots of the waves the little storm was kicking up. It was pretty amazing, over a thousand miles in from the ocean, to be seeing waves, and this beach even had a warning about rip currents.
About 3 1/2 hours after I left the Sault Ste. Marie, I arrived at Jessie's home town of Gladstone. It was now dark, so the photo of the sign coming into town would have to do with a flash. Sorry Jess!
I had met Jessie's parents before in San Francisco. They are really cool people, but nothing prepared me for the way they welcomed me into their home. The first thing I said when I walked in the door was, "This feels like a home."
I had arrived on a good night, as the entire rest of the family it seemed were visiting. By the looks of things, the part had been going on for a while. Nonetheless, Jessie's mother Jan - who looks like she could be her sister - had a massive plate of home-cooked food ready for me. It was the best thing I'd seen all day, and I destroyed it.
We all sat out in the garden on a nice summer evening. The rain had long since passed. I got to meet everyone, and we swapped a few stories for an hour or two.
The house was pretty full, as Jessie's brother Todd and his family were visiting as well. Still, I had a down stairs room and sofabed to myself. I was right by the router, but didn't feel up to writing the blog. I had had a good time and I was nicely tired. I went off to sleep and dreamt about lakes....
Onwards!
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