Day 68: Crystal Falls, MI to Escanaba, MI

Aug 10 blog

75 miles

2,785 miles so far

Today we had our usual quick breakfast in the room and managed to get an early start leaving around 6:45 for the long day ahead. The route was fairly hilly but overall was a net descent down toward Escanaba on Lake Michigan. Weather wise, the riding conditions were great with cooler temperatures under 80 degrees and a tailwind most of the day!

Traffic wise, the conditions weren’t quite as ideal. We had a rough start heading out of town on HW69, as the traffic was very heavy especially with timber trucks. The shoulders were also razor thin - maybe 18 inches. Things improved a bit as we turned south on HW95 and east again on HW69.

There wasn’t much in terms of services on the way to Escanaba. I stopped at the first gas station we saw and picked up some coffee and a breakfast sandwich.

We stopped at the next gas station in LaBranche that had a nice market inside. The owner, Lizzie, was very nice and told us that the only place to have lunch before Escanaba would be the LaBranche Bar and Grill which was about 10 miles down the road. We stopped there and had a good grilled chicken sandwich at the bar. She also gave us a recommendation for dinner in Escanaba- the Stone House which she said was her “special occasion” place. Based upon how she described the menu it sounded like an opportunity for a good meal which was special occasion enough for us!

We rolled into Escanaba around 4 pm, settled into the Hiawatha Motel, showered and made a bee line for the Stone House. Of course, it was now 5pm, since during the day we crossed time zones. We sat in the bar area, and we both had a delicious dinner of sautéed walleye, salad, wine, potatoes, butternut squash and crème brûlée.

Today's route