Day 71: Epoufette, MI to St. Ignace/Mackinac Island

Aug 13 blog

32 miles

2,935 miles so far

Today we had a short ride to St. Ignace where we planned to catch the ferry to Mackinac Island.

We got a fairly early start, as we didn’t want to miss the last ferry at 1pm to Mackinac Island. Again the weather was cool and mostly overcast. I decided to wear the leg warmers to be toasty warm and comfortable.

We set out down HW2 which we would ride all the way to St. Ignace according to my quick glance at the map. However, as we were riding I zoomed in on the map and noted that the map actually routes us on some back roads first before getting on HW2. Sharon and I decided we would just stay the course rather than backtrack and take side roads. A mile or two down the road, I then realized that just down the highway was the Cut River Bridge. We did a quick search to determine whether we could ride across the bridge, and while we couldn’t find anything definitive, we decided that it was better to be safe than sorry. So, we turned around and made our way back to the turn which was actually before our motel. It was nice to get off the highway if only briefly. The ACA maps forewarned that HW2 was heavily trafficked, and we can certainly attest to that! While the shoulders were very wide most of the way, the drone of traffic was somewhat overwhelming. I was trying to listen to an audiobook on my Shokz headphones but finally turned it off.

We did have beautiful views of Lake Michigan, as HW2 guided us along the coastline. It was striking to me how blue the water was at times, and amazing to see sand dunes along the highway. If it hadn’t been 69 degrees, I might have thought that I was riding along the Florida coastline!

It was also very windy, and for most of the ride we benefited from a cross/tailwind blowing from the Northwest. We made good time rolling into St. Ignace by 11am in time to make the 11:30 ferry!

We went into the guest services office and met Julie who greeted us with two tickets and a care package including two Starbucks cards and three boxes of Mackinac Island’s “Original Murdick’s Fudge!” Julie is Aunt Marilyn’s boyfriend’s daughter - more on that in a moment.

We had originally planned to ride to Montowoc, WI where we would ferry across the lake to Michigan. However, since the Badger car ferry across Lake Michigan had unexpectedly shut down for the season for emergency repairs, we lost our ride!

As we considered our options, we were consulting with our good friend from Ponte Vedra, Lisa Reel, who grew up in Michigan and was married on Mackinac Island. She encouraged us to consider the route through Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (the UP) and onto Mackinac Island. She provided us with all kinds of hotel, restaurant and activity recommendations. We ultimately booked two nights at Mission Point Resort where Lisa was married. With tongue in cheek, she warned us that it was “bikes only” (and horses) and 8.2 miles around the island!

Lisa also put us in touch with her Aunt Marilyn who is a full-time resident of the UP. Aunt Marilyn is so kind. Not only did she pay for round trip ferry tickets, but she also put together the amazing care package I mentioned earlier. She also asked for a picture and brief bio that she planned on providing the local newspaper to see if they might write a short article about our trip and stop on Mackinac Island. Today’s Good Samaritan!!

Mackinac Island is a special place. It reminds me of Victorian Cape May, NJ crossed with coastal Maine. Streets filled with bicycles and horse drawn carriages is magical.

Today's route