- Plymouth to Manitowoc, WI
- Manitowoc WI to Ludington, MI via ferry
- 40 miles/2,983 total
- Sunny, warm, very pleasant
- Lake Michigan is BIG
Today’s goal was to get to Manitowoc in time for a 2 PM ferry. We needed to cover 40 very flat miles to do it. That should have taken us 2 and a half hours at our normal pace. Let’s see. If we start riding at 7, like normal, we’ll get there by 9:30. That’ll get us in with more than 4 hours to spare. It’ll be an easy day.
So we dawdled as much as we could. At breakfast we visited with Christian and his two friends who came to ride with him today. There was nothing much to take pictures of, despite the fact that the countryside was lovely.
Sometimes we couldn’t help going fast. Gregg from California was coming up fast on our tail. He’s very competitive, so before he could catch us we put the pedal to the metal. He persevered for quite a while until we got up to 23. Then he sat back a bit, which was good because we were toast. We sat up, he sped up. When he went by he casually commented on how nice the day was. He is so cool.
When we got to Lake Michigan we were astonished by how big it is. It is like being at the ocean, without the surf. We found a couple of easy chairs on the side of a bluff overlooking the lake and relaxed until Christian and his friends stopped by and then we posed for pictures. It looked like the setting for a Cialis ad. We could have spent an hour there, but the lounge chairs obviously belonged to the house across the street. So we went on.
We got into Manitowoc by 10:30. Picnic was very extravagant as it was hosted at the home of a former Cycle America staff member. We snacked. I cleaned the bike chain. Sheila’s fixed up our pictures to add to the blog. We watched the Olympics. I took a nap. And we still had an hour to wait when I woke. So I wrote the blog. Then we loaded onto the ferry for a 4 hour ride to Michigan. Sheila added the photos and we’re posting this before we take off.
We’ll add an hour for the change to Eastern Time and we’ll be getting in very late tonight. Fortunately, we packed snacks for the ferry including soy milk for tomorrow’s breakfast shake. When we get in, we’ll be checking into a motel for our rest day which we always look forward to. Today marks the close of week six so we’re officially two-thirds through our trip. YIPPEE!
You deserved the day. Love the lounge chairs and the drag racing. Enjoy the hotel and your day off!
We love drag racing, too. I think the lounge chairs were a perfect counterpoint.
Hope your ferry ride is calm and beautiful!!!
The ride was smooth as silk. Unlimited visibility, sunny and warm. A perfect crossing.
Hi Spencer and Sheila,
Wow what a great adventure. I just saw this today on Facebook and have been browsing your blogs and pictures. I am so happy for you and glad you are doing this.
I want to be on that riverfront on chairs! Today is Mike and my 34th anniversary, so we are going out to dinner on the Willamette at the Newport Seafood grill to enjoy the water and dinner together. It is nice here, it may get to 80 so should be nice at dinner time.
Love,
Stephanie
Steph,
We’re loving the trip. And those lounge chairs aren’t at a river, that’s Lake Michigan, somewhere between 50-75 miles wide at that point! Happy anniversary!
Looks like they don’t load bicycles on the ferry first like they do here in Washington.
It’s the only coal-burning ferry still operating. It’s a bit archaic. They can only load cars at one end so staff BACKS IN every car and offload every car. All drivers walk on and off! We cyclists were able to walk on when we arrived. They load for about an hour. We were able to unload as soon as the RV blocking our bike was off-loaded.