Exploring my options for heading north back out of Iron Mountain, I noticed a road running loosely parallel to M95, which I remembered from my planning last year, when I expected to go through this way. The only problem that I didn’t remember if I’d ruled it out or not. I took a chance.

Bass Lake Road turned out to be perfect. It meandered around a couple lakes, but eventually met up with M95, just south of where I’d left my planned route.

M95, however, was pretty much what you’d expect from a letter-number road: high-speed pavement for people who want to be somewhere else. Traffic wasn’t too heavy though, and with the wind at my back and 125cc under my seat, I made good time, even up hills.

I’ve been making “too good” time this trip. Some of that’s the bigger engine, but the rest is rider error. Unlike rides like my Lake Michigan tour, where there were charming habit towns every 30 miles to entice me to stop, there just isn’t much to remind me on this one. Which is a mistake, because they aren’t just for proper timing and my amusement, but also to avoid fatigue and overheating. I did manage to make a few stops here and there, at roadside parks.

Unfortunately I’ve reached the point geographically where I have little choice but to take the letter-number roads. Because there aren’t any others. There are local roads in each community along the way, but they don’t connect to each other except through state and federal highways. The last several miles to Van a Riper State Park are on US41/M28, which is the northern of the two east-west routes across the UP. It isn’t a bad as US2, but it’s still fast and busy.

To make matters just a little worse, I also had to take it to dinner. The online restaurant-finder services made it look like there were some in nearby Champion, but their “Champion” addresses were misleading. And the closest is out of business. So after setting up camp, I headed east toward Ispheming and stopped at the first option I came to: a business with a sports bar on one side and a quiet restaurant on the other. The last thing I need before the 10-mile ride back to the state park in my tired condition is a beer, so instead I’m having a chicken philly sandwich and fries on the restaurant side. 🙂

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