The mix of old and new technology that I’m using is creating some interesting “challenges” for the blog. The larger file sizes of the photos taken by my new phone, for example, are causing glitches when I post them. And sometimes they’re rotated or the wrong size.

I’ve been meaning to upgrade the blog software, but 24 hours before leaving is not the time to do that.

I think I have a work-around figured out, so I’m going to try that instead. Forgive me if some of the photos don’t get uploaded right.

I slept on the floor of my office last night.

I cancelled the ride around Lake Superior last year because of neck problems. I’ve had the neck checked out (and checked out and checked out…) and it’s a little better now, thanks largely to sleeping in better positions. So I needed to confirm before leaving that I can do the same in a sleeping bag, on the ground.

So last night I inflated the air mattress, rolled out the bag, and arranged my two little camping pillows in my studio/office. I had the windows open, to complete the “camping” simulation. I woke up around 6:00 and decided that I’d passed the test, so I stumbled to the bed for a more comfortable finish to the night. The question isn’t whether I’d be as comfortable as in my own bed, but whether I’d be comfortable enough, and could do it without aggravating my neck. So I think I’m good there.

There are still some things that aren’t ready for the trip. Most importantly, I’m waiting on a new tire for the scooter, which was supposed to arrive at the shop two days ago. It isn’t a crisis yet, but I really hate leaving anything that important until the last few days before I leave. But I have cell service for the trip all set, my credit card bank has been notified that I’ll be traveling in Canada, and delivery of my mail and The Grand Rapids Press has been suspended for while I’m gone. So I’m in a pretty good position for it.

It’s official: my scooter circumnavigation of Lake Superior is back on, for 2019. Above is the route I’ve mapped out, which is almost the same as the route I planned last year. I’ve changed one campground in Ontario to accommodate visiting a spot in Pukaskwa National Park that I wasn’t aware of last year.

It’s still a 9-day tour of three states and one province that will include such landmarks as the Mackinac Bridge, Tahquamenon Falls, Pictured Rocks, Canyon Falls, the Porcupine Mountains, the Apostle Islands, Isle Royale, Thunder Bay, Chigamiwinigum Falls (new), Agawa Bay, and the Soo Locks.

What makes the trip “official” is the fact that I’ve just reserved camp sites for the first and last nights of the trip. Muskallonge Lake State Park is undergoing renovations this summer, so only a portion of the campground is promised to be open in July, so I figured I should make a reservation while I could. There were a few sites that had a gap of one night on the 12th, so I took one. At the other end of the trip, the lakeside sites with a view of the Mighty Mack at Straits State Park were filling up, so I picked one that had a one-night gap on the 20th.

I’ll be keeping an eye on the other campgrounds along the route, and make reservations if it looks like I might need to. But I’m trying to save a little money (the parks charge fees for reservations) and keep my flexibility if I can, especially after I had to flush some reservations down the drain when I had to cancel last year.

To make it official: I will not be doing the Lake Superior ride next month. I’ve been having some problems with my neck, and sleeping in a tent on the ground for 9 nights isn’t a good idea until I get that resolved.

I had a similar problem 7 years ago, which was mostly resolved with surgery, and that may be an option again for this, if physical therapy or other treatments don’t take care of it. There’s no reason to think that I won’t recover enough to do the trip next year, so that’s what I’m tentatively planning for now.

So… reservations have been canceled – with penalties 🙁 – time off from work has been un-requested, and… that’s about it.

When you have a fuel tank that holds barely more than a gallon, refueling is always a concern on a road trip. Even at 100mpg, that’s not much more than 100 miles. That can be a serious issue in the sparsely populated Upper Peninsula and western Ontario.

On one previous trip through the UP, the only way I could get from Point A to Point B without running out of fuel involved a 20 minute detour from the route I wanted to take, to get to a little shop with gas. On another trip, the gas station I was counting on turned out to be out of business, and I was narrowly saved by a mom-and-pop general store several miles away that had an old gas pump for snowmobiles and ATVs.

So I’m doing a little extra scouting for my ride around Superior. Not just checking for flags in Google Maps, but confirming that they have current gas prices and/or the shop’s web site is still up.

It looks like I’m going to be alright, as long as I remember to stop when needed. It helps that I’m mostly sticking to the shoreline, which is where most of the towns are located. And when I get to Ontario, I’ll be riding on the Trans-Canada Highway, which is the only road that goes through that area, so it gets all the traffic.