Today was the first day of the trip that didn’t add multiple counties to the map. All it added was Schoolcraft County (the pink one). But to be fair I’d only touched the corner of Mackinac County (orange) yesterday, and look at how long it is! I spent most of the day trying to get clear of it. Tomorrow will be another one-county day, adding only Alger County to the north. (What’ll be really disappointing will be the day I spend mostly in Wisconsin, which won’t add any counties to the map.)*
There’s a sign on US-2 directing visitors to “Historic Manistique”. Sadly this appears to reflect the fact that there isn’t much there in the present. The tiny downtown district was almost deserted at 6pm, with a few closed businesses and most of the rest looking… tired. I managed to find a few restaurants and ended up in Marley’s Bar & Grill. I was feeling a bit flush after the day’s ride, so I limited myself to a single Bud Light instead of maybe two real beers as I’d normally have in the same situation.
I got a little bit of sunburn on my forearms through the mesh of my jacket before I realized it was happening. The back of my neck feels a little raw, but I’ve been putting sunscreen on that since the sun came out, so I hope it’s just camera strap rash.
I’m undecided on what route to take to Pictured Rocks tomorrow. There’s a state road (M94) that’s reportedly under construction, or backroads that may or may not be paved. I’ll be taking M94 for the last half either way. I think I’m probably running low on oil by now, so I bought some today.
*A disclaimer about the map: I generated all of the updates before I left, and programmed the web site to change it automatically. If I don’t get somewhere the map will still change.