I’m just old and wise enough to wonder if I’m crazy to be undertaking this trip. 🙂
After all, one reason I left this trip for “last” on my tour of Michigan is that I wasn’t 100% sure I’d even do it. It’s a long one, it’s a remote one, and it’s a complicated one. Doing three days of backpacking in the middle of eight days of scootering makes the whole thing harder than doing just one or the other. Heck, last year I balked: uneasy about doing it on an aging 50cc scooter, one which suddenly had a damaged brake handle, I called it off and rode home.
On previous trips, the weather has also been a factor contributing to my cold feet, but at least it doesn’t look like that’s going to be a problem. At least not at first. The weather forecasts for the towns I’ll be riding through for the next few days look quite nice, with lots of sun. The story when I get up to Isle Royale doesn’t look quite so sunny, however. But those are extended forecasts at this point, so I’m not putting much stock in them. And if it rains, it rains. I’ve done it before.
And ultimately, that’s what assures me that this isn’t so crazy: I’ve done most of this before. For example, the first two days’ ride will just be retracing the end of my first big ride: to Ludington, across the Lake, through eastern Wisconsin, and into the UP. I’ll be returning to the Keweenaw, Copper Harbor, and Isle Royale, where I’ve been twice before. I’ve slept in a tent this size, night after night. I’ve ridden in the rain and I’ve hiked in the rain and I’ve camped in the rain. I didn’t much enjoy that part, but I was OK. I’ve ridden and hiked with most of the same gear before, in last year’s short test run (two days on the trail, instead of three; three days on the road, instead of eight). There are some new things ahead of me, but for the most part, I know this stuff.
And that’s the other side of why I saved this trip for last. I’ve had four big rides and several smaller ones to prepare me for this. I have a more cabable scooter, I have more comfortable sleeping gear, I’ve learned how to better pack a scooter, how to plan a route, how to ride, how to cope with weather, and even how to handle crises (e.g. broken brake, lost tent, unsafe bridge conditions).
In 2009 I wasn’t up to doing this. In 2014, I am.