After our failure to paddle from Canada back to the US, the next day we arranged for a ride around Georgian Bay to about where we would have been E-W, though quite a bit north. Instead of a 1.5 mile paddle, it was a 200 mile drive. Crossing the border at Sault Ste Marie, Frank headed for the airport, and I rode toward Trout Lake. Frank was renting a car at the airport, driving far back to “Soo” to get a box for his bike, then meeting me at Trout Lake. Rain was predicted and looked pretty certain from the radar. I raced to arrive ahead of the rain, which never was more than a sprinkle. But I did travel fast, maybe too fast, going 54 mi at a 14.5 mph pace. My left knee started to hurt. The next day, Frank packed up his bike while I headed off toward Manistique, MI. Thirty miles into the ride, my knee was extremely painful and almost impossible to walk on. Uh oh. I limped the remaining 40 miles. The road was Route 2, which is very busy, but at least with a wide margin.

Mosquitos here were insane. Stopping the bike was almost impossible. Thank God I didn’t get a flat.

The next day (22 June) I decided to go relatively short, stopping at Escanaba. It still ended up being 55 miles, though not the 70 I’ve grown used to. My knee was still extremely painful. In Escanaba I made an appointment to see an orthopod to evaluate my knee. Honestly things looked pretty dire, and I was contemplating plans B. Limp to Minneapolis and fly home? I had a pasty for dinner.

Pastys are meat pies with various fillings. I love the concept, though the one I got was pretty unspecial.

I woke today with almost no pain at all. Very strange, but welcome. The orthopod identified the problem as per anserine bursitis.

This turns out to be a much better sentence than tendonitis, which takes forever to heal. He also prescribed prednisone, which I started to take immediately. I also rode VERY slowly, planning to stop after just 25 miles. But I felt so good, I decided to go to the next motel (about 10 mile along) and the next, and so forth. I ended up going 64 miles and felt great. I was also inspired by entering the Central Time Zone and gaining an hour, and also discovering I have now gone over 1000 miles.

Seems impossible, but true. Huge thanks due to Jenn and Frank who got me here.

At one point I got off the too busy Route 2 and saw this beautiful old road house.

I’m collecting one stone from each state/province.  I got my Michigan stone from Fumee Falls, just before reaching Iron Mountain at the end of today (23 June).

Biggest complaint so far is that finding roads that are small, but still paved can be v challenging.

I’ve been sampling regional food specialties, but I decided to skip this one: