The Big 2010 Tour: Day 1

Whoa, wasn't this, like, months ago dude? 

Well, yeah.  But things got crazy busy for me right when I got back.  I didn't even have a chance to get the pictures off my camera until this morning. And honestly, this wasn't as much fun as all my other tours. Still some good stories worth sharing though. 

The plan was, ride across the UP in about 2.5 days, cross the Mackinac bridge, and then take however many days to get to my parent's house in Scottville, party for a few days, then catch the ferry over to Manitowoc and ride last year's tour route back to home.  I made one big change in my usual touring plans that I sort of regret- I carried no cooking implements our food besides basic snacks intending to catch most of my major meals at restaurants.  This changed the dynamic of the tour more than you might think, but more on that later.


Day 1: Home to Nestoria: 45 miles.

It certainly wasn't my most productive day at work, but I was out and on the road by 5pm. Being rather familiar with the next 250 miles from countless drives downstate, I had a good handle on roadside camping locations and intended to just belt out as many miles as I could. 

The weather had other ideas. After making the turn east just south of L'Anse, I could see an approaching storm front. I could literally look over my shoulder and see the rain catching up behind me.  As luck would have it, It just about overtook me in Nestoria which is known for pretty much two things: being the southern end of the Herman-Nestoria Rd. and home to the "Cozy Inn" and it's famous all-you-can-eat-lake-trout-for-$10 fish fry. 

I ran in and put on my best sad and pathetic looking cyclotourist face and they agreed to let me camp in their backyard. I got my tent pitched just in time and they even let me chuck my bike in an old trailer for the night.  With camp established, I proceeded to do my best on the all-you-can-eat part of the fish fry deal whilst trying to convince my fellow patrons that I was not crazy for attempting this ride.