Mackinaw

I have a little vacation time slated for this week so Jean and I decided to take the family on a little northern Michigan vacation. We loaded up the truck yesterday morning and drove up to Mackinaw City to stage ourselves for the boat ride to Mackinaw Island the next day.

Mackinaw City is way cool. Sure, it's a tourist trap but it is a very pleasant little town. We toured this really cool retired icebreaker yesterday and ate pasties. This morning, I got up early and rode my bike to Cheboygan and back. It was a beautiful morning for a ride. I didn't know where to go other then US23 which has a great big wide paved shoulder to ride on. It was so nice.

When I got back, the troops were ready to get going but my ride had held them up a bit. We got it together and walked across the street from the hotel and boarded a boat to the island. Man is the water clear up here. It is like the Caribbean sea. The boat ride was quick and before we knew it we were standing in the midst of countless bikes and horses trying to figure out where to rent bikes for Jean and the girls. (I brought James' bike also.)

We finally settled on a place and we took off for a ride around the island. James was decked out in his AAVC kit. I told him to just go ahead and ride up the road then turn around and ride back to us. We sent the girls up the road also after waiting for what seemed like an eternity waiting for Jean to come back from a bathroom stop. So, it was just Jean and I which was nice. Jean started to panic when we were two miles from town and we were separated from all our kids. About then we found the girls. I parked them in a shady spot and rode back down the road to find James. Within a mile I ran into him and we all rode into town and went to lunch.

Man, Mackinaw Island is a great place to ride. NO CARS!! How cool it would be if folks rode their bikes around town instead of defaulting to their cars. All kinds of bikes with trailers to haul everything from beer to horse manure. I will say this though...it was some of the most sketchy riding I have ever seen! WOW! No helmets and just riding with no care given to riding on the right side of the road.

We ended up at the Soo tonight. Planning on touring the locks tomorrow. I am sure Bikeboy will be all over the happenings too.