We both were up pretty early today and headed over to the restaurant next door to the Gray Wolf for some breakfast. I kind of had a sour stomach from the breakfast I had for dinner the night before, so only had a yogurt parfait. After that we went back to our rooms and collected our stuff to repack the bikes and head out for Mackinaw City.
We took Hwy 2 all the way there connecting onto Hwy 75 to take the bridge over, with only one stop at a look out and one for the bathroom in Naubinaway, and everyone seemed to be stopping there to do the same, and only one restroom. Ugh!
One of the things that really surprised us about Hwy 2 was how high the speed limit was at 65 and how much it wasn’t a leisurely ride with so much traffic, and everyone seemed to want to do 75-80. That took out some of the enjoyment of such a picturesque route, for sure. We also weren’t aware of the toll to cross the bridge and that was $4 per vehicle no matter what your vehicle is.
I have to admit I wasn’t brave enough to venture over into the fast lane on the bridge which is completely grated steel from span to span, but today would have been the day to do so since it wasn’t windy. Not like I haven’t been over grated bridges before or even had an issue with them. Just wasn’t feeling it for that long!
Since we left quite early in the morning, we arrived around noon to Machinaw City and weren’t able to check into our hotel until 3 or 4. The first place we pulled off to find the road for our hotel took us into the heart of the tourists area, which was most reminiscent of the Dells. We went right to the hotel to see if they’d let me use a restroom to change into shorts, so I could be comfortable to walk around for several hours. Still not too terribly warm, but a bit sticky. I was in luck, as the hotel worker gave me the key to their bathroom to change.
From there we walked back down to the tourist area with all of the shops and the docks for the boat rides to the Island and found myself a nice coffee/bakery for some fresh brewed ice tea, and then we walked to the north shoreline where I walked out into the water and skipped some rocks. From there we found one of the ice cream shops and had ice cream for lunch since we weren’t too terribly hungry and had plans to meet Ali and Brian for dinner that night since they were already there.
Then we sat outside near the shore in some shade by our hotel to kill another hour. Ali had sent me photos of their room at the same hotel the night before and it was so horrible. I was so shocked Wyndham would have such low standards! We would have changed hotels, but Brad could not cancel his room. I was hoping since I am a Wyndham rewards customer that they wouldn’t put me in such a nasty room as they advertised newly remodeled. I was in luck because our rooms were much better! Brad also talked them into getting us rooms next to each other on the first floor, and they did next to the pool.
After we got unpacked, we took a dip in the pool to cool off and feel better before getting ready to head over to the Rusted Spoke Brewery for dinner across from the hotel, as we scoped it out while we were trying to kill time and the menu looked good! Ali and Brian got back to their new hotel just as we sat down, so we waited for them. We had a really nice dinner and visit with them!
After that Brad and I ventured back out to an ATM for me to get some cash and look for another ice tea, and we lucked out with getting a ride back to the shops via a shuttle bus.
Another excellent day and no rain! I only put in 132 miles today.
