So off we tooted, driving both cars down to Greenfield to leave mine with Eliza who is staving off car troubles and with a stop for lunch with Margaret and Nora on the way. After a night in Greenfield we left in the Outback and had an uneventful drive through Buffalo and into Ontario. A night in a tacky hotel and we continued on to Petosky. Our stay there was at the Terrace Inn in Bay View; a community very much like our own Bayside here in Northport. Both have evolved from Methodist campgrounds but the Michigan version has sustained a more "Christian" culture. There are said to be 400 cottages, many of them very large and ornate.
The Terrace Inn is old and elegant and enjoyable in the cramped way that old hotels are. A bathroom has been shoehorned into each bedroom, leaving not much elbow room for us but the ambiance made up for it and breakfast was super. Being a day early, John and I rode on the "Little Traverse Wheelway" 18 miles down to Charlesvoix and back before we met our group of 13 riders and Gillian, our leader in the afternoon. Dinner was together and we all retired early with the general air of anxiety that seems always to precede a group trip.
For most the tension is mild and manageable but the red haired woman in the middle row, despite being dressed in bicycle clothes and participating in the group picture, immediately loaded her bicycle on her car and disappeared-- her jitters about the ride triumphing.
John and I were the only couple to ride separate bikes-- the two other couples rode tandems-- one upright and one recumbent. Bob, the man in the blue shirt, rode a recumbent tricycle. Gillian (our leader and in the red coat) and the five remaining ladies rode their own bikes-- including Susan, the woman to my left who is 80 years old! She is a retired gym teacher and a former bicycle racer whose motivation and strength are great but whose eyes are failing. She is bravely aware that her days of cycling safely are coming to an end.
The day was misty and gray-- the kind of weather that leaves the sky and the water looking exactly the same and eclipsing any glimpses of Lake Michigan we might see through the trees. The first 12 or so miles was on the Little Traverse Wheelway we had ridden the day before-- this time toward Harbor Springs. It was pretty much a slog in iffy weather but I did get a kick out of this sign-- not one you normally see on a bike path. I also had time to ponder on a sign that said "Web Cam Day Care"-- imagining the parents taking time from whatever they were supposed to be doing to hover electronically -- their children ideally sharing well with others and eating only healthy snacks. Our destination was the Lamplighter Motel in Mackinaw City and we reached it without incident. The claim to fame of this place was "theme rooms" and ours was The Lighthouse Room. Lighthouses, everywhere-- the bed posts, pictures, bedspreads, curtains, even the shower curtain and the curtain rings!
This ride brought us to the outskirts of St. Ignace and from there we headed off into the vaunted beauties of the "U.P." It wasn't long, however, before my inner grouch made an appearance and I started wondering when we would be finished with this long stretch of tedious and monotonous roadway and get to the great scenery. Turns out, never! At least not that day. When I complain about steep hills John reminds me that hills make scenery. As so often, John is right. While the straight highway stretching interminably ahead was easy to ride, it looked much the same, mile after mile. The redeeming feature were the thousands of yellow lady slipper's that lined the roadway. Pink ones common in Maine and my friend Joan and I greet them with delight each year. The yellow ones are just as lovely and were somewhat effective in silencing my grouch.
Our ride ended in a small village called Trout Lake, more specifically at a place called Birch Lodge and what a place it was! Envisioned to be a combination summer resort and tuberculosis sanitorium, it was the dream of a Wisconsin physican and his wife. Before the building was even completed in 1912, however, the doctor died of rabies. His wife carried on alone but the resort quickly ran into financial troubles and the road has been rocky ever since. One of the "fixes" along the way was the construction of an eight room motel and it was in this building that our biking group stayed. The lodge itself has new and enthusiastic owners who plan to restore it and make it attractive to modern tourists-- that is to say guests who don't want to share a bathroom located down the hall and used by perhaps a dozen or more!
It was a gorgeous place outside and a fascinating one within. When things finally whimpered to the end in the 1980's, the lodge was simply closed. The birch bark papered bar/lounge could serve as a movie set with the old stools, bar fixtures, cash register and signs such as "Free gum under the stools and tables".
Our gracious hostess had coffee, tea and baked treats in this area and was happy to show us around the rest of the building. I found it spellbinding with many rooms still ready for occupancy as they had been for thirty years and amazingly, the linen room, looking as if the chambermaids were in and out hourly.
The downside of all this natural beauty and interesting history was that we were sharing it with thousands (millions?) of starving mosquitoes. Mosquitoes are not fast enough to bother us while riding (and please hope that you do not have to change a tire!) but the idea of communing with sky, water and birch trees came to an immediate halt when the reality of the bugs hit us. Dinner over we were early to bed and so ended the second day of our ride. Part 2 coming up.
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
