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From Claire, Tamara, and Lucia
Tipler to Escanaba 93.3 miles
In the morning we discover that everything has been drenched overnight, that there are several slugs on our gear and a toad in my bike shoe! A friendly couple gives us a ride in their truck out of our campsite on the 6 miles of muddy gravel road. (It would have been a long, uncomfortable ride out otherwise.) After a bit of biking we cross into Michigan! We have lunch in Iron Mountain, an old mining town, then continue on through a town called Norway, and a bit later cross into the eastern time zone. :-)
A poem for the afternoon:
It's so hot I can't think;
It must be time to take a drink.
I am drinking so much water,
but it just keeps getting hotter.
The humidity makes the air feel thick,
and all my clothes begin to stick.
It's not a great day to be outside,
but we're still going for a ride!
When we reach Escanaba, our destination for the day, it's getting late. There isn't camping in the town, but there is a campsite a few miles up the road. It's a great place to spend the night, showers and bathrooms for free!

Escanaba to Engadine 92.3 miles
We start off the day with a spectacular view of lake Michigan. Then 10 miles in or so we stop at Jack's restaurant to use the bathroom, and notice that they are taking huge cinnamon rolls out of the oven. They look so delicious that we decide we have to buy one and share it. Definitely the best one of the trip so far! Our next views of the lake are even more spectacular. It is deep blue with small whitecaps and the far edge disappears into a misty haze that melds into the sky. The shore along the road is sandy almost dune like with scrubby green grasses and coastal pines that just hide the lake from view. We have lunch in Manistique by the beach and go for a delightful swim in the lake. It's surprisingly warm! Since this is our fourth long day in a row, we decide to go out for dinner, but the town we are planning on stopping in is so small that it doesn't even have a gas station where we can buy food, never mind a restaurant. So, we continue 7 more miles up to road to Engadine, where we find a grocery store and a spacious pavilion where we set up our tent. That night is a HUGE rainstorm, and we have fun dancing in the rain.

Engadine to Brimley State Park 73 miles
We decide that we will take a slight detour to go to a health clinic because Lucia was experiencing uncomfortable side effects from her asthma medication, and I had been feeling lightheaded. The friendly doctor prescribes Lucia some medication, and says I just need more electrolytes.

A poem for the morning:
As I put drink mix in my water and almost spill,
A man gives me a twenty dollar bill.
He says it's to buy food along the way.
What a great way to start the day!
Then we go to the hospital to get me and Lucia checked out;
The doctor says we're ok to keep biking without a doubt.
At first his sense of humor gives us a scare,
but turns out he's really nice and his name is Clare.
For lunch we get $20 worth of pizza at a local place;
it's so delicious I get a HUGE smile on my face.
Turns out the breadsticks are even better,
and the lady who works there is very super friendly. I'm glad we met her.
After all this food we feel a bit sedate,
but it's time for a ride on highway 28.

In the afternoon we ride by some road construction. They have closed off one lane of the road, but it is fine to bike on, so we have a whole lane to ourselves! Later in the afternoon we discover wild blueberries, and immediately pull off the road to eat as many as possible. We camp on Lake Superior in a bustling campground. The sunset over the lake is spectacular and we meet an incredibly friendly couple who inquire about our trip and let us use their fire to cook the curry we are making for dinner.

This morning we woke up and biked over an impressive bridge into Canada! We are all super excited to be in a new country, and can't wait to explore.