Day 24 - Bruce Crossing, MI to Marquette

Hi all - here we are in Marquette, MI.  What a great little town - on the lake, beautiful views, beaches, parks, bike paths - very charming - can't figure out why it doesn't look like LA.  Oh yeah - it is winter with buckets of snow, cold blowing north wind and dark from 4:30pm to 7:00am...
On the way from Bruce Crossing, we stopped for a mid-day snack at a small general store in the town of Bergland.  I hung out in the cafe (inside the store), reading and waiting for the guys.  Just before Jerry and Tom arrived, a young cyclist arrived - riding east to west.  Wes, originally from Poland, was packing his own gear, camping, and was riding from New Jersey to Seattle.  We enjoyed a snack and cup of coffee while sharing information about the ride - both east and west.

Arrived in Marquette - sun was shinning - got the bags in the rooms and enjoyed some pool time.  Great little motel right accross from the shore of Lake Superior.

Patty by the pool by the lake

Notes from Tom:  Another day that wasn't my fave.  The road was good, it was clear and sunny, with temps in the low 70's.  There were a few hills and climbs, but nothing too terrible.  The part I could have missed was the wind in our faces for the last 25 miles.  The total distance was 97 miles, and at least it was downhill the last 10 miles into Marquette.

We went through a Moose Crossing area, and didn't see any Bullwinkles, but we did see Rocky Racoon.  He toddled across the road in front of us.

Marquette is on Lake Superior, and is a college town--Northern Michigan University with about 8,000 students.  The town is fairly touristy, with a nice waterfront, some nice beaches, and a lighthouse.  We had dinner at the historic Vierling Brewery.  The food and the double IPA were both excellent.

We took some pictures of the Marquette Light, but couldn't get very close.  We also got much closer than we have been to one of the ore loading docks, and got some pictures of it.  Use the picnic table as a reference for the size of these things.

Notes from Jerry:  As Tom said we did some climbing today but it was mainly the wind towards the end that made it a difficult ride.  Luckily the roads were excellent except for going through the outskirts of Ishbeming and Negaunee.  Ishbeming is where I plan to come back to  tomorrow on our day off since that is where my Grandmother on my Dad's side was born and raised.  What felt like brisk temperatures meant it was in the 60's to start with but only got up to about 71 when we finished, but with the wind chill factor you didn't want to slow down just to keep warm.  Just like the day before it kept getting warmer after we stopped riding in the pm and became a gorgeous evening.

No goo on our legs!! What gives?  We have no idea.