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Northern Invasion

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Stuart and I just arrived in Sault Ste Marie, MI this afternoon which means we are closing a chapter in Broquest. That chapter is northern Michigan and (temporarily) the United States. We're blogging from a dorm room that overlooks the international bridge. The only way across is on the interstate, so we may have a bit of trouble with the local fuzz. We haven't had to hitch hike yet, but this may prove to be a first if there's no other way into Canada.

The Upper Peninsula of Michigan was extraordinarily fun. We had the off day in Marquette, MI and we spent the afternoon kayaking with our host, Stuart, on Lake Superior. Stuart and I had neither been before, and it was EXCELLENT! We also got to dive off a small cliff and swim in the lake (ALOHA WAL-MART SHORTS).

We cooked Fajitas and ate a TONNE (metric, not standard) of food and crashed out for the night. I almost blew some fingers off lighting bottle rockets. As with any couch-surfing experience, we took waaaaaay too long waking up in the morning and getting on the road. Ooops. Sorry about that. I also was a bit sick from the fajitas (or maybe the beer... hmmm). Yesterday was not the most conducive day to riding. We were expecting to make 110 miles but rode closer to 80. Still a pretty decent day.

Stuart and Andrew = Awesome hosts

During the ride, we stopped in at a little slice of heaven - AKA Christmas, MI. It was a very interesting town of about 250 people. An ornament and toy maker moved in during the early 20th century and set up factories that produced both. All of the streets have Christmas themed names although the factories are long gone. We were able to push on and camp in Seney. We ate dinner with some bikers who were very interested about the BQ. We shared road stories and talked about camping out and eating everything in sight. One of the guys said "Woah, there are so many similarities (between cyclists and bikers).

This morning, while trying to find coffee, we came across a BP station that also sold assorted animal pelts. I really wanted to buy a shirt that said "Get addicted to UP wolves... Smoke a pack a day" but I had to restrain myself. Stuart and I did end up buying coyote and blue fox faces respectively. We plan to use them when we go into our respective witness protection programs in Canada.