August 20, 2025 to August 21, 2025
115-116: the long boardride, as good as it gets, fingernails, logistics, no levering, undercar service, dry harbor, the ambassador, from a millionaires' club to a multimillionaires' club, creative nomenclature, coincidental meeting, the great debate
Charlevoix to Pellston
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If I'm honest with myself, I've been a bit disappointed with this section of Michigan. It's an expensive, touristy area, so I thought the scenery would be continuous visual stimulation from some of the country's most beautiful coastline. Instead, I've only been getting an occasional glimpse here and there as I peer between expensive homes... “Beyer’s Choice,” "Dock Holiday," and "Loon-a-Tick Lodge."
This morning, however, was all I'd hoped the area would be.... This is what I expected the Michigan coastline to be like: water with infinite shades of blue, colors I've never seen before and haven't the vocabulary to describe. A cool breeze, thermostat perfect, riding over the water and flowing across my skin to keep me cool. A variety of trees, many of them bonsai-like from the forces of wind, and time... for a while it was unbridled joy, as good as cycling can get.
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For the past several days I've been working on transportation logistics for my last day of riding and the trip back to Iowa City. The Pellston airport had the only rental agency with an SUV but, unfortunately, lodging in that area is limited: I found no campgrounds, one overpriced hotel by the airport, and one Warm Showers host about four miles east of the airport. After receiving a response that she wouldn't be able to host me I started looking farther out and discovered a motel in Levering, five miles beyond the airport.
The first time I called it rang a few times, then disconnected. The second time I called it said the number is no longer in service, leaving me to wonder if it's still open. Stopping in Pellston will make it a 40-mile day. If I ride there and end up turning around because it's closed, then it's a 50-mile day.
Ultimately, it comes down to this: Am I willing to ride an extra 10 miles for the possibility of saving $100? The motel might be $180, but I’m banking on the fact that it isn’t. However, because the phone is disconnected, it might be an extra 10 miles for nothing. The answer: A hundred bucks? Absolutely. You can buy a lot of ice cream for that much.
Today, continuing the back-and-forth messaging with Jen, the only Warm Showers host in the area, she let me know that "There's no Levering Motel ! ! It closed a while ago." She's been really helpful with a lot of other things in the area as well, and just saved me a lot of trouble.
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As I was entering Petoskey, Jane pedaled up beside me and introduced herself. She volunteers with the Top of Michigan Trails Council as a Trail Ambassador, and greets hikers and bikers as they enter town. She and other volunteers hand out maps, answer questions, and share advice.
When she found out I started in Key West she asked if she could do a formal interview for their online newsletter, then took me to an outdoor food court where we chatted for about 45 minutes. The topic of Mark Bingham got boring quickly, so we moved on to other items of conversation.... one of which was e-Bikes.
There's some controversy about them because, on the one hand, Petoskey has a tourist-based economy and there are a lot of people who work in the hospitality industry, many of them in low-paying jobs in which they can't afford a car. Thus, they use e-Bikes year-round.
On the other hand, a number of people use Class 3 e-Bikes, which have a "Pedal Assist System" and receive motor assistance up to 28 mph. Unfortunately, that's faster than some riders have the skillset for (especially the tourists who rent and ride a bike once a year). Nor do they understand the rules of the road: say, for example, the common courtesy of warning another biker/hiker before passing them at 28 mph so they don't soil their pants.
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At the turn of the last century, Petoskey was called the "Millionaires' Club" because wealthy families from Chicago and Detroit built “cottages” (read: mansions) to escape the summer heat. In the decades following, vacationers began arriving by the trainload, literally, and the town’s economy was built around it being a summer resort. As I pedaled through town I considered that in some respects, with its tidy houses and manicured lawns, it progressed from a "Millionaires' Club" to a "Multimillionaires' Club." The only things that have changed are the homeowners.
Ernest Hemingway spent his boyhood summers just nine miles south of here, in Walloon Lake, where some of the "Nick Adams" stories were inspired.
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Because there were no other options, I spent the night in the overpriced hotel by the airport, and the following morning I rode the quarter mile to get the rental car.
Unsure about where the car rental agency was, I rolled up to the only other person in the parking lot, a man sitting in his truck who appeared to be waiting for someone. After getting directions ("It's inside the building"), he asked a few of The Usual Questions, then said, "My wife and I host bikers passing through. We're Warm Showers hosts, the only ones in a fifty-mile radius."
I was really shocked, but when I asked, "You're Doug? You're Jen's husband??" he was even more shocked than me. His wife is the person I've been communicating with via Warm Showers, and the person solely responsible for saving me a wasted trip to a closed motel in Levering. Doug was waiting for his son's flight to arrive from the Northwest.
When I went to retrieve the rental, I found that they had given me a smaller SUV than what I'd paid for, and when I pointed it out they tried to convince me that it's the same class: "No, this isn't a turd. It's an apple. Not a turd. Look at it, it's an edible apple." Eventually, I felt like I was living in Monty Python's The Great Debate skit: "Yes." "No." "Yes." "No."
Ultimately, I won by an attrition of will, patiently outlasting them, and got a larger vehicle.
This entry is the end of Part Three, but the trip isn't over. When I return after a short break, I'll be restarting from Petoskey. In the meantime, make sure you've created an account with CycleBlaze (and check the box that says "Twice per day we send an email that lists any new journal entries posted by authors you follow. Do you want to receive these emails?"). You'll also need to check the green "follow" button at the top of my pages. That way you'll get an email alerting you when I post my next entry.
The next section is going to include the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and I suspect it's going to be full of adventure and surprises and challenges. And humor and, of course, quirk.
Thanks for reading!
Today's ride: 41 miles (66 km)
Total: 3,010 miles (4,844 km)
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4 months ago
4 months ago
Are you still randonneuring and, if so, when are you going to start posting about it? I think it would be an interesting read... especially the beer part. :-)
4 months ago