West. Day 1.

June 9, 2016

St. Ignace to Hog Island, Michigan

---

It was my 60th year. I figured that one day I'd be helping Mom leave this world as I did for Dad. (Maybe one day my hubby, Andy, too.) And no matter my determination, no doubt a day would come when I won’t be able to just get on my bike and ride away.

Could a person be simultaneously eager and hesitant, confident and tentative, delighted and gloomy? I could. Somehow, my dream began with a compromise. The open-ended tour for which I always lusted had a destination. Get to Missoula, Montana by June 15. Would I return home then instead of continuing to ride until I was done?

I thanked Andy for encouraging me to go. He said, “I want you to get it out of your system. Once and for all.” Ready or not, I was on my way, with no idea of where the road might lead me after Missoula.

A farewell gift from my sister Anne and her three girls.

Twenty-five miles in I paused at a scenic overlook and took a deep breath. Water glimmered hope against the sandy shore.

“Where are you going?” A man said through the open window of a pickup truck. A woman sat next to him.

“Montana. This is my first day.”

“We’re coming home from a vacation in Montana!” The couple lived downstate and wanted to know why I’m riding west.

“There’s a group called the Adventure Cycling Association in Missoula. They’re having a 40th-anniversary celebration for the first tour they put on in 1976. I did that ride and thought it’d be neat to cycle out for the party. While I still can!”

“That’s great. My brother-in-law and his wife rode their bikes on Route 66 from San Francisco this spring.”

Synchronicity.

Original Facebook post:

POSTCARD FROM THE ROAD 6/9/16

At 8:00 p.m. the sun dips behind the shoreline scrub trees, but Hog Island is awash with light. It should be named Gull Island. A narrow strip of white sand that inches west across Lake Michigan are teeming with gulls. They screech in opposition to the traffic still rumbling east and west on Highway 2. Thirty-five easy miles today, folks, a get-my-feet-wet first day's ride. Calmer winds and gentler rises boost confidence for tomorrow's longer roll into Manistique. The town's well-stocked grocery store and showers at Indian Lake State Park are simple pleasures for a life on the road.

Hog Island