8/26/2025 Tuesday
Peshtigo WI to Fox Park MI (north of Cedar River MI)
Stats: 43 miles, AIS: 3:58 speed: 10.9mph. Elev. 288 ft.
Started our ride about 9:15am. It takes us about 2 hours from waking up to departing camp. It was chilly last night… the low was 48’ F. But we have all the right clothes and gear so we were warm and toasty all night.
Woke up this morning to clear sunny skies. This lasted all morning and clouds started to develop about 1:30-2 pm. We had considerably less wind than yesterday. With the combination of more sun and less wind we were comfortable all day. Never hot… never cold. We both rode in shirts (no jackets).
We were on back roads the first 8 miles to Marinette WI…the border of Wisconsin and Michigan. The other side of the Menominee River is another town called Menominee, MI. We navigated through both towns, zigging and zagging to cross the river at a quieter bridge road and then zigging and zagging to get back to Northshore Drive (Hwy 35) and head north.
We are now in the Upper Peninsula (U.P.) of Michigan. They call themselves “Yoopers”. My sister-in-law Linda grew up a Yooper! It gets very cold and very snowy up here along Lake Michigan and Lake Superior. It’s famous for iron ore and copper mining. We will be traveling deeper into the “U.P” for the next several days. I’m excited to eat some pasties while we are pedaling this area of the country. They’re famous for them.
Jim discovered this morning when dressing that he only packed 1 pair of bike shorts. Usually he packs two. One to wash and one to wear. His new priority was to move the clothesline into the morning sun to dry his bike shorts quickly! Second priority was to stop at a bicycle store in Marinette. That was easy to ride to… but no shorts in Jim’s size. We will still be shopping for another pair of shorts as we get from bicycle shop to bicycle shop until he succeeds. Maybe tomorrow in Escanaba…or Mackinaw City… or Traverse City! We’ve got a mission.
While riding through Menominee we came across Stephensons Bakery. It was very old school kind of bakery so we made the stop. Not disappointing.. really good donuts. When I walked in the door I had one of those flashback memories evoked by the donut aroma. It was a really big bakery, really warm inside and the smell reminded me of my hometown bakery The Model Bakery! It’s a really good memory.
After the bakery we were on a main road that was about to become a rather busy two-way highway. Good news is that it had a really big shoulder that was in great condition. Very little garbage or debris on the shoulder considering how many semi’s and big trucks that were travelling the road. Because the shoulder was so wide and smooth we were able to comfortabley ride for 30+ miles. The biggest distraction was road noise. Not as bad as a freeway because the speed limit was lower.
We followed the shoreline from Menominee to our campground for the night. Similar to yesterday it was lined with cottages and some bigger homes nearly the entire day. We did stop at a couple of little parks along the shoreline today for snacks or lunch.
Door County in the distance.
Our campground tonight is a nice setting along the sandy beach. The water is shallow quite a ways out. So you can easily wade. The sand is deep and clean and warm. Our campground does not have showers so a swim was going to have to replace the shower. The water was cool but you could get use to it quickly because it was shallow.
Since our campsite is 9 miles from any town, we stopped at the gas station in Cedar River and picked up a couple of chicken salad sandwiches and some pickled carrots and pickled snap peas to carry along for dinner. Not bad. I’d buy those pickled veggies again. We are satisfied.
Tomorrow we head to Gladstone along this same highway. It will continue to be busy until we drop down into lower Michigan on the east side of Lake Michigan.
cinnicrew 