BrianT USA 2013: Stage 5, part 1 Ludington Michigan to London Ontario, Canada

Not just a Ride across America but a Ride across a Continent. We now ride through Ontario Canada before crossing back into the USA at Niagara Falls.

What should have been a rest day was spent waiting for and catching the SS BADGER across Lake Michigan. The SS Badger is the last coal powered vessel operating on the Great Lakes. She was launched in 1952 (Tom Neilson travelled on her in 1955, - bet she was state of art back then !! )

Loading the bikes aboard SS Badger

Before we left on the boat we stopped at the Manitowoc maritime museum. It has the USS Cobia restored and ready to view. She was a WW11 submarine that saw active service in the pacific and actually called in to Perth during the war. It was well worth the time as it was in very good condition and with the other 40 tourists it gave one a real feel of how crowded it would have been with 80 crew aboard.

Torpedo Tubes.

On the ferry it was strange having nothing to do for 4 hours. We seem to be either riding or eating or sleeping every minute of the normal riding day. On leaving the boat we rode into Michigan and had had a ripping dinner in Ludington.

The next 3 days take us across Michigan and then into Ontario, Canada.

First day of this section was 186 kms to Mt Pleasant with a strong tailwind !! Yes I repeat a tailwind !!

We arrived in town about 1pm and had a nice lunch at a sandwich shop in the old part of town.

This was our last "Century" ride ( 100 miles + ) for the trip.

We had a strong cross headwind the following day which was disappointing as the forecast was for a tailwind. When you are riding 130 kms a day, any wind with any E in its name is a bummer. Michigan is not nearly as nice as Minnasota it is very flat ( that's good) but its a bit boring to ride through as there is nothing new to see.

Just before we got to Port Huron we stopped at the ice cream / shake shop of the trip so far. The menu was for 100 different flavours and the chocolate custard was incredible !!

My room mate was today denied entry to Canada due to a conviction when he was 20 !! It was just a driving conviction as well, it appears that the tour company forwarded a list to the canadians who did checks on everyone. Canada changed their laws a few years ago and you must notify them of any past convictions, Mark did not notify them, so he now has to ride south by himself for 4 days and meet us in Niagara. It adds 230 kms to his 5 days riding.

Crossed the Bridge at Port Huron this morning and into Canada. Was quite an experience as they closed the entire bridge for us to ride over. Normally bikes are transported over by bus.