August 24, 2024 -- Cheboygen To Manistique

Colonial Inn

Manistique, Michigan

August 23, 2024

Fun day yesterday. Crossing the five-mile long Mackinac Bridge was not as harrowing as it was the first time. My death grip on the steering wheel released within 20 minutes of crossing the bridge. The bridge closes down on the morning of Labor Day for an annual bridge walk. Crazy! The toll attendant told me that the traffic backup caused by the closure -- this bridge is Interstate 75 and there are no other options -- clears up within five hours. Crazier!

Lots of scenic stops along Lake Michigan and I took advantage of one to sit by the lake for an hour. Blows my mind how large these Great Lakes are and even more, how important they are for transportation of goods.

I had a fun talk with the owner of the Hog Island store. She and her husband moved her from Illinois 21 years ago and are year-round residents. The store is open from sometime in May to late September. She showed me photos of the store in the wintertime with yards of snow. The residents here are not into skiing (since it is flat) but seem to really enjoy the wintertime. Wouldn't be me -- although the ruralness of the area is appealing (although probably only because of the nice weather we are having now).

Took an unplanned (surprise) turn to visit a working lighthouse on the lake. The name in French means "only choice" although I keep remembering it as "last chance." The name comes from French explorers who were looking for gold and got caught in a storm on the lake. I read that there are an estimated 6,000 sunken ships in the Great Lakes with 1,500 being in Michigan waters. Another crazy!! The lake looks so peaceful!!

I then came upon Manistique which is a lovely little town of under 3,000 people. I hesitated at first but decided to stop for the day and found this very nice mom and pop hotel. I had a wonderful talk with the owner who retired in his 40s from the DOE weapons program and filled his life-long dream of owning an hotel. It is open seven months a year; he spends the rest of the year in Tennessee and Florida.

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U.S. Route 2 or U.S. Highway 2 (US 2) is an east–west United States Numbered Highway spanning 2,571 miles (4,138 km) across the northern continental United States. US 2 consists of two segments connected by various roadways in southern Canada. Unlike some routes, which are disconnected into segments because of encroaching Interstate Highways, the two portions of US 2 were designed to be separate in the original 1926 highway plan.

The western segment of US 2 begins at an interchange with Interstate 5 (I-5) and State Route 529 (Maple Street) in Everett, Washington, and ends at I-75 in St. Ignace, Michigan. The eastern segment of US 2 begins at US 11 in Rouses Point, New York, and ends at I-95 in Houlton, Maine.

As its number indicates, it is the northernmost east–west U.S. Highway in the country. It is the lowest primary-numbered east–west U.S. Highway, whose numbers otherwise end in zero, and was so numbered to avoid a US 0.[2] Sections of US 2 in New England were once New England Route 15, part of the New England road marking system.