Off Again!
This is a much smaller tour than the one I just finished in Virginia. Only 170 riders on MUP vs 1800 on Bike Virginia. The Upper Peninsula (UP) contains 29% of the land area of Michigan but just 3% of its total population. Residents are frequently called Yoopers (derived from “U.P.-ers”) while people South of the Mackinac Bridge are sometimes referred to as Trolls. This will be the first time I’ve ever crossed the Mackinac Bridge or “Mighty Mac” which connects Michigan’s Upper and Lower Peninsulas. It’s 5 miles long and the longest suspension bridge in the Western Hemisphere.
We will be riding for 7 days, camping and packing up to move each day with the exception on one lay-over day when we stay at Sault Ste Marie. Group breakfasts and dinners will be provided each day while it will be our responsibility to find lunch along the way with the exception of 2 days when I’m told the area is so remote that there are no lunch options so the tour will set up a lunch stop for us on those days.
Finnish dialect is celebrated on a bumper sticker parodying the state’s “Say Yes to Michigan” slogan: “Say YA to da UP, eh!”
Tail Winds and Down Hills 