That’s a wrap! At about 12:00 in the afternoon I made it to the end of the route. My tires touched Lake Superior to make it official.
I had chosen to make the final day the shortest in length knowing full well the drive that my wife was making to pick me up and bring me home. The riding on the final day went relatively smoothly, a bit of sand again slowed me down at times but by mile 20 I was high enough up to catch a view by looking down one of the straight roads to see the great lake glimmering at me. It seemed so close, but I still had 14 miles to go.
The finish line was Point Detour Campground. It represents about the northern most point of Wisconsin, without going out to an island. For some reason, maybe it was looking at satellite images, but I had visions of walking my bike down to the lake for photos but upon arriving there I realized it is a decent drop to the lake. Fortunately, there was a rope tied up to help with the descent, so I risked my bike and broken bones to get my bike all the way down to the water
I had drained almost all my three of my drone batteries and with no place to charge them over the past few days I knew it was going to be a bit of a risk to fly it for a final shot of myself standing on the lake. One battery was showing me two bars, so I popped it in and flew it out. Right away the drone announced to me (on my phone) that it was running out of battery and would be returning to its home point. I hadn't even gotten the photo yet, so I canceled the return to home process in hopes of getting the shot before flying it back myself. I quickly take a couple of photos and it is at this point that it begins announcing it is going to start landing. I'm panicking as the drone is still a good thirty feet out in front of me over the lake and doesn't seem to want to respond to where I'm telling it to fly. I'm seriously contemplating jumping off the rocks down into the lake to try and swim out to catch it before it goes down. Fortunately, I give it one more try and it starts to move towards me, towards land, and just as it cleared the rock ledge I set it down. A sigh of relief.
After I climb back up the embankment, no easy task either I set to taking the bags off my bike. I'm a bit melancholy but at the same time relieved to know that this journey is done. 14 straight days of bikecamping might be nothing to some but for me it represents a big time away from family and friends. It is an accomplishment I'm proud to have done and one I hope will inspire others to tackle as well.
I'll conclude by giving a big shout out and thanks to Frank Hassler and all the volunteers who have helped scout and continue to improve this route. Also, to my wife and kids for making life continue while I was gone for 14 days. Another big thank you to my wife for driving me both to and from the start and finish and to everyone who commented and supported me along the way.
Feel free to check out my bike and gear I used on the trip. To see the full route I chose click here and lastly if you have any questions hit me up via the contact link as I'd love to try and answer them.
