The Pig is on the roll

[elizilla]

How 'bout that Zilwaukee Bridge? Pretty wild eh? It came in years late and way over budget - it was a big scandal in the 80s. But it's nice now. No more hours-long traffic jams waiting for the drawbridge.

Other than that, AFAIK, the roads in that area are still mostly bad. There's a dire shortage of paved back roads in that part of the state, which makes it hard to cross that area on a bicycle.

I-69 is no longer "temporary" between Charlotte and Lansing. The limited access goes all the way across the state these days.

 

[bicyclist]

Yup, that bridge goes way up there!

Two quick notes. When I hit the Illinois Welcome Center for a map, they asked, "Regular or large print?" Yes! <fist pump> About time. Also, gas was in the $3.50s. As soon as I crossed into Indiana, it jumped to $4.15! and was over 4 bucks in Michigan. Dropped back to $3.75 in Ohio.

So, I got home Monday. 6500 miles, 49.5 mpg, avg $21.35/day food, avg $53.61 lodging. With gas and "other", total avg $108.06/ day. Coulda done it cheaper and less comfortably. The bike was fine. The only oil used was what got wiped off the dipstick. Saw rain, wind, hail, tornado, smoke, dust and fire, but no snow.

 

[Chuck 500]

Have enjoyed reading your reports. Good trip. You will have to update your mileage tracker (if not done already).

 

[elizilla]

They put in an incredibly high, wide, long bridge that the boats can go under. That bridge has probably got more vertical than any ski resort in Michigan. There are jersey barrier walls on either side, so if you have a low-slung car, there are sections where you can't see anything except bridge and sky. In clear weather you can see the bridge from miles away.

I seem to recall hearing that they're not actually shipping things up there by boat anymore, so the tall boats no longer need to go through. I'm not a local so I don't really have a sense for the boat traffic, but on my trips through there I have never seen anything tall enough to justify the bridge.

 

[bicyclist]

Don't really remember, but I think the bridge is six lanes. You can't see much from the bridge because of the height of the walls. I couldn't figure out why they needed such a high bridge.

edit: Take a look on Google Earth, that ought to give you a good picture on all those monitors.

edit again: It looks like 8 lanes.