Bridgewalk
Today Amy frostmuffin walked across the Mackinac Bridge. Accompanying her on the five-mile walk were her mother Pat, her brother Doug, her brother Hans, and her nephew Jeremy. Amy's father Gordon and I accompanied them to Mackinac City, but did not walk the bridge. Starting the walk took much longer than expected because many more people showed up for the bridgewalk than the 15,000 expected.
4:00 am - Woke up, got ready, and fed the dogs.
4:30 am - Crowded into Gordon's minivan and drove through Traverse City, Charlevoix, Petoskey, and Pellston to reach Mackinac City. We stopped at a Wal-Greens in Petoskey to buy batteries for Doug's camera and beef jerky for Amy.
8:00 am - Arrived at the Interstate 75 exit for Mackinac City. The traffic was backed up onto I-75 itself.
8:30 am - Parked. Our plan was that the five walkers would take the school-bus shuttles across the bridge to St. Ignace and walk back to Mackinac City (walking was north to south only). It took 15 minutes to find the end of the mile-long line of people waiting for the shuttle busses. We also determined that our cell phones could not connect to the local service. We suspect it was overloaded.
9:30 am - Gave up waiting in line and decided that we would drive to St. Ignace ourselves, drop the walkers off, and return to Mackinac City. After the walk, we would find each at a gazebo we had selected as a rendezvous point. The bridgewalk takes about 2 hours, so the people who had started at 7am were back in town and on the roads. Traffic out of town was standstill. We took the long way out of town on farm roads.
10:30 am - Reached northbound I-75 again. The walk originally had two lanes of the four-lane bridge, but by now they had opened up three lanes to traffic. And the single northbound lane was right next to the walkers, so everyone drove slowly.
11:30 am - We reached the tollbooth and rest area at St. Ignace and dropped off the walkers. Gordon had skipped breakfast, so we ate at a McDonalds in St. Ignace.
12:30 pm - Parked in Mackinac City again. Amy's cell phone had service again, but we could not connect to the others. I suppose the middle of a suspension bridge is not a good reception area. I bought fudge for the others.
1:00 pm - At the gazebo, we got through to Hans's phone.
1:30 pm - Rendezvoused with the bridgewalkers one block north of the gazebo by reciting landmarks over the phone. I lent Amy my cane. We did a little souvenir shopping. Traffic out of town was still standstill.
2:30 pm - Finally left Mackinac City, by Old U.S. 31 rather than I-75. For future bridgewalks, we should take Old 31 into town. Amy rested her legs on me in the minivan and I rubbed her feet.
3:30 pm - Lunch at the Mancino's Pizza and Grinders at Petoskey.
6:45 pm - Back home in Arcadia.
4:00 am - Woke up, got ready, and fed the dogs.
4:30 am - Crowded into Gordon's minivan and drove through Traverse City, Charlevoix, Petoskey, and Pellston to reach Mackinac City. We stopped at a Wal-Greens in Petoskey to buy batteries for Doug's camera and beef jerky for Amy.
8:00 am - Arrived at the Interstate 75 exit for Mackinac City. The traffic was backed up onto I-75 itself.
8:30 am - Parked. Our plan was that the five walkers would take the school-bus shuttles across the bridge to St. Ignace and walk back to Mackinac City (walking was north to south only). It took 15 minutes to find the end of the mile-long line of people waiting for the shuttle busses. We also determined that our cell phones could not connect to the local service. We suspect it was overloaded.
9:30 am - Gave up waiting in line and decided that we would drive to St. Ignace ourselves, drop the walkers off, and return to Mackinac City. After the walk, we would find each at a gazebo we had selected as a rendezvous point. The bridgewalk takes about 2 hours, so the people who had started at 7am were back in town and on the roads. Traffic out of town was standstill. We took the long way out of town on farm roads.
10:30 am - Reached northbound I-75 again. The walk originally had two lanes of the four-lane bridge, but by now they had opened up three lanes to traffic. And the single northbound lane was right next to the walkers, so everyone drove slowly.
11:30 am - We reached the tollbooth and rest area at St. Ignace and dropped off the walkers. Gordon had skipped breakfast, so we ate at a McDonalds in St. Ignace.
12:30 pm - Parked in Mackinac City again. Amy's cell phone had service again, but we could not connect to the others. I suppose the middle of a suspension bridge is not a good reception area. I bought fudge for the others.
1:00 pm - At the gazebo, we got through to Hans's phone.
1:30 pm - Rendezvoused with the bridgewalkers one block north of the gazebo by reciting landmarks over the phone. I lent Amy my cane. We did a little souvenir shopping. Traffic out of town was still standstill.
2:30 pm - Finally left Mackinac City, by Old U.S. 31 rather than I-75. For future bridgewalks, we should take Old 31 into town. Amy rested her legs on me in the minivan and I rubbed her feet.
3:30 pm - Lunch at the Mancino's Pizza and Grinders at Petoskey.
6:45 pm - Back home in Arcadia.