John Schneider's in town & cinema francais ala Mackinac

Arrived in St Ignace just in time for their annual Car Show. This is one time during the year when this lakeside burg experiences a 1000% swell in population. And who was among the throngs this year, you ask. Yours truly, natch, oh, and the Dukes of Hazzard guy: John Schneider. I don't know which of us caused the greatest buzz but I was asked to stay 5 nights & I don't think John got more than 1 (and that was probably back across the bridge in Mackinaw City.)

Having the Hollywood connection in town definitely added a cinematic flair to our trip to the Island. When I say "Island" all those within 500 feet of Michigan will know I am speaking of the big island of Mackinac not that other so called "big" island floating somewhere in the Pacific. PmaK decided that this was the time to rent a bike for the 8 mile trip around the island. I should have suspected that the reason I got a discount coupon for the first bike rental place I saw right next to the boat docks is that anyone in their right cycling mind would know enough to keep walking on to the more respectable purveyors of spoked wheels. But, oh no, I was sucked in by the $1 off. We hopped on & pedalled off fueled by an ages old desire to master the island. (My first & last attempt to bike Mackinac was a tandem trip with my cousin Julie 40 years ago. We never made the complete circumference because Julie kept falling off. This apparently had something to do with the fact that the person sitting in the rear position (me) was to engage only the feet to stroke (called pedalling by you non-athletic types) and the front position was solely responsible for the handling or steering.)

As PmaK & I took off in a counter clockwise path around the island I could only imagine that my husband would be telling me that my front wheel was mounted backwards. It felt like my ankles were positioned behind my ears. I heard yelps from PmaK that the right side of her body was going to sleep. Did I say that we rented from the discount booth? After watching PmaK careen off the road a few times, it dawned on me that we were probably on the wrong bikes; if I was on the taller bike my ankles might not feel so deformed & PmaK might be able to dismount without getting her armpits caught on the handle bars. We continued on the next half mile. Did I say that the single gear bikes were the cheapest? We continued on the next quarter mile. We stopped & took lots of pictures. We rode a couple yards. Did I say that it's hard to coast on a single gear bike & you have to pump your legs up & down, up & down alot? Did I also say that Mackinac is 8 miles around? We gave up & road back to the bike depot. We clocked in with exactly a one hour rental which translated to (less the discount) $8 worth of entertainment.

These video montages are best viewed with some french music & a chilled glass of chardonnay.