MUP Day 3 - Sault Ste. Marie

Breakfast was an hour later since we weren't traveling, and was in the dorm cafeteria at Lake Superior State University where we were sleeping in our tents on the grass. Unlike previous camps, our bicycle tour riders weren't the only ones there for breakfast, although I think we were the majority.

Our agenda for the day:

1. Have Dave check out the cranks on Grandma and Grandpa's Burley. After the first day of riding in the rain, the cranks had gotten a bit creaky - not an uncommon issue with bicycles, and usually the result of a crank arm that's not quite seating evenly on the bottom bracket spindle. It can be concerning and is certainly annoying.
2. Laundry.
3. Tourist activities. In particular, we hoped to take the boat tour through the locks.

While Grandpa and I waited in line for the very popular bike repair guy, again it was Dave from Pro Sports, the rest of group headed down the hill into town to find the laundromat. Dave checked out the cranks, but didn't want to pull all four of them right there, so we ran the bicycle down to his shop a little later. With laundry finished up and delivered back to the tents by bicycle, and the Burley in the hands of capable bicycle repair guy, we headed off for a boat tour.

The boat tour was pretty cool. It lasted a couple of hours. We floated past the downstream side of this ancient power plant. It's located at the outlet of the channel that was cut between Lake Superior and the St. Mary's river. The water drops 19 feet through these turbines.



We got to up through one of the smaller locks. We were raised 21 feet from the St. Mary's River into Lake Superior.



After a short industrial tour, we were lowered back through another lock to the level of the river. Abbey took this photo of one of the big freighters squeezing into the lock. The freighter was only two feet narrower than the lock.



After the boat tour, we got sort of snagged by a woman who was giving tours of a historical house. Apprehensive at first, I found it to be the highlight of the day. We got to go into the restored home of John Johnston - the first British-American fur trader to settle in Sault Ste. Marie. It was just the six of us, and we got a private and very interesting lesson about the local history. I think the kids really enjoyed it, too.

We picked up the bicycle, then made a quick dash back to the college where to make it to the pool in time for some swimming. Swimming is always fun. And then back down the hill into town for dinner at a Greek restaurant, by which time we were all getting quite hungry, noticeably tired, and maybe a little grouchy. It was late and ice cream would have to wait for another day. The next, as it would happen.