Mackinac Bridge - Labor Day

[GLF]

For those that dont know, the Mackinac Bridge is currently the 3rd largest suspension bridge in the world.

The first time I walked the bridge, was 26 years ago. I thought it was 25 years ago, but a phone call to my mother today, put the exact year on it. She still has my bridge walk certificate from 1981. I was the 6,300+(not sure of the exact number) something person to walk across the bridge that day.

Birthdays come around once a year. My birthday happened to fall on Labor Day this year. My wife said I could do whatever I wanted to do on my birthday. The first thing that came out of my mouth was that I wanted to walk the bridge on my birthday. How many people do you know that can say they walked the Mackinac Bridge on their birthday? After I made up my mind, I then discovered it was the 50th anninversary of the bridge. This made it even more exciting.

What I thought would be an early day, turned out to be a very long day. We got in line at 8:30am to catch a bus from Mackinaw City to St. Ignace to walk the bridge. Normally they close the bridge to walking at 11:00am. At 10:30am, I was wondering if I was going to get across the bridge to walk it before they shut it down. They extended the start time on for the bridge walkers. We finally got on a bus around 11:15am. By the time the bus made it through all of the traffic, and got us to the other side of the bridge it was 12:45pm. After a much needed stop in the port-a-potty, we were off on our treck across the bridge. We started at 12:50pm, and completed the walk at 2:10pm. My bridge walk certificate says I was the 39,631st person to cross the bridge that day. According to the news, there was an estimated 57,000 people that walked the bridge this day.

We finally left Mackinaw City at 4:00pm for the long drive home. We finally got home at 8:30pm Monday night.

[salmonquest]

I've walked the bridge several times it's always an experience I had heard it was really crazy this year. Should have brought your boat you could have ferried people across on a slow troll picked up some fish and made some cash

[GLF]

Looking off the East side of the bridge, I could see a reef and a nice scum line that trailed off it. The first thing that popped in my mind was "boy....I wish I was trolling that scum line".

[Priority1]

We walked the bridge also. We drove across @ about 5:30 AM and caught some ZZZZZZZs. We parked fairly close in the rest area parking lot. We started the walk @ 7:40 AM and finished about 9:10 AM. There were several swimmers that crossed the straights. They looked like bugs in the water below. Like Mike said the line was a couple hrs long to get back. We looked around a bit, got a pizza, then found a shady spot under a big maple. About 3:30 the line shrunk to about 1/2 hr., and we got in it. We must have been on the bus 45min. I saw one person fill up a pickup @ $20 piece and haul them across. The bridge walk is about 5 miles, but the to and fro had to add a few miles to that. My titanium hip joints held up better than some of my others. We headed N. to Brimley to play with the Indians for a couple of days. We came home a few bucks lighter but not bad. Our room and meals were comped. Maybe I'll try it again when the bridge turns 75 yo. I can remember seeing it being built as we crossed the straights in a car ferry.

Mike, Did you have the boys with you?

[GLF]

Mike, Did you have the boys with you?

Yes, they both took the easy way out. We brought a couple of strollers. By the time we started walking the bridge, I was ready to be pushed across the bridge.

What was your number on your bridge walk certificate?

[Priority1]

8421 is the number on my Cert. When we started people almost totally filled two lanes. It was tough to get around the slow walkers. Since I had my hips replaced I find it difficult to walk slow. It's kind of like riding a bike, and slowing to the point of falling over.