The Road Goes Ever On

Tuesday, October 27, 2020

Significant Highway Interlude

The first highway name I can remember was US route 41, which my parents referred to as the Tamiami Trail (Tampa/Miami). We traveled it many times in the 50s and 60s, visiting my father's relatives in Fort Myers. Along the way were air-boat rides in the Everglades, Seminole Indian villages, and...alligators (!). As a child it never occurred to me that route 41 continued on past the Caloosahatchee River. And I haven't given the matter much further thought as an adult. Most of the cross-country travels Vicki and I have done have been on the east/west axis. Imagine our surprise--we are both Miami natives--driving to the end of the road in Copper Harbor, Upper Peninsula, Michigan, to explore the Fort Wilkins State Historical Park, and finding an historical marker designating the beginning of US route 41. It ends at Brickell Avenue, downtown Miami, almost 2000 miles away.

Oops, missed Tennessee; understandable

Among The Yoopies, 2

Continuing our visit to Michigan's Upper Peninsula...

The great up/down bridge at Houghton/Hancock

Headframes everywhere in this great mining area...
which fed America's industrial growth through
much of the 19th and 20th centuries

Great jams and pastries, run by eastern orthodox monks, the
Society of St. John, recommended by Jodie

Vicki had read that a great boondocking site was atop Brockway
Mountain, overlooking the Lake on one side and the interior
of Keweenaw County on the other; people drive up to watch the
sunset; then leave

Boondocking, as nearly always; we were joined by a couple
other campers later that evening

Anticipating the sunset

Thus; the weather forecast did not so much as hint at the gale
that came up about 2AM, violently rocking Le Sport the rest
of the night; we drove the 7 miles back down to the coast as
soon as the sun came up, vowing to avoid mountain-top
boondocking in the future

Keweenaw County snow guage (20 feet average)

Plenty to snowmobile on...

On the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore...picturesque
Miner's Castle

And on to Whitefish Point, its lighthouse and the Shipwreck
Museum (some 10,000 ships wrecked on the Great Lakes over
the years, many just off this point)

We skipped the interior of the Museum...too many
people...all masked...nevertheless...

Lake Superior, still gusty

The lighthouse

No flamingoes?

More gorgeous color on the Byway

Same day, different lighthouse (Point Iroquois)

Among The Yoopies, 1

We were four days in the UP (hence "yoopies"), including Mackinac, doing a very good job of Covidial touring, that is, mostly scenic driving, scenic or otherwise interesting stops, not going inside hardly anywhere but wishing we could. In all this we were aided by the usual guidebooks, websites, etc., but mostly by email advice from extended in-law Jodie, who is a UP native. Thanks again, Jodie! (We'd visit her and Joey and nephew-in-law Joseph a few days later in Indianapolis).

About to ascend the Porcupine "Mountains," along Lake
Superior

Our earliest plans had included seeing the leaves in New
England, again; Covid cancelled that; but we found the
autumn leaves in the UP to be nearly as beautiful; many
hours driving through seemingly golden tunnels

I'm not sure lakes can count as sublime, but if they can, the
Great Lakes surely fit that category

At Lake of the Clouds

An abandoned mine: first of much more evidence of the region's
important mining history

Water levels in Lake Superior as well the others have risen
dramatically in recent years, resulting in shoreline erosion, etc.

Mid-October bloom

Pausing to appreciate the color

Surf's up; a blustery day...

Now in the town of Calumet, center of the copper mining age;
gawking at the curling arena (Canada is not far away)

World class rail plow

Half the nation's copper of the 19th century came from Calumet
and the UP; superseded by Butte, MT, thereafter

Stores, restaurants, generally open; public
offices, visitor centers, not so much

We were there mainly to see the 19th century architecture;
very reminiscent of Butte

Interestingly, just as Montana Tech is located in Butte, Michigan
Tech is located in nearby Houghton; above, main street, Calumet

Outside an attractive gift shop

One of several beautiful old USDA buildings

Alexander Agassiz, Copper King; son of the great 19th century
scientist Louis Agassiz (now in some disrepute because of his
creationism, racism, etc.), also dabbled in science, but mostly
created the largest of the mining conglomerates; also discovered
the lode in Chile that eventually superseded both Calumet and
Butte

Sunday, October 25, 2020

Up North, Back East, Down South, Out West...

Describes our proposed itinerary for the next few months. We've visited all 50 of the States, but hardly all parts of all them, and one of our more significant omissions was the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. We skirted it in 1970, on our first cross-country trip, staying in Canada--which we thought very exotic--but wanted to see the storied UP on this trip. Thus "up north." Back east are friends and family, chiefly younger daughter Rachel and her husband Will, with whom we'll stay a couple weeks. Then, we'll head a bit south (and west), to spend a few weeks in Knoxville with Vicki's sister Marie and her husband Norm (and Stacey and the boys). Then, depending on such things as weather, health, pandemic, etc., we'll venture further south for more friends. And then, again, depending, we'll head back west, arriving in time to enjoy the Saturnalia and other solsticial events with older daughter Rebecca and family. Depending....

We left Missoula October 5th, and had set an October 15th date for arriving in DC. First: the seemingly endless wastes of eastern Montana and western North Dakota. We didn't even stop for diesel in ND, the Covid situation there being so dire. Eastern ND looks and feels like Minnesota, green, with lots of lakes, continuing into a bit of Wisconsin, and finally landing in the UP. We were in something of a hurry that first thousand miles, and we didn't much stop nor take pix. It is also a land of rage, discouraging to the visitor, Trump signs adorning every shack, hovel, and compound. Our route took us over the upper tier of Trumpistan (even Jordan, Montana). We were happy to land, after two days' hard driving, in the UP, where we began seeing more than a sprinkling of Biden/Harris yard signs. But memories of our travels in the fall of 2016 linger....