day 4 maple bay minnesota to mcleods corner michigan
The whole trip has been unseasonal. Sunny 70F weather, low 50's
at night, perfect
for sleeping outside. The day starts at dawn as always with a decision -
where to go today. A detour south or north is the only choice - I rarely make
more than a 90 degree detour. Decide that I want to get to Ottawa in
2 days - the point
of this whole trip is to visit ailing parents.
I'll dawdle on the way back. Now the only choice is do I want to see
Lake Superior on my left or right? The north shore is a spectacular drive -
Group of 7 country - but I did it on 97 and 98 trips.
Its been so long since I drove
south of Superior I can't remember when - could have been in early
70's in Econoline camper days or even with the my folks in the 50's circling the lake
tent camping, must have been grand, too dumb to remember
I'm tempted by Hibbing MN detour to see Dylan's home
town but instead detour thru the Lake Winnabygones area of Prairie Home
Companion. Coincidently get it on NPR radio as I pass thru
- ironically broadcasting on location from Seattle. National
Public Radio is almost as good as morning CBC in the Gzowski days
and has better regional programming in some states.
Its usually located on a university campus and
broadcast locally from a dozen different state
towns. Its a constant dial hunt to
find the strongest signal when you're on the move - 88.5, 90.2, 89.3 - always
in that range. On the return trip the
Adirondack boat-building feature from NY has my complete attention.
A few years ago a Sioux anthropologist had me transfixed with her account
of the controversies over the Little Big Horn battlefield Natl Monument -
tragedy or great victory? Radio is an intrinsic part of these long road trips.
At Duluth I take the south fork to Sault Ste. Marie. Duluth has an appealing
look and size as I pass thru.
I rarely stop in large towns and never large cities -
unless I have a good reason - like visiting Gruhn Guitars in Nashville. I've
got the quick entry and exit of Nashville down now - done it twice - all the
good stuff is in a 6 block area of the old downtown - the Ryman - home
of the original Grand Old Opry, Ernest
Tubbs record shop, Gruhn Guitars and its wall of vintage Martins,
and Tootsies and the Orchid
Lounge thankfully still seedy bars, where Loretta and others got up to
play for people on bar stools.
I make a note to look up the population of Duluth - my guess is 50 to 100
thousand - it'll be my upper limit for future quick town visits.
I detour 50 miles to Silver City MI because it looks like
route 64 hugs the coast.
It does - but 50 feet from the shore with a wall of scrubby trees
obscuring the view. East of Marquette MI
has some great drive-bys of the Lake and some choice lakeside
camping with big Superior surf - but there's
still a few hours of daylight left so I pick out a tiny red tent on the map
80 miles ahead. I don't find the one on the map
but stumble on
the best campsite of the outbound journey. Some sort of county
campsite again, 5 miles inland off the highway.
Spectacular sunset vista
inspires me to fire off a half-dozen postcards sitting at a picnic table
on the east side of a lake at the waters edge
smoking Camels and sipping Jack Daniels.
The sun takes its time going down.