One week down and an hour gained
MILESTONES - Today makes a week on the road! I've passed the 2000 mile mark! And as I rolled into Wisconsin today, I gained an hour back on my life. Not bad for one weeks worth of driving.
As I couldn't get an internet connection Saturday evening, I'm posting ride notes from both Saturday and Sunday, in order:
I wrote this from a town so small it doesn't even have a stop light, just a yellow flashing one at the corner where the only two streets here intersect. It's called Bruce Crossing, but it should be called Early David Lynch (I'm talkin' pre-Twin Peaks here). I was in residence at Tulppo's Motel. For $32.10 a night I had a room with 2 double beds that were too short for me so my feet hung off them; a small, beat-up desk; and a bathroom. The only window in the room faced out on the hallway of the motel (I kid you not). It's what I would call fairly clean, but it sure wasn't no AAA place.
The hotel check-in was handled by the bartender of the Copper Drift Lounge, while two rather drunk women in their 50's smoked cigarettes and tried to make a little sense while talking to each other. I couldn't follow the conversation, but fortunately they weren't talking to me (I think the conversation had something to do with health insurance, of all things). The lights were out in the lounge, except for three small spots over the bar and a lamp near the cash register. A sign near the door of my room stated that check-out time was 11 am and asked that you put the key in the door when you leave. Another sign in the hallway stated that due to the high cost of natural gas the hot tub would no longer be available (which was probably for the best).
The sounds effects were most special. First, there was the faint yet constant trickling sound of water. I think it was slowly leaking into the walls from the bathroom on the floor above. The ceiling over one of the beds looked a bit pregnant (needless to say I slept in the other bed with one eye open). Second, every 10 minutes or so it sounded like a donkey was hee-hawing in a room down the hall. It happened 3 or 4 times, but it stopped after about an hour (I guess the donkey goes to bed at 11:30).
OK - enough on that. Let me get to Saturday. What an awesome day of riding. First - I have to say, I didn't get much sleep because I was up very late talking with my good friend MJ. I like to talk, and catching up with old friends who know you well is just about the best kind of talking one can do. We had a great long chat that ended up lasting until 4:01 am. I read a bit before going to sleep (reading Close Range - short stories by Annie Proulx ... very well done) and was up around 9:30 am or so. I had some breakfast and packed my gear, then had my picture taken by MJ (she is an excellent portrait photographer - I saw some of her recent photos from a project she's working on, just brilliant), which was fun even though I usually hate having my picture taken. After that I gave her son Alexander and then her daughter Allegra each a ride on the motorcycle. Allegra is so shy that after almost 2 days around her, I still do not know what her voice sounds like, as she spoke only in whispers to her parents and brother whenever I was around. Normally I wouldn't find this unusual, except that Allegra is 20 years old (I'm kidding ... she's like 10).
After securing the gear to the bike (which took some time as I used my tent as a backrest today, which helped my back tremendously), I said my goodbyes to MJ, Ed and the kids and rolled around 12:30 in the afternoon. The clouds that threatened, quickly turned into great puffy white cumulus ones and the sun shone bright for what proved to be one of the great riding days thus far. I rode through towns and saw some fantastic scenery. The first town was Paradise - that's it's name and it holds true. Next I saw Manistique and finally Marquette, both absolutely beautiful lakeside towns. Who knew that Michigan had all these great places and fabulous scenery? In between those towns I saw a bunch of other, smaller towns, some great water falls and much of Lake Superior and Lake Michigan, as well as many of the smaller lakes in the U.P. Oh and I had lunch at a place called Browns, fresh fish and chips caught that day ... best fish and chips I can remember.
I saw a few places that reminded me of friends. I went through a town called Gulliver, saw a Lake Ruth, and drove past a road named Ferris. I even went through a town called Michigamme and wondered if it's sister town is Mishigasse (but it didn't remind me of anyone in particular).
In the end I went a little too far, thinking I could make the state line by Saturday evening, I drove through the nice lakeside towns and ended up driving about 380 miles or so and found myself in this bad B-movie motel. For fun, I popped my wireless card in the laptop and there was an unsecure connection, but the signal wasn't strong enough for me to get to the net (I should have brought a cantenna), so I'm posting this Sunday evening instead.
Now for Sunday. Ominous dark clouds greeted me this morning as I awoke, and I thought it best to load the gear onto the bike and get out of this town quick, before someone started singing a Roy Orbison song. By 10 am I was on the road and talking to the sun as it battled with the clouds for dominance. As I approached the Michigan / Wisconsin state line a few drops fell. I pulled into a gas station, filled the tank and decided to forgo the rainsuit just yet.
It was touch and go for a while, but the sun finally came out about an hour after I crossed into Wisconsin. And speaking of Wisconsin, I spent all of 2 hours driving through there, but this has to be said:
From STRIPES (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083131/):
John Winger: C'mon, it's Czechoslovakia. We zip in, we pick 'em up, we zip right out again. We're not going to Moscow. It's Czechoslovakia. It's like we're going into *Wisconsin*.
Russell Ziskey: Well I got the shit kicked out of me in Wisconsin once. Forget it!
Fortunately, I didn't get the shit kicked out of me in Wisconsin - in fact I barely put my foot down (except for a couple of red lights in Superior). So it could be said that I zipped in and out again. Then I was in Minnesota for about 260 miles. The sun had banished the clouds entirely and the temperature reached near 100 degrees as the day progressed. I spent much of the day on US-2, enjoying the tree lined road and passing farms (I saw brown cows and thought of chocolate milk). As I neared the Minnesota / North Dakota state line, the trees gave way to more open fields.
I almost made the same mistake at the end of the day Sunday that I had made Saturday. I drove through Grand Forks, ND and thought, "there's at least another hour of day light, I can make the next town and get a room there." The next town was 14 miles further west, it had a Dairy Queen and a gas station with a mini-mart, and that was it. Instead of spending the next hour-and-half looking for somewhere to rest my head tonight (and possibly ending up in a Terry Gilliam movie this time) I turned around and came back to Grand Forks. I quickly plopped myself down at the Americas Best Value Inn (with free high-speed internet which they run to the rooms through the power lines. I'd heard of that, but had never really seen it in action until now). I've even done a load of laundry here, so it's just like home.
I used my rolled-up sleeping bag as a backrest today and that worked very well, though it pushed me a bit too far forward in the seat. I had used the tent roll on Saturday, but that was a little too small. So I'm Goldielocks-ing it and I'll try something Monday that should be just right. The bike ran a bit smoother today, I put 91 Octane, non-oxygenated fuel in her, seems to have helped somewhat.
I passed by Fond du Lac, MN today and had to laugh (it's only funny if you were there 6 or 7 years ago when it came up originally). I also passed a town called McIntosh and thought of my friends in Indy.
I think that's all I have for now. Monday I'll be rolling out to Bismarck, ND on my way to Badlands National Park in South Dakota. I hope to make the park by Tuesday, if the weather holds.
I'll post again when I can.
As I couldn't get an internet connection Saturday evening, I'm posting ride notes from both Saturday and Sunday, in order:
I wrote this from a town so small it doesn't even have a stop light, just a yellow flashing one at the corner where the only two streets here intersect. It's called Bruce Crossing, but it should be called Early David Lynch (I'm talkin' pre-Twin Peaks here). I was in residence at Tulppo's Motel. For $32.10 a night I had a room with 2 double beds that were too short for me so my feet hung off them; a small, beat-up desk; and a bathroom. The only window in the room faced out on the hallway of the motel (I kid you not). It's what I would call fairly clean, but it sure wasn't no AAA place.
The hotel check-in was handled by the bartender of the Copper Drift Lounge, while two rather drunk women in their 50's smoked cigarettes and tried to make a little sense while talking to each other. I couldn't follow the conversation, but fortunately they weren't talking to me (I think the conversation had something to do with health insurance, of all things). The lights were out in the lounge, except for three small spots over the bar and a lamp near the cash register. A sign near the door of my room stated that check-out time was 11 am and asked that you put the key in the door when you leave. Another sign in the hallway stated that due to the high cost of natural gas the hot tub would no longer be available (which was probably for the best).
The sounds effects were most special. First, there was the faint yet constant trickling sound of water. I think it was slowly leaking into the walls from the bathroom on the floor above. The ceiling over one of the beds looked a bit pregnant (needless to say I slept in the other bed with one eye open). Second, every 10 minutes or so it sounded like a donkey was hee-hawing in a room down the hall. It happened 3 or 4 times, but it stopped after about an hour (I guess the donkey goes to bed at 11:30).
OK - enough on that. Let me get to Saturday. What an awesome day of riding. First - I have to say, I didn't get much sleep because I was up very late talking with my good friend MJ. I like to talk, and catching up with old friends who know you well is just about the best kind of talking one can do. We had a great long chat that ended up lasting until 4:01 am. I read a bit before going to sleep (reading Close Range - short stories by Annie Proulx ... very well done) and was up around 9:30 am or so. I had some breakfast and packed my gear, then had my picture taken by MJ (she is an excellent portrait photographer - I saw some of her recent photos from a project she's working on, just brilliant), which was fun even though I usually hate having my picture taken. After that I gave her son Alexander and then her daughter Allegra each a ride on the motorcycle. Allegra is so shy that after almost 2 days around her, I still do not know what her voice sounds like, as she spoke only in whispers to her parents and brother whenever I was around. Normally I wouldn't find this unusual, except that Allegra is 20 years old (I'm kidding ... she's like 10).
After securing the gear to the bike (which took some time as I used my tent as a backrest today, which helped my back tremendously), I said my goodbyes to MJ, Ed and the kids and rolled around 12:30 in the afternoon. The clouds that threatened, quickly turned into great puffy white cumulus ones and the sun shone bright for what proved to be one of the great riding days thus far. I rode through towns and saw some fantastic scenery. The first town was Paradise - that's it's name and it holds true. Next I saw Manistique and finally Marquette, both absolutely beautiful lakeside towns. Who knew that Michigan had all these great places and fabulous scenery? In between those towns I saw a bunch of other, smaller towns, some great water falls and much of Lake Superior and Lake Michigan, as well as many of the smaller lakes in the U.P. Oh and I had lunch at a place called Browns, fresh fish and chips caught that day ... best fish and chips I can remember.
I saw a few places that reminded me of friends. I went through a town called Gulliver, saw a Lake Ruth, and drove past a road named Ferris. I even went through a town called Michigamme and wondered if it's sister town is Mishigasse (but it didn't remind me of anyone in particular).
In the end I went a little too far, thinking I could make the state line by Saturday evening, I drove through the nice lakeside towns and ended up driving about 380 miles or so and found myself in this bad B-movie motel. For fun, I popped my wireless card in the laptop and there was an unsecure connection, but the signal wasn't strong enough for me to get to the net (I should have brought a cantenna), so I'm posting this Sunday evening instead.
Now for Sunday. Ominous dark clouds greeted me this morning as I awoke, and I thought it best to load the gear onto the bike and get out of this town quick, before someone started singing a Roy Orbison song. By 10 am I was on the road and talking to the sun as it battled with the clouds for dominance. As I approached the Michigan / Wisconsin state line a few drops fell. I pulled into a gas station, filled the tank and decided to forgo the rainsuit just yet.
It was touch and go for a while, but the sun finally came out about an hour after I crossed into Wisconsin. And speaking of Wisconsin, I spent all of 2 hours driving through there, but this has to be said:
From STRIPES (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083131/):
John Winger: C'mon, it's Czechoslovakia. We zip in, we pick 'em up, we zip right out again. We're not going to Moscow. It's Czechoslovakia. It's like we're going into *Wisconsin*.
Russell Ziskey: Well I got the shit kicked out of me in Wisconsin once. Forget it!
Fortunately, I didn't get the shit kicked out of me in Wisconsin - in fact I barely put my foot down (except for a couple of red lights in Superior). So it could be said that I zipped in and out again. Then I was in Minnesota for about 260 miles. The sun had banished the clouds entirely and the temperature reached near 100 degrees as the day progressed. I spent much of the day on US-2, enjoying the tree lined road and passing farms (I saw brown cows and thought of chocolate milk). As I neared the Minnesota / North Dakota state line, the trees gave way to more open fields.
I almost made the same mistake at the end of the day Sunday that I had made Saturday. I drove through Grand Forks, ND and thought, "there's at least another hour of day light, I can make the next town and get a room there." The next town was 14 miles further west, it had a Dairy Queen and a gas station with a mini-mart, and that was it. Instead of spending the next hour-and-half looking for somewhere to rest my head tonight (and possibly ending up in a Terry Gilliam movie this time) I turned around and came back to Grand Forks. I quickly plopped myself down at the Americas Best Value Inn (with free high-speed internet which they run to the rooms through the power lines. I'd heard of that, but had never really seen it in action until now). I've even done a load of laundry here, so it's just like home.
I used my rolled-up sleeping bag as a backrest today and that worked very well, though it pushed me a bit too far forward in the seat. I had used the tent roll on Saturday, but that was a little too small. So I'm Goldielocks-ing it and I'll try something Monday that should be just right. The bike ran a bit smoother today, I put 91 Octane, non-oxygenated fuel in her, seems to have helped somewhat.
I passed by Fond du Lac, MN today and had to laugh (it's only funny if you were there 6 or 7 years ago when it came up originally). I also passed a town called McIntosh and thought of my friends in Indy.
I think that's all I have for now. Monday I'll be rolling out to Bismarck, ND on my way to Badlands National Park in South Dakota. I hope to make the park by Tuesday, if the weather holds.
I'll post again when I can.
posted by DJ at 11:32 PM
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