One of the reasons why riding is the spirit of the road and face life with a can do attitude, and another is for the joy of seeing the landscape is developed. If this is part of your psyche on horseback, will also feel at home in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, or “UP” as the locals call it. Stretching 310 miles from Sault Ste Marie, near the east end of Ironwood, near its western border, is a wild land separated from the Lower Peninsula by the Mackinac Bridge and Detroit (293 miles south) of important cultural differences. Born and raised in Western Lower Michigan Peninsula, and can remember in elementary school singing the official state song, “Michigan, My Michigan” (to the tune of “Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum”). In 1970 I used to go on vacation in the UP. Despite moving to California 30 years ago, I keep coming back to my hometown, but had not returned since 1975. That’s why I particularly excited about the opportunity to compete there for a fall a few days in October last year. On this last trip I found refreshing UP unchanged, rather than my early 1970 Honda CB450 now I was riding an Electra Glide Classic taken from Bald Eagle Harley-Davidson in Marquette. I was also accompanied by Brad Kolbus of Munising, where King Road, which publishes a guide for the pilot of the UP seems to know everyone, and know where to go and what to see. Shortly after he began to ride along Lake Superior in Marquette Bay, Brad stopped me immediately to a vision like something out of Star Wars film to ask: “What the hell is this?” Structure was a huge, huge, gray, and hundreds of meters long, a series of tall concrete arch near the water runs. Brad told me that was the ancient port of Lower Ore Dock, now no longer in use. wagon loads of iron ore were diverted to it, workers lowered the ore chutes and shook with a thud in the hold of large ore carriers that dock here in the past. Then walk to the west, where we see the signs of approaching autumn: pontoon boats in blocks, carefully stacked firewood on the porches and the leaves turn yellow. We arrived at Big Bay, this city was the scene of a murder in 1951 that inspired the book Anatomy of a Murder, and the 1959 film of the same name starring Jimmy Stewart and Lee Remick. We take lunch at Thunder Bay Inn, which was the scene of the classic movie scenes. The pub where dinner was built on the property for filming. Although Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario are known as “Great Lakes” are really great inland seas. In Munising me on a boat 60 foot observation for a cruise along the photo: Rocks National Lakeshore. The captain informs us that only contains enough fresh water Superior to cover the entire continental United States to a depth of 5 meters! And it’s cool and windy that day, and once clear Grand Island in Lake Superior just where the waves began to rock and roll. Most customers leave the cold zone, open and windy at the top to see the closed session of glass in the main deck, as I leave my lunch at sea. Along Pictured Rocks is a fun commentary on rocky cliffs have been eroded by millennia of wind, rain and frost, and painted in shades of brown, tan and green output limonite, copper, iron and manganese. We sailed past caves, arches and a rock called Indian Head. A larger in August, a cascade veil striped cliffs. The next day Brad and I turn on the M28 East Munising, along what is called “Seney Stretch, 25 miles directly through the full review of scrub and pine trees. Thirty years ago I left to Seney mark was here, where 28 state and 77 intersect, a young Ernest Hemingway had disembarked the train in 1919. Wounded in World War I, Hemingway had gone fishing trip north of the Fox River, then fall in love with the experience in one of his Nick Adams stories called The Big Two-Hearted River. But wait, two hearts is really far north of here, Hemingway went wrong? Nope. Like a true fisherman, had misnamed the river in an attempt to keep his favorite fishing place in secret. We headed east on a two-lane avenue, and to change the sign of Deer Park Muskallonge remember camping near the lake in the 70s. My night was enlivened when five raccoons came panting into the lake, begging on its hind legs. I gave them bread, and half an hour later he was toast marshmallows on the fire when something touched my shoulder. Surprised, I turned around to find a raccoon and when I became a toasted marshmallow escaped with the other two were hotter than a foot in the dark with the whole bag of them! Do not use a little bandit mask all! Lake Superior is cold, gray and whitecapped in this windy day, and when the rain starts shaking me in my power and tools to turn the thermostat to “fix”. The classic low and cowl to keep the worst of free time, and Gordon Lightfoot singing haunting “The sea Edmund Fitzgerald “playing with the stereo on our trip to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum in Whitefish Point. The song of the sea disaster that occurred November 10, 1975, when the ore carrier sank in a storm with 29 men, only 17 miles northwest of here. In the spring the museum I met Tom Farnquist, executive director of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society. The speculation is that the SS Edmund Fitzgerald was too close to the island of caribou about 40 miles northeast of here, where the Sea of 35 feet by 45 feet of water allows the carrier to bottom, which damaged the hull and forced to take on water. She eventually broke in two and sank in the year 535 feet of water near Whitefish Point. Farnquist dived on the wreck and personally helped to restore the ship’s bell, which now comprises the center of the museum. The dinner was at Restaurant in Sault Ste antlers. Marie, who was full this Friday night. Yes, it’s a Yooper all rights, his head stuffed with trophies and wildlife along the walls and between joists. Suddenly, a siren sounds, lights flash and ask the waitress what the hell is going on. “Oh, do it every time you open a new barrel,” he says. In the morning we crossed the street from our motel for a view of the famous Soo Locks. Unfortunately, at this moment there is no boat view. The international bridge shape in the distance with Canada, across the street. This is a highway about 55 miles south of the Mackinac Bridge, then turns west along Route 2 to Lake Michigan, with low spots on the left. In Blaney Park Brad introduces me to Steve Zell, who is launching an annual event called Blaney Park Rendezvous. He gives us a tour of his area of expansion that housed 3,000 runners last year : the 2010 rally will be held 18-20 jun. The thumb-shaped peninsula hanging garden on Lake Michigan and is home to Fayette Historic State Park. Fayette was founded in 1867 as the functioning of iron smelting with huge houses and a large basin, about 500 people lived and worked here. When the market fell iron coal, the operation was suspended in 1891 and was abandoned Fayette. Today, this was considered a ruin arrested, a gift from the past with its unpainted houses Foreman, the hotel is old and the stone ruins of the smelter at the picturesque port of Castle snail shell. Nahman Nahman We stop at the inn, bed & breakfast with 14 rooms and a cozy bar and restaurant. Brad introduces me to the owners of Charley and Laurie Macintosh (who seems to know everyone) who are planning a cycling event in the near future. Next door is the old general store, which was abandoned in the 50s with some of their merchandise is still intact. Its owner, a man named Pat, gives us a tour inside the time capsule. Brad takes us north of County H13 in Algiers, and this autumn Sunday afternoon enjoying of leaves changing and the Harley feels surprisingly agile road below the hills and gentle curves. Every few miles of a track or two tracks leading into the woods in yellow, where the dirt bike and ATV mud go away and have time to go into the woods. From there we visited West Africa, where Yoopers tourist trap near Ishpeming. As a former Michigander was so trivial as I had expected, with life-size diorama of a jeep driven by a hunter with a deer tied across the hood of playing cards deer, the place was full of stickers and Yooper souvenirs. On the front is “Gus”, which runs the world’s largest chain saw work (is in the Guinness Book of Records) and “Big Ernie”, the greatest weapon of work. The ghost town of Fayette is a symbol of much of the UP, which unfortunately suffers economically. homes along the streets are abandoned factories. Tourism is now the main economic engine of the area, and there is much to like about the UP. For me, the real charm of the place, with its pines and cedars, maples and birches, hidden lakes and bays, and rustic cabins, and everything comes together. This autumn Sunday roar along the roads north to Lodge, near Gwinn. The sunshine yellow and red speckles maple leaves, and there is a moist air recent death of a cold shower. We Tromp in so permeated by the smell of wood smoke from a stone fireplace. Many customers turn to nod and greet us. Pollock and burgers, ribs, whitefish and smelt to populate the menu , and goes on a football game to the big screen. This cozy, rustic warmth confirms that this is actually still Michigan… My Michigan.
- Bill Sterman
Tags: Mighigan's, Motorcycle, Penninsula, Touring, Upper