Day 18: Monday, June 28th
This morning we would leave our quiet and cloistered camping spot and head back to the big city: Manistique.
To avoid having any wet gear to pack, we stuffed just about everything but the tent into the Sube the night before. The nightly storms we had been having seemed to make this a wise decision. Before packing the stove up, I made a thermos full of coffee for the next morning. It was still plenty hot after sitting overnight.
Click on the photos below for a larger image.
Although we heard the rumble of night time thunder, the rain did not materialize. But, upon rising at a very late 6:30 I saw ominous looking clouds and it was getting darker instead of lighter. Concerned about packing a wet tent, I rousted Sleeping Beauty and we packed the bedding, stowed the tent in the car top carrier, had our coffee and were ready to hit the road by 7:30.
I had told out neighbor Keith I wanted to get a picture of him and his dogs before we left so we headed down to his camp site to take care of that and say our farewells.
It was a bit if a job getting an old crippled dog and young pup to sit for a photo, but Keith managed it, although the pup would not sit still and the result was a blurry photo in the very low light.
Keith and Tobias.
I cannot remember the pups name, but he was a handful.
(Thanks to Raleigh Bill for the touch-up job.)
After we exchanged contact info and Keith gave Betsy a bit of advise about retirement we left Robbins Pond, both hoping to return someday.
The first stop was Watersmeet, about 25 miles down US 45 for coffee and gas.
Betsy and I were a bit puzzled by the name of this Indian Casino. It turns out "Lac Vieux Desert" is a band of the Lake Superior Chippewa and they are the ones who operate the casino.
There is a lake here named Lac Vieux Desert (AKA Kattakittekon)as well. It is the headwaters of the Wisconsin River.
Upon the south island there was an old deserted planting ground of the Indians, hence its name with the French, Lac Vieux Desert. "Lake of the Desert," as this is sometimes translated, is an improper name, the country about it being not a desert, but one of great fertility.
Source: From: Increase Lapham's 1844 Geographical and Topographical Description of Wisconsin
The question I have, and have so far not found an answer to, is this: Which was named first, the Indians, or the Lake?
Gassed up and armed with fresh coffee we picked up US RT 2 and headed east the 30 miles or so to the town of Iron River.
The first stop in Iron River was a Micky D's for - yep, you guessed it - more coffee. Apparently Betsy could not get enough!
I went in with her to use the facilities and saw no one under 60 in the whole place. This was obviously the chosen location of the Old Men's Coffee and Gossip Club.
While I waited for Betsy I dug into the rather large portion of leftover spaghetti from the previous night's dinner. It tasted pretty good and I ate most of it.
On our way out of town I saw this rather unusual church and stopped to take a few snaps.
Who are these Seventh Day Adventists, anyway?
The Seventh-day Adventist Church (commonly abbreviated SDA, officially abbreviated Adventist is a Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the original seventh day of the Judeo-Christian week, as the Sabbath, and by its emphasis on the imminent second coming of Jesus Christ. It is the twelfth-largest religious body in the world. The denomination grew out of the Millerite movement in the United States during the middle part of the 19th century and was formally established in 1863. Among its founders was Ellen G. White, whose extensive writings are still held in high regard by the church today.
Much of the theology of the Seventh-day Adventist Church corresponds to Protestant Christian teachings such as the Trinity and the infallibility of Scripture. Distinctive teachings include the unconscious state of the dead and the doctrine of an investigative judgment. The church is also known for its emphasis on diet and health, its holistic understanding of the person, its promotion of religious liberty, and its conservative principles and lifestyle.
Source: WikiPedia
Decorative? Structural? Of religious significance? I was baffled by these cut and polished blocks set in the comparatively rough stonework.
Somebody went to a lot of time and effort in choosing these stones.
A geologist would sure have some fun here!
About 15 miles east of Iron River we picked up SR 68. US 2 is pretty busy with a lot of truck traffic. Once we left it behind we pretty much had the road to ourselves.
We continued on through the small towns of Sagola, Felch, Foster City and others. The roadway was practically deserted. Somewhere, I think it was around La Branch we decided to pull off the road for a quick pee.
What I thought was a side road turned out to be a heavily gated private road next to an ATV/ Snow trail which paralleled SR 69
After doing our business we started snacking. About that time I saw we were about to have company.
I never caught this guy's name. He told us he was from the La Crosse area and was up this way to work on a cabin he owned. Turns out he had been cutting the grass and run out of beer. "Can't work without beer" he said with a grin. So, we had met up with him on a beer run. That's what's in the white bag on the from of his 4 wheeler.
Good thing the ORV trail was there because he had obviously had a few while doing the chores. We chatted a bit and found he had quite left leaning points of view about the environment and oil use. Just goes to show ya: "You can't judge a book by it's cover."
We continue on down the scenic and quiet SR 69. It was trending south now and soon we were back on US 2 again, just to the west of Escanaba.
Escanaba seemed like a sprawling metropolis after the miles and miles of unpeopled forest land we had been through. Yes, we were heading back into civilization and soon would be in the interesting little town of Rapid River. Little did we know what we would find there.
Welcome to the workshop of Ritch Branstrom.
Betsy is standing in front of a sign which states: "Mosquitoes for Sale".
It was quite interesting (and challenging) to try to figure out what was used to make these fantastic sculptures.
I guessed these "wings" to be shelving from a freezer unit. The rest I could not tell.
My new girl friend. Good thing there was no room on top of the car.
I love cleavage!
I was bummed the shop was not open. Hard to tell what we might have seen inside@
Wild, man. WILD!
This great Blue Heron was made primarily from bicycle parts.
Looks like something out of a nasty horror movie.
Last, but certainly not least, the famous Mosquito.
Right next door to the adhocWORKshop. We shoulda checked it out. Next time...
We were now under 50 miles from Manistique. We had been on the road 5 hours and we were ready to get out of the car. We drove by areas previously visited: Garden Corners, Cooks and more.
We stopped first at the Star Motel when we got to Manistique. We had stayed there previously and liked it because of the room and it had a view and good WiFi.
I went through the laborious process of checking in with the kind, sweet, and incredibly slow old woman, paid with my CC card, then asked for the WiFi code to access it.
"Oh!" she exclaimed. "Our internet is down and we don't know when it will be fixed."
Great. Through this whole process I thought my bladder was going to burst, now I have to go though the refund process and we have to look for another hotel.
I quickly jumped into the car telling Betsy what had happened and we drove the few hundred feet to the next hotel and she got us a room.
Soon we were moving into Room #1 at the Colonial Motel. Whew!!! Relief at last... It was $52/dbl with WiFi same at the Star. The hotel was clean and tidy and the rooms plenty big for us and had a fridge and micro. One thing they had neither Betsy or I had seen for many years was a floor model console TV. And, it had a contemporary remote control.
Unfortunately our room was right next to the laundry so my plans of taking a nap and trying to get rid of my headache were dashed. I finally got up and decided to take a walk on the Greenway which wound along the shore of Lake Michigan. Earlier Betsy had gone downtown to do laundry and then was going to stop at Jacks for Groceries on the way back.
I crossed the street (US 2) and walked the several hundred feet down to the trail head.
Nearly 2 miles of gorgeous shoreline.
The Greenway was a mix of boardwalk, asphalt and concrete and very nicely done.
There were well designed and informative interpretive signs the length of the trail.
The views were sweeping and beautiful.
Here you can see the light house and public beach.It was pretty windy and brisk so not too many people were on the beach.
This water kiosk was in one of the parking areas. Since I had forgotten my water bottle I decided to have a sip.
I have to say, I had never seen a public water source like this one before. There was no fountain and water was running continuously with no shut off valve to be found anywhere. Weird. And wasteful. But, this was not the last one we would see like this.
I headed back to the hotel and at one point I could see Jack's groceries though a break in the trees. I saw the Sube there, easy to spot with the kayaks on top, and I knew Betsy was there. I crossed US 2 and entered the store and started looking for her. I spotted her in the check-out line and surprised her a bit by showing up unannounced.
When we got back and had the groceries stowed, I told Betsy about the Greenway and we decided to go for a short walk. It was breezy, sunny and delightfully cool. Felt great.
We then drove downtown to Marley's for supper. When we came here on our way though some cranky bitch was manning the counter. Thankfully, she was not there this time.
We had another unremarkable dinner and then back to the hotel for "a shower (ahhh!) postcards, computers, books and bed." - from Betsy's journal.