Thanks first to those listers who sent emails in response to mine of
yesterday--several kind offers of "meals and lodging". Some folks also said
that they
enjoyed reading my notes from the road in 2002 and so I guess you're all
stuck!
We departed Grayling this morning and headed up 75 over the Mackinac Bridge.
BTW we learned from a local that regardless of spelling (Mackinaw, Mackinac,
or any other variation) the correct pronunciation is MAKINAW with emphasis on
the first syllable. Driving along the northern Lower Peninsula became
increasingly pleasant as we continued further north--a nice mixture of
hardwoods and
evergreens. A few sections of the road still had expansion joints and with the
stiffer front anti-roll bar they made their presence known, but apart from
numerous deer carcasses driving was great with not many other cars.
Sault Saint Marie (The SOO) was a great place to be a tourist for a few
hours--two ore carriers passed through the locks while we were there. Fudge
and
tee-shirt shops abound, plus a great museum aboard an old steamer tied up the
the shore. We considered driving across to Canada for lunch but the traffic
returning to the US on the International Bridge was backed up and I did not
want
to sit in traffic for what looked like 30-45 minutes. But since the St.
Mary's River is the boundary between tghe US and Canada and we were along the
shore
I will consider that we have been "On the border". This may only be
important to me if and when I get to El Paso, TX and touch the Mexican line,
and it's
probably of no signifigance to anyone else, but I digress.....
Since we're scheduled to be in Marquette, MI tomorrow night and meet up with
some other Healey folks, and in light of the forecast of heavy rains, we
decided to shorten tomorrow's drive by heading west across the Upper Peninsula
along the Superior shoreline along well-surfaced two-lane roads. Occasional
views
of Whitefish Bay beaches and lighthouse broke up sections through the woods
and we passed no more than 3-4 vehicles in probably an hour. We'd been told
that "Yoopers" were very friendly folks and that sure does seem to be the case.
Going in to a store or gas station invariably results in a conversation with
someone.
We are stopped for the night in Paradise, MI, a small "resort" town of about
500 folks along the shore of the lake. The promised cold front has already
passed with cooler temps but no rain ever did materialize. Just returned from
a
pretty good dinner at Buffalo Bill's Restaurant, the specialty of the being
buffalo. Unfortunately they were out of buffalo. Also they haven't been
catching Whitefish, the bay's name notwithstand. However the Cysco truck must
make
runs the town as they did have some cod and that was real good as was the
pie. It is also supposed to be the best (maybe the only) breakfast in town so
that's how we'll start tomorrow.
The car is running well with consistent gas mileage of 23-24 at 65-70 mph
which is the usual. The speedo cable is warning me that it's on the way out as
the needle is waving around, and there are a few funny noises that I just
haven't tuned out quite yet. One quart of oil burned since leaving home, which
is
not too bad.
Best--Michael Oritt
|