Thursday: Marquette, MI to Duluth, MN
The ride west started inland from the Marquette Range and through the
Huron and Porcupine Mountains with clearing but cold weather. Nice
country, mixed hardwoods and evergreens and sparce settlement with
only the occasional roadside facilty which usually incorporates a gas
station, general store and bar and/or grill. We missed finding "Joe's
Pasty Shop" in Ironwood which came highly recommended.
On crossing into Wisconsin the country began to soften a bit and
expansion joints seemed less in evidence. Just west of Ashland we
turned onto highway 13 and detoured up around the Superior shore,
passing through the picturesque town of Bayfield with great views of
the Apostle Islands. It's amazing how air temperature drops when you
approach the lake which has water temperatures that apparently never
break the 40's. On around to the west and toward Superior we passed
through a series of little coastal settlements, and references to the
locals' Finnish heritage were frequent, if unpronounceable.
We reached Duluth in the middle of the afternoon and spent a few hours
being tourists. Our arrival coincided with that of the largest ore
carrier on the Great Lakes which entered Duluth's harbor in a very
heavy sea through the canal just in front of town. The boat must have
been 80-90 foot in beam and the canal no more than 200 feet wide, plus
it had to negotiate a giant lift bridge, all in front of every
elementary school child in Duluth (school is out here). What a thrill
for both us and the kids.
After taking in a wonderful tour of an old ore carrier tied up in town
we made our way to the home of Bob and Margie Bell, who had hosted and
rescued Mary and me when my cylinder head cracked in Duluth just after
Conclave 2001 in Grand Rapids MN. After a great dinner I asked Bob if
I could borrow his floor jack to check under the car, hoping to find
everything well, which never seems to be the case.
About two weeks ago while under the car I noticed that the bolt which
goes through the right rear lower (tubular) shock, through a link for
the anti-roll bar and into the threaded shock mount had backed out.
After removing the mount and tapping another 1/2" of thread I
installed a new and longer bolt, set same in medium-strength Loctite
and assumed that this would certainly hold. But on inspection in
Bob's garage I saw that the bolt had once again backed out and the
shock was unattached on its lower end, though we had heard or felt
nothing untoward along the road. Bob, Jan and I spent about two hours
modifying the mount to give better alignment, as it appeared that the
bushing in the link to the anti-roll bar was siezing on the bolt and
backing it out of the threaded mount. After reinstalling everything
(again in Loctite) we turned in for the night, confident that a good
repair had been made.
Friday: Duluth, MN to Fargo, ND
We left Duluth this morning west on Highway 2 under a rain watch which
quickly turned to rain--cold rain. We passed through Grand Rapids
which was the birthplace of Judy Garland--yesterday was her birthday
but there did not seem to be many celebrities in town for the
occasion. Though we started out the day heading for Grand Forks, ND,
since I must in any case be in Bismarck tomorrow evening (Jan is
flying out Sunday morning) and in light of the weather, the decision
was made in Bemidgi, MN to turn for Fargo and so we slanted southwest
through Park Rapids and Detroit Lakes. Apparently weather changes
quickly around these parts and as we approached Moorhead, MN the rain
stopped, skies cleared and termperatures increased pleasantly. We
stopped to shed a layer of clothing and I casually looked under the
car to brag on our repair--I could see that the shock bolt had backed
out about 1/2 of its length!
We came upon a Carquest parts store that had a machine shop in the
back, so after begging a floor jack we removed the mount and had it
drilled out so that we could through-bolt it, purchased the necessary
bolt, washers and nylok, and on advice of the machinist fastened it up
with Green "forever" Loctite. (He told me that it will require a
torch or saw to remove it and this will suit me just fine.) BTW, the
locals would accept no money for the use of their machine ship and
facilities, saying that we were travellers in need of help--pretty
nice folks, these!
In view of the foregoing we ended our day in Fargo from where I write
this. I did not, BTW, see any giant statue of Paul Bunyon and Babe
the Blue Ox, as portrayed in the movie "Fargo" but there is always
tomorrow. I'm off to dinner--tomorrow is another day and we're hoping
to get into Bismarck with no problems and enjoy the Bicentennial year
celebration of the Lewis & Clark expedition which spent its first
winter in Mandan, just across the Missouri River from Bismarck.
Best--Michael
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