Day 26 - Marquette to Gould City - Nowhere

Well, when someone says “It’s in the middle of nowhere”, I now know where they are talking about. Leaving Marquette, along Hwy 28, the drive along Lake Superior was wonderful, the views spectacular, water further than the horizon.

The highway turns south east for a while through dense forests – and no towns. We turned off Hwy 28 – straight south toward Lake Michigan – connecting with our favorite US Hwy 2 – then east again. Before you get to Lake Michigan, in the “middle of nowhere” that is where our motel is. Hoping that Tom and Jerry had a sense of humor, I checked in. No, didn’t even bother to ask if they have Wifi – there was an old fashion antenna on the roof for TV, no cell service, no phones! It was $32.00 

Patty in the middle of nowhere

Notes from Jerry:  Tom and I had a rip roaring start after a terrific day of rest. We got up early to drive in toward Marquette and hit a bakery that we had scoped out that was open at 6am! Loaded down with chocolate croissant, cookies and espresso, we headed up the highway to Bob’s Big Boy which we also knew was the only breakfast place open this early. This was a real find – build your own breakfasts with either3, 4, 5 or 6 items. We both had eggs, bacon, oatmeal, French toast or in the case of Tom, pancakes!! Yee hah. We had already indulged in half of our chocolate croissants before we got there but decided to save the other half for the ride.

The ride went very well due to the great breakfast, despite an extra 5 miles ridden in error. I think we rode 102 miles total. Fantastic weather, spectacular beach views of Lake Superior from Marquette all the way to Munishing, after which the lake shore starts moving northeast and our road continues due east. This road never varied for as far as the eye could see, flat and straight. Pretty boring until we turned south to head down to Lake Michigan, then we got breezes in our face and hills – ugh. We played tag with a Canadian National train which passed us and then we passed it going 20 mph. Amazing what entertains you when you spend hours on the road. We saw 3 herons right next to us off the road and what we think was a fox loped by us at a rest stop.

Once again we had some excellent cooler snacks/ lunches courtesy of Saint Patty at some scenic rest stops on the Lake.
Notes from Tom:  You’ve heard of Christmas in July, right? We had that today as we rode along the shore of Lake Superior.

We had seen Lake Superior all or part of the day for the last 6 days, starting in Sunday in Duluth and ending today in Munishing, but not without one more Lake Superior light house.

As we left Munishing, we hit a 6% grade that lasted for about a mile or so—that was the steepest and longest hill we’ve hit in a while. After we climbed that hill was when we got onto the 25 miles of dead straight and dead level road that Jerry mentioned.

One thing I’ve noticed in the U.P. of Michigan is the number of boats, ATV’s, and snowmobiles that are around. They are on trailers, in peoples’ yards, and for sale in every podunk town we ride through. I wouldn’t be surprised if 75% of the Yoopers own a boat, and ATV, or snowmobile—probably all three.

We’ve noticed two other interesting things as we ride the highways. First is that almost every rural route mailbox has a protective wooden barrier on the side from which traffic approaches. These are to keep the snow plows for either knocking down the mail box, or knocking it off of its post with a blast of snow from the plow. The second thing is that there are snowmobile crossings on the highways. These are a white coating or extra layer on top of the asphalt. Their purpose is to keep the snowmobile steering skis and drive belts from having to ride on the rough asphalt of the highways.

Tomorrow we hope to get back to a little more of the amenities we’ve been accustomed to—cell service, cable TV, and internet access. We will survive until then.