One Lap

Date: 10/15/2013

Day: 19

Location:  Kalamazoo, MI

Miles Today: 466

Total Miles:  4179

A Word about Tilley, Fall Colors, Farewell,  Lake Michigan, Seen on the Road, I-75 South

 

A Word About Tilley

The Colonel suspects that this comes under the general heading of too much information, and you are forgiven if you skip to the pretty pictures below at this point.  But ponder, if you wish, how to handle the underwear problem on a 60 day trip.  Since a trailer was considered and rejected, 60 sets of fillies were not in the cards; another approach to this requirement was necessary.

The Colonel has been teasing the Canadians somewhat.  (How blessed we are to have civilized neighbors on that long unfortified border to the north.)  One of the many good things to come out of Canada are Tilley Endurable hats and clothes.  They offer underwear for men and women that can be rinsed and wrung out in the evening and are dry by morning.  Really.  Occasional time scheduled with a washer / dryer and you are ready to go without offering offense.  Expensive, ($16.00 for a pair of fast drying sox,) but effective.  If you are planning a trip of any significant duration, check out www.tilley.com.

Fall Colors

The fall color photography project will have to remain a work uncompleted.  The following images are better, but still lack proper intensity to recall the real thing.

 

 

 

 

And So We Bid a Fond Farewell to the High Line.

The western segment of Highway 2 runs from I-5 at Everett, Washington to I-75 at St. Ignace in Michigan, hard by the lake Michigan.  It is 2115 miles in extent, every one of which we have driven.  Most are beautiful, all of them are interesting.  There is another stretch in  New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine, 460 miles, that we will save for another day.

The following images are from the last few miles of the High Line at the eastern end of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  The Colonel was expecting the wild north, with big trees like that other Peninsula, the Olympic.  Not so.  A tame landscape, with cozy vacation homes and motels.  It probably has a bit more edge under six feet of snow.

 

 

 

The end?

 

The eastern terminus of Highway 2 is a freeway on ramp, so there really is no place for an appropriately significant marker.  This great stretch of road deserves something more.

 

Lake Michigan

 

 

doesn't smell right. 

Driving a few hundred yards from the Pacific amid trees on Highway 101 a couple weeks ago, there was no question that it was the globe girdling ocean right there, a fearsome thing even when quiet.  Here, of course, it is fresh water that stretches to the horizon and far beyond, and it has no smell at all.  That doesn't seem right to a Californian.  A pacific looking body of fresh water today, but we all know that it can come for you and your 1000 foot plus ore boat too, if is has a mind to.

Things are buttoning up for winter around here; motels and tourist traps boarding up.  If it were always as lovely as it was today, the Colonel would consider this as a place to spend some time.  It isn't, he won't and we are lucky to be heading south.

 

Not a sea gull, of course.  A lake gull.

Eight inch breakers roll in, looking tough.

 

Please look very closely.

A solitary blue aluminum lawn chair atop a dune with an emperors view of Lake Michigan.

 

The Mackinac Bridge.

 

 

The Mackinac Bridge (pronounced Mackinaw) is the worlds third longest suspension bridge at 8,614 feet.  Around here it is called, inevitably, the "Big Mac."   Those of you in San Francisco will like knowing that the toll is $4.00

 

 Seen on the Road

Who knew?  Note the cool bird deflectors.



 

Bob's Big Boy restaurants are actually fairly common in Michigan.  Note also that the Big Boy is looking, not at the burger, but down and to his left, as if at half of  something unsavory over  by the meat grinder.

I-75

I-75 southbound in mid-Michigan.  Before the heavens opened.

Interstates are Interstates, some prettier than others, but none with any character.  They are a relatively safe way to get from one place to another.  In this instance, we needed to get from the Mackinaw bridge to K-Zoo by nightfall.  We made it intact, although the last four hours were in a hard steady rain.  The Colonels hands hurt a bit from gripping the wheel.


Tomorrow:  Lunch with friends in Kalamazoo, then on to Detroit and the wonderful Henry Ford Museum.  And a brief essay on when the world last changed.

Wellington Boot, Col