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Published: October 23rd 2007
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Submitted by: Onaxthiel: It has been a series of “driving days” for us as of late, so naturally Obfuscator doesn't want to type anything. So you are stuck with me for now.
Leaving Washington Island in high winds and rain isn't quite a harrowing experience, but it isn't to far off either. The ferries have a rather shallow draft, a blunt bow and a fairly flat bottom, so banging through swells and sprays for 45 minutes is kinda cool. Every downward trip on a wave would result in a large torrent of water crashing down on the automobiles parked at the front of the deck. We were three decks up, and still getting some of that spray. Combined with the rain, this would have made for an awful day if it had been just a few weeks later in the season. As it was, the air temperature was in the low 70s that Friday, so I didn't feel to poorly. I think the captain of the vessel thought I looked more uncomfortable that I really was. He invited me into the pilot house to talk about the family and how the Island had changed since Obfuscator and I had moved
Island Invaders
They came all the way from Oregon, stalking us relentlessly. away 23(!) years ago. Did I mention that the Captain was an old family friend who has maintained some contact over the last two decades? The island is a very strange place in this way.
When people tell me about how in their small town everyone one knows everyone else, I always ask how big their small town is, and inevitably it is roughly 100-300 times the size of the island. Then I stare at them incredulously.
We docked at the mainland and began our long, wet, route along the edge of lake Michigan. As an aside, I used to work a lot around the Great Lakes, as a deckhand on ore freighters. I know the shores of Michigan's Upper Peninsula is gorgeous in this season of changing leaves. You wouldn't have known it on our drive, though. The visibility stayed low, the clouds stayed lower, and winds stayed high enough that occasional gusts forced me to fight the car back onto course. The best part was watching the waves pound the shoreline. I'm quite glad I was watching it from land this time, and not my porthole window on a 760 ft. ore freighter while choruses of
the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald ran though my head. (On a side note, Obfuscator argued with our host and I the other night on whether or not the Fitzgerald counts as one of the great ships of the lakes. Apparently he is of the opinion that being afloat is an important metric in determining a ships greatness.)
Once we had pushed through hours of nonstop lashing rain and driving winds, we had our most brilliant moment of the day. We drove across the Mackinaw bridge. There are stories of compact cars being blown off the bridge in high enough winds, though I don't know if they are true or not. Besides, I drive a mid-sized! I had nothing to worry about!
Once upon a time, the Mackinaw bridge was the longest (and highest? I can't remember properly.) suspension bridge in the world, connecting the communistic, unionized auto workers of southern Michigan with the anti-UN rednecks of the upper peninsula. This bridge has been instrumental in cultural exchange programs that bring peace and understanding between the two disparate groups, and helped them find common ground. By which I mean deer hunting. I would have liked to visit the
reconstructed colonial fort that can be seen from the bridge, but between the weather and our earnest desire to get out to the north east prior to the hard freeze, it was a stop that would have to wait for another day, which can really be said for all of Michigan.
After 11 hours of almost non-stop driving, we pulled into the small town of Clair. The first small motel we encountered off the highway fit our needs nicely. Cheap, clean, internet capable, and almost empty. Obfuscator uploaded and chatted on line while I rehabbed a set of boots I haven't given proper attention to since Ranger school. When we go out next time, I will be rockin' my Danners. Hooray! Since the weather was atrocious and Obfuscator wasn't down with taking any photos, he has suggested I draw my impressions of the state. I hope you like them. (Update: There's a free converter online, so now you can behold Onaxthiel's glorious art in all its glory!)
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