Looking For The North Woods-Part 2

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Sunday, June 24, 2007

The night was uneventful, temperature right, neighbors quiet, not much campfire smoke, and we slept until about nine or ten. Then the sun warmed the LER as usual and we had to get up and on with our journey. Back on Wisconsin 35 we headed northwest along the river to the small town of Alma. Eagle Eye Louie spotted a little café advertising its coffee and ice cream. Since that sounded like a good healthy breakfast we stopped and walked a little ways back. It was very small, but we did see that they served a quiche along with buns and a few other things. The coffee was made espresso style in a big old shiny brass espresso maker. We had good strong coffee and the quiche that came with a fat roll and some fruit, which, surprisingly, was quite good. A young man made the coffee and an older man took care of the quiche heating. Luckily it wasn’t crowded since their machine or their expertise was not too speedy. The older guy was the friendly sort and we conversed a bit as we ate and he scurried about with other orders and visits from his town buddies. We were invited to step out back and view the French garden that was rather impressive with its plantings, brass statuary, and terraced rock wall in the back. It was a work in progress since a few weeks ago it had been a pile of rocks after the wall had come tumbling down with years of neglect. The older guys cohorts came around and we got the full story about them buying up old decrepit properties across the street and next-door and renovating them into small intimate hotels. When this place is finished it will have two or three rooms for rent on the second floor. They said the area around there was known as the French Rivera of the upper Mississippi river valley.

From there we continued along route 35 along the river that went from a narrow stream to a very wide reservoir like body of water. The Minnesota side looked more built up and I was glad we took the side less traveled. Cute Ham, cute. In the wider parts there were many sailboats and not just the small fishing boats we have mostly seen in the Mississippi. I think their marinas were all on the Minnesota side.

We had a discussion about our destination and it was decided that we would by-pass the big Minneapolis metropolitan area on the east side and go north along the St. Croix river. That road looked like it was right on the river’s bank on our map but in reality we didn’t even have a glimpse of it. The road was terrible with its unevenness and bumps. I decided that we should get back to a nice smooth Wisconsin road. As we were approaching the way back to Wisconsin traffic slowed and virtually stopped. The cause for that turned out to be Stillwater, Minnesota that was a town like our Nashville except much larger. We also saw some large marinas with some really big boats, both sail and motor. Finally we were north of Stillwater and soon came to route 8 running east into Wisconsin. I spotted a Mickey’s and we stopped for a wee lunch. I had the misfortune to remember that many years ago we had put on our “to go to” list a big used bookstore in Stillwater which I believed to be similar to the place in Archer, Texas that was owned by Larry McMurtry, big time author. We decided to go back the 30 some miles tomorrow and look for it.

There was a Wally’s near Mickey’s and I checked about staying the night although we were within a few miles of two state parks, one in Wisconsin, and the other in Minnesota. We crossed off the former because of the extra ten bucks for a go-in-fee and checked out the one in the M state. It just had a five buck go-in-fee but it had a twenty-two dollar camp fee. We decided we would take on the 85 degree heat and try to survive Wally’s freebie lot.

We also stopped at a coffee house in Taylor something-or-other and used their wifi to look for giant bookstores in Stillwasser. No special one was listed, but StillH2O called itself a book capitol of the world similar to some place in England with a funny name. I think we might be barking up the wrong tree, but we will try, because it is fun and an adventure.

I had roughly planned this trip to go to the North Woods because Nan Lou had mentioned she would like to go to the North Woods. Well, come to find out, there is no North Woods. There are state and federal parks with names like Chequamegon National Forest that could be called woods in the northern part of the state, but there are no North Woods per se. So, we are headed for Ely, Minnesota, which is near Superior National Forest but might actually be in some state forest adjacent to the Superior one. It lies 25 miles south of the Canadian border and if that ain’t the North Woods I don’t know what is.

We supped on smoked salmon, cheese, and tomatoes tonight and played our game of Scrabble. Nan Lou narrowly beat me by one point as I came on like Gang Busters at the last minute. It has cooled to a decent temperature and soon we will be fast asleep in our little LER bed dreaming of giant bookstores in the North Woods. Good night. hb





Monday, June 25, 2007

It was quite pleasant in the van when we woke up. The sun was shining brightly but the breeze was blowing gently through the vent and the back windows, so we were pleasantly comfortable and took our time to rise out of bed.

Then, after the usual morning ablutions, we headed directly back to Stillwater, home of one of the largest bookstores in the nation and many others to boot. We were atwitter with anticipation.

The first obstacle was, having to follow a detour because Rt. 95 was closed. It wasn’t closed yesterday, but then every motorcycle registered in the eastern part of Minnesota was on the road yesterday. Nary one to be seen today, however! At long last, Stillwater came into view. It had been a thirty mile ride, but with the detour it was forty-two; and, as Ham would say we were hoping it would be “Well worth it!” The first thing we noticed was the fact you could actually see the curb from time to time on the main street. We traversed it, trying to case it, if you will. Actually, I was looking for food.

Back the way we came, Ham found a parking space right across from one of the many, many bookstores. We walked about a block and a half to a diner/café. Ham had a roast beef Manhattan (it had a different name here in Minnesota) and I had a grilled cheese sandwich. I am ALWAYS frugal. His Manhattan looked nasty, but he said it tasted good.

Ham stopped in the Chamber of Commerce and found out that the many, many bookstores were, in fact, three! Wow! He went in the one across from the LER and found out that it sold only new books. We were on a roll, weren’t we! So, back we walked to the next one almost across the street from the café. It was clean and neat and was two stories. Did that make it one of the largest in the nation? Whatever! It had nothing of particular interest to either of us. While Hammie browsed, I sat and became an almost-expert on the Ojibwa of the Red Lake Reservation. Walking on another block, we crossed the street to the third bookstore which was the last of the many, many.

This one had received accolades from a clerk in Store Number One. It was not as large as Number Two. It seemed to have fewer things and they did not seem to be very well organized. This time I became an expert on Curtis’ early pictures of American Indians.

At either One or Two Ham found an interesting book but wouldn’t part with the fifteen bucks to buy it. He is not a cheapskate, except with himself. He let me hit Wal-Mart for a shopping frenzy later. By this time, we were more than ready for mid-afternoon goodies.

We walked a block toward the river and sure enough their outdoor café had tables in the shade. They made iced coffee especially for me and I got a huge carafe of it, as did Ham, of regular coffee. OK, so we pigged out on pie, and chocolate cheesecake. We are so bad! It will be a stringent diet for us for a week to make up for that decadence.

We took Rt 35 on the Wisconsin side back to our Wal-Mart Campground. The road was smoother with no detour and the trip was only thirty-five miles. Of course, we needed to rest.

After Ham’s nap, we did that shopping I mentioned and Hamilton got a few things too. We partook of a healthy Subway sandwich in Wal-Mart.

I’ll let Ham tell about the interesting experiences trying to get on to the internet like we have always done. I’m not going to mention in detail about the interesting German gift shop, which bored Hammie to death, but which brought back certain nostalgic memories for me. He can also describe his fun filled experience in Tractor’s Supply. nl

Verizon has finally caught up with us freeloaders, it seems we can no longer use the cell phones to access the internet. We had tried a few days ago and got several’ “Go to Hell” messages. Today I called Verizon and the guy there hung on while I accessed Net 2 Quick without any problem. I didn’t get on line, maybe I should have. Tonight we tried again and it was “Go to Hell” all over again. I called and was told that the old stuff that allowed our access was no longer useable, in other words, “Go to Hell.” Tomorrow we will go to the Tractor Supply parking lot, across the way, and try it from there again. Maybe it goes through a different tower and will connect as it did earlier today.

While in the Tractor supply parking lot we went through the store looking for supplies for our tractor. Alas, we could not find a single thing. They do have neat things in the hardware department, things Lowe’s or Menard’s don’t have. I do not remember if I mentioned the movie theatre here. Yesterday I looked at their eight screen fare and saw nothing we just had to see, even to escape the heat for a few hours. I think movies are going through the megrims right now. Oh for a place showing some vintage films.

Book stores. The ones here sucked. Even our Half Price places are better. One did have a good WW II section, but anything I wanted cost too much, especially the one about the Flying Tigers which was forty-five buckaroonies.

Tomorrow we head north again looking for the elusive North Woods. Nan Lou thought she saw it today, but both times I believe they were just overgrown Christmas tree farms. If it is out there, we will find it!!!!! hb


Tuesday, June 26, 2007

For some reason we woke up and got out of bed early. Ham says he was up an hour before I woke up. He came back to bed and napped a bit while I took a much needed sponge bath. By the time we were on our way, it was still before ten o’clock. Therefore, we knew (nl) nothing more than we knew before. hb continues after finishing that last thought, if one could call it that. We went to McDonalds where I planned to have a bagel with cream cheese. They didn’t have cream cheese so I had to opt for an Egg McMuffin just like Nan Lou was having. The choice was obvious, eh what? From there it was back to Wally’s for a lube and oil for the LER. We were signed up right away but it took at least a half hour to start on the LER, then another half hour to do the work. Nan Lou sat in the waiting room and I went and spent money as one is wont to do at a WalMart. When the LER was done we headed out on route 35 in our search of those elusive North Woods. Route 35 is a pretty nice road with only a few rough stretches unlike the terribly bumpy road we traveled in Minnesota. There was one small town after another seemingly spaced about every five miles as we started out. This spacing grew to a more manageable distance the farther north we went.

We agreed that Southern Indiana was a great deal more woodsy than the area we were traversing. In fact, this part of Wisconsin was more like Indiana farmland than Indiana farmland itself. But wait! We soon spotted a sign for a Best Western Motel proclaiming that they were called the Northwoods. Is it the same North Woods we have been searching for? I have my doubts since their spelling is one word and ours is two words. Their spelling has a squiggly red line under the word throwing a great deal of doubt on said proclamation. As we approached the area Nan Lou believed them to be correct since we saw quite a few buildings built out of logs, a sure sign of the North Woods. Or, I should say, “Of the last known sighting of the North Woods before they were cut down to make all those log buildings.” We even noticed a perfusion of Birch trees, a sure sign of being north of the 45th parallel. But in the North Woods? I have my doubts.

Nan Lou took the wheel and drove for a while until the old knee gave out. We stopped in a small woodsy casino resort that even had a campground for the wheel exchange. I was too lazy to find out the cost of camping. Just as I resumed the driving we noticed that the temperature was dropping from the low nineties. By the time we reached Superior, Wisconsin, a city right next to Duluth, Minnesota, our destination for the day; the thermometer registered something like 59 degrees. A drop of over thirty degrees in less than an hour; Nan Lou was talking of a Red Bag night.

Superior is a rather drab looking city of either 17,000 or 27,000 people. Their main street was very wide though. We spotted a McDonalds with a free wifi sign on the window. An adroit turn or three and we parked and tried to connect from the LER. No luck. I went in and did the connection stuff only to be confronted with a full screen window with several actual connection options. The McDonalds option wanted a Mickey ID and password. They were stacked four deep at the counter so we had no free wifi, if there really was one. If they say free, it should be free, of cost, of trouble, of waiting, of everything. We left for Duluth.

Nan Lou put on her navigator hat and directed me flawlessly over the bridge and onto the proper roads to take us to a WalMart that we were going to check out for another Wally Night. As we neared it, she could feel its closeness, its vibrancy. By now it had started to rain cats and dogs so we drove on past looking for an eatery that might not serve ptomaine. We found a coffee shop with wifi, didn’t go in though, and returned to Wally’s where I was given the OK to park for the night. Then we went to the shopping center we had seen on our way and went looking for food. They had an Appleby’s and we had a civilized meal. The rain had stopped and we returned to our night’s host and rested a bit before attacking the log. The temperature has settled in the low seventies and the sun shines with fiery heat. But it is not the blast furnace heat of earlier in the day when we were one hundred miles souther and thirty-two degrees hotter.

To sum it all up, we might have found the Northwoods, but it isn’t the North Woods we want. We will have to carry on tomorrow, and the next day, and maybe even ‘till the snow falls, or the Fourth Of July, whichever comes first.

We were in Duluth many years ago, maybe even back in the GM driving days. I remember a nice setting on a high hill where we had lunch and watched a Piper Cub with floats practice its take-offs and landings. As I remember, it was bright and sunny and everything was pretty. I saw no pretty today. Where has all the pretty gone? hb


Wednesday, June 27, 2007

We got up about ten to a beautiful clear day with turquoise blue sky and fluffy white clouds. The fireworks people were already on duty. I imagine they were truly happy to be rid of us.

We went down Rt. 35 East toward town to the Caribou coffee shop for a bagel even though I really thought Hammie should have something more substantial after the awful night he had last night. I gave in; but, had a plan.

Only two kinds of bagels were available—cinnamon and raison and a cheddar cheese. Ham rightly described the non existent cheese taste as being the same as Subway’s bread. It doesn’t matter what kind of bread you choose, they are all tasteless and are alike in that way. The coffee wasn’t bad, however. Well, it WAS called Caribou Coffee.

Then Ham proceeded down the long hill toward the lake. I kept wondering how they ever keep the snow and ice off the streets. I suppose they’re used to it.

Finding the right road was not difficult for Number One Driver since you just go about as far as you can without running into the lake, then turn left. We were on our way.

The drive was quite pretty with the lake on the right, sometimes with huge enormous mansions waterfront. The matching gates cost more than the average house in Indianapolis.

As we got to the outskirts of town the houses became a little more realistic. Still, very nice and I’m sure they are expensive, but they were on the order of the 1930’s Four Squares, and not huge enormous stone mansions.

The lake was devoid of the usual pleasure boats. We assumed the water was too cold for pleasure boating. Later, in our campground, we saw the universal sign for swimming and we wondered who could stand to get in the water.

At Ilgen, we turned north on Route 1. While I was driving, I insisted that Ham eat several cashews. That was my eating plan; thus, recalling when he first knew about hypoglycemia and I fed him small amounts every couple of hours. I can hear him screeching now as he reads this, but this is going to be his eating plan from now on. Not one or two big meals a day, but little, tiny snacks every so often!

We stopped to eat at something called a roadhouse with several cars parked in front. We walked in and were bowled over by the cigarette smoke from the guys sitting at the bar.
The kitchen had just closed. Hah! Sure!

So, we fixed a fairly healthy LER lunch and were all the healthier for it.

I thought I should build up my driving muscles in the bum leg so I took over and sure enough, there was a detour of twenty-five miles. AND, it was a gravel road all the way!
I was feeling rather good about the leg when it decided to show me who was boss about half way through the drive. At first I thought it would be interesting to ride it out. However, by the time I had eight miles to go, the pain got nasty and then by the time I reached the main road, I think I was whimpering. There were few places to turn off, and I couldn’t see them until I was right on them. Hamilton finally spotted one on the far side of the road.

Soon, we came to a Superior National Forest Campground and it seemed prudent to stay and then attack Ely in the morning. This campground, with a very strange name, is quite north woodsy and about ten miles from Ely, according to the campground manager. This place is called South Kawishiw River Campground.

All along the roadways and here in the campground, the wildflowers have been colorful and plentiful There are daisies, and the ubiquitous little yellow ones that I think my mother called butter n’ eggs, and orange ones and small yellow ones that look like buttercups. Oh yes, the lilacs were in boom in the cities.

The temperature has dropped to fifty-eight degrees and I put my long pj bottoms on. It is definitely going to be a red bag night. Ham has fiddled with the furnace all the time I’ve been writing this, to no avail. At home, when the LER was parked in the driveway, he actually got it to work sometimes. What to do? Maybe Ham will agree to letting Jean’s brother take a look. Probably not; but we have to have a furnace.
I think a game might be in order now. I haven’t seen a moose yet. But there was a deer. nl

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Photos

Coffee anyone?
The old espresso machine made really great coffee. It was used in the TV show "Baywatch," purchased on eBay, refurbished in LA, twice I think, and here it is.

Another bridge thing.
This one crosses the St. Croix river from Minnesota to Wisconsin at Stillwasser. We only crossed it once.

Tunnel
I can't remember where this is. But, I like tunnels, so mysterious, so dark, you never know if you'll get out. Maybe you'll be swallowed by Mother Earth.

Another tunnel
Same unknown road, another tunnel. Will we make it? I'll cross my fingers and close my eyes.

We made it.
I am much too serious to say anything like, "I saw the light at the end of the tunnel." So trite, so gauche, but too true.

The North Woods???
This sure looks like it, trees, no signs, bears, wolfs, and moose just waiting to jump out. I'll bet we're the first man and woman here.

NFS camp.
Our favorite campgrounds are those of the National Forest Service. Not crowded, big sites, quiet and peaceful.