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Odometer: 32065 Weather: Clear and hot with lots of wind. Rain overnight.
I was up early and off to my favourite coffee shop for a light breakfast. I had what they call an English Muffin. On the west coast, in Seattle, they properly called it a crumpet. Is that an indication of the diversification of cultures in the US? Sitting and looking out over the idylic scene from the coffee shop, I was tempted to stay in Duluth for Independance Day, but that was to be a day away and would mean two more nights in the motel and a lost travel day. I decided to carry on and aim for my previous plan, which was to be in Marquette for Independance Day.
By the way, last night I reduced my load somewhat by throwing away my AAA Tour books. The kind of motels I was finding and happy with weren't even listed in those books so they weren't much use.
I'm glad that I made an effort to go to the railroad museum before leaving. They had on display two of the earliest engines to work on the lines out of Duluth. They were a mogul, called
Great Lakes Terminal
This is an example of one of the huge terminals. The trains run out on the top and dump their load down into the boats along the side. William Crooks (built 1861) and a small tank engine called Minnetonka, a Northern Pacific RR engine. They had some great old passenger cars and a rather nice model train layout that was running. They also have an special passenger train tourist trip on a line that runs along the waterfront for about 23 miles. My grandson, Zach, would be in seventh heaven here. He seems to have inherited that Blair train gene from Sean.
I got out of Duluth at about 12:30pm and settled into some pretty boring driving. Once again, it was the old tree lined corridor drive routine. The highlight of the ride was lunch at Iron Bridge. It was VERY healthy and in a nice environment - read, no loud music. Once I got into Michigan the views opened out a bit into farmland. I didn't pick up on the fact that I had passed into the eastern time zone, so I was a bit surprised when I got to Marquette to find that it was an hour later than I expected. That is two time zone changes I've gone through without seeing any marking on the highway. I guess smart people actually bother noticing it on the map. Still, I like the fact that in Canada we indicate those changes on the highway.
I was looking for a camping spot, but the campgrounds are all beside lakes and, being the long weekend, they were packed. On the other hand, the motels were wide open. I don't get it. I found one of the best motels I've stayed in so far. Away from the road, $50 CDN, and they even put a rag on my bike in the morning so I could wipe the dew off.
That reminds me of something I wanted to mention. Ever since I entered into the US, there have been a lot of motorcycles on the road. What I have not seen are any sport bikes or sport touring bikes. They have all been big Harley-Davidson or Goldwing bikes. All of them probably cost in excess of $25,000. In the case of some of the Harleys, a lot more in exess of that number.
The other observation is that helmets are not required by law in N. Dakota or Minnesota and people don't wear them. I would say the predominant riders were two up, both without helmets, both with short sleeve shirts, and most riding pillion were wearing shorts. I certainly was the anomoly on the road when it came to motorcycles.
Once settled, I went on a quick tour of Marquette. It was the quaint little town that I wanted to spend Independance Day in, so I went to bed happy.
Odometer at the end of the day: 32496km
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