Shawano

After our fantastic lunch yesterday, we continued on our route until the intersection of M-77 and M-28. There, Bill split off to go straight to Marquette, while Paul, Kathy and I joined Thor and his wife Cheryl to continue north on 77 to Grand Marais and its gorgeous beach on Lake Superior. Wow!

Even better than the beach, we took H-28 towards Munising, a twisty, turny road that's probably the best paved one in the state. Long, sweeping turns and little traffic. Awesome!

We got to the dealership just a few minutes after 17:00, and I had enough time to buy a swing arm bag for Willie. Like I need to carry more stuff 😉.

We had a catered bbq meal at HD, and I was in my room by 19:30. I tried to get to sleep early, but....

I was wide awake at 04:00, far too early to leave. I had eggs, sausage, and half a bagel at the hotel--very few do a hot breakfast, so it was nice even though it wasn't good--and rolled out at 07:00. Well, I left the parking lot at 06:45, but it was only 44°F and I hadn't dressed warmly enough, so I pulled over to layer up. So, if you're counting, let's say 07:00.

It was pretty this morning in the early light. The rising mist hung just below the evergreen tops about 50 feet above me. In one section, it reminded me of the movie "The Mist," and I waited for the giant spiders to come scuttling out of the branches. But they didn't. The turkeys did though. There were loads of them along the verge. I also saw a huge bald eagle swoop down on the shoulder, scattering several crows, presumably to claim ownership of whatever the traffic had killed during the night. I thought the crows were big, but the eagle was easily five or even six times larger. Magnificent.

Isn't it summer?! 44°F did not get any warmer as I made my way east then south to North Woods HD in Arbor Vitae, Wisconsin. I was frozen and my heated gloves were dead when I arrived at 08:30, 2.5 hours later because of the time change to Central. I had to buy a coat liner, socks, and long johns to add more layers, but everything was on sale and they gave me a military discount, so it wasn't as expensive as it could've been.

I left there at about 09:00 and continued south in 60° weather and better layers, so I was okay.

Now, I'm stopped for lunch at Doc's HD, which is a dealership, a museum, a zoo, and a restaurant 🤷. Pretty interesting place and worth a stop if you're in the area.

So long [for now], and thanks for all the fish! ✌️

Day 165 mileage: 354.8 (total 44406.6)Read more