UP For A Road Trip?

[suhawk305]

Congrats to Veronica and her proud parents! That is quite an accomplishment.

[emptysea]

Monday, August 10, 2020

Sunday night's storm dampened not only our clothing but our ability to explore Houghton, MI. While Monday did bring our first early start to our day, we used the extra time to take a pre-breakfast and, as it turned out post-breakfast, walk through the former copper mining town. It was immediately apparent why Houghton has been included on several "Best Small Towns In America" lists. Brick-paved streets separate charming 150 year-old storefronts. Sea planes can be seen skipping over the Keewenaw Waterway transporting tourists to or from Isle Royale National Park. There is a magnificent lift-bridge that connects Houghton to Hancock, MI that we would traverse later in the morning on our way to Copper Harbor. Except for the 200+ inches of snow they get in an average winter, Houghton is my kind of town. Attentive observers might see some irony in that.










Houghton is the birthplace of professional ice hockey in the United States and the home of Michigan Technological University which was founded in 1885 to train mining engineers to work in the local copper mines. The crosswalks in the area of the university are decorated to represent the different degree programs and/or activities available at MTU.


Above: Hard to tell, but the crosswalks adjacent to the keyboard one are forks and spoons, I assume representing MTU's culinary arts program.


Above: It's not Abbey Road and they're not George and Ringo, but they are walking on somewhat hallowed ground if you are a professional hockey fan.



We found a breakfast place, Suomi Restaurant. The name is the Finnish word for Finland. It struck me as an appropriate place for us to dine given that I felt like visiting the Upper Peninsula was like visiting another country. The breakfast was good and I know that it will disappoint fans of the "Live to Ride....Ride to Eat" thread elsewhere in this forum, but I did not take any food pictures. I love my riding companions and they love me and since I want to keep things that way, I have to pick and choose when I annoy them by rearranging cutlery and condiments in order to capture a decent photo of my meal.


Our beautiful riding partners waiting for one of the few tables in the restaurant.


After breakfast, we took a leisurely stroll up Shelden Ave. back to our hotel and the bikes.








[url=https://new.spotwalla.com/trip/6565-9480e-595a/view]8/10/2021 Route Map



If a map of the Upper Peninsula resembles a west-facing fish, then the Keewenaw Peninsula would be its dorsal fin and the fin would be tipped in reddish brown from the residual dust of copper ore mined from it century and a half ago. There's a small notch in the fin's tip called Copper Harbor and at the bottom of that notch sits a town with the same name.

Copper Harbor was a mining town in the mid to late 1800s. A mining company set up operations here in 1844 and was one of the first mining operations in the entire state of Michigan. The mines were very successful for about 30 years and the proximity of the mines to the harbor helped the company maximize profits. The mines, though, were essentially tapped out by about 1870. Over the ensuing 150 years, the town of Copper Harbor transformed itself into a resort area, reminiscent to me of some seaside resorts in the United Kingdom, although I need to rely on photos of those distant places for my comparison.

Only two roads can take you directly from Houghton to Copper Harbor; US41 and M26 and even then 26 overlays 41 for a good portion of the trip. M26 is slightly longer at about 55 miles with the US41 route being about 46 miles. US41 and M26 shake hands briefly in Houghton, then cross the Portage Canal Lift Bridge together before parting ways with M26 heading east and 41 heading north. They meet up again in Tamarack, travel together up north a bit to Phoenix and then M26 travels the rest of the way along the shores of Lake Superior while 41 wanders up through forestland. The two meet again and for the last time in Copper Harbor where they and their 55 mile friendship come to an abrupt end.

Mike's route for the day was to start out on 41 until Phoenix and then take in the water views of M26 into Copper Harbor. Our return trip was down US41. I was frustrated by this decision because I'm generally more of a County over US highway guy. It would have been a huge mistake, though, if we retraced M26 and missed the amazingly beautiful, slightly curvy, and hilly ride through the woods that US41 gives you for the first 25 miles of its 2,008 mile journey from Cooper Harbor, Michigan to Miami, Florida. It doesn't look like much on the map, but it's a great ride.

Above: Not quite true, but not entirely false, either.


Above: M26 gets impressively close to the water's edge on it's way to Copper Harbor


Above: Parked in Copper Harbor. This is a really neat little place, but much of it was closed due to lack of workers during the Time of the Covid.


The beginning of US Route 41.

Mike's return route included a soft right turn off of 41 onto Cliff Road. 41 sort of curves off to the east before curving back to its lay line. Cliff Road basically follow that lay line. It seemed like a good short cut and the name, "Cliff Road" seemed to promise scenic vistas. Nope. Turns out that Cliff Road is named for the Cliff Mine that was established in the 1840s and, while the mine itself was high on a hill (maybe even a cliff), the road runs along the base of that hill. Clifton was the name of the mining town that sat between Cliff Road and US41, but it died with it's namesake mine a long time ago and and there seems nary a sign of the town remains. Not that we were looking. I didn't know anything about Cliffton or the Cliff Mine until researching for this report. All I knew at the time was that this detour was a mistake. If I had to guess, I would estimate the last full resurface was done about the time that The Ferret was graduating high school and that the last patching was done about the time misterprofessionality was learning to ride his first motorcycle. Way worse than gravel, this pothole and patch laden stretch of "pavement" had me worrying about flat tires and broken forks. If I had read about the mine and the abandoned town beforehand, it may have been worth the journey, but to me this was a road to endure rather than embrace.


Following Glen on Cliff Road. The "cliff is to the left". No idea where the "road" is located.

We endured Cliff Rd and hopped back onto 41 back to Houghton. We dined at a restaurant named The Library; a lovely looking restaurant with nice waterfront views. The service was polite. The food? Just average, but I will remind folks that this was in the dead middle of the pandemic so if you're in Houghton, give this place a try.


L to R - Me, Mike, Jennifer, Laura, Glen, Cheryl.


Above: The Portage Canal Lift Bridge
(partially lifted from Wikipedia) The original 1959 design by Hazelet and Erdal of Chicago of the bridge's lift-span had roadways constructed on both levels with rails embedded in the road surface on the lower deck. This allowed the span to be partially raised to allow small and medium boat traffic to pass underneath without disrupting vehicular traffic. From this middle position, the span would then only need to be raised for large ships or lowered to allow trains to cross. With the end of rail service in 1982, the lowest position is no longer needed to allow trains to pass so the bridge is not lowered below the middle position during the summer boating season except for periods of maintenance or repair. In the winter after the lake freezes, the bridge is placed in the lowest position to allow the lower deck to be used by snowmobile traffic...a pretty cool "repurposing" if you ask me. Photo taken while I was on evening stroll, enjoying a small cigar and the cool Michigan evening.

A day that epitomizes all that is great about motorcycle touring.

[GoldOxide_imp]

Some fun shots MTC. A great share. The snap of Arlette is almost priceless.

[emptysea]

Tuesday, August 11, 2020

Houghton to Munising and an Irresistible Impulse.

[url=https://new.spotwalla.com/trip/7bb3-63e5c-98ff/view]Houghton to Munising Map



Our trip to this point had been substantially a northward trek; well except for Mike and Jennifer who came up over the top of Lake Michigan and south to meet us. Our departure from Houghton would begin our eastward journey from the base of U.P.'s dorsal in Houghton fin to the tip of its tail fin in Paradise. Our last base-camp for the week would be in Munising. We would stage from there on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. The homeward turn would be on Friday, our last day together as a group.

On July 31, 1952, Lt​. Coleman A. Peterson, who was stationed in Big Bay, MI for the summer, shot and killed Maurice Chenoweth, a local bar owner. John D Voelker, a local attorney, represented the defense in the matter of People v. Coleman Peterson and used a rare version of the insanity defense called "irresistible impulse". Mr. Voelker later wrote "Anatomy of a Murder", a fictionalized account of the case which was made into the movie of the same name in 1959. The movie is considered one of the best trial movies in the history of cinema. It starred James Stewart and Lee Remick and was filmed entirely on location in Upper Michigan, a first for a full-length movie.

They filmed all over the Upper Peninsula including some scenes in Big Bay, though not in the actual bar where the real shooting took place. Many of the street scenes were filmed in Michigamme, MI and Mike, knowing I'm a big fan of this movie, arranged our ride to include a stop in the unincorporated little burg. Michigamme is a one stoplight town, without the stoplight. It seems to exist to serve visitors to Lake Michigamme and not much else. It being the time in the pandemic where we were still concerned about outdoor transmission, there were not a lot of visitors to the lake and almost every business on Main Street was closed, although I'm sure that many had been closed long before the pandemic descended upon us.









The only sign of life in the town was the partially renovation of the one of the old buildings. No workers, mind you, but the freshly installed lumber indicted that human lifeforms were in the area. We parked across from a building that said "Museum" across the front of it. I recall there was a sign informing potential museum visitors to knock on the front door of the neighboring home. I do remember that Glen and Laura walked over and before too long a thin older man walked over and introduced himself (by a name that I've since forgotten) as the curator of the Michigamme Historical Museum.


Mike and Jennifer, the museum and Jennifer's Indian

We had a delightful time at the museum. There was a lot of war memorabilia that drew the attention of Glen and Jennifer in particular. Myself, I was fascinated by the old outboard motor collection and the large display of photos and keepsakes from "Anatomy of a Murder" Our curator knew a lot about the movie and pointed to the buildings on Main Street that appeared in it.




I seem to recall that the curator raced outboard hydroplanes back when he was young.

We spent the better part of an hour with our host at the museum. He seemed to have a intimate knowledge of every artifact in the place and there were lots of artifacts-- literal lots of them. We took a very quick (you'd have to crawl to make it slow) pass through town to get a view of the lake and across it to the Mt. Shasta Inn. In the movie, James Stewart finds Lee Remick at the Inn, dancing and flirting with some servicemen, presumably her incarcerated husband's friends, and gives her a stern warning about how such behavior could impact her husband's case.


Now


With the stunning Lee Remick in front of it


Time to ride. It was already past our lunch time and it would take about 45 minutes to get to Marquette and a place to eat. Anyone who has read anything about this crew knows that Mike was toeing a fine line between hungry and angry -- "Hangry" -- and no sane person knowingly crosses that line. We stopped in Marquette for gas and food. I don't recall much about the town. It seemed much larger and less interesting than any of the towns we've been in on this trip. We passed through it on the 4-lane with a center turn lane US41 which undoubtedly contributed to my impression of non-impressiveness. I honestly don't know where we stopped to eat or IF we stopped to eat. I recall us stopping at a visitor center to get our bearings and that it and the other places we stopped in Marquette were all on the left side of the road which translated into several left turns across multiple lanes with multiple bikes. No harm, in the end, but it was more dicey than it needed to be.

The trip from Houghton to Marquette was on a fairly tame section of US41/M28 that drops fairly far south of Lake Superior, but reconnects to it at Marquette. The ride was fine, but nothing more than fine. The stop in Michigamme was easily the highlight of the trip.

We made that last left turn out of the gas station (or was that the lunch place? Did we even stop for lunch??) and onto Munising via M28 which splits from 41 just east of Marquette. Prettier than the first legs atop US41, M28 ribbons along through a few more small towns with glimpses of the big lake and a couple of small ones before getting to Munising. Munising is not as big as Marguette, but seemed to be a prettier harbor town, despite the incredible amount of road construction in their downtown. We'd come back to Munising a couple of times later in the trip, but it was just another town to pass through at this point in the ride.

We arrived at the Econo-Lodge Inn & Suites Musining around 3:30 in the afternoon. Not a bad place, but not worth the room rate which is artificially high with Munising being very much a tourist destination during the summer months. Covid kept the number of guests to a minimum so we had the picnic tables out front to ourselves. This day is a little blurry in my mind as you may have already ascertained, but I recall having snacks on the picnic tables shortly after arriving -- maybe that was lunch.


Checking at the Econo-Lodge


Cheryl looking annoyed....probably at my photo taking


Bikes checking out their accomodations

Hung out for a while. Weather was a little warm, but pleasant. Mike lead us on a trek for dinner that took us to the place that had the best reviews of anyplace nearby. It was closed because the owner couldn't find anyone to work since they all went on unemployment due to the pandemic. At least that was the gist of the rather terse note on the front door. Mike found another place, The Buckhorn, which took us about 1/2 to get to because his nav system plotted out just an insanely long route there and back to the motel. The food was very good and the place is really in the middle of nowhere. I think it caters to ATVers in the summer and snowmobiles in the winter. More on this in the next installment -- Turns out that if you did a normal route to Buckhorn only takes a few minutes from the Econo-Lodge so we went back the next day.


View from inside Buckhorn



Never quite figured out the "giant furniture" phenomenon, but the girls look adorable, masked or otherwise.

[GoldOxide_imp]

Tuesday, August 11, 2020

Houghton to Munising and an Irresistible Impulse.

[url=https://new.spotwalla.com/trip/7bb3-63e5c-98ff/view]Houghton to Munising Map



Our trip to this point had been substantially a northward trek; well except for Mike and Jennifer who came up over the top of Lake Michigan and south to meet us. Our departure from Houghton would begin our eastward journey from the base of U.P.'s dorsal in Houghton fin to the tip of its tail fin in Paradise. Our last base-camp for the week would be in Munising. We would stage from there on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. The homeward turn would be on Friday, our last day together as a group.

On July 31, 1952, Lt​. Coleman A. Peterson, who was stationed in Big Bay, MI for the summer, shot and killed Maurice Chenoweth, a local bar owner. John D Voelker, a local attorney, represented the defense in the matter of People v. Coleman Peterson and used a rare version of the insanity defense called "irresistible impulse". Mr. Voelker later wrote "Anatomy of a Murder", a fictionalized account of the case which was made into the movie of the same name in 1959. The movie is considered one of the best trial movies in the history of cinema. It starred James Stewart and Lee Remick and was filmed entirely on location in Upper Michigan, a first for a full-length movie.

They filmed all over the Upper Peninsula including some scenes in Big Bay, though not in the actual bar where the real shooting took place. Many of the street scenes were filmed in Michigamme, MI and Mike, knowing I'm a big fan of this movie, arranged our ride to include a stop in the unincorporated little burg. Michigamme is a one stoplight town, without the stoplight. It seems to exist to serve visitors to Lake Michigamme and not much else. It being the time in the pandemic where we were still concerned about outdoor transmission, there were not a lot of visitors to the lake and almost every business on Main Street was closed, although I'm sure that many had been closed long before the pandemic descended upon us.









The only sign of life in the town was the partially renovation of the one of the old buildings. No workers, mind you, but the freshly installed lumber indicted that human lifeforms were in the area. We parked across from a building that said "Museum" across the front of it. I recall there was a sign informing potential museum visitors to knock on the front door of the neighboring home. I do remember that Glen and Laura walked over and before too long a thin older man walked over and introduced himself (by a name that I've since forgotten) as the curator of the Michigamme Historical Museum.


Mike and Jennifer, the museum and Jennifer's Indian

We had a delightful time at the museum. There was a lot of war memorabilia that drew the attention of Glen and Jennifer in particular. Myself, I was fascinated by the old outboard motor collection and the large display of photos and keepsakes from "Anatomy of a Murder" Our curator knew a lot about the movie and pointed to the buildings on Main Street that appeared in it.




I seem to recall that the curator raced outboard hydroplanes back when he was young.

We spent the better part of an hour with our host at the museum. He seemed to have a intimate knowledge of every artifact in the place and there were lots of artifacts-- literal lots of them. We took a very quick (you'd have to crawl to make it slow) pass through town to get a view of the lake and across it to the Mt. Shasta Inn. In the movie, James Stewart finds Lee Remick at the Inn, dancing and flirting with some servicemen, presumably her incarcerated husband's friends, and gives her a stern warning about how such behavior could impact her husband's case.


Now


With the stunning Lee Remick in front of it


Time to ride. It was already past our lunch time and it would take about 45 minutes to get to Marquette and a place to eat. Anyone who has read anything about this crew knows that Mike was toeing a fine line between hungry and angry -- "Hangry" -- and no sane person knowingly crosses that line. We stopped in Marquette for gas and food. I don't recall much about the town. It seemed much larger and less interesting than any of the towns we've been in on this trip. We passed through it on the 4-lane with a center turn lane US41 which undoubtedly contributed to my impression of non-impressiveness. I honestly don't know where we stopped to eat or IF we stopped to eat. I recall us stopping at a visitor center to get our bearings and that it and the other places we stopped in Marquette were all on the left side of the road which translated into several left turns across multiple lanes with multiple bikes. No harm, in the end, but it was more dicey than it needed to be.

The trip from Houghton to Marquette was on a fairly tame section of US41/M28 that drops fairly far south of Lake Superior, but reconnects to it at Marquette. The ride was fine, but nothing more than fine. The stop in Michigamme was easily the highlight of the trip.

We made that last left turn out of the gas station (or was that the lunch place? Did we even stop for lunch??) and onto Munising via M28 which splits from 41 just east of Marquette. Prettier than the first legs atop US41, M28 ribbons along through a few more small towns with glimpses of the big lake and a couple of small ones before getting to Munising. Munising is not as big as Marguette, but seemed to be a prettier harbor town, despite the incredible amount of road construction in their downtown. We'd come back to Munising a couple of times later in the trip, but it was just another town to pass through at this point in the ride.

We arrived at the Econo-Lodge Inn & Suites Musining around 3:30 in the afternoon. Not a bad place, but not worth the room rate which is artificially high with Munising being very much a tourist destination during the summer months. Covid kept the number of guests to a minimum so we had the picnic tables out front to ourselves. This day is a little blurry in my mind as you may have already ascertained, but I recall having snacks on the picnic tables shortly after arriving -- maybe that was lunch.


Checking at the Econo-Lodge


Cheryl looking annoyed....probably at my photo taking


Bikes checking out their accomodations

Hung out for a while. Weather was a little warm, but pleasant. Mike lead us on a trek for dinner that took us to the place that had the best reviews of anyplace nearby. It was closed because the owner couldn't find anyone to work since they all went on unemployment due to the pandemic. At least that was the gist of the rather terse note on the front door. Mike found another place, The Buckhorn, which took us about 1/2 to get to because his nav system plotted out just an insanely long route there and back to the motel. The food was very good and the place is really in the middle of nowhere. I think it caters to ATVers in the summer and snowmobiles in the winter. More on this in the next installment -- Turns out that if you did a normal route to Buckhorn only takes a few minutes from the Econo-Lodge so we went back the next day.


View from inside Buckhorn



Never quite figured out the "giant furniture" phenomenon, but the girls look adorable, masked or otherwise.

That was a fun read MTC.

I imagine you told her that you weren't posting the photo publicly online.

( ... like I wrote: I imagined it.)

[emptysea]

Sssh… she seldom reads my writings.

[Stichill_imp]

Fantastic, Sea. I love Jimmy Stewart movies! Rear Window is my favorite, but I don't think I've seen Anatomy of a Murder! How cool that you stumbled on that bit of local lore and legend.

Loved all your photos. I just told Sharon, "Next summer, let's go to Michigan."

[emptysea]

Thanks, Stich. I just wish I was better at proofreading - too many typos/grammatical errors.

I’m pretty sure that Harvey or The Shop Around The Corner are my favorite James Stewart movies, but I do love Rear Window (Grace Kelly-yum). Also love —- gee was about to list just a couple, but instantly came up with 10 so I’ll just leave it at my strong recommendation that you watch Anatomy Of A Murder. Score and cameo appearance by Duke Ellington, if that helps motivate you.

If you head to Michigan, let me know ahead of time. Cheryl and might be inclined to ride up to meet you.

[Cormanus]

At my age, it's unfair when people remind you f flames like Lee Remick. It just provokes a whole lot of emotions too hard to deal with. But the rest of the report was wonderful as always.

If it really bothers you, PM me corrected text and I'll replace it for you. Might be out of range for a while after today my time.

[Stichill_imp]

At my age, it's unfair when people remind you f flames like Lee Remick. It just provokes a whole lot of emotions too hard to deal with. But the rest of the report was wonderful as always.

If it really bothers you, PM me corrected text and I'll replace it for you. Might be out of range for a while after today my time.

Directors in the '50s were pretty skilled and sneaky about using light and angles to "accentuate" certain features.

Thanks, Stich. I just wish I was better at proofreading - too many typos/grammatical errors.

I’m pretty sure that Harvey or The Shop Around The Corner are my favorite James Stewart movies, but I do love Rear Window (Grace Kelly-yum). Also love —- gee was about to list just a couple, but instantly came up with 10 so I’ll just leave it at my strong recommendation that you watch Anatomy Of A Murder. Score and cameo appearance by Duke Ellington, if that helps motivate you.

If you head to Michigan, let me know ahead of time. Cheryl and might be inclined to ride up to meet you.

Always the way. The 60 minute sudden death timer is...unkind.

Thanks, Stich. I just wish I was better at proofreading - too many typos/grammatical errors.

I’m pretty sure that Harvey or The Shop Around The Corner are my favorite James Stewart movies, but I do love Rear Window (Grace Kelly-yum). Also love —- gee was about to list just a couple, but instantly came up with 10 so I’ll just leave it at my strong recommendation that you watch Anatomy Of A Murder. Score and cameo appearance by Duke Ellington, if that helps motivate you.

If you head to Michigan, let me know ahead of time. Cheryl and might be inclined to ride up to meet you.

Great. In many ways its retelling You've Got Mail might be even better!

Thanks, Stich. I just wish I was better at proofreading - too many typos/grammatical errors.

I’m pretty sure that Harvey or The Shop Around The Corner are my favorite James Stewart movies, but I do love Rear Window (Grace Kelly-yum). Also love —- gee was about to list just a couple, but instantly came up with 10 so I’ll just leave it at my strong recommendation that you watch Anatomy Of A Murder. Score and cameo appearance by Duke Ellington, if that helps motivate you.

If you head to Michigan, let me know ahead of time. Cheryl and might be inclined to ride up to meet you.

Yum!

Thanks, Stich. I just wish I was better at proofreading - too many typos/grammatical errors.

I’m pretty sure that Harvey or The Shop Around The Corner are my favorite James Stewart movies, but I do love Rear Window (Grace Kelly-yum). Also love —- gee was about to list just a couple, but instantly came up with 10 so I’ll just leave it at my strong recommendation that you watch Anatomy Of A Murder. Score and cameo appearance by Duke Ellington, if that helps motivate you.

If you head to Michigan, let me know ahead of time. Cheryl and might be inclined to ride up to meet you.

Thanks, Stich. I just wish I was better at proofreading - too many typos/grammatical errors.

I’m pretty sure that Harvey or The Shop Around The Corner are my favorite James Stewart movies, but I do love Rear Window (Grace Kelly-yum). Also love —- gee was about to list just a couple, but instantly came up with 10 so I’ll just leave it at my strong recommendation that you watch Anatomy Of A Murder. Score and cameo appearance by Duke Ellington, if that helps motivate you.

If you head to Michigan, let me know ahead of time. Cheryl and might be inclined to ride up to meet you.