We began the day surprisingly early after Chris and Marv had stayed up until 1:30am telling stories about one another. Marv was up first, of course, and was already out on the property filling his hummingbird feeders by the time I came upstairs. Chris was up not long afterwards, and Marv had a pot of coffee going for us all to enjoy.
After coffee, I tried to assist Marv with some hedge-trimming he’d wanted done with his shiny, new battery-operated Stihl hedge trimmer. He had me up on his 6′ deck leaning off the edge of an 8′ ladder that was nearly as old as he was. At least I was able to get The Captain down of the rickety old thing. Luckily, Marv’s ladder held up to the abuse, and both of us escaped without injury or incident. Whether the same could be said of Marv’s hedges, is another question. I hope Marv likes the punk rock haircuts we left him with on his cedars!
After watching the deftness with which we completed yard work, Marv next enlisted our services to help troubleshoot his 60 year-old John Deere tractor that wouldn’t start. The starter would get the thing turning over, but there was either no gas or no spark, cause the thing wouldn’t so much as sputter with any attempt at combustion. Chris and I agreed that we were looking at a big, green tractor, but past that could do little but identify its spark plugs and fuel line. Marv resigned himself to have to try to fix it later, and saw us back to the bikes to send us on our way.
As we passed over the Mississippi River one final time, Chris suggested that we pull into the local Honda dealership in Brainerd to once again look for a throttle lock. This time they had one, and unlike in Billings, they even wanted less that $150 for it, so I snapped it up and installed it on my bike in the parking lot. With that and a full tank of gas it was off to ride the two hours toward Duluth we went.
The weather was intermittently rainy through the morning, and between the showers, we were enjoying the cool, overcast weather. We were on the lookout for a breakfast spot and found it in McGreggor, Minnesota at a very cozy little schoolhouse cafe where we enjoyed some nice Americanos, breakfast and homemade pie while we waited for a larger shower to pass us by.
Once the weather had gone by, it was back on the bikes and further up the road. As we passed the sign indicating that we’d entered the Lake Superior watershed, Chris and I debated whether the Pacific, Arctic and Atlantic oceans drainage areas each were separated by a continental divide, and whether by passing from the Mississippi’s to the Great Lakes’ watershed whether we’d crossed another one. I’d argue that it’s inconclusive based on what I saw on Wikipedia’s page. It might not be the Great Divide, but they’re still divides nonetheless!
As we entered Duluth there was a great view of Lake Superior and all the industrial port lands of Duluth, Minnesota and Superior, Wisconsin from an I-35 overlook and visitors’ information center. I was surprised to find Duluth to be quite a bit more rugged and hilly that I’d expected. Downtown only had 5-6 blocks of flat land before climbing what seemed to be a 300′ mountain From there, we made our way downtown to Aerostich, where both Chris and I were happy to browse all the motorcycle clothing and farkles, but not willing to shell out for anything, so we quickly made our exit without lightening our wallets and made our way the the Great Lakes Maritime Museum right next to the famous Duluth Aerial Lift Bridge and waited out another passing shower.
The museum was really interesting, covering the rise and fall of Great Lakes shipping and cruising, the wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald as well as plenty of information on the port of Duluth, the shipping canal and the bridge that spans it. We spent nearly 2 hours having a look around and taking photos of the area.
Afterwords, we jumped on the bikes to ride the ~2h east originally to Ironwood, Michigan. We stopped at a bar in Wisconsin along the way to meet beer keg Aaron Rodgers and were in Ironwood before 7pm.
Chris wanted to find a hotel downtown, within walking distance of a restaurant, so we toured around Ironwood, but didn’t find anything, but as we came around the bend, the road curved back and we were back in Wisconsin with a run-down Love-brand Motel just across the street from a lineup of strip clubs. It was like we were back in Nevada all over again.
Chris wasn’t terribly impressed, but figured the rate must be reasonable, but when the desk clerk gave the rate at $140 for the night, he turned right around. As we were getting ready to get back on the bikes in the parking lot, the desk clerk came running out holding his phone with his manager on it to speak with Chris. Chris then proceeded to wring the guy out, listing everything from the ridiculousness of them charging weekend rates on a Thursday, to his AARP and former law enforcement credentials out to get the guy to knock $40 from the rate. After seeing the room, we agreed to the arrangement and settled into the room.
From there we were able to walk over to a bar that advertised gyros and tacos on outside, and found a real slice of San Francisco dive bar culture in northern Wisconsin. It turned out the establishment’s owner was working, and he’d moved out to California to work as a chemist for a number of pharmaceutical companies and in the cannabis industry before having to return to Hurley, Wisconsin to care for some loved ones and open a bar, Doogie’s Dugout. They guy was a real talker, and we learned a lot about his experiences in California, as well as what brought him making fresh California-inspired fare to the edge of the Michigan Upper Peninsula.
After a great dinner and conversation, we turned in to the motel room for a well-deserved rest. Tomorrow we’d need to ride the whole way across the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and into Canada. With any luck, Chris’s Real ID driver’s license and birth certificate would be enough! We’ll see!