Day 2
Sunday, 30 May 2010
Little Marais, MN to Duluth, MN
71.2 miles, 5h08m, 13.9 mph
Elapsed Time: 7h38m, Max speed: 31.1mph
Total Climbing: 2494ft, Max elevation: 878ft
Total mileage: 158.2
Another day of good riding in favorable conditions--sunshine (except
when it rained), tailwinds (except when we went the wrong way), and
good roads (except when they were laced with spine-jarring cracks). We
really had enough of the cracks--to the point that we would ride on an
unnecessary bike path just to get away from the cracks. And we didn't
call them spine-jarring--we had another more appropriate--but less
politic--name for them.
We passed a few oddities that seemed more at home in the UP than in
Minnesota.
I get the music and the dancing, but what's with the pull tabs?
And yes, that is a barrel jammed in to a maple tree with a sap
bucket hanging from the tap.
Maple syrup is a big deal around here. And beer, I guess.
I have nothing to say about this.
Note: riding the unnecessary bike path to avoid the ass-pounding...I
mean spine-jarring cracks.
Also note the tailwind, and the sunshine.
Actually, it was cloudy in the morning when we rolled out of Little
Marais. Soon the clouds burned off but there was a cool breeze blowing
in off the Lake all day. After about 15 miles we stopped in Beaver Bay
and met Linda for a buffet breakfast at a Norwegian restaurant called
Northern Lights. It was fantastic.
I didn't really want to stop. I don't really eat very much during the
ride, but Mr. Balint would eat continuously if he could. If he keeps
that up, he'll be 240 in no time. And even though I wasn't hungry, I
managed to polish off a couple plates. Did I mention the food was
fantastic?
We next met Linda for a tour of the Split Rock Lighthouse, which was
cool. Apparently this is the only lighthouse that still uses mercury
for something to do with the lens and turning and such. Also cool was
the Edison Amberola they had in the keeper's quarters. That's one of
those pre-grammaphone record players that plays wax cylinders. The guy
had some original cylinders and played a bit of one. Sounded pretty
good. And we went up in the lighthouse and all the usual lighthouse
stuff.
Not everyone enjoyed the lighthouse. So frustrating!
And it was windy.
You can almost feel the mercury circulating up there.
We left the lighthouse and stayed on the
Gitchi-Gami State Trail. The GGST someday will run the length of the
north shore, but now there are little pieces up it here and there. We
stayed on it until it dumped us back on Route 61.
This is what the lighthouse would look like if you missed it and ran
your ship
aground just to the south.
From there we stayed on the road until we reached Gooseberry Falls
state park. There's a nice bridge there with a display that talks all
about how hard it was to build the bridge. The visitor center was
jammed.
Then we got disoriented leaving and got on the Trail again, which took
us around until the Lake was on our right--which is very wrong. We
should have been on the road. So we turned around, climbed a big hill,
and got back on the highway. Neither of us understood what happened. I
just now figured it out.
Then we stopped at Betty's Pies for, well, pie. The place was too
crowded so we got our pie to go and ate in the car with Linda. The pie
was fine. I expect there will be more pie before this trip is done.
Then we got serious and started cranking out the miles. We cruised
through Two Harbors and got off the highway onto "Scenic" Route 61,
which was pretty much the same as regular Route 61 but crappier. Then
it rained for a few minutes. Then it dried off. Then it rained again--a
bit longer this time. Then we stopped at possibly the least interesting
historic site ever.
There was a poorly maintained monument to a town called Buchanan. The
plaque tells the story. President Buchanan opened a Land Office at this
spot. Some people moved here to be near the Land Office. Then the Land
Office closed and everybody moved away. I think the story of why
somebody put up the money for this monument would be more interesting.
I doubt even Buchanan scholars are at all interested in this site.
The Buchanan monument. People park here to get to the lakeshore.
A few more miles and we could see Duluth. We passed a local rider and
then were confronted with a big highway. I turned and looked but the
local was gone. We had missed our turn, and then we saw the local
riding on another road nearby. So we corrected ourselves and continued.
A little later we passed the guy again. Then a bike path appeared. I
looked back, but the guy was still on the road. Then the road turned
away from the path. I had a sneaking suspicion, so I looked back again
and he was gone. D'oh! Back to the path, which eventually took us down
to the lake.
Balint rides in Duluth.
The lakeshore path (which was
particularly spine-jarring) eventually took us to the trendy Canal
District, and our hotel. Dinner was Italian, followed by a visit to the
DQ, where Balint was denied sprinkles for his waffle cone. We spent the
next 20 minutes speculating on the reason. Yes, we had wine with
dinner.
Tomorrow Linda leaves us and we'll have to carry our own bags.
<sniffle>.
Next
"Upper Miss Tour 2010" Copyright © 2010 By
Bob
Clemons. All rights reserved.