Duluth, MN to Sault Ste Marie, ON – so.many.trees
Today’s journey was another 500 miles of easterly travel, from the westernmost tip of Lake Superior to the junction of it –at its other extremity – with lakes Huron and Michigan. We’re back in Canada.
Last night in Duluth was lovely, and certainly redemption for the godawful experience in Bismark the night before. The resort is right on the water, and there is plenty of ship traffic of all shapes and sizes, giving the lift bridge a good workout, and making for some great viewing from our room.
We drove out of Minnesota and into Wiscosin as we crossed the bridge from Duluth to Superior, WI. Not long after, we crossed the Michigan state line and began the long, admittedly tedious drive across the Upper Peninsula to Sault Ste Marie. None of this is interstate, so that kind of monotony was avoided, but another took its place, that of trees, trees and more trees. The towns were few and far between, and unlike the Trans Canada on Superior’s northern shore, very little of this route goes directly along the lake. So there wasn’t a whole lot to see. The terrain is flat, like the Prairies, but at least on the Prairies you can see for miles in every direction. Here you feel closed in, within an endless tunnel of mixed forest. I worked for a good part of it, until my laptop battery faded, then I actually ended up counting the mile markers for the latter hours of the journey.
We had a bit of a wait to get back across the border (after picking up Interstate 75 a dozen or so miles south, and seeing the desultory American signage: Canada – Straight Thru. Eloquent.
We’re back in the cabins in Searchmont, just outside of Thunder Bay, that were our first stop on our journey west, three weeks ago. Tomorrow, we do the final five hours to get home.
Bismarck, ND to Duluth, MN : our own little scene from Fargo
So, Winnipeg, I owe you an apology. I'd take you any day over Bismarck, North Dakota.
We stayed last night in a chain motel just off the interstate, for convenience's sake, after a very long day of travel. We'd stayed in a handful of similar places during this trip and I knew that it would be unremarkable at best, and just hoped that it would be clean (first step is always to check the mattresses and linens for bedbugs, as Tim rolls his eyes).
This place got a basic pass on cleanliness (old coffee grounds still in the coffeemaker), but had zero atmosphere, and was more than a little bit worn around the edges. No matter, right? We were only there for a few hours of sleep.
I got up at around six-ish, took the dogs out for a quick pee, and had a small breakfast. About then I noticed an angry male voice. Initially I didn't think much of it, surmising that it was someone outside getting their car packed up or something of the sort. But the voice got louder and angrier, and it continued that way for about half an hour. I looked out the window to see where the guy was at, not wanting to cross paths with him when I went for my run. Nobody to be seen. I went into the bathroom and the voice became much louder, with audible bits and pieces of sentences. I realized then that the guy was in the room right next to us, that he was very, very angry, and that he was saying things like ''(inaudible) got away with murder'' and ''(inaudible) killed my (inaudible)".
I've heard raised voices in hotel rooms before, but this time something in my gut told me that this was different. I prodded Tim awake (he was wearing earplugs and was fast asleep) and told him we needed to leave, now. He actually didn't question me, and we scrambled out a side door with our belongings and the dogs and were on the road, unwashed, unbrushed and barely awake. I don't know what ensued at the motel thereafter and don't want to.
It was an inauspicious start to the day, and the scenery was flat and unappealing even if I had felt the desire to photograph anything. It was as if the wind had come right out of our sails after a long, exhilarating cruise. We had 7 or 8 hours to do today, and it was a welcome relief when the second half of the journey took us off the interstate and onto secondary roads, through small towns and into the forest.
The descent to Duluth was lovely, and the hotel we are at is gorgeous, right on the water, with a view of the lift bridge right out our window. The dogs have had a good play in the park, I got my run in, and Tim has been scavenging in the rail yard. All is right with the world again.
Three Forks, MT to Bismarck, ND – the long and not-so-winding road
We had another long day of travel: 900km/600miles, plus another lost hour from crossing time zones.
I did a run first thing this morning and (apart from my screaming hip, protesting the long confinements in a sitting position while travelling) it was sublime: I found a couple of dirt roads that made a basic triangle of 3.5 kilometres; I did three loops and didn’t meet a single car. Distant mountains rose to the left and to the right, with lush green fields in the foreground, and horses watching curiously from their pastures.
I had no idea Montana was so vast. It stretches over 500 miles from west to east. And it can be quite remote as well. There were some anxious moments when gas was running low in the middle of nowhere, but we did find a gas station in the end.
Montana presented us with varied terrain: a mix of pastureland and rolling mountains, with snowy peaks in the distance, toward Yellowstone. The interstate paralleled the Yellowstone River for a good part of our journey.
North Dakota showed us the Badlands, or part of them, which are fascinating in their own right.
Today’s pictures were again taken from a moving car. The speed limit out here is 80mph.
Tonight we’re in a nondescript highway-side hotel in Bismarck, North Dakota. Tomorrow, onwards to Duluth, Minnesota.
For anyone who guessed about yesterday’s picture, it was the single horse on the hill.
The road home: Spokane, WA to Three Forks, MT: not so carefree highway
Today was one of our longer travel days, and added to that we lost the first of our three homeward hours by crossing from Pacific to Mountain Time.
I had a beautiful, beautiful run in Spokane this morning; having stayed at the same hotel less than 2 weeks ago, I now have my bearings and was able to enjoy the scenery and not play an orienteering game to stay on the bike path.
When I got back, reality landed with a thud…almost all of my translation customers wanted something done, including one very urgent job that was wanted within the hour. 90% of the time I love being self-employed and the freedom it brings, but sometimes it’s a real drag when you have to attend to client needs at any and every hour, and you have to take vacation on the sly. I’m grateful that things have been relatively quiet up until now, and haven’t interfered with things we wanted to see and do, but this week feels like it might be very different. I ended up delaying our departure from the hotel until 10:30 so that I could get the one job done. I’d really wanted to see the mountains, as this would be our last full day in that kind of terrain, but needs must.
We did detour south to Palouse (grassland) country, with the intention of visiting Steptoe Butte state park, but one of the roads had rolling closures and pilot vehicles, and then we managed to screw up the google maps directions, and there was no cell service to try to improvise. So we saw a bit of the Palouse, just not the exact spot I wanted to go to.
We got back on I-90 at Coeur d’Alene, and that was pretty much the rest of the day. I had my head down at the laptop for most of it, but Tim was really good about alerting me to photo opportunities, and the collection from today is all taken through the side or front car window, albeit with my good camera. I’m quite pleased with them, actually, and one in particular makes up for the missed photos at the Palouse…I’ll let you guess which one is my pick of the day by a long shot (and no, it's not one of the dogs).
We are staying at the nicest hotel of our itinerary, the Sacajawea Hotel in Three Forks, Montana, near the headwaters of the (flooded) Missouri River. It’s a lovely place, and Tim is treating himself to a (well-earned) feast in the restaurant while the dogs and I hang out in the room and catch up on email and whatnot.
The weather has still been holding beautifully, and tomorrow promises to be warm and sunny for our drive through the remainder of Montana, then onto I-94 into North Dakota.
The road home: Victoria to Spokane, Washington
(I've also added a few irresistible pictures of our final sunset in Victoria, on the eve of our departure)
We were up bright and early this morning to say our goodbyes to B&D, who are staying on in Victoria until later this week; they don’t fly home to St. Louis until Friday, yet they will actually get home before we do.
We had to be at the ferry dock 90 minutes before sailing time in order to clear US Customs before even boarding the boat. Of course we managed to get lost (again) in Victoria and arrived just in the nick of time. It was a sold-out sailing this morning, with plenty of Ironman competitors included in the mix.
After Customs, we were more or less ‘in jail’, i.e. confined to a secure area, until the time came to drive aboard. The cars were packed in like sardines in a can, and it was difficult to even get doors open, or to walk between vehicles without knocking mirrors. You have to leave your vehicle on this ferry; there is no option to stay down in the hold. So everyone piles upstairs. We found seats in the dog-friendly lounge. Soleil and Arwen were less panicky this time, but still quite clingy, and Arwen climbed onto Tim’s lap a few times and gave him a face-wash, much to the delight of other passengers.
We left a sunny, warm Victoria (the city was sparkling this morning, and all the prettier for it, compared to how it had been under the rain yesterday) and crossed the 37 km of Juan de Fuca to arrive in a dreary, cool, rainy Port Angeles, Washington. The rain did clear off as we drove eastward, and the travel gods were kind to us in and around Seattle – we made remarkably good time and didn’t face any serious bottlenecks.
Just outside of Seattle, we stopped off at a beautiful dog park, where we met up with a photographer friend – another one of those ‘imaginary friends’ I’ve met online but never before in person, though it feels like we’ve known each other forever. It was great to see J in person and spend some time with him, and the dogs adored him too.
Then we were on our way again, with four hours still to go to Spokane. The first hour went through beautiful mountainous terrain, then we made a dramatic drop to the magnificent Columbia River, and once we crossed that the terrain became rolling prairie. By this time, the rain had cleared away, and we had a bright blue late afternoon sky with feathery clouds – it looked simply stunning crowning over the endless fields.
Door to door, we had 12 hours of travel today, albeit with some down time on the ferry. But it didn’t feel like a long day, with all of the different surroundings to enjoy, as well as the breaks we took and of course the people we shared time with.