Yoopers and Wisconsinites

Pronounced you-pers, it is the name people from the upper peninsula (UP) of Michigan call themselves.
I see why they are given a distinctive name: the culture of the UP is completely different and removed from the rest of Michigan. In lower Michigan I still felt culturally close to home. We went through cities and college towns and the economy was mostly service jobs and manufacturing, with farming in the rural areas. Once we entered the UP we immediately noticed a change. For one, there are a lot less people. Downtown in St. Ignace, where we got off the ferry from Mackinac Island, was very quiet.  And that was the 3rd largest city we went through in the entire UP.


Starting in the UP we have been following a designated bike route mapped by the  Adventure Cycling Association (adventurecycling.org).  These maps have been routed to avoid heavy traffic, have interesting scenery and go by places that provide useful services to cyclists such as water, food, and lodging.  In each town we go through the maps have icons showing what that services the town has to offer. The maps have been useful, although it is quite unfortunate that they do not include detailed topography.  It is really frustrating to bike through hills all day when you had planned for it to be flat, as we had for much of northern Wisconsin.


There are so many days to catch up on blogging about- it is very helpful that I have been keeping a quick journal to remember each day.  We haven't stayed with anyone since my last post and thus I haven't really had access to a computer.  It is possible to blog on my phone, but this is too large of a post for me to touch-type.


Before we left Mackinac Island on Monday morning, we went to the post office to pick up mail.  I got a letter from my aunt and from my friend Jess from college.  It was so exciting to get mail and read the letters on the ferry off the island.  We also got a huge package from our parents full of organic trail mix ingredients, homemade brownies, and two dried four leaf clovers for good luck.  The trail mix lasted half a week and the brownies were gone by dinner. Our appetites have increased at least three-fold since we started.


Our first day biking in the UP was by far the most beautiful.  We ate a large breakfast at the bed and breakfast, and I thought of my mom as we stashed away some muffins for the road.  This day was probably the most beautiful day of the entire trip thus far, in my opinion.  We were biking on US Highway 2, which although was quite a busy road, had stunning views of Lake Michigan. All the pictures of the beaches, and dunes were from this day.  We rode by miles of dunes and inviting waters- anywhere you wanted you could pull over and swim, which we did.  We ate lunch on the beach, built sand-castles and swam some more.  We even took naps, and had sand in our hair for days to remind us.  It was extremely windy all of our days along the shore, and zoey remarked during lunch, "Now its really a sandwich!"  Ha, Ha.


All along the road we would see signs for Pasties (pronounced Pass-tee) and smoked fish.  Pasties are basically like pot pies, from what I gathered.  In a little town called Epoufette I finally tried some smoked fish, and it was the best I have ever had.  Amazing flavor and texture, and it was caught locally in Lake Michigan.  I thought I would take some back for dinner but I finished it all in front of the store.


We rode on to the campground, and after setting up camp realized that the site had no potable water.  This was not an anomaly, as we would soon find out.  So we put on sandals and walked down to the lake, ready to purify the water and use it to cook.  Weirdly, the water in lake michigan near the campsite was tainted red, and looked contaminated with iron.  We didn't feel comfortable using it so we made due with our bottles and planned to wash dishes and refill in the next town in the morning.  For dinner we just ate canned beans, the first of many similar meals.


The next morning we awoke to the sounds made by small animals.  We had left out some chapstick on the picnic table and found it all chewed up- now we know that that should probably go in the bear bag!  We ate the newly acquired trail mix for breakfast, remarking that it was finally a good ratio of fruits to nuts that we have been trying to achieve.


This day especially had tough headwinds blowing from the south-west off the lake.  We took turns drafting behind one another, although Zoey didn't seem to mind the wind as much as I did.  We stopped for lunch in Gould City, a small gathering of houses with a welcome sign, a bar and a post office.  In the UP, that is a "town".  We arrived in Manistique and stopped at a supermarket, and were surprised to find almond butter!  It is a much better alternative to put on sandwiches for lunch than cheese, which we had been using.  The first campground we were going to stay at had closed down, so we had no choice but to do an extra 8 miles to a second one a bit outside of town.  It was a cute private campground on Indian Lake, with lots of older people who were there for the season in their RV's.  Many of them had come up from the lower midwestern states, like Arkansas, Missouri, etc. to escape the heat.  We literally couldn't sit down for one minute without someone coming over to talk to us.  One man even asked us what we thought about the health care bill and the supreme court decision, and we ended up discussing politics with him for a while.  They all gave us direction advice and told us to be safe.  It was nice to talk to them, but after the 3rd or 4th person had come over I just wanted to eat in peace! I felt a bit bad about this, but it is actually quite draining to engage in conversation when you are really burnt out.


The next day we rode to Escanaba, and that was our last day along the shore.  US 2 got busier, and when big trucks passed they kind of swept you along with them for a few seconds.  It was scary at first, but it was countered the headwinds which was a welcome rest. There are few or no national chain stores in the UP- no starbucks, no wal-mart, and only a handful of McDonalds.  Everything was very low-key and rural, and a few hours drive to go shopping was a normal thing.  It is such a different life up here, I can't imagine living this rurally, although it would be very beautiful.


That night in Escanaba Zoey and I had our first argument.  We arrived at the campsite, which was a state fair campground on the north end of the city.  We were the only ones there, and although it was in a residential neighborhood, it was eerily quiet and Zoey didn't feel comfortable staying.  I was fine with staying and was tired and didn't want to bike anywhere.  I had very little patience for listening to her concerns and was being indignant.  I have been mentlly preparing for this trip for a few years and it is hard for me to let go of my exact vision of it, even though it is obviously not going to work out exactly the way I want it.


After calling our parents and taking a break we decided to go to one of the houses and ask if we could camp on the lawn.  We saw a lady gardening and asked her.  At first she was apprehensive; after all, we were complete strangers and it was a very strange request.  That woman was Peg R., and after googling us and convincing her husband, she graciously helped us out.  We set up our tent and cooked in our little stove on the grass and ate rice and beans.  We talked with her for a while and as we got to know each other she invited us in and offered showers, laundry and bottled water.  The grassy lawn was a great cushion to sleep on and her garden was very beautiful to wake up to.


These first 3 days in the UP were through relatively high traffic and touristy spots, and the tourism industry kind of hid the economic hurts of the region.  The next few days in the UP were more indicative of the true economic situation there.  Riding out of Escanaba we saw a more raw UP- lots of logging industry and very few towns and happenings.  Logging trucks would ride loaded in one direction and empty in the other, blowing bark and chips in your face as they passed.  There were very few other cars, and no visible signs of people.  A lot of general stores were boarded up.  It was one of the most boring rides, and it was hot and hilly too.  We were gaining elevation the whole day, and missed the breeze off the lake.  This day was the first day of the heat wave, and it only got worse as we moved west.  We crossed into central time and it was exciting!  That night was our last night in Michigan.


Our first night in Wisconsin was at a national forest campground on the Brule River.  It was a shorter day, and we got the campsite early so we had time to swim and I used the river to try to plug holes in my sleeping pad.  It sort of worked.  I also took a sort-of bath in the river, which was refreshing and made me clean enough.


Our ride from Nelma to Boulder Junction was pretty, but hilly.  The Northwoods were welcoming and Wisconsin proved to be much less run down.  The people in Wisconsin were some of the nicest and friendliest we had met.  They also seemed very happy in their lives and not so down.  We continued to climb in elevation until Boulder Junction, which was the headwaters of three water basins (Lake Superior, Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River).  It was a huge fishing region and a lot of Chicagoans have cabins up there.  There are lakes everywhere you look, surrounded by pristine forests.  Unlike the northeast, lakes weren't crowded with private houses stealing the shores.  They were often untouched and left to the animals and their habitat.  I saw my first bald eagle and Zoey saw a wolf!  That day we met a really cool touring cyclist named Eric who was biking from the Twin cities and going around Lake Michigan.  He was originally from Oregon and we exchanged many stories as we stopped and chatted in a shady spot for over half an hour. We thought it was impressive that he rewards himself 1 cigarette every 50 miles, and does 70-80 mile days each day!  We ate lunch in a town called Conover, and bought local bread and cheese and made delicious sandwiches.  A nice woman named Kathy at the deli sliced our bread for us and talked to us for a while.  She was a very happy Wisconsinite!


Boulder Junction was a small but hopping town. There is lots of outdoor activity and people into outdoors things.  We met a friendly couple, Dawn and Bill S. who owned a fly fishing store in town.  They showed us cool maps and helped us find a campsite for the next night.  Bill gave us a contact for his brother in Montana, which was really sweet!  He scared us with grizzly stories- we really have to do some reading before we reach the wild west.


The next day was more of the same: hills, lakes and forest.  It was hot and humid, but we biked by many pretty lakes and flowages.  Flowages are deliberate gatherings of water; kind of a combination of rivers and lakes. We tried cheese curds that day, a big thing in Wisconsin.  They were tasty, but the texture was a bit rubbery- I like processed cheese better!


July 2nd was the first time we had miserably hot weather.  There was no shade on the road, and we rode the first 18 miles without stopping because we had pesky horseflies following us.  In a little town called Clam Lake we took a long break, calling campsites and hotels in Hayward, WI.  The only campsite was a KOA, and they had a 3-day minimum stay, so we decided to stay at a hotel.  We must have called at least 10 motels before finding the cheapest.  It was a brutal 33 mile bike to the hotel, and the owners were so impressed that they gave us the room for only $50.  Another act of kindness from strangers, and we were very happy.  After camping for so long we really appreciated the beds, the TV, the showers and the roof over our heads.


And so the heat wave had begun, and it continued.  We woke up after a great sleep, and were able to complete 30 miles by 11:15am.  We ate a long lunch, and Zoey swam in a public beach on a lake while I napped in the shade.  We started talking to a woman, Denise, who invited us to her fish fry!  Fish frys are a big thing in Wisconsin and Minnesota, and we were very tempted by her invitation.  Her family had caught all of the fish in the lake where they are renting a cabin.  Unfortunately we had to decline, as we had many more miles to do that day.  People kept telling us that we are crazy biking in the heat- I think we are a bit nuts, maybe.


About 5 miles from the campsite we saw a young woman biking, Jess.  She had just graduated from college and moved, and was biking for exercise.  After talking to us she was inspired to bike more often and attempt to make it all the way up the hills.  We spent a long time at the campsite talking to the owners and the people in the site next to us.  Those kind of days are some of the best.


The day after was also miserably hot, and a sequence of events made it unbearable.  First, we started riding late, and 5 miles into our day found ourselves in the town of Cumberland, WI.  We saw signs for a fourth of July pancake breakfast hosted by the Fire Department, and we decided to go for it.  We stuffed ourselves with pancakes, and by the time we started riding again it was almost 11am and just standing outside made me drip with sweat.  We made it 10 miles out of town with 25 miles to go when I gave in.  There is a point when I become just so uncomfortable that I can't push myself any further, and I had reached that point.  I reached out to a man, Mike, from Cumberland who I found on warmshowers.com and he was able to come pick us up and give us a ride to Amery, even though it was the 4th of July.


As we were riding in Mike's van we were talking about cars versus bikes.  I was remarking about how fast cars feel- now it is such an unnatural speed!  Mike was hitting on a key point when he said something along the lines of: "When you are driving in a car you have to see the world through all this metal and plexiglass.  And it is much more than that- it is a physical and mental barrier between you and the world.  It gives a certain message, and you put yourself in a little bubble as you drive.  You go through places but you have no interaction with your surroundings.  Bicycling is really the best way to see things." Yes.


In Amery we were at a campsite 3 miles outside of town, and spent the rest of the day sitting in the lake in lawn chairs.  We biked into town for dinner, and decided not to stay for the fireworks in town.  Little did we know that we would have a perfect view of fireworks right from inside our tent!


During dinner that night Zoey and I were trying to put a finger on the differences between midwestern culture and northeastern culture.  It is hard to generalize in this way, and our observations are probably inaccurate for most of the population.  Nevertheless, we were discussing how the midwest is much friendlier, less snobbish and more welcoming of strangers.  At the same time, the families here are very provincial, and often have live in the same place for generations and are not very open to new people moving in.  It is more homogenous here, and there is less of a transient flow of cultures.


Yesterday we started at biking at 6:06 am to avoid the heat- it was over 100 degrees that day! Our strategy worked- we made it 75 miles to Minneapolis in by 1 pm and didn't feel over-heated.  Amy wasn't out of work yet [she works for a CSA], so we went to the U Minn Library and ate chinese food. For dinner, Amy took us to an awesome Pizzeria and the three of us downed 3 medium pizzas, all with really tasty toppings.  I was so full I felt like I never wanted to eat again, but of-course that was false.


Today we got up late and hung out with Amy in her air conditioned apartment as the temperature rose outside.  I spent a lot of time writing this post, with my attention split between that and our conversations- laughing and reminiscing about the farm, and catching up on life.  We then went for a drive and saw downtown Minneapolis- such a cool place!  There are bike lanes everywhere and lots of street art.  Driving downtown I realized how comfortable I feel in cities, and it made me miss home.  My mom mailed me new tires from home, and just finished replacing them.  We went food shopping and looked at maps for the next few weeks.  Zoey is concerned that we won't make it to Portland by the time she has to go back to school for RA training, so we are mapping our days very carefully.  We just can't see everything, and we have to make hard choices about which places to go through and what is worth the time.


Lately, I've been thinking about what this trip is really about.  We didn't choose to bike across the country because we like to bike.  We did want to see the country, but what does that really mean?  


This past semester, my friend Ava from high school put together a zine that tried to answer the question: "What does it mean to be a human being in the year 2012 on an abundant and fragile planet, with memory and possibility, with people like ourselves and different, with affluence and squalor, hope and despair, with mountains and rivers and trees, with herons and cyborgs, music and urban noise, with art and TV and infinite space? ?"  Her zine was called Baby Teeth (bardbabyteeth.com) and it broke that question down to try to answer the more specific question: "What does it mean to have a mouth in the year 2012?"  I feel like our bike trip is breaking that same big question down into many smaller ones: What does it mean to be an American Citizen in the year 2012?  What does it mean to be a female cyclist in the year 2012?  What does it mean to be independent, Jewish, outspoken, determined, adventurous, concerned?


So here we are, in Minneapolis, staying with my good friend Amy who I met farming last year. Our bellies are full of yummy food, and we are meeting Amy's friends later.  It was 95 degrees out, but we are cool inside!   It just downpoured, so hopefully that broke the heat wave.  We ride out tomorrow with 1,665 miles under our belts, rested for the next leg!

Wading in Lake Michigan, too lazy to change

Zoey

While Zoey dug a hole to find the water table, I built a sand castle frog thing

Lake Michigan, UP, MI

Hay bales in WI

Forest that goes on forever, WI

Central Time, gaining an hour in style

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Little Bay de Noc, Gladstone, UP, MI

Camping at Hog Island State Park, Naubinway, UP, MI with Lake Michigan in the background

US 2, MI

Sand Dunes on Lake Michigan

YES!

Farmland in Wisconsin

My destroyed rear tire

Whooooo!

A woman, Sarah, at the table next to us at an Indian restaurant in Minneapolis had the same dress as Zoey!