Hurley, Wisconsin, July 16 — If I had known I would spend 25 hours in Eastern Time I might have gone ahead and switched the cameras. (And then I found out I had set the wrong date on a camera anyway, because it doesn’t hold the date after the batteries are swapped out. Oops.)
Route: M-26 to end, US 41 to end, US 41, M-38, US 45, US 2
The Upper Peninsula is beautiful to drive through. Once. In July. It was very pretty, but I could only go about 40 mph because of all the curves. Strong thunderstorms had moved through before I started, but then it was sunny and I could see water evaporating from the road (and also on M-38 later).
I pulled up to the Copper Harbor Lighthouse tour about 10 minutes before the noon tour left. There was a handful of other people on the boat out to the lighthouse, and then we ran into a pair who canoed(!) out.
Copper Harbor Lighthouse
After that, I drove up to north end of US 41, and so did a half-dozen other vehicles right after me. For a road whose paved part dead-ends it was a popular place. After a short stop at the visitors center, I started driving down 41, which like 26 was very winding and tree-y and didn’t open up until much later.
About 2.5 miles south, Miami is still 1990 miles away. The accuracy of that number may be debatable because of assorted reroutes.
First intersection for US 41 on the way to Florida. I’ve been on part of 41 in every state now.
In Calumet, I stopped at the Keweenaw National Historical Park museum but first I needed to eat; it was nearly 3 PM EDT. (While there is a place to eat in Copper Harbor, the use of Comic Sans on the sample menu disagreed with me.) I asked for some advice, got it, and walked to Joe’s Pizza, where I proceeded to order a pizza bread and “hot cheddar bites.” Hot, as in spicy. Ohhhh. *drinks gallon of water*
The museum is relatively new, lots of light colored wood in a building formerly the Masonic Temple. There was 14-minute documentary about mining in the area. After a strike in 1913, production began to wind down as the West became more profitable, and another strike in 1968 killed the rest. Calumet was a very multi-ethnic city, as many were at the time, but population plunged after mines closed. Downtown was brick paved in 1905. Number of churches cut in half. Very much a company town with company chipping in for churches, schools, library, fraternal groups (had a room on that too).
Left when the museum closed at 5 and still had <100 miles on the day. Of course, it was very light outside, what with this part of the UP being in Eastern Time for no good reason.
Followed 41 south, encountering a long delay for a long one-lane construction project at the Baraga County line. At Baraga I took M-38 east, where I had two separate short heavy downpours while the sun was visible, and saw two does along the way.
US 45’s trees are closer in than US 2’s are in places. I clinched 45 in Michigan by going to Land O’Lakes WI and turning around, which also gave me another Wisconsin county.
Got to Ironwood area about 8. Road is four lanes with turn lane west of M-28. I ended up at the Days Inn in Hurley, just into Wisconsin, at the north end of US 51.
New counties so far: 30 (4 NE, 2 SD, 14 MN, 4+1 WI, 3+2 MI)