Tuesday, July 01, 2008

A UP Weekend


Holy crap it's July already.

Had the great pleasure to attend the wedding of some old friends this past weekend on the shores of Lake Superior, just outside Porcupine Mountains Wilderness area. Both the wife and I went to school in the UP, so it is always a treat to head up north for a visit. The wedding and the weather were beautiful. We were able to pick up a couple of sixers of the Keweenaw Brewing Co. beer we've come to love, and we were able to take a 6 mile hike on the Pinkerton Trail on Saturday.
If you've never been to the Porkies, I highly recommend it. Very remote, very quiet and very pretty. That is if you don't like cell phones and the trappings of our modern lives. After dancing up a storm at the reception, I wandered outside to sit by the Lake. I thought to myself, "I wish there was a fire to sit by" and low and behold, there was a raging driftwood fire totally unattended just waiting for us. Sweet!
On the way there, we took Highway 45 through some of my favorite little towns like Watersmeet (aka Nimrod Nation), Paulding (home of the Paulding Light) and Bruce Crossing. The last of which is merely a cross roads with a bar called the Alaskan Connection. I was through there once in 2000. It was 18 or so below zero, and every gas pump at the town's one petrol station was filled with snow mobiles...
Monday morning, found a replacement for the Pit Bike abandoned in the yard next door. It is a Hawethorn frame, same vintage, just not bent to hell and nothing is rusted in place. I stripped it down last night, and I'm going to sand blast it at the Mainframe tomorrow before repainting it. Felt good to be tinkering with an old bike again, it had been a while.

1 comment:

lyle said...

I spent a night in Bruce Crossing a few years back due to a blown heater core. Or maybe it was because I hit a deer. One or the other, they both happened while rolling through Bruce Crossing. Coincidence?