2014-17. Across the Northern MidWest: Chicago to Montana.

June 2014

    When we departed Marilyn's cousin Tim and wife, Jane's, home in  Naperville, Illinois, I dropped Marilyn at O'Hare so she could fly home. Then I meandered north along Lake Michigan to Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Steel plated Pierhead Lighthouse marks the entrance to Milwaukee Harbor from Lake Michigan. 

    I made my way to the lovely home of my cousin Karen and her husband, Jim. Besides having a real Milwaukee red barn on their property, they made my Wisconsin visit so amazing. It was wonderful to be with someone who was so important to me when I was growing up, a role model and just a nice person. 

Jim & Karen's.

Jim & Karen's lovely red barn.

Karen & Jim's yard has some of Marilyn's favorites: peonies & bearded iris.

    A day trip to Old World Wisconsin, a living history town, brought the rugged life of the early settlers to life. The day was capped by a great sushi dinner. I might add I took many of their mosquitoes with me as I headed north, where I camped on Lake Superior.

Camped on Lake Superior—along with a few of my new best friends, giant mosquitoes.

Lighthouse on Lake Superior.

Ashland, WI, on Lake Superior. Abandoned ore dock.

Mural of the Ashland Ore Dock, with ships that plied Lake Superior below, including the Edmund Fitzgerald. 

    Shipwrecked in a storm on Lake Superior in 1975, with a loss of the entire crew, the Edmund Fitzgerald was memorialized by Canadian folksinger Gordon Lightfoot in his 1976 ballad "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald."

Ashland, WI, breakwater & lighthouse.

The MRV at the Ashland ore dock.

Siesta on LakeSuperior.

Bald eagle—there was a deer kill nearby.

Life isn't easy in the far north.

Ashland, WI, harbor.

I spotted a quilt shop for Marilyn for when we come this way again.

    From Ashland, WI, I continued along Lake Superior, crossing into Minnesota.

Duluth, Minnesota.

Hibbing, MN, Dylan's home town. It seemed an appropriate time to get out my guitar.

Firebombers in Hibbing.

  

It was a dark & stormy night, but the MRV & I made it out in the morning. The water pipes in the campground were still frozen—in mid-June!

Karlstad, MN, about 35 miles south of the Canadian border.

Continuing west I crossed into North Dakota.

North Dakota farmland.

    North Dakota is almost 71,000 square miles and fewer than 750,000 people. Our home town of Visalia has just over 36 square miles and a population of nearly 128,500. Of course, there are many areas of California that are wide open—and protected.

* * *

    

    Marilyn is now in the Bay Area to spend time with family celebrating the end of son Andrew’s pediatric residency (and coincidentally to spend time with her seven-month-old granddaughter, his daughter). As I said, the road at times was not her friend, but she stuck it out and is talking of the next trip, which makes me happy. 

    I continue west, attempting to stay just south of the Canadian border, as I journey toward Seattle to see my wonderful daughter, Katie, and her awesome husband, Javier.