The Windmill Posts

Well folks, we’re getting there. Some of the signs are the scenery getting familiar, my incredibly organized suitcase packing is now chaotic, and the weather is getting colder. It feels like a mad dash to get home now, but I made myself take tonight in Iron Mountain because otherwise it would have been a soul crushing 10 hour driving day.

Crossed 10,000 miles today. That’s pretty incredible. For scale:

• Almost halfway around the planet at the equator
• Going down the Amazon river two and a half times
• I could have driven down the Mississippi river and back home almost three times
• It’s about a twenty fifth the distance from Earth to the Moon
• About 4,000 laps on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway
• It’s 40,000 Empire State Buildings laid end to end
• And that’s about as long as 4,000,000 MINI Coopers parked end to end

It occurs to me that if I were to figure out exactly how much this trip cost (which I won’t be doing) I would need to add in how much the value of my car dropped by adding 10,000 miles. My trusty little Rocinante. When I left I felt like it was an extension of my driving body, but now it’s something more. Someone I have been in battle with, sharing the experiences of so many onramps and offramps.

I will likely be making a shortish post tomorrow, as I’ll be at home and either busy unpacking or just laying on my comfy bed. I will have a followup post or two. I still want to cover the logistics and packing tactics as well as a review of what was useful (many things) and what I shouldn’t have brought (very few things.)

Weather

Today’s weather was crazy! A beautiful start to the morning, crossing the Mackinac Bridge in clear skies and just a bit of dawn light hanging around. Some serious dark clouds to the north, but my sister and I talked about the weather. Lake effect snow is just a reality in these parts, and can be intense but short lived.

The first time I hit what I’m calling a micro blizzard it was sudden. A few flakes of snow turned into a huge snowfall limiting visibility to hundreds of feet, if that. I followed the road by following previous vehicles tracks in the snow. There were not many other vehicles, so this petered out eventually. I felt like I was in the scene from Finding Nemo where the speedboat is zooming away. Follow the bubbles and engine turbulence as well as the wake. Eventually it just becomes the engine, then finally, nothing to follow.

I wasn’t sure about stopping and waiting it out. It was coming down fast enough that I would be covered fairly quickly, and just being on the shoulder put me at risk of a plow coming through. I was close enough to the Soo that I just pushed on, running about 35 miles an hour in a 65. Constantly watching in front but also my mirrors to see if anyone is about to pass me. Eventually I got to my exit (last exit before Canada) and found a bit more visibility in town. The plows had hit the city streets well, and I had already seen a couple on the highway in the other direction. They were serious about making the roads more safe. Heroes!

As fast as it came, the micro blizzard gave way to blue skies and clear roadways. Like nothing had every happened. That was all after I left the Soo though.

The Soo

Sault Ste. Marie, or “The Soo” as most people call it, is the canal between Lake Superior and the lower Great Lakes. It’s usually got some boat traffic, and it’s often very busy. Because it’s so close, in the summer you can get on a viewing platform that puts you dozens of feet from the boats. You can even talk to deskhands if they’re not busy, floating by at a few miles and hour. I’d been to the Soo twice before and always vowed to go on my way home from my sister’s, but you’re always in a hurry to get back. Well not this time! Visibility sucked, it was really cold, and I loved it! I really want to go back in the summer so I can pillage some of the gift shops for some good boat souvenirs.

I was also happy to see random pickup trucks pulled over with a guy standing, watching a boat go through. Boatnerds unite!

The Seney Stretch

The Seney Stretch is, as Atlas Obscura says, the most boring road in the state. Of Michigan. I’ve actually done it before, but I felt like it was appropriate for this trip, and it only added 15 minutes to the overall day. It’s a long stretch in wilderness, so there’s really nothing to see. And it’s a straight line. So I understand how some could call it boring, but honestly it was very pretty, and it takes an awful lot for a road to bore me these days. Honestly there are other Michigan stretches that are far more boring, and much longer! The Stretch is actually fairly short.

The stretch starts at an intersection which is the town of Seney. There are a bunch of signs pointing to different highways and the towns they can take you to. All directions except the stretch. Ominous! It’s mostly forest mixed with some wetlands. Pretty common Michigan/Minnesota landscape. when I look out at a huge marsh and there’s a tree growing there, I think about how it’s likely that no human being has ever touched that tree. I also think about the creatures that linger just out of sight – or a mile into the forest. Bears, Moose, Elk, Deer, cats, unabombers. You just never know what might be watching you.

I play something I call the distance game. You pick something as far as way as possible, like an antenna or hill or turn in the road. You look at the odometer and remember the mileage. When you reach the far object, look at the odometer again and calculate the distance. Up in northern Minnesota it’s often 3 or so miles. I’ve seen eight before, and on this trip some of the Texas stretches were so far you couldn’t pick out a far object, it was just the vanishing point. The Seney stretch had some of these, which is impressive.

Tomorrow: Home! But not before catching at least one geographical oddity.

Deets

• States: MI
• Departed: 8:02 am EST, 18 degrees
• Original ETA 12:11 pm EST
• Arrival: 1:30 pm CST
• Warmest/Coldest: Death Valley 90°, Iron Mountain MI 2°
• Weather: Blue skies and sunny alternating with low visibility blizzards
• Music:
  • Dash and Lily – Complete soundtrack playlist
  • Decemberists – The King is Dead
  • Mix

Observations

• “I imagine this is what is would be like to drive a cartoon car” – my Sister after driving my car
• Escanaba was so quiet I used cruise control down the main drag – which is usually packed with summer traffic.
• Entered the Central Time Zone!
• My car was so encrusted in show I had to scrub parts of it with the snow brush.
• The proximity sensors for the backup camera were encrusted and complained there was something Very Close.

Pictures