Day 47 Friday 8/21/09 Ontonagon to Baraga, MI

Day 47 Friday 8/21/09
Ontonagon to Baraga, MI
50 Miles
2159 total miles

The hard winds and drizzle blowing 20-30 mph out of the north across Superior continued through late morning when I realized that the storm might not break as early as predicted and it would soon be time to go if I wanted to make any progress at all today. I struck out for Baraga to the east and collected many raindrops along the way. This is the wettest I have gotten so far and even the raincovers on my panniers were saturated, in fact they had each collected pools of water which was hanging in sagging bags from the rear, probably adding a few extra pounds to the load. I decided to stay the night at the Ojibway Casino hotel in Baraga to dry out and unpacked everything to make sure I got everything as dry as possible. I also learned from the book I'm reading, "The People Called the Chippewa" by Gerald Vizenor, that Baraga is named after an Austrian Catholic missionary Frederic Baraga, who built a church and house on Madeline Island in the 1800's but was a great interrupter of indigenous culture in his zeal to Christianize the locals. He later became a bishop for his efforts. If you ask around, not too many locals know that history. Vizenor gives some sobering statistics regarding the percentages of land still in native hands out of the original lands that were designated as reservations. In some cases it is less than 8% of the original landmass. So over time, the already bad deal these tribes/bands received became worse through private sales to timber and mining concerns and other opportunists. The reservation casino/ hotel phenomenon is another story. I have passed through several reservations during my trip, not all of which have these enterprises. Apart from the night I would have spent on the Bad River reservation, I haven't visited any of these casinos.This operation is clean and modern, with comfortable rooms and nice amenities-- they even have an arcade and bowling alley for the kids. My only complaint is the cigarette smoke which travels throughout even the non-smoking sections of the hotel. I met some locals at the bar who were amazed about my trip, one of whom told me to expect the local TV station in Marquette to stop me as I rolled into town there tomorrow! I might fly under the radar and take an alternate route!

Day 41 Saturday 8/15/09 Cass Lake to Grand Rapids, MN

Day 41 Saturday 8/15/09
Cass Lake to Grand Rapids, MN
57 Miles
1821 total miles

After 2 very relaxing days in Cass Lake it was time to hit the road again. The weather was very heavy and overcast, but at least the clouds gave some cover and the temps weren't as high. I rode through the Leech Lake Reservation and Chippewa National Forest and met another rider, Kevin Smith, of St. Cloud, who is in training for a ride of his own, down the Mississippi this coming September. We rode together from the town of Ball Club ( yes there is such a place!) to Deer River where we stopped for lunch. Not long after lunch, Kevin's crank fell off and he stopped for repairs and I kept going. The sky got very dark and a torrent came down. I took shelter under a gas station canopy for a while and waited out the storm. Heading east out of deer river, route 2 is all torn up for construction and I switched over into the construction area to get away from the 2way traffic and no shoulder on the eastbound lanes. With the exception of frequent piles of dirt in my way, sany surfaces, and mud, it worked pretty well and I was able to ride most of the remaining ride to Grand Rapids without fear of getting crushed by a semi truck. Once in Grand Rapids, I instantly knew that this was a paper mill town-- and the air was really heavy, just getting ready to burst open again. With the hopes of getting osme quick shopping done and continuing for another 20 miles or so before camping for the night, I headed into the grocery store, and just as I concluded my shopping the sky opened up again-- very wet! I decided against sloshing through the rain and opted for a cheap motel room tonight, with the complete luxury of fridge, TV and microwave. Ahh civliziation! Tomorrow it is supposed to rain some more, showers mostly, and I have to make up some lost time and distance if I want to make it to the UP of Michigan and a host there by next Wednesday night.