Day 51: Sun, Aug 2: Manistique to Ironwood MI

pastiesspiritsdeerwindpastiesspiritsdeerwindpastiesspiritsdeerwindpastiesspiritsdeerwindpastiesspiritsdeerwindpastiesspiritsdeerwindpastiesspiritsdeerwindpastiesspiritsdeerwindpastiesspiritsdeerwindpastiesspiritsdeerwindpastiesspiritsdeerwindpastiesspiritsdeerwind
... and elderly drivers!

OK, OK -- I know that looks strange, but that's the list of blog topics I had running through my mind while I was riding today LOL

First: pasties -- all the way through Michigan I've been seeing roadside stands that just say "Pasties" -- I've not yet discovered whether they are selling the pasties that you eat (as in 'Cornish pasties') or the pasties that you, er, ... twirl BLUSH

Second: spirits -- again, all the way through Michigan, near or in a lot of little towns, I keep seeing billboards that say only 'Spirits - 5 miles'. I kept wondering if table-turning or seances is a hot activity in this state, until I saw a liquor store and realized what they were referring to (!)

Third: deer: without a word of a lie, I counted about a dozen dead deer on Hwy 2, in about a 15 km stretch just west of Escanaba near a little place called Harris. I guess they lost their battle with the ubiquitous automobile ...

Fourth: wind: Today was the same as yesterday, wind-wise, presumably because we're on a peninsula here, which is between Lake Michigan and Lake Superior and getting the blast from both sides -- ye gawds, I feel quite deaf after 5 hours of riding. ICK

Fifth (and probably most important): Elderly drivers: Well, Ole Willi just about met her Maker today, and that is no lie, folks. A little old lady (presumably on her way home from church) in Crystal Falls, Michigan almost creamed me head on in an intersection ... and the sad and scary part is, I don't think she ever saw me a-tall.

I was sitting in my left hand turn lane waiting to turn into MacD's when she came at me head on, driving totally straight through her left turn lane, instead of turning left. The only thing that saved me is that I was on the extreme right hand side of my lane because I had zipped into it at the last minute. I could tell by the way she was peering through the windshield she couldn't see jack-you-know-what. Fortunately for me, she decided she was going somewhere on her right and went by me on my left, just about grazing me -- any closer and she'd have knocked me over. Jaysus!

So, I arrived here in Ironwood Ironwood about 2:30 p.m., or so I thought, till I saw a clock and realized I'd moved into the central time zone thereby losing (or gaining -- I can never figger that out!) an hour. I decided to call it a day as I'm pretty tired -- it was a noisy night at last night's hostelry and Ole Willi is short on zeds.

I think I will plant my butt and maybe read a book or somethin'

Ta Ta For Now!

EDITED TO ADD: Okay, okay -- it's about 3 hours later and I've just returned from the 'Twilight Zone' ... or maybe it was the 'Outer Limits', but anyway ... from someplace really, really wierd!

So, it's like this -- dinner time rolled around -- about 5:00 p.m., but I was ready to eat, having crosssd one time zone, so I strolled around the neighbourhood to see what might be good. The first two restaurants I tried, were both closed -- 'Sunday' is apparently not a popular day to stay open in beautiful downtown Ironwood, MI.

Anyhoo, I espied one, the 'Maplewood Bar and Grill', that looked open, so I decided to give it a try. In I went. The front of house staff were all at the front desk having a good old gossip, 'Like wow, Man ...' (you can fill in the rest).

Anyway, got seated by the teenaged hostess, got waited on by the teenaged waitress ... wait a minute -- am I in Hooter's? No, can't be -- everyone working here is so prepubescent, they hardly have boobs -- but what they do have is short, shorts up to ... wherever -- if they bend even slightly, you could prolly see what they had for breakfast, no lie!

So, I'm sitting in my booth, drinking my Merlot (no CCC coolers here, I'm afraid) and looking around and starting to realize that there are an awful lot of coke-bottle lenses looking at me. In fact, as far as customers go, well by golly, I'm the youngest person there. And all the rest of them are gawking at me through their very think lenses -- very thick cuz they are all about 90 yrs old. Wierdsville, Baby!

But that's not the wierdest part, folks -- as time rolls by and folks finish their meals and leave, they ALL stop by or wave to me and say, 'Bye Shelly, nice ta see yah, Shelly..." Frickin' frick -- apparently, I have a goppledanger ... oops, I mean doppleganger ... here in Ironwood -- very freaky. Either that, or there's only one redhaired person in town and all the oldies can't see well enough to tell the difference LOL