Wednesday August 28 ... Ironwood, Michigan to Grand Forks, North Dakota

Another day spent mostly making time on the back of the bike, though we did particularly enjoy one little town, Ashland, Wisconsin, that we went through shortly after leaving Ironwood.  It is now primarily a recreation focused town, but once had huge docks where in the late 19th century millions of tons of timber and iron ore crossed through.  We drove through the town and I took lots of great pics...

Duluth, Minnesota was the next major centre we passed through.  We had originally planned to stop and walk along the waterfront but when we got into the city we were both surprised by all the smog...in addition to the bad smells, we both felt nauseous.  Grain elevators, ore docks and shipyards line the harbour of this large Lake Superior port...not sure where the smells were coming from.  Later I googled pollution for the city and was informed its one of the best in the state in terms of how little pollution there is but you could have fooled us!  You can see the smog in these photos....perhaps we just hit the city on a particularly bad day...

The map we had indicated there were only three more towns before our destination of Grand Forks, but it turns out there were many small towns along the way, so we saw lots of rural countryside and I snapped more pics from my perch on the back of the gold wing...:)

Loved this water tower's paint job...

Took this one in the town of Crookston, in honour of Easton's dad...last name Crooks! :)

This appeared to be a row of trees planted we thought as a potential wind break...wonder if they'll do the job seeing as they have no foliage on the bottom! :)

We think these are ripening soybeans...the only crop we haven't been able to definitively identify.  I did wonder why they were irrigating them and Harry said it could have been because they were under stress because of the high temperatures...

Some big farming operations...

We rode through a heat wave...temps up to 35' over the course of the day and high humidity.  Schools have been "in" this week but some of them were closing early because of the high temps and the fact that they are not air conditioned.  We both felt like dish rags by the time we arrived in Grand Forks.  After refreshing showers it was time for a light supper at a nearby hotel restaurant, a short walk and then time to call it a night.

Tuesday August 27 ... Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. to Ironwood, Michigan

Took off around 9 a.m. from Sault Ste Marie, Ontario...heading for Sault Ste Marie, Michigan.  Drove across the International Bridge between the two Sault Ste Maries. Took us about an hour to get across the US border at the other end.   Think we were in the slowest line EVER and the gal at the gate asked us tons of questions...guess two "mature" people on a motorcycle look like they need a good grilling! :)

Decided to detour a bit to St. Ignace to see the 5 mile long suspension bridge there.  When it was built in 1954 it was the longest of its kind in the world.  Today it is the third longest suspension bridge in the world. It was beautiful to behold.  We had planned to drive back and forth across it, but there was such a lovely park and viewing area before the actual crossing point that we decided to just stop there and look at it and take some pics.  There was construction on the bridge as well and traffic was moving at a snail's pace so we decided our view was plenty good enough from terra firma.

On then to Highway 28....the Lake Superior Scenic Tour.  Was surprised for some reason to see so much sandy beach here...

We were so pleased with how pretty the drive was and how MANY towns there were along the way. On the map we had consulted, it didn't look like there were many towns at all and we had rather expected lots of miles of just trees, but it seemed that every half hour (sometimes less) or so we'd pass through another settlement.  Some were small towns and villages, some looked quite properous and others not so much and there was even a city with a university (Marquette)!  And here we were concerned there might not be places to gas up!  Turns out we could have stopped and topped up the tank at will. :).  

There was a lot of variety in the drive...and that makes the time go faster.  Again we were mainly focused on making some time on the highway and didn't have too many stops planned, but I did manage to shoot a bunch more photos from the back of the bike. 

We stopped at this cute cafe for a delicious bowl of homemade turkey soup...

And at this picnic spot at Agate Falls for a light picnic supper...one of those totally unexpected places we have been blessed to come upon and thoroughly enjoy!

We saw much the same type of scenery we have seen thus far....small farms and rolling hills and lots of trees and lakes.  A very pretty route we thought...here are some of the sights we saw...

We have ended up tonight in Ironwood...had hoped to make it to Duluth but when we rolled in here just decided it was time to stop.  We were very hot and sticky as today's temps were hovering around 30' with very high humidity so we were ready for a shower and clean clothes.  We decided a laundromat would be a good way to spend a date evening, so off we walked with our dirty clothes to one located about 30 minutes away.  Once there we figured we'd earned the right to chips and a chocolate bar for a late supper/snack.  We walked back to the hotel too as we figured the chips and chocolate bar needed a walk :) and now I'm just writing this blog.  Will edit the pictures from today and include them and call it a night.

Westward ho!!!

Monday August 26 ... Pembroke to Sault Ste Marie

Not a lot to report (so I say as I start to write the, but if past posts are anything to go by I will likely find lots to say :)) ...

On Monday morning we left Pembroke headed for Sault Ste Marie.  It was along haul...left at 9 a.m. and got there about 7 p.m.  The weather was warm, temps in low 20's, with periods of light rain and high humidity.  The skies we're alternately cloudy and clear blue sky or blue sky with fluffy white marshmallow clouds. We needed to wear our rubberized rain gear for most of the day in order to keep dry but the result was the creation of our own personal saunas!:). We had one torrential downpour which came out of nowhere and lasted for a few miles and just as we were searching for some place to pull off to wait it out - it stopped.  Mother nature seemed unable to make up her mind!

I did get some pretty scenery photos that I thought I would share...

We passed through areas settled by the Amish people.  Try as I might I could not get a photo of a highway sign that warned drivers to watch for horses and buggies.  I did get a photo of an Amish farm and stooks of what Harry though looked like oats.

We did find one lovely picnic spot a couple of hours outside Sault Ste Marie so enjoyed a picnic supper and were happy for sunshine.

After a reenergizing shower went for a walk along the water (the channel between Lake Superior and Lake Huron) as the boardwalk was right outside our hotel.  Very pretty and lots to see...including some interesting art installations...will let our photos tell the tale...