On the road again

Three weeks into retirement and it’s time to get on the move! The objectives of this trip are threefold— check out a lakeshore property on the Upper Pennisula of Michigan, look at and possibly buy an ultra light camper trailer in Vermont, and visit with my besties in Delaware.

I set off an hour ahead of schedule to just drive two hours to Duluth, MN. I was not 30 minutes down the road when I had to stop. I brake for turtles.

This one was a huge, bad ass snapper sunning just in the road. Just visible enough that someone would hit it by accident or maybe intentionally because some people seem to think that is ok. I didn’t have a stick, so I was trying to approach it to get it to move. No dice.

Then I remembered from watching many Garden State Tortoise videos in Facebook that their shells are very sensitive. So I tried utzing it along by touching its back end. It just kinda went in circles. I finally got it at least off the road and in the bushes. I hope, like Shrek (or maybe it was Shrek), it returned to its swamp

I was fighting a head wind all the way here, so it was no surprise to find Lake Superior all roiled up and a saltie taking refuge just outside thw harbor. Saltie are ocean faring ships that come through the Great Lakes with their cargo. When I lived in Duluth, every spring there was a champagne celebration when the first saltie of the year arrived. They are discernable from the lakers because they are shorter and have multiple overhead cranes to lift cargo in and out.

Being Duluth and it’s ever capricious weather, I had to don another layer to walk down the India Palace for dinner. I was asking myself why my friend Kim, whose house I stay at here has to be such a petite woman. None of her down jackets fit me and I didn’t feel like digging out my fleece, be cause like every self respecting current or former Duluthian, I always carry a fleece in my car.

I enjoyed my spicy vegetable curry and garlic naan very much. There is basically no ethnic food within a 100 miles of my home except for Mexican and one ramen place.

On my walk back to the house, I saw a laker coming into harbor. I’ll bet they were happy to get out of the chop and that the gales of November made famous by Gordon Lightfoot did not come early. Lakers are very long, 750 to 1000 feet, and flat except for the engine and crew area on the stern that can be several stories high. As many times as I’ve watched a ship come in, I will always pause to see the captain navigate the short narrow harbor under the iconic loft bridge, listen for the two short and one long horn blast from the bridge and the ship’s answering reply of the same cadence.

I need to be on the road no later than 9 a.m. to make my 1 p.m. appointment in Toivola, Mi to check out a property with 300 feet of sandy beach on Lake Superior or as we affectionately call her, The Gitch, short for her Native American name, Lale Gitchigumee.