Scattered Thoughts
While Circumnavigating the Great Lakes
Essay Posted September 7, 2007 by James E. Nelson
Chris headed off to Rochester, NY for college (Rochester Institute of Technology, RIT for short). He drives a compact car, so we followed a week later with everything he couldn’t fit into the car packed into our SUV.
Chris spent four years in the military. The military is said to change you. Some panicky Presbyterians warned us that it would dehumanize him and that he would be a very different person when he got out. Chris joined the Air Force and maybe that “dehumanization” my anti-war Presbyterian fiends were worried about takes a different form in that branch of the military. As we loaded up the SUV with his worldly goods we were reminded of how the military changed our child.
We received an urgent call: “Don’t forget my iron and ironing board. They’re in the basement.”
Unfortunately we forgot to pack his bottle of starch that sits beside the wash machine. Oh well. If his t-shirts don't have crisp and perfectly aligned creases, blame it on me.
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Other notes from the journey:
The trip took a few extra days because we chose to avoid interstates: U.S. 30 across Iowa and Illinois, U.S. 20 from Chicago to Toledo. U.S. 6 along the shores of Lake Erie.
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I had no idea there were so many historic sites in Iowa. But it seemed there was an opportunity to turn out and learn something about history every few miles along U.S. 30.
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I had never pondered just where those ubiquitous tree-shaped air fresheners for one’s car comes from. Just outside DeWitt, Iowa we passed the factory. Their logo (a huge, green pine-tree shaped air freshener) filled the side of the building.
As we passed, Brenda asked, “I wonder what it smells like in there?”
I wondered if it didn’t smell like mold and stale cigarettes. After all, that’s what most of the cars that have those sort of air fresheners smell like.
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It’s a good thing Jim and Kelly (she’s my niece) moved from Valparaiso to Sioux Falls when they did. Indiana DOT is rebuilding the Valpo exit from the ground up, so it’s a curvey, one-lane exit off the turnpike into northern Indiana. Traffic for the exit was backed up for miles. The XM traffic alert simply warned of “the normal slowdown” at that exit. It looks like they have another year of work or so before it’s back to normal.
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Traffic was light in Chicago and we buzzed through town, only waiting three or four minutes to get onto the turnpike. So we had time on our hands when we finally got to Indiana (since we didn’t have to exit at Valparaiso). I’ve heard T.K. and Connie (he’s my brother) talk about the sand dunes on the Indiana portion of the Lake Michigan shore, so we turned north instead and stayed overnight in Michigan City. We waded around Lake Michigan (just the southeastern part, not the whole lake) that evening and climbed Mt. Baldy—the tallest sand dune—the next morning. The amount of sand off the southeast edge of Lake Michigan is really beyond imagination. I’ve known about it for years, but was amazed when I finally saw it.
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U.S. 30 through Indiana (it goes south of I-80) is as boring as the interstate. There is very little of interest to see. U.S. 20 (which bumps along the Michigan border to Toledo), on the other hand, is a wonderful drive. It’s Amish country. We saw a couple of buggies, three bearded men with funny hats riding bicycles, and lots and lots of bib overalls and long dresses hanging on clothes lines, flapping in the wind.
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We found a beach to the west of Sandusky, Ohio and waded in Lake Erie. It was remarkably warm. A bit after 3:30 families began showing up and by 4 o’clock the beach was full of children.
Later we stopped off at the city beach in Sandusky. There was a matter-of-fact government warning posted on that beach. It explained that the government already knew there was excessive algae in the water and they were seeking to solve the problem. It seems that the water in Lake Erie is now too clean, which allows sunlight into the water, which allows the algae to grow, which makes the beach slimy. The notice goes on to explain that our government is trying its best to solve the problem of the clean, clear water.
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Chris tells us that word on the street at RIT that the kid who hacked the Apple I-phone is an RIT student. Know one knows whether he’ll be back this fall or whether he will be quietly disappeared by the authorities.
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Chris also said that during orientation week there was going to be a big party in one of the other residence halls one night. Since there were only a couple of people over 21 (since only freshmen attend orientation week), he wondered where they were going to get the booze. Turns out that at RIT, “party” refers to a LAN-Party. Everyone was getting together to network their computers together to play World of Warcraft. At RIT, a “party” is a LAN-party, which is distinct from a “real party,” which involves booze.
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We went to St. John the Baptist Orthodox Church on Sunday. One of the local babushkas introduced herself and said Fr. Ken was a wonderful priest, but his services were very long. I nodded and assumed that she thought we were Protestants who were used to services that were kept under an hour. Turns out she wasn’t kidding. The service was just over two hours long.
Fr. Ken, a retired Air Force chaplain, has a big booming voice, and he boomed out all the prayers from the altar, even the so-called “secret prayers” so that we could clearly understand every word he said. He even included prayers and sections of the liturgy that were completely unfamiliar to me. But he’s such a jolly priest, and the tone of the liturgy, when he leads it, was so inviting and up-lifting that time flew past.
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Sunday afternoon we went up to Lake Ontario and watched the sailboats and motor boats to-ing and fro-ing out of the marina. We also spent some time wading in the lake and got thoroughly sun burned. We went to Nola’s to eat barbecue, but it turns out they also have Cajun food and the restaurant has a French Quarter theme (Nola’s – I get it now! – New Orleans, LA). I opted for the etouffé. It was every bit as good as the stuff I had in New Orleans.
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Monday morning. We headed back west from Rochester. We’ve waded in three of the five great lakes. Only two to go! We decide to take the northern route through Ontario. Border crossing was completely uneventful.
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Georgian Bay is truly magnificent, although we had a hard time finding a public beach. After asking at an Information Booth along the highway, we found a public beach at Parry Sound. The temperature hadn’t even reached 20° (that’s about 68° American) but in true Canadian fashion, there were a number of people sunning themselves on the beach, parkas cast off to the side, oblivious to the chill in the air.
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Monday night we stayed in Sudbury. I grew up in northeastern Montana where the only radio was Canadian (CBC from Regina and CHAB from Moose Jaw), half the television stations were Canadian, and the two closest universities were in Regina and Saskatoon. In high school I loved CBC radio (mostly talk format) and listened to it nearly all the time. It seemed to me that all Canadians made fun of Sudbury. I wasn’t sure why, but Sudbury (or the Lithuanians) were the butt of nearly every joke.
On Monday evening I got a sense of why. It is probably the ugliest city I have ever been in. It has a unified architectural theme that I would call Neo-Soviet. They have just completed a new hospital. It takes a daring architectural turn. At the core it maintains that Neo-Soviet style, but all the corners and towers are wrapped in metal that for all the world look like oversized soup cans. It was bizarre! The town is located in a beautiful part of Ontario, but with the style of architecture, even the surrounding hills look dull and oppressive. There are a number of very tall smoke stacks surrounding the city. (It’s a nickel and copper mining center.) Tuesday morning it was cloudy and the place sort of felt like Mordor.
Don’t get me wrong. Like all Canadian cities, it’s very clean and friendly. But hire a new architect!!
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For dinner we went to a Chinese Restaurant. A sign in the window said they served both Chinese and Canadian food. I suppose it's just good ol' American cultural imperialism, but I found the concept of Canadian cuisine hilarious. What is Canadian food anyway? Walleye, chips with vinegar and a twofer of Molson?
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The equivalent to Krispy Kreem in Canada is Tim Hortons. Along with donuts and coffee, they serve lunch. Lunch Special #2 is a sub sandwich, a drink, and fries. Special #1 is the same thing, except you replace the fries with a donut.
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Wednesday afternoon we found a pleasant beach along the north shore of Lake Superior. We waded in the water and concluded that Lake Superior is the coldest of the five lakes. (Who’d have guessed that one?!?)
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It’s amazing how much more commercialized the shoreline is from the border to Duluth compared to the shoreline just to the north (from the border to Thunder Bay). Even though that whole area north of Duluth is part of the Superior National Forest, developers have obviously found ways around non-development rules in a national forest. It wasn’t quite Disneyland, but there seemed to be developments every mile or so. We Americans absolutely love nature and want to get back to nature, but we always seem to drag our stuff with us when we go out into the woods.
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We ate dinner overlooking the harbor in Duluth. When we came out of the restaurant it was chilly enough I wished I had a jacket. We stayed in Cloquet, MN that night, 25 miles down the highway (and 25 miles away from the lake). It was hot and muggy in Cloquet. It's amazing how much the lake moderates the temperature.
Copyright © 2007 James E. Nelson (Just Another Jim). All Rights Reserved.
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