Tricks, Returns and Events

Boy, this spring surely didn't want me to have to miss winter like I thought I did!  Nearly every time I had to drive to the big town, I drove through snow, freezing rain or slush.  But I didn't have to shovel, and I didn't get to go skiing.  And after being acclimated to an Arkansas spring, I really couldn't put on enough long underwear to stay warm.

So I stayed inside a lot.  I was just plain cold.  Shivering with the wind.  Deploring the precipitation.  Preferring to stand in front of my wood stove and think about the sunshine.  That experience, of feeling trapped in my house because of the weather conditions, made me understand a term that I never understood before.  

Cabin fever.   

Cabin fever does not mean you yearn to go to your cabin.  It doesn't mean you are sick while being in your cabin.  It means, that with every fiber of your being, you want to get the hell out of your dwelling and soak up some rays.

So thank you, crappy Keweenaw spring.  Now I get it.

But this whole week has been sunny!  It's funny because Brady P and I get out to throw rocks into the big lake each day it's tolerable.  And I know darn well that other places are 70 degrees in this sunny weather, but we are at 50.  Especially by that big lake.  Her Majesty, Lake Superior.  I don't mind.  I have jackets to wear.  And the rocks are usually warm, so I just lay in them gratefully.

Today I submerged my foot in the lake.  Usually, by this time, I would have dunked myself in her glory, but the air has never been so warm to make me wish I was cooler.  Today, however, I accidentally threw back a rock that I wanted to keep.  It wasn't too far out, so I just took off my shoe and sock, stood carefully with my shoed foot on a protruding rock and stepped in with my naked foot.  Sure it was chilly, but my motivation kept me warm.  Braeden thought it was pretty neat, too.  Not an exciting story, but a story.  Wink.

Guess who is back in the harbor?  The bell buoy.  It came back on the 3rd or 4th of May.  I looked for it one morning, to no avail, and by the afternoon, there it was!  What the heck, bell buoy!  How do you always sneak in on me?  After my 11 springs here, I have never once witnessed its return.  But I guess there are worse things in the world.

The Isle Royale Queen, however, I greet each time she returns for the season.  The captains now come off the boat and say, "You're always here for this trip, Amanda.  You're like a tradition now!"  Yes.  Yes, I am.  Because Isle Royale has such a big place in my heart, and the Queen is what gets me there.  So yeah, I like to greet her upon her return from the Portage Canal.

The Harbor Haus has reopened.  Jamsen's Fish Market and Bakery is open Friday through Monday.  Some of the gift shops open up -- at least on the weekends.  So we're getting back into business around here.  It's kind of nice to see some more activity around town.

And the biking and hiking trails are open!!!  Alleluia.  I got to go for my first trail ride a few days ago.  Man, that felt good.  And I am stoked for more rides to come!

Not much for blooming life yet, however.  I believe that the hepatica has been the only wildflower I've seen so far, but the arbutus are soon to follow.  No leaves on the trees, but some of the buds got brave and popped.  The waterfalls are still pretty rockin', and lake levels are high.  Still no bugs -- for the most part.

There are some events coming up.  I hope you can read through the glare, as I took pictures of the posters already hanging on the general store's door.  Keeps it authentic, right?

Please note that the Zik is actually July 1st.

Well, maybe we will see you up here for one of these!  Take it easy.

Impassable Roads in Keweenaw County

Cold enough for ya?  Cripes.  Lake Superior really wants to freeze all the way across, doesn't she.  Here's an image of the Big Lake as of Monday, January 27th.  The gray is the ice.  Oh, boy.

Ice taking over the Big Lake

Schools are cancelled and all that.  This last week has been pretty intense for weather.  Here are a couple examples.

Wednesay Night

Errrrrrrr.  Errrrrrrrr.  "This is a message from the Emergency Broadcast System.  Accumulating snow, drifting snow and impassable roads are in effect for Keweenaw County.  All roads in Keweenaw County are closed."

That was looming since I was working at the Bear Belly Bar and Grill in Lac La Belle and had to drive home.  "You better just stay in Cabin 1 tonight," the owner told me.  Bless her heart.  But Aaron and I had a friend driving up from Green Bay that day.  If he could make it, I would go for it.  "It's not that bad," was the report.

So I buckled up and mustered up some courage.  The snow was a heavy six inches deep on the unplowed roads.  I revved the VW (front wheel drive) and gave her heck up the steep hill that passes Mount Bohemia.

Gunning it in third gear, the menacing tire tracks in the road from drunken snowboarder stunts threw my own tires out of any possible tracks.  Second gear.  Spinning tires.  First gear.  Stopped.

Stopped in the middle of the road half way up this steep hill.  I was just hoping that nobody else was going to be on this road.  Nobody.  Then I could maneuver however I had to to get out of this mess.

I took a couple deep breaths and got my wits together.  Rocked her back and tried to gain some traction forward until my spinning wheels became useless.  I could barely steer through the muddled tracks and deep snow.  Well, Cathy said I could stay in Cabin 1 tonight, I reminded myself.  And I tried moving forward again.  And again and again.  Baby steps.

Someone was rooting for me because I made it up the hill revving the engine a handful of times in the red zone.  If you've ever driven a manual transmission, you know what that means.  At least I got the carbon out!

Once the grade leveled out, things got easier.  I had to drive in the only set of tracks on the road... in the other lane.  Now I was really hoping nobody else was going to come down this road.  Leaving those tracks surely meant I would come to a halt again.

Approaching the sharp right hand, uphill turn onto 41, I had already decided I wasn't going to stop at that stop sign.  Keep her in second and just go for it.  That would be my only hope of making the turn.  

At Highway 41, the impossible became reality.  It was plowed!!!  I was giddy.  My lane was plowed when the roads were "Closed" in Keweenaw County!  Granted, anyone else driving that road would have been in my lane too, but now I had dibs on the clean lane.  Somebody out there loves me.

Five miles later, I was at Medora -- the most dreadful part of the Covered Stretch in blowing snow.  Now, you are not going to believe what I went through here.  Somehow, the road looked darn near zambonied, and I could see a part of the road I hadn't seen in weeks: the yellow lines.  Yahoo!!!  I just followed the yellow lines to keep me in the middle of the road through all that blowing snow.

I made it home with a big smile on my face.

Friday Night

Friday, I was also working at the Bear Belly in Lac La Belle.  Since it was a weekend crowd, I didn't get out of there until 11:30 pm.  A Blizzard Warning was in effect, but nobody sounded concerned like they did Wednesday.

I made it up the Bohemia hill full throttle without stopping.  Highway 41 had about three inches of mashed snow on it, so I went a bit slower there.  Visibility was pretty good.

Until I got two miles before Lake Medora.

Where did all these huge flakes come from? I wondered as I started my useless windshield wipers and squinted out the only clear parts of my windshield that changed with every swipe.  By now I was back into third gear.

I couldn't even see any of the road signs that usually let me know I'm getting to Lake Medora.  I only knew I was there because, suddenly, I couldn't see anything at all.  Second gear and 12 mph.  I couldn't see anything out the front, so I looked out my side windows to make sure I was half way between the banks.  I was not, I repeat NOT going to get sucked in the drifts at midnight.

White knuckles, deep breaths and side window glances got me through to Medora Road.  I could sort of see the mailboxes there by then.  And in another mile, I could see well enough to shift her into third gear.

Almost there.  Almost there. became my mantra.  I had to make it home soon because I called Aaron an hour ago, and I knew he would start to look for me soon.

The rest of the trip went well enough.  Whew.  I was so grateful to be home safe.  That was the longest it ever took me to get past Medora.  But I guess it was a trade for that easy time two nights before.

Moving On

So yes, the Polar Vortex is upon us.  We used to just call it winter, but I guess the authorities like to dramatize things.

Here is a little slice of Hunter's Point's Vortex from, um, a few days ago!

Looking at the ice from Hunter's Point Beach

Okay.  Now I have to catch up on the rest of my projects that I couldn't do while the power was out.  Take care!

Covered Stretch Driving Hazards

I don't want to worry you, but I do want to tell you about the unique experiences I have on my commute from Copper Harbor to Lac La Belle for work. All the possibilities listed below may not happen on the same trip, but they have all happened at some point.

This commute is on the "Covered Stretch" of Hwy. 41. Covered because the tree branches touch each other from above on opposite side of the road, creating a tunnel effect. If you've ever driven this stretch in the winter, you know it can be treacherous.

Two areas of this 17 mile drive are on the lake shore. The first (on the way south) is at the lighthouse overlook spot, where the north winds rip off Lake Superior and into the Harbor. The second is at Lake Medora, which is frozen, creating snowy plains for the wind to whip over.

Before I go into more detail, I would like to add that I have been driving this route with extreme caution lately. I won't even shift the vehicle past forth gear.

Here are some examples of what I (or anyone) encounters on the Covered Stretch:

Widowmakers. These are limbs that hang above the driven part of the road. They get extremely heavy with snow. Often the snow is four times as thick as the branch! And since the old limb isn't used to bearing so much weight as it sinks lower and lower in the air, it can snap off at any time either landing on a passing vehicle or on the road for someone to run into with their car.

Unplowed roads. I admit Keweenaw County usually does a great job keeping the roads clear. But on weeknights when the snow is pummeling the earth, they may not always think the tip is a priority. So, one might expect to barrel down the curvy roads with 5-7 inches of snow under their tires. This is a great time to follow someone else's tracks.

Whiteout. "Oh, my God, I can't see a thing!" And it's even worse at night time. Sometimes 15-25 miles an hour will be the top speed when visibility is nilch. This is when you take your time, and definitely keep your lights on during the day.

Tire whiteouts. This occurs when the person ahead of you is driving just fast enough where you can't pass them, but slow enough for you to be somewhat on their tail. (NEVER drive too close to the car in front of you, by the way.) The snow from their tires creates a mini-blizzard for you to drive through, and you can't see anything... sometimes not even their tail lights. This also happens when larger vehicles pass you from the other direction and kick up a cloud of snow, and it lasts a few scary seconds.

Ice. Cripes. Luckily it usually snows enough to keep this category at bay. But when it thaws, and the sun melts the snow, ice is the product. I would go even slower on this around those curves than I would in the snow... snow at least has traction.

Drifts. Oh, this is the most oxymoronic item to tackle. So you're driving past the lighthouse lookout shore or Lake Medora. The wind is picking up every flake of snow and setting it in neat piles intersecting your lane. That blowing snow is also impeding your vision. You have to go fast enough to bust through the drift, but you have to go slow enough, so you can see where you're going. This is where I always white-knuckle it and pray that I will make it through without being stopped cold by one of these sleeping polar bears or miss a curve because I'm pushing the limit. I tell you, after I make it through these sections, I thank my lucky stars.

So, who wants to come visit me?