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Da Yooper is pretty much the best place

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Doncha Know

Never in a million years would I have guessed that I would be in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Never in another million years would I have guessed that the Upper Peninsula of Michigan is a totally AWESOME place.

We have ridden through the Chippewa, Ottawa and Hiawatha forests, along several hundred miles of Lake Superior, over hills big and small, through extremely remote areas populated only by iron miners, along snowmobile trails and along 25 miles of perfectly straight, perfectly flat highway known as the "Seney stretch".
LOOK AT THAT SHOULDER
Some dense-assed forests up in da yoop, doncha know

Personality-wise, only the older folks have the true "yooper" stereotype of die-hard sausage-and-beer funnels that root for Green Bay and speak an English so stylized it's practically German. The younger folks are like young folks everywhere, and we enjoyed spending time with everyone we met, including sasquatch (he serves beer in Bergland, MI):
Sasquatch serves beer in Bergland, MI

The Upper Peninsula is short on jobs but big on culture--the Finnish and the Germans were the primary settlers up here, and the cuisine reflects it. We tried both of the culinary specialties, the pasty (rutebaga, onion, potato and meat stuffed into a pastry pocket) and the cudighi, a sandwich made out of italian sausage, onions, peppers, marinara, cheese and mushrooms. We have been discussing going on an all cudighi diet at least through the end of the trip:
The cudighi, another traditional food item of the upper peninsula

I realize I didn't really post much from Wisconsin, but it was fun too. We camped along the shore of Lake Superior:
THAT IS LAKE SUPERIOR

We also got some photos of the most metal winery ever, White Winter Winery of Iron River:
WHITE WINTER WINERY HAS THE BEST LOGO

The more time one spends documenting the less time they spend living. So it is sometimes difficult to balance the re-telling of experiences with the actually process of experiencing things. We have been riding pretty hard and we have lots to tell (and have one less person to tell the stories), please be patient as we get our words in order and our commas properly placed. We're headed into Canada tomorrow morning, so we'll likely be without internet access until Toronto, and without phones for over a week.

See you on the other side.