Gopher the border!

When I left Arbor Vitae this morning there was some uncertainty in my route. About 2 1/2 weeks ago, when I was hunkered down in Arbor Vitae the first time, a vicious storm passed just to the north of us, complete with a tornado warning and heavy, heavy rainfall. The main part of the storm passed through Ashland, Wi., on the southern shore of Lake Superior. The result of receiving 14" of rain in 8 hours was that every road leading into town was washed out. Citizens were stranded for three days while temporary bridges were erected. To say it was a mess might be considered an understatement.

I mention this because my route this a.m. was to take me through Ashland.

Before leaving town (Arbor Vitae) I had two stops to make, one for gas, the other to buy a charging adaptor to replace one I left in Beloit. The Girls were on top of their game as I navigated around town, but for some reason they missed the launch when I headed north. By the time I realized they had gone dormant I was already at speed and chose not to stop and check on their whereabouts. Thinking I knew the route I felt it was not a big deal.

I saw this guy as I came into Mercer

Luckily he was sitting still. If he had been swooping down over the road I would have yelled "duck!"

When I came to Ironwood I stopped to look for The Girls. They were nowhere to be found. Unfortunately, neither was Google Maps. With no Wi-Fi and no G's of service my map was not showing my route. I thought I knew my route number and turned on Highway 77, travelled west until I came to county Highway 122, then turned to the north. Unfortunately for me, I was supposed to be on county 112 - close, but not the same.

County 122 was a seldom used road that had numerous 20 mph curves, each one featuring a small amount of gravel on top of the pavement, not good on a motorcycle!

County 122 came out on U.S. 2 east of Ashland, exactly where I did NOT want to be. I stopped for lunch and inquired about closed roads. Luckily Highway 2 had been restored and opened, but the evidence was still alongside the road so I stopped to take pictures

The twisted remains of the guardrail sat nearby

Once I entered Ashland I dropped one block south of the highway to check out the murals on several of the buildings. Many towns use murals to decorate/cover buildings but these were kind of unique. Usually you don't paint a building to look like... A BUILDING!

The purple curtain is also painted-on

A facade of a facade 

From Ashland I travelled west toward Superior, the first of the twin cities, Duluth/Superior, on each side of the state line. Just before arriving in the city I stopped at a historical marker explaining that Superior was the home of Dick Bong, the World War II "Ace of Aces". 

He spent most of the war flying a P38 Lightning in the Pacific, racking up 40 kills and flying over 200 missions, more than anyone else.

When I came into town I found a museum with his name on it.

The twin engine, twin fuselage plane was the bane of the Japanese war effort in the Pacific

Crossing the bridge I crossed into the 29th state of my excursion

I cruised through Duluth and headed north along the western edge of Lake Superior, eventually coming to the port town of Two Harbors, Minnesota, one of the busiest ore ports on the Great Lakes.

I found a motel that sounded interesting, The Voyageur. I figured with a name like that they wouldn't have curtains on the windows, but I was wrong. What a difference a "g" makes!

Tomorrow I continue up the coast a little further, then turn inland to the west. International Falls is on the agenda. Between I-Falls (as the locals call it) and Stanley, the national "low temperature" each winter night is spoken for.