By Wayne Brew | September 11, 2017

Day 1 – A long drive to ‘start’ my adventure

The western portion of Route 2 starts in the Upper Peninsula (UP) of Michigan, which is almost 1000 miles away from Philadelphia. So the first day of the trip was along limited access highways that are familiar. Day 1 was successful covering about 800 miles and finding a quiet rest area along I-75 to sleep in my car with a bathroom nearby.

Day 2 – Let’s go!

I got an early start and was able to get to Mackinaw City to watch the sunrise and have a cup of coffee with a bear claw Danish. Route 2 officially starts in Ignace, MI, but in the past it started at the border with Canada in Saul Saint Marie. I had found the original route on historic maps and followed it down to Ignace.

The iron mines of the UP attracted skilled miners from the Cornwall region of England who brought their food culture along. Pasties are beef, potatoes, and onions wrapped in pie dough and baked. They are traditionally shaped by filling one half of a circle of dough and folding it over and crimping the edges. Pasties (pronounced pass-tees) are not to be confused the pasties (pronounced paste-tees) worn, enough said. Pasties were designed for miners to take into the mines. Once baked they can be eaten hours later without spoiling. The crust allows the miners to eat their food by holding the crimped part keeping the rest clean. Traditionally the crimped edges were feed to the rats who acted as a warning signal for collapse or poison gas. If the rats are running the miners ran with them. The mines are closed, but the food-ways live on. I grew up eating pasties in Wilkes-Barre, PA as part of the Welsh miner tradition. They are not usually found outside of mining districts, but other cultures have similar food items, empanadas for example. In this area there are two spellings.

The UP is now a summer vacation getaway along Lake Superior so there are many motels and resorts along Route 2. Some have seen better days. Day 2 ends in my tent in a National Forest campground.

Day 3 – Minnesota don’t ya know

I was still waking up when I saw the wonderful chain-saw sculptures of Grizz. My encounter with the upper mid-west dialect (think of the movie Fargo) was ordering coffee at a McDonalds outside of Duluth, MN. Of course they thought I talked funny too! One of the dilemmas of road trips is the temptation for side trips and I had to think about a pilgrimage to Hibbing, MN to honor the birthplace of Bob Dylan. I decided the three-hour side trip was not going to happen.

It was getting late in the day so I did not have time to stop at the sugar beet museum, but I did stay at the “Plaza” (see my Instagram) in East Grand Forks, MN. I do not think our president owns this one...