From somewhere in Michigan...

Welcome back!

Tuesday morning we said our goodbyes to the girls, then continued driving into Wisconsin. That was bittersweet. It’s been fun having them with us, and Julia was absolutely brilliant in the way she planned this last leg of our trip. We never would have seen the lobster island or dairy people or organic farm without her. I have to say, though, that the extra space is refreshing. And something about dropping them off seemed significant, like the closing of another chapter. The West is coming.

Wisconsin was surprisingly beautiful. Rolling farmlands that ended right at Lake Michigan. We found a little park near the water to cook lunch, then continued up toward Michigan. The last couple hours of that drive were in a national forest--without a doubt the most beautiful drive since the Blue Ridge Parkway. Lots of curves, lots of hills, rapidly dropping temperatures, and a beautiful mixture of trees that reflected and translated the sunlight as it slid toward the horizon. After the sun finally dragged all the color from the sky, we pulled over to look up for a little bit. The altitude conspired with the lack of traffic and light pollution to bring us the most beautiful blanket of stars I remember ever seeing. I’ve never seen the Milky Way so clearly, or felt the curve of the Earth so profoundly. This is a cliché thing to say about stars, but I was humbled…thoroughly rooted in my smallness.

There were a lot of deer too. Somewhere in the darkness one of those deer decided it would be fun to jump toward the bright lights speeding through the woods. In a terrifying moment that seemed to last much longer than it should have, we saw his feet get caught by our car, then watched as he rolled over our hood and flipped to the ground on the other side. We searched the grass all along that stretch of road, but we couldn’t find him. It’s likely that he limped into the woods pretty injured, but there’s a slight possibility that we caught him at the perfect moment mid-jump and he ended up with nothing more than slight bruising and severe disorientation. Somehow my car wasn’t altered beyond a couple of tiny scratches and some hair caught in the front. I’m grateful for that, considering all the stories we’ve heard about cars being totaled by collisions with deer.

Our drive ended in Ramsay, Michigan, where we’re staying with a friend of Britton’s from Bradenton. Yesterday we drove up to a mountain where we took a lift to the base of a ski jump, then rode an elevator and climbed some stairs to the very top. It was a stunning view, with forest in every direction, including parts of three different states, and Lake Superior presiding all superior-like in the background. The wind was tearing through there, and the top of the jump swayed back and forth pretty dramatically. I never realized quite how intense ski jumping is until I looked over the edge of that jump. I can’t imagine sliding over that ledge on a pair of skis, but those people make it look so easy. The office at the base showed us a little video of a tournament there from the 70s, and we watched the skiers glide over the edge like it was nothing, speeding to the bottom and then soaring all the way to the field below. It was pretty beautiful how smooth the whole process looked. Except for those guys who crashed. Not quite so smooth.

The rest of the day included a small cave, a hike to a couple of waterfalls, a long overdue oil change, and an Internet stopover at a coffee shop down the road. Of course my entire Internet time was spent on e-mails and Facebook, so I’m writing this back in the basement where we’re staying. I’ve realized that if I want to do some actual writing or post a lengthy update, I have to write it before we reach the Internet or it’ll never happen. When I wrote that last sentence I thought of an old man saying “I lost my Internets” and it made me think of the Help Desk at UNF. Hi friends.

Today we took a long hike through the woods in some rain. We followed the trail to a few different waterfalls, deciding to go swimming near the last one. That was fun and refreshing, but it was also, for this Floridian, mind-numbingly cold. We’re dry now, though, back at the house with a load in the laundry and an early dinner cooking upstairs. We’ll leave here tomorrow morning, spend Friday night in Minneapolis, then make our most dramatic cut west yet. That stretch will involve camping in Glacier, which I’m excited about. Then to Seattle, where we’ll start working our way down the coast.

Thanks for reading. I’ve been getting tons of feedback from you all, and that means a lot to me. It’s good to know people are reading these. So until next time, have fun and watch out for the deer.

And love.