From Three Stars to No Stars

Madison was a little disappointing this time, because of the heavy rain, my stomach's inability to function, and a certain lack of weirdness. Now we're 6 or so hours to the north, in the Twin Cities--Hurley, Wis. and Ironwood, Mich. They are our gateway to the UP. Ironwood claims to have the world's tallest fiberglass Indian, and Hurley has about five-six saloons/strip clubs per downtown block (there are about six blocks in downtown). We're in a cheeeap ex-Ramada where everything smells like feet, a far cry from the fancy Sheraton we passed out in last night, but a farther cry from the cold earth that we will attempt to camp on later in the week. When dusk falls, the UP is ruled by lake flies and deer and both species are in evidence at the moment.

Early to bed, early to rise. We're going to try, anyway.