UP #92: Downtowner Motel, Houghton, Mich.

We checked out that morning, only to check back in that night.

UP # 91: Downtowner Motel and Downtowner Lounge (Unaffiliated), Houghton, Mich.

he felt quite sure that he would never die [UP #90]

motel neon sign houghton michigan

drunk as fuck 2:03 EST

--------------------------------------------
Originally posted "live" on 6/17/08 at 2:03 a.m. EST. Reposted (in sequence) 10/30/08.

I don't know why this Hemingway phrase sprung into my head just after last call, though he also visited and wrote about the UP. Dan and I had been downing pitcher after pitcher of Oberon, a local wheat beer, at the Downtowner Lounge, a big lakefront bar just next to our motel. The bar was brimming with locals on a Monday night, many of them having just finished a softball game.

As we did during most of the KC Siege, Dan and I talked to no one. The next night, at the same bar, we would learn once again why that's usually the smart thing to do.

Blog/Life Update

This Upper Peninsula project I've given myself is quite a challenge. I'm not supposed to blog about anything else until I tell the entire story of the trip (which will take about 300 photographs). The feedback has been very positive, though, so I shall continue.

About fall non-work travel events, to which you are invited...

College Point Class Conflict Pub Crawl III (CPCCPCIII) happens on 11/28, Friday after Thanksgiving. It looks like we will have a very respectable turnout this year.

ABBQI, the first Austin BBQ roadtrip, will happen the weekend of 12/12-14. Amazingly this jives with my meeting schedule AND coincides with Dale Watson's only appearance at the Broken Spoke in the month of December.

Back to the UP. There will be other major news soon...

UP #89: Downtowner Motel Room, Houghton, Mich.

UP #88: Portage Lake Lift Bridge, Houghton, Mich.

UP #87: Early Summer Firewood Raffle, Twin Lakes, Mich.

UP #86: Entering the Keweenaw Peninsula via Twin Lakes, Mich.

UP #85: Syl's Cafe Exterior, Ontonagon, Mich.

UP #84: Fukowee Trike, Ontonagon, Mich.

UP #83: Stubbs' Bar, Ontonagon, Mich.

UP #82: Welcome to Ontonagon

It's a laker...in the shape of a porcupine...at a gas station.

UP #81: Ontonagon Fire Station

UP #80: Spikes, Ontonagon, Mich.

UP #79: Moon Mist and Tie Plates, Ontonagon, Mich.

UP #78: Disused Railroad Station, Ontonagon, Mich.

UP #77: Snowmobile Business Route, Ontonagon, Mich.

UP #76: Syl's Cafe Sign, Ontonagon, Mich.

UP #75: First Pasty is Served, Syl's Cafe, Ontonagon, Mich.

UP #74: Interior of Syl's Cafe, Ontonagon, Mich.

UP #73: Ordering the First Pasty, Syl's Cafe, Ontonagon, Mich.

UP #72: Ontonagon Christian Centre, Ontonagon, Mich.

UP #71: Creationist Vandalism, Lake of the Clouds

UP #70: Dead Tree

UP #69: Big Carp River

Flows south to Huron, even though it's right next to Superior.

UP #68: Lake of the Clouds

UP #67: Deer Carcass No. 2, Superior Lakeshore

UP #66: Crustacean, Superior Lakeshore

UP #65: Trout at Rest

UP #64: Trout Heading Upstream, Porcupine Mountain Wilderness State Park

UP #63: Orange Fungus, Porcupine Mountain Wilderness State Park

UP #62: Deer Carcass No. 1, Porcupine Mountain Wilderness State Park

UP #61: Rock, Porcupine Mountain Wilderness State Park

UP #61: Waterfall, Presque Isle River, Porcupine Mountain Wilderness State Park

UP #60: Erosion, Presque Isle River, Porcupine Mountain Wilderness State Park

UP #59: Rapids, Presque Isle River, Porcupine Mountain Wilderness State Park

UP #58: Waterfall, Presque Isle River, Porcupine Mountain Wilderness State Park

UP #57: Michigan State Police Post #87, Wakefied, Mich.

Posting from: Las Vegas McCarren Int'l Airport.

UP #56: Ironwood, Mich. at Sunset

UP #55: UPMobile at Sunset, Ironwood, Mich.

UP #54: Dan and Rob at Indian, Ironwood, Mich.

UP #53: World's Tallest Indian, Ironwood, Mich.

UP #52: Olkie's Bar, Ironwood, Mich.

UP #51: Non-Mailbox, Hurley, Wisc.

UP #50: Dan Texting at Hurley Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Hurley, Wisc.

UP #49: Hurley Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Hurley, Wisc.

UP #48: Hurley Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Hurley, Wisc.

It's an Apache. On a stick.

UP #47: Iron County Land & Zoning, Hurley, Wisc.

UP #46: CORKSCREW (World's Largest), Hurley, Wisc.

Just written up in the Chicago Tribune

UP #45: NIGHTFALL MOTEL, Minocqua, Wisc.

We didn't stay here, but somewhere much worse.

UP #44: Paul Bunyan's Cook Shanty, Minocqua, Wisc.

The North Woods are not without cheese.

UP #43: Finally Entering the North Country (Northern Wisconsin)

From the car window. We're northbound of Route 51, headed to Hurley, Wisc./Ironwood, Mich., gateway to the UP.

UP #42: HRTACHE, Route 51 North at East Holum Street, Deforest, Wisc.

...

UP #41: Bottle Stop Liquors, Madison, Wisc.

Another one, across the street.

UP #40: Liquor Baron, Madison, Wisc.

We're finally heading out of Madison and into the North Country.

UP #39: Rock Show, University of Wisconsin

UP #38: American College Town (Madison, Wisc.)

UP #37: Ice Cubes, Madison, Wisc.

UP #36: Engine 1 on Late Night Run, Madison, Wisc.

UP #35: Defeated by Boots, Essen Haus, Madison, Wisc.

UP #34: "Good evening, music lovers, and welcome to the Essen Haus!"

UP #33: Dan at the Essen Haus, Madison, Wisc.

UP #32: Rob at the Essen Haus, Madison, Wisc.

UP #31: Twin Boots at the Essen Haus, Madison, Wisc.

We resume with a few photos from a night out in Madison.

UP #30: Wisconsin State Capitol After the Storm, Madison, Wisc.

UP #29: Dan and Rob with Rainbow

Taken by stranger.

UP #28: City of Madison Ford Crown Victoria No. 284

UP #27: Downpour, Madison, Wisc.

UP #26: Flooded Park, Madison, Wisc.

Walking into the city.

UP #25: Oxidation, Madison, Wisc.

Walking into the city...

UP #24: Rob in Madison

Yup.

UP #23: Dan in Madison, Wisc.

We were in our Pricelined room at the Sheraton, planning our destruction of Madison. Unfortunately, indigestion would destroy both of us.

UP #22: Madison, Wisc. Manhole Cover That Was Legendarily Upended by the Mass of the UPMobile

UP #21/Dignity Hunt XX: Beating the Storm, Madison, Wisc.

UP #20: Mall/Concourse Mainteneance, Madison, Wisc.

UP #19: Floods, Fort Atkinson, Wisc.

UP #18/Dignity Hunt XX: Floods, Fort Atkinson, Wisc.

UP #17: Floods, Palmyra, Wisc.

UP #16, Floods, Palmyra, Wisc.

UP #15, Floods, Palmyra, Wisc.

UP# 14: Floods, Palmyra, Wisc.

Posting from home tonight.

UP #13: Squidy's, Palmyra, Wisc.

UP #12: Bottle Barn, Palmyra, Wisc.

UP #11: Recycling Center, Rural Wisc.

Posting from: Auburn, Ala.

UP #10: Dan in Rural Wisc.

UP #9: Cemetery Gate, Rural Wisconsin

Posting from: Decatur, Ga.

UP #8: UPhat Created

UP #7: Creation of the UPhat, Part One

UP #6: Loading the UPmobile with Supplies at Wal-Mart

Suburban Milwaukee.

UP #5: Wisconsin State Patrol at Accident Scene

Notice that I-94 is closed in the background due to flooding.

UP #4: Econo Lodge, Milwaukee

We slept late and hit the road for Madison. Major flooding turned the 90-minute drive into an all-day adventure.

As for the Econo Lodge, only the check-in area was remodeled.

UP #3 Econo Lodge, Milwaukee

We had booked double beds, but this was all we got.

UP commenceth.

Dan dreamt of a mole/bug that entered his skin and became permanent. I dreamt I was covered in legged, gray worms that crawled all over my skin and had to be peeled off. When we awoke, the sign outside said we were in an Econo Lodge near the Milwaukee Airport.

Now we're awake. We have nine days. We have a gigantic, oversized JEEP CHEROKEE MOBILE CONTINENT, because the rental car place ran out of normal cars. We have a vague semblance of a plan. We need breakfast and supplies. Then we're checking out Madison and tomorrow we head north through cheese country.


***Originally posted 6/14/08, 10:40AM. Reposted 10/2/08.

UP #2: Unveiling of the UPmobile, Gen. Mitchell Airport, Milwaukee.

This was supposed to be a mid-sized car.

UP #1: Transport Arrives

Weeks of planning get put into practice. I remember transferring onto an earlier flight to try to beat a storm in Chicago.

Here Begins the tale of the UP,

pronounced "yoop," the journey of two young men in search of meaning to the upper peninsula.

CPCCPCIII

That's the College Point Class Conflict Pub Crawl III.

Before I get started on my Michigan photonovella, I'd like to confirm that the Third Annual CPC² will take place on Friday, November 28, beginning with dinner at the Five Corners German restaurant (if it's still in business).

The bar route has lost Halligan's once again. Those on the first CPC will recall that it was seized by the NYPD and sealed. The bar was open last year, but it's out of business once again.

Details on past CPC activity can be accessed here.