There probably aren’t many people who can say they summer in
the U.P. and winter in Wisconsin, but I am one of them and a quick trip to
Ontonagon this week illustrated why I leave there from December through March.
I headed north on Thursday right behind a weather system
that had dumped freezing rain and the roads were still in pretty tough shape. A
trip that normally takes me three hours drug into five and I was happy to pull
into my first stop, the local bar. I caught up on the local gossip, wolfed down
a burger, slid my way over to my cabins, and trudged my way through a foot of
snow topped by a shin-busting coating of ice just to make sure all was fine. It
was.
I then turned my truck north toward Ontonagon where I had a Friday
morning meeting scheduled with a forest service official to do a year-end
review and discuss other business. When
I arrived, Lake Superior was tossing enormous waves onto the shore and the sky
was filled with snow that lasted all night and eventually covered the ground
(and my truck) with six inches of fluffy lake snow. I had morning breakfast with
some hearty locals, including one that had recently moved back to the U.P. from
Arizona. He took plenty of ribbing for that relocation and when he said, “I
didn’t shovel snow for 40 years,” I couldn’t help but reply with, “Up here you
can get 40 years worth of shoveling in one season.” It continued to snow during
my forest-service stop and, although I enjoy snow, it becomes more of a nuisance
with each passing year.
By the time I got back to Wisconsin, the temperature had
just climbed above zero and was forecast to stay there for some time. It was
actually colder than it had been in Ontonagon, but I was still happy to be
home. Why? I don’t have to shovel cold.
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