A Dirty Wild Dog Rides to God's Country to Visit Da Yoopers, Eh.

[Ama ride ride]

:thumleft: :thumleft:

Nice report.

 

[big oil]

Big Oil I'll subscribe and read this thread/RR once back in SA since I csn unfortunately not see your pics here on Gough Island. Think the host you are using is blocked for us.

Sent from my SM-T231 using Tapatalk

Cool, Tom, hope you’re well out on Gough and eating your fill of fresh fish  :thumleft:.

Yes, once you’re back I hope you enjoy my report, just expect good pics, not TVB quality pics.  I was wrong about what camera I have.  I previously stated I owned a Canon T3i, after closer inspection, it is a T2i.  Some pics are shot with an iPhone 6s.

Have a safe trip back home and then take a ride on your Honda.  :thumleft:

 

[big oil]

Love this thread.

Big Oil, I am most impressed by the word 'bakkie' in your report.

Thanks for positive feedback, Sir Nigel X  :laughing4:

My limited Afrikaans vocabulary consists of maybe 5 words on a good day, bakkie and braai being 2/5  :lol8:

 

[big oil]

Nice one, I see you are also AWB! ot: eepwall:
Hehe, Not the type with the Nazi notions but an All Weather Biker!
That Ducati is nice.
I am enjoying your viewpoint and the way you do things.
Thanks

Yes, I’m not sure how smart I am for being an AWB.  Normally I wear my Gore-Tex suit when rain is forecasted.  Unfortunately, on that riding day, rain was NOT in the forecast, but Lake Superior can change the weather by the minute. 

Thanks for the Ducati compliment.  I love the old girl, she’s much fun to ride and hear, unfortunately, I feel like a circus bear riding a unicycle when I’m on her.

Hope you’re well, Sir Oubones  :thumleft:

 

[big oil]

:thumleft: :thumleft:

Nice report.

Thanks, Sir AMA ride ride  :thumleft:

Glad you’re enjoying my report.  About 4 or 5 more days of riding on this trip to report on before conclusion.

 

[big oil]

So much for a restful nights sleep  :xxbah: :xxbah:  I had forgotten to turn my ringer off on my iPhone.  At 1am I received a few drunk or crazy text msgs from a friend.  I was in no mood to read or listen, so I shut my ringer off and tried to go back to sleep with zero luck.  I laid there most of the night, listening to the rain, cold, and slightly pissed off.

I got out of my tent to drain the main vein and to see if the neighbors fire was still going, but no luck, the rain had finally extinguished the raging fire by the middle of the night.

Oh well, what can one do.  I added a layer and got back in my sleeping bag and laid there till morning, at least I was warmer now.

Eventually, I couldn’t lie there anymore, got up took a walk around the campground, then went and got the camera, and walked down to the shore to grab you WD’s some pics of the beautiful lake with an early calm.

 

[big oil]

A rough night called for some feel good food from one of my favorite spots in the Keweenaw Peninsula, a Finnish restaurant
named Suomi, in downtown Houghton, Michigan, same city I’d eaten at the night before at the Ambassador.

Here’s the Suomi.

 

[big oil]

I was frothing at the mouth for some tasty Aamiainen, Finnish for breakfast.  Anything you order
at this restaurant is delicious, with lots of choices on the menu.  If you ever happen to find yourself
n the Keweenaw Peninsula, do yourself a solid and eat breakfast at the Suomi.

 

[big oil]

After filling my belly with delicious food, I went across the Portage Lift Bridge to Porvoo Park to snap some pics of the bridge facing east.

 

[big oil]

Portage Lake Lift Bridge​

The Portage Lake Lift Bridge (officially the Houghton–Hancock Bridge) connects the cities of Hancock and Houghton, in the US state of Michigan, across Portage Lake, a portion of the waterway which cuts across the Keweenaw Peninsula with a canal linking the final several miles to Lake Superior to the northwest. US Highway 41 (US 41) and M-26 are both routed across the bridge. It is the only land-based link between the north (so-called Copper Island) and south sections of the Keweenaw peninsula.

The original bridge on the same site was a wooden swing bridge built in 1875. The bridge was built by James P. Edward of Fox and Howard Inc. of Chicago. Three local men raised $47,000 in stocks for the toll bridge. Construction began in the spring of 1875 and was finished in the spring of 1876.  This was replaced by a steel swing bridge, the Portage Canal Swing Bridge, built by the King Bridge Company in 1901. The Portage Canal Swing Bridge was damaged when a ship, the Northern Wave, collided with it in 1905. The center swinging section of the bridge was replaced and a similar incident almost occurred again in 1920, but the ship was able to stop by dropping its anchor, which snagged on the bottom of the lake. In 1959, the Portage Canal Swing Bridge was replaced, at a cost of about $11-13 million (sources vary), by the current bridge which was built by the American Bridge Company.


This moveable bridge is a lift bridge with the middle section capable of being lifted from its low point of four feet clearance over the water to a clearance of 100 feet (30 m) to allow boats to pass underneath. The bridge is the world's heaviest and widest double-decked vertical-lift bridge.  More than 35,000 tons of concrete and 7,000 tons of steel went into the bridge, which replaced the narrow 54-year-old swing bridge, declared a menace to navigation on the busy Keweenaw Waterway.  Its center span "lifts" to provide 100 feet (30 m) of clearance for ships.

The original 1959 design by Hazelet and Erdal of Chicago of the bridge's liftspan had roadways constructed on both levels with rails imbedded in the road surface on the lower deck. This allowed the span to be partially raised to allow small and medium boat traffic to pass underneath without disrupting vehicular traffic. From this middle position, the span would then only need to be raised for large ships or lowered to allow trains to cross. With the end of rail service in 1982, the lowest position is no longer needed to allow trains to pass so the bridge is not lowered below the middle position during the summer boating season except for periods of maintenance or repair. In the winter after the lake freezes, the bridge is placed in the lowest position to allow the lower deck to be used by snowmobile traffic.

Hancock and Houghton hold an annual celebration called Bridgefest to commemorate the opening of the bridge which united their two communities.

 

[big oil]

Michigan Tech University, an esteemed engineering school in our country, has cameras placed all around Houghton Hancock, Michigan.  Here’s a link to their website with a streaming live view of the Portage Lift Bridge.  They also offer stills and time lapse vids.  Neat website.  If you feel like it, click on some of the other cams located on the left side of the web page.

https://www.mtu.edu/webcams/fund/motion.html

 

[big oil]

 

[big oil]

From Porvoo Park, I rode up the mountain exiting Hancock to a bluff and snapped these pics of a building I didn’t know existed.  Still not sure what it is.

 

[big oil]

Then I rode a little ways and stopped at the Quincy Steam Hoist used during the copper mining days, now a museum.

 

[big oil]

Some reading and videos on the Quincy Steam Mine Hoist if you wish.

https://www.quincymine.com

 

[Oubones]

For a crazy Merican, you are doing a really good job off giving me insight into your part of the world.
Thanks for the enjoyable history lesson! :thumleft:
I trust you are not family of old oilspill ot:

 

[big oil]

For a crazy Merican, you are doing a really good job off giving me insight into your part of the world.
Thanks for the enjoyable history lesson! :thumleft:
I trust you are not family of old oilspill ot:

Born and bred crazy  :biggrin: and there is NO cure  :imaposer:

There’s no way I’m related to Oilspill, my family tree has more than one branch  ot:

 

[big oil]

From the Quincy Steam Hoist, I rode back down through Hancock, on my way to Hubbell, Michigan.  Along the way, I stopped to snap a pic of this abandoned dredge that time has forgotten. 

 

[big oil]

I then arrived in Hubbell and snapped a pic in front of this fire house.




And an old Chevrolet fire truck.

 

[big oil]

Then I came across these old relics at an outdoor museum.  A beer delivery wagon from the Bosch Brewing company, circa 1874.