On my own again

After dropping my friend at the airport in Minneapolis, I headed north to Duluth, where I got caught up in a series of one way detours due to construction and took far longer to arrive at the motel than I had planned.  The next day, (Tuesday, July 26), I didn't fare much better as I missed the turnoff going into Wisconsin and spent a scenic hour in the countryside on back roads to the south west of the city.  I kept myself heading in the general direction I needed to go and was quite enjoying my chosen route, periodically referring to my map, but just before Oliver I learned that the bridge was out and had to retrace my steps back into Duluth to get over the bridge into Wisconsin.  Oh, well.
I carried along highway 2 to Ashland, where I popped into a Co-op for some sandwiches, then continued into Michigan.  At Wakefield I took the 28E heading towards Marquette, where I planned to stop for the night. The road was good, but the speed limit was 55 mph, most of the way.  I had been used to higher limits in previous states I'd driven through.  There were a lot of towns along the way, which made for slower progress as well, as I had to slow down to between 35 and 45 mph for these, however, the lovely scenery of the area made up for it. I found a pretty rest stop at Michigamme by the lake

I headed on to Marquette, which looked quaint, with lots of interesting looking shops, though a bit 'touristy', and would have stopped and walked around a little, but I got through town and was back on the 28E before I knew it, so just kept on. Just outside Munising, I stopped at a lovely sandy beach to dip my toes in Lake Superior.

I spent the night at an Econo Lodge, which had previously been the Cherrywood Lodge.  I had the run of three large rooms for $80.