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The PinkyUp Tour came to an abrupt halt in the spring of 2009 in favor of my next challenge: to make myself the hobo I said I was (rather than your everyday bum). Well, 1.5 years later, here are the beginnings of the fruits fo my labor. The book is not available quite yet, but the website provides a glimpse into what the finished work will look like. I hope to have print and electronic versions available for purchase in the January/February time-frame (this project is taking longer than anticipated ... the writing didn't take long, but the editing and polishing of a 700 page book is a little cumbersome).
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I Hear the Aurora Borealis is Amazing this Time of Year
Based on the google analytics reports I'm pretty sure that you're looking for information on Bush's Beans, but while you're here how about placing a quick vote to send me to the North Pole. I'll tell you Bush's secret recipe if you do.
Not Quite McFarthest Enough
You may remember that a few months ago I ate my first (and what I declared to be my last) Big Mac of my life at the McFarthest Spot in South Dakota. I was complely satisfied that the crescendo of my 50,000 road miles of wandering about North America (and probably my life) would be transporting Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun AND a greasy McDonalds' bag more than 140 miles so I could take my Big Mac virginity as far away from a McDonalds as humanly possible in the lower 48. I was happy with this, and why shouldn't I be. It's a pretty serious accomplishment to travel all that way with the delicious aromas of hot grease coursing through the narrow quarters of my tiny car. Against all odds, I made it, video taped it, and left feeling that I really accomplished something in life.
Today I saw this. Turns out that I wasn't at the McFarthest Point at all. In fact, this location was a full nine miles McCloser to a McDonalds than the actual McFrathest Spot which isn't even in South Dakota. It's in the northwestern corner of Nevada more than 1,200 miles away from where I happily digested a Big Mac for the camera. All thanks to a glitch in the McMatrix the greatest accomplishment is nothing more than a midday joyride across South Dakota with a Big Mac riding shotgun. I'm absolutely devesatated.
July myPinkyUpdate: Volume 1, Issue 13 (9.85 MB)
July: A whole lot of pedaling went on during the month of July. I checked out Isle Royale National Park. I was hoping to sneak up on a moose or two commando style (I soiled my undies), but I didn't find any. I continued on my way to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore and Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore........eating ice cream and fruit along the way.
The ice cream was delicious, in particular Moomer's Cherry Moobilee. Once I returned I had two weeks to rest my legs and prepare for ACNB8. That's the month of July for ya.
ACNB8
What's being checked out with those binocs is another excellent ACNB weekend.
This year's festivities were pretty tame compared to year's past, but there were games, a treasure hunt, plenty of bonging, go-carting, and some pitliking (going to the bar, not the game created a few years back).
Most of the picks weren't family friendly since we had some speedos, a dyed black mustache on the Duke (which is very safe for families but I'm just not posting it on the internet). What's bittersweet about this weekend is that we missed out on the 10th Anniversary of Pitlik's Polish Regatta. I suppose there's still time for that since it is coming up in a week (August 14th).
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore
Below I mentioned that Pictured Rocks was touristy. Well, it's nothing compared to Sleeping Bear Dunes. I rolled into the dunes in a heavy downpour and the Visitor Center was still filled, should to shoulder, with tourists. I feel sorry for whoever rubbed shoulders with me as I was not a very pleasant smelling tourist.
The dunes were pretty cool too. I just biked around the park because after spending the morning pedaling through a strong headwind, heavy rain, and some pretty imposing hills, I just wanted to get this thing over with. I was going for Ludington whether it took me all night to do it (and it nearly did, but I made it.
Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore
About 210 miles from Copper Harbor in Munising, MI you can find Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. It, and much of the Upper Peninsula is quite touristy. Every couple of hours a ferry goes out to view the rocks that tower more than 200 feet above Lake Superior. I definitely liked it. I can't be sure that my enjoyment wasn't in the fact that the flat wooden benchseats of the ferry are much more comfortable than the narrow wedge that is my bike seat, but several other Michiganders told me that "that's as good as it gets in Michigan" when referring to Pictured Rocks. One thing that I wouldn't recommend is taking a road bike to the park's campgrounds. You'll traverse many miles of gravel road to do so. It was not good. But the rocks are. I kind of wanted to stay to either hike on top of the rocks to look down into the depths of Superior, or to paddle into the nooks and crannies that the ferry couldn't explore. I ended up with a nice tailwind the day after I arrived in Munising so I pedaled my way right out of there.
Be sure to enlarge the picture to check out that trees roots. They're crazy.
I also met a couple of people pedaling cross-country at Munising's Subway. I thought about tagging along for a split second, but then I realized that I had an SS Badger to catch.......as well as a ferry ride out to the rocks so I devoured my pulled pork sandwich and got back on my bicycle.
Isle Royale National Park
I absolutely loved this place. It was actually a bit of a shame that I didn't have my camp stove or filter, so I had to carry all my water on my back, which is why I was limited to 3 days on the island. I could have probably made it from Rock Harbor to Windigo in a day or two, and restocked food/water, but I was more in more of a relaxation mode, hiking a little more than 7 miles per day, and spending the remainder of my time reading from the comfort of my hammock.
The hammock is great, but so is this park. No cars, a handful of people, and complete wilderness criss-crossed by 100+ miles of hiking trails.
The Route (Click for 3.89 MB JPG of the Complete Route)
If I did this again tomorrow I would definitely pack lighter. This means going from two pairs of underwear to zero. I had one set of "cold-weather" clothes because I thought that Isle Royale might be a little chilly in the morning. There may be times when it is, but it wasn't during my trip. I was swimming in the 45 degree waters of Lake Superior every day to cool off.
The trip was good though. I pedaled more than 700 miles, ferried about 200, hiked another 20, and about 20 miles were spent in a the vehicle of a good samaritan who picked my bike and I up and took me to a bike shop to have my rim tape replaced. See, rim tape would have fit easily in the space taken up by a pair of unused underwear.
I completed the trip in 11 days, with three days spent on Isle Royale hiking around.
Pedal, Pedal, Pedal My Bicycle
After a 4th of July weekend up North I packed up my gear, strapped it to my bicycle and started pedaling northwards. The main goal was to get to Isle Royale National Park. Considering that it's an island, pedaling there would be tricky.......luckily, I found a garage to stick my bike, and a ferry to take me to the Isle at the very northern tip of the UP's Keweenaw Peninsula, Copper Harbor, MI.
At first I was a little tippy with some 40 pounds of rubbish (books, hammock, tent, fruit, bike stuff, an extra pair of underwear, etc.), but as I acclimated pedaling all day wasn't so bad. My butt probably didn't enjoy the ride quite as much as my eyes and my legs did. But, you can't please everything now can you?
June myPinkyUpdate: Volume 1, Issue 12 (5.39 MB)
June: Just foolin' around in the Wisconsin Northwoods.
My Mom (Finally) Settles Catan
Pigs must have been flying about the farm the night that my Mom settled Catan. In a typical game of Settlers of Catan she'll build settlements on 3's, 4's, 10's, and 11's, horde development cards and build more roads than the DPW and Put America to Work Program combined. A seasoned Settler fo Catan would not consider these a winning set of strategies. On a balmy summer night, with the night breeze wistfully blowing through the Oswald's porch my Barb Oswald settled Catan employing such methods. Building two roads in her final turn, connecting her settlements, and earning The Longest Road card and two victory points proved to be her powerstroke giving her 12 victory points and a victory that left opponents, Tom, Emmory, and Mike Stunned. Afterwards Mike, clearly in disbelief said "I honestly never thought she'd win unless she was playing against Liam." Liam, who recently turned 7 years old also employs a "Development Card or Bust" strategy and has a tendency to cheat or make his own rules.
May myPinkyUpdate: Volume 1, Issue 11 (3.5 MB)
May: I biked a 25+ mile loop from Branch-Two Rivers-Manitowoc-Branch every other day. I ran 5 miles down Stone Road to the Manitowoc River and back every other day. Some days I did both. I read a lot. I helped Krupski move. I continued to play board games and also mixed in some serious backyard gaming.
The only thing that I took a picture of during this month was meeting with my brother and a few of his coworkers in Waukesha to give as good a motivational speech as a hobo can give to a few employees that would be finding themselves unemployed in early June due to the company closing it's Waukesha Division.
Company Facing Shutdown Enlists Hobo to Discuss Alternative Employment Opportunities
Smiths Medical, a world leader in the design and manufacture of medical devices, resorted to an unorthodox motivational speaker to help boost employee morale leading up the the Waukesha Facilitiy's shutdown.
A middle manager stated "We brought Mike (the creator and updater of mypinkyup.com) to our facility to help encourage our workers that even in this challenging economic environment there are some new and exciting work opportunities out there. Moving forward, I felt that I needed to think outside of the box for my employees. My team has had great synergy leading into this shutdown and I feel as though we should have been working as if a shut down was eminent all along." As it turns out, the employees at Smiths Medical did not have that "shut-down" mentality and many will be left unemployed starting in early June.
Hobo Mike knows a thing or two about unemployment and he definitely has the shut-down attitude. In his ramblings if he gets sick of something, it's highly likely that he will hang-up his hammock and shut everything down, maybe with a good book. Like most hobos Mike has lived a life of anonymity. He has tried to recitfy this problem by pedaling bumper stickers for his website. He is also going the way of famous hobo, Utah Phillips, who ran for President in 1976 for the Do-Nothing Party, by being the campaign manager and Vice Presidential Candidate for fellow Whig, Ryan Marquardt's Presidential campaign.
Mike spoke briefly about following your dreams (as long as they don't wander too far from an unabandoned railroad line) and what to pack in your bindle stick for life as a hobo. He also stressed the need to stay true to the Hobo Ethical Code even though he has had a hard time following the Fourth Commandment of the Hobos. Hobo Mike's talk was short and choppy. Motivational nuggets were as hard to find as crumbs on his plate. He seemed to be more focused on eating his free meal and at one point he got a little twitchy when a train's horn rang out in the distance.
All joking aside, a few of my brother's coworkers were kind enough to pose for a pinky-up photo-op. I hope that they know full well that they are some of the most able individuals that this country has and if they can keep their spirits high, learn that shut-down mentality they will have no problem finding success in the near future. Jim and James may even have a shot at a successful career in my style of hoboing as Jim is traveling from Bozeman to San Francisco before he goes back to the life of a barnacle. James is hoofing it down to Austin, TX.
April myPinkyUpdate: Volume 1, Issue 10 (17.5 MB)
I turned a 2,000 mile trip from Portland to Manitowoc into a 3,000 mile pleasure cruise......looking for Henry the Bear, having a look around Yellowstone and Devil's Tower, eating my first (and last) Big Mac at the McFarthest Spot, and surprising my parents on Easter morning after driving for a ridiculous 24 hours straight.
From then on it was some good old fashioned Wisconsin fun at Miller Park and the Bradley Center.