Tuesday, March 20, 2007

The Upper Peninsula and Beyond

At the end of the summer session we still had some time before enrolling in the fall semester at our respective schools. Joe, my roommate, had hay fever and didn’t want to go back to Iowa in August because of the ragweed problem. We decided that since we were so close (upper Michigan) we should take the opportunity to go into Canada.

We had come to school by train and had no other transportation so we decided to hitch hike. In the early 40s and later, with gas rationing limiting the use of cars, hitch hiking by college students was not uncommon and we both had done it. As a matter of fact, I thumbed my way home from school at Indianola to Ord in Nebraska - four or five hundred miles - without much thought.

We got as far as Sault Saint Marie, Canada, but traffic was very thin and we felt rides would become rarer the farther north we went. Our first thought was to rent bicycles but there was no place to do that so we decided to investigate renting a car.

We both had Iowa licenses and they both expired in August but we had not been back to renew them. I suggested I could push my expiration date down in my billfold window and perhaps the attendant would not notice.

As I handed him the wallet, clutched so he wouldn’t inspect it too closely, he grabbed it out of my hand and I thought we were done. Instead, the man said, “Where the Hell is Iowa?” We explained what we were doing and he rented us a 1947 Plymouth. I don’t remember what the daily rate was but I know it was cheaper than a hotel room and we slept in the car our whole trip.

We traveled around Lake Michigan for a while until our money began to run out. I had replenished my funds somewhat in Sault Saint Marie, although it was difficult. We went into a bank to cash a check but the French speaking clerk could not understand. We finally gave up. I went to a store and bought a sweater. The clerk, who spoke English, allowed me to write a check for more than the purchase amount so I had some extra money.

We ate fish and chips at small shops along the way and enjoyed the scenery. Even though it was August, the temperature of the lake was only around 60 degrees and early morning dips were really refreshing.

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