On the Road

 

   Spring and Fall are the seasons for travel. It's cool then with fewer people on the move than in summer when the kids are out of school. Winter is a good time to stay home by the fire. And in summer we should stay home to tend the garden and enjoy the flowers. But this summer there was a family wedding that could not be missed.

  The wedding was to be in Vermont. We thought to travel through Canada north of Lake Superior and then drop down by Lake Champlain. But prices for lodging along that route were outrageous so we decided on the more southerly route. 

  We got a late start on our first day and road construction in Duluth slowed us down even more, so by quitting time we were searching for lodging in small towns. We've gotten fussy the past few years and usually stay in chain motels, which, while boring, generally maintain certain standards. 

  We avoid the word budget in the name of our motel, but the Budget Motel in Ironwood, Michigan was rated high for cleanliness. The owner was pleasant and our room was quiet. There was an ancient card taped to the phone that read "This phone doesn't work. Dial tone but no answer. Our apologies." Things like that make budget motels interesting. 

  The Budget Motel did not offer breakfast so we continued east to Char's in Bruce Crossing. These small-town cafes are either great or awful. Char's was great. A guy at the next table struck up a conversation. He and his wife were hauling their camper from home in the Florida Keys to Minnesota's North Shore for the summer. He and I had done the same thing in the Navy. He said our jobs had been made obsolete by the internet.

  Gas was expensive in the Upper Peninsula, but Teresa found cheap gas on the internet at a Jubilee supermarket. A one legged man about my age pumped our gas. He showed me the little clip inside the gas door for holding the gas cap. You miss a lot when you pump your own gas.  

  By afternoon we were leaving the UP on the five mile long Mackinac Bridge. The nearest big city with lots of chain motels was Saginaw, two and a half hours away. Teresa started searching for motels. Saginaw has lots of chain motels but Teresa was intrigued by The Montague Inn on the edge of town. 

   The Montague was a three story mansion that has become a B&B. It did not serve breakfast which seemed to go against its name, but it was dirt cheap. We can afford breakfast, Teresa said, so we booked it.

   We arrived a little after six. The woman manager was setting up the phone number of the night watchman. “I was just about to leave,” she said, “but I’ll show you your room." We walked up thickly carpeted stairs past open doors leading to ornately furnished rooms, their doors standing open, to our small and also ornately furnished room on the third floor. 

   The manager said she’d be back at 7:30 next morning to serve a continental breakfast. So there would be a breakfast along with the bed. Our private bathroom was across the hall, but we wouldn’t meet any other guests that night. She said we were free to check out the other rooms and wander around the extensive grounds.

  We hauled our bags upstairs and I realized there was no mini-fridge for the contents of our cooler. I wandered around the first floor till I found the kitchen and a fridge to put our food in. We soon concluded the place made its money as a wedding venue. It certainly wouldn’t survive with a house full of empty rooms on a weeknight.

   The website said the mansion had been built by a man who made his fortune selling hand lotion derived from sugar. Construction kept several hundred workmen busy for three years in the early days of the depression. The family sold the place to the city in 1959. The city used it for offices for several years. Then the place stood empty for several years until the current owners restored it to its former glory. If I ever attend a wedding in Saginaw, I hope the reception  is at the Montague.

World’s Tallest Indian, Ironwood, MI