Wolves, Donations, Hospice Visit—all on the way to Ironwood: November 10-12, 2009

November 10, 2009
Wolf Sightings!

In the lobby of the Lac Vieux Desert Casino hotel I phoned Bruce Mahler, the Police Chief in Marenisco. We arranged for him to pick me up off the road at 5pm, before it got dark. Bruce warned me about packs of wolves saying ‘the wolves are particularly active’ in the Watersmeet and Marenisco area. He went on to tell me that a man had been chased down some rail tracks by wolves and said he would ask the Tribal Police to keep an eye on me during the day. As I hung up the phone I wondered if I would make it to Marenisco, or whether the wolves would have me for breakfast. After calling Bruce Mahler I phoned the Lac Vieux Desert Tribal Police and arranged for them to pick me up at the hotel and drop me back by mile marker 63.

It was about ten minutes after my phone call that a Tribal Police patrol car pulled up outside the hotel. The officer who came to pick me up was a sergeant named Carol. As we drove down Route 2 Sgt. Carol told me about herself. She had been a real estate agent, but had decided, in her early forties, that police work was her true calling. Carol was a wonderful character: warm-hearted and friendly. She dropped me off at mile marker 63 and said that the three officers on duty would check up on me every hour or so as I walked to Watersmeet and on towards Marenisco.

Back on the road I looked into the woods, wondering if there were wolves in there, but it all seemed safe and quiet. I hadn’t walked far, though, when I heard snapping of twigs and branches moving. My ears pricked up. A blur of grey-brown burst out of the trees to my right, about ten feet in front of me. My heart leapt and the hair on the back of my neck stood up. In a second the animal moved across the road, bounding. It wasn’t a wolf, though, but a large buck deer. In another second it vanished into the woods on the left hand side of the road. My heartbeat slowed and I looked through the trees, to see if anything was chasing the deer. I couldn’t see anything.

At around 9.30 a Tribal Police patrol car passed by. The officer inside waved. At 10.30 a different patrol car and officer passed me, turned and headed back towards Watersmeet. By 11.30 I reached the crossroads that led up to Watersmeet.

As dark began to fall I was at a point on the road where rocky outcrops lined either side of the road. Graffiti in white paint covered the rocks. Mostly it was the work of teenagers professing undying love for each other. I was just passing a white painted heart with the initials D.R. + A.A. when a Michigan Police utility vehicle pulled up. A tall man climbed out and introduced himself as Bruce Mahler. I felt like a dwarf next to him. Bruce opened the backdoor for me to put my pack in. I climbed into the front of the patrol car, and sat next to a shotgun and strips of shotgun shells. It looked as if Bruce meant business. Bruce told me that he had seen a wolf on the way to pick me up and that Carol had also seen a wolf.

We dropped my pack at Bruce’s house on the outskirts of Marenisco and then drove to a bar called Bam Bam’s. As we entered the bar a man in his early twenties was leaving. It turned out to be one of Bruce’s 5 sons. He, too, was well over 6 feet tall. It was like being in the land of the giants.

Topic #1: Health Care Reform

In the bar was a friend of Bruce’s called Coom. We sat with Coom and his wife at the bar.

Bruce’s wife Kim, who worked as a doctor at a clinic in Marenisco and in Iron River arrived and ate with us, too. As we talked I brought up the subject of President Obama and health reforms. Bruce believed that the government shouldn’t be involved in the health system, mainly on the grounds that they didn’t have a good track record in providing public services. Bruce was strongly against “Big Government.” Coom’s wife said she had a $3,000 deductible on her health insurance, which made it almost not worth having, but that she had to have it in case of major surgery. She was also concerned about the increasing cost of health insurance. There was some disagreement about how good the health care system was.  Kim, as a doctor, also thought that more government involvement in health care wasn’t necessarily a good thing. During the disagreement over the health care system, Coom, wisely, stayed quiet.

At around 10 pm we left the bar, I shook hands with Coom and he wished me luck.

Back at Bruce and Kim’s house, it was good to put my head down and sleep.

November 11, 2009

Some Donations to Start the Day

Kim had to be at the clinic in Marenisco by about 7am and left the house early. I woke at 6 am and had a shower. At 7 am Bruce drove me down to the Hungry Bear Restaurant in Marenisco. There was a reporter there from the local newspaper. The owner of the Hungry Bear and the future owner both gave checks to me for the Regional Hospice in Ironwood. Customers and the waitress at the restaurant also gave donations. Over $300 was donated altogether. It was a good start to the morning.

Bruce drove me back to the place with the rocks and graffiti. On the way there we passed a place called Stage Coach Road. Bruce told me it was where the last stage coach robbery in Michigan had taken place in 1889. The highwayman, called Reimund Holzhey, had been captured, given a frontal lobotomy and died of old age in Florida.

Bruce dropped me by the rocks and it was back to the road. The plan was to get as close to Ironwood as possible and that Kathy Maki from the  Regional Hospicewould pick me up at nightfall. I walked the 12 miles or so into Marenisco and took a detour to have lunch at the Hungry Bear Restaurant. The waitress who served me said she would pay the bill.

November 12, 2009

A Meeting with Regional Hospice

At The Inn Bed & Breakfast, a wonderful breakfast of fruit, pancakes and sausages, with coffee and orange juice, set me up for the day. I was picked up to be taken to the Regional Hospice office in Ironwood.

At the hospice office I sat in on a meeting. The staff discussed different patients, their medications and family dynamics. It was good to see the inner workings of the hospice and appreciate the difficulties that hospices had to face. A young local newspaper reporter, called Kate, interviewed me and we arranged for her to meet me on the road to take a picture.

On the Road Again

We took photos of me with the hospice staff and then Kathy dropped me back at the spot she had found me at the night before. It was around 11 am by the time I started walking again. I walked 3 miles and reached the small town of Wakefield. There I popped into a diner to eat. Inside the diner some locals got talking to me about the walk and wished me luck on the journey.

Just a short while after getting back to the road I spotted the young reporter, parked up ahead. The reporter, Kate, said she’d had problems finding me. Kate took her photo and all was well.

Just a few minutes later, the Regional Hospice chaplain, a man called ‘Chips’ Paulson, appeared walking down the road with a Labrador dog. Chips had decided to walk with me for a few miles to keep me company. We talked as we walked and the miles sped by. Chips had just got back from a trip to Israel and had only had a few hours sleep. He was tired and after about two or three miles he wished me luck and walked back to where he had parked his car.

Darkness fell and I approached Ironwood. The temperature was in the 30’s as I entered town. I ate at a Burger King. I wasn’t feeling hungry, but thought I’d better eat something. Two customers in the Burger King gave me donations for hospice.

As I walked on into Ironwood a couple in their fifties, who had seen me on television, walked a short distance with me. The woman asked me why I wasn’t wearing gloves. I said I had some, but it wasn’t cold enough for me, not yet. Just before I reached the Comfort Inn, they said goodbye to me and wished me luck.

The Regional Hospice had arranged a room for me at the Comfort Inn, free of charge. As I checked in, the receptionist handed me a huge bag of peanut M and M’s that the Regional Hospice chaplain Chips had dropped off for me. It looked like he had been reading my blog and knew my fuel of choice!

In the hotel room I had a bath and was in bed by 9 pm. I felt weak and my stomach was a bit upset, as it had been all day.

Next entry

Donate in Honor of Colin Skinner

Return to Colin's Homepage