U.P. Packer Pride Runs Deep

In some locations from the U.P., the city of Green Bay, Wisconsin is an hour away. Where I live, it's three hours away, which in comparison to bigger cities like Detroit and Chicago, a very short drive. So as you can imagine, there are a lot of Green Bay Packer fans in Upper Michigan. It's probably the largest following of fans for one professional team here in the U.P., with the Red Wings and Lions closely behind. Generations of Packer fans have listened to the games on radio, personally gone to Lambeau Field to watch games, and faithfully watch them on television. Me personally, I am not a Packers fan and never have been. But the loyalty to the team from my fellow Yoopers is amazingly strong, in both times of good and bad.

As you can imagine after yesterday's victory against the Chicago Bears, Packer fans are gleaming with pride today. The team finished off the Bears at Solider Field in the NFC Championship Game with a score of 21-14. They will now face the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Super Bowl on Sunday, February 6 in Dallas, Texas. It's the Packers first Super Bowl appearance since 1997, when they lost to the Denver Broncos. As a Detroit Lions fan, it's always difficult for me to root for the Packers all that often. The Packers and Lions are conference foes and in most recent years, the Packers have won most of the contests between the two teams (if you don't follow the NFL that much, the Lions have been horrid the past ten years). However, I must admit that I was rooting for the Packers to win more so than the Bears yesterday. I don't know what it was; maybe to see Aaron Rodgers have success or to have the city of Green Bay experience the euphoria of the Packers having this much success again.

I remember the Packers' last two Super Bowl appearances in the mid-1990's extremely well. Brett Favre was the quaterback and Mike Holmgren was the coach. There was so much Packer pride going around it was crazy. I was in high school and the kids that were Packers fans were so boisterous about the team it was driving me bonkers. Back then, the Lions were still mediocre but they weren't as bad as they have been the past ten years. So it was always tough to hear the Packers fans yuck it up during those two successful seasons. But then, when the Packers lost in the Super Bowl in 1997, they weren't so boisterous anymore. But now, with maturity and understanding the fierce loyalty that Packers fans hold, I am compelled to show unity with those Packer fans as they march towards the Super Bowl.

It's hard to say exactly whom I will be rooting for come Super Bowl Sunday. I may have been rooting just a little bit for the Packers this past Sunday, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to keep that up two Sunday's from now. But hey, how can you not admire the way the Packers have played in the playoffs thus far. They certainly have a legitimate shot to win it all, especially considering their playoff performance. And all this for a team just a few hours away from the Upper Peninsula. You can't say that about any other professional sports teams in existence.

A Recap of Last Weekends Events

Around 4:00 tomorrow afternoon, I'll be heading down to Wisconsin for the weekend to visit my sister who lives about five hours away. It'll be our first visit down there in six months. Believe me, we've tried making it down there sooner, but a lot of different things came up. One specifically was my move into the new house back in June. I am really looking forward to the visit and being able to get away from the U.P. for three to four days. That's not to say I am sick of living where I live - I can't think of living anywhere else! It's just that any person, not just me, needs a breather every now and again to appreciate where they live and to be grateful about where they live once they do arrive back home. So, with the impending trip, I want to try and get in a few blogs before I go. Otherwise by the time I get back, it'll already be the middle of August!

So this week I'm on vacation from work - and let me tell you, it's been a long time coming. I was last on vacation over a year ago back in July 2008. So I was definitely due for a week off. This past weekend, I spent some time back at my parents place where the annual homecoming and county fair were being held. If you read my previous blog post, I'm sure you saw how excited I was to go back and be apart of the festivities again. I arrived on Saturday, plenty of time to take the walk down to the downtown area of the village to watch the parade march down the street. Like I said in the last blog, no matter how old you are, you never get sick of watching a parade. And there's something absolutely special about watching your own hometown parade. You see familiar faces and businesses represented in the parade and it truly makes it feel like home. What made it even special was my niece and nephew being able to watch the parade and to retrieve enormous amounts of candy. Heck, even my parents and I were picking up the candy off the street every time people from each float would throw some at us. It always helps to have kids with ya, cause as soon as they saw them, out flew the candy! I took a whole round of pictures with the kids and of each parade float as I'll soon be uploading them to my hometown website. As soon as I get the pictures and the time!

One of the activities of the county fair is a tractor pull that is held during the weekend. I believe there were at least 12 different tractors in the parade and a couple of them were pretty unique. One individual souped up his tractor and installed a V-8 engine in it! He was revving it up every so often and it was a pretty interesting piece of equipment to look at. Another tractor was a real-old timer. It was one of those old steam engine tractors, complete with a whistle you'd hear from a train back in the early 1900's. You could smell the wood burning inside the tractor as it went by. It was a cool sight to see and it's one of those things you don't often get to witness. There were also a countless number of reunion floats this year - probably the most I've ever seen. From the class of 2009 (which I had to admit was pretty clever - only 60 some days of being out of school, but having the least decorated float) to the class of 1949, there were a lot represented at this year's parade. And next year, it'll be my class, the class of 2000! Our ten year reunion will be held, and I just might happen to be in the parade. How crazy is that?

The parade is always the biggest highlight of the event for me, but it's always nice to walk the grounds of the fair as well. It's a small fair, so it doesn't encompass many acres. We checked out both exhibit buildings, saw my sister's and her kids' exhibits and variety of ribbons. Then the kids went on a few of the rides there. They were just those bouncy-slide kind of things and my nephew especially likes those. So they got their fill of those rides and then we went and checked out the animals in the barns. My niece loves animals and she even got to pet a baby calf. We got a few refreshments and took a final walk around the grounds until we headed home. And home for us is just a block away practically.

So now that that event is over, my summer is practically over with! No big occasions to look forward to, other than to enjoy the rest of the summer and to finish some of our big remodeling projects. I am hoping the end of summer and fall will end up being warmer than average. I mean afterall, I think we're due. And better yet, I have another week off from work in September to enjoy, so I'm sure there's plenty of nice weather left to enjoy. Better make the most of it, because it won't be long until the snow starts flying!

Roadgeek

So, are you a roadgeek? I admit that I qualify under that term. And there's a majority of people out there who probably don't know what a roadgeek is. Well simply put, the definition of "roadgeek" as found on Wikipedia is this: "an individual involved in "roadgeeking" or "road enthusiasm" - an interest in roads as a hobby." As far as I can remember, I've always been interested in roads and road construction. Now there are such people out there who are hardcore roadgeeks where they travel hundreds if not thousands of miles across a particular region just to see what the particular numbered state route or freeway looks like. Take for example in Michigan, where hardcore roadgeeks travel all across the state to "clinch" their trips to see all of the M-numbered highways, US-numbered highways, and Interstate highways in the state. Some even take pictures of the designated highway shield as proof they've been there. Now I don't take it that far and if I happen to be traveling through a particular area that I've never driven or haven't visited in awhile, then I take notice but always focus on the roadways. I admit, seeing the discrepancies in highway construction and planning can be quite fascinating.

Take for example here in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. As many of you may know, the U.P. is pretty isolated with miles of trees taking up a lot of the acreage up here. Most of the highways here are two-laned, except when you hit the bigger towns and cities where they tend to be four-laned. The U.P. is home to only one Interstate highway and that's I-75 that starts at the Mackinac Bridge in the Southeastern corner of the U.P. and heads north to Sault Ste. Marie where the highway heads up into Canada. I live in the central portion of the peninsula and it's pretty rare for me and my family to see that end of the U.P. since it's a couple of hours away. If we go anywhere out of the area, usually it's to the south and west. We have at least five US-numbered highways with the majority of them being two-laned (but four-laned in bigger towns and cities). And then of course the state routes, which have the letter "M" in front of the route numbers, like M-28 which is the longest route in the Upper Peninsula. These are very similiar to the US routes up here. There's not a lot of major road building that takes place up here. The population generally stays pretty flat from year to year, so the state department of transportation doesn't feel the need to upgrade the routes to freeway standards. And for the most part, I agree with their decision making. However, they could stand to invest a little more money in the highway transportation needs up here.

You take for example the state of Wisconsin. US-41, the major north to south route up here, makes it's way south through eastern Wisconsin, beyond Milwaukee and heads out of state. Wisconsin is currently undertaking a major upgrade to the final segment of the highway that's two-laned between the communities of Oconto and Peshtigo. Currently it's a busy stretch of road with many vehicles traveling north or south on just two lanes. Traffic accidents have been more frequent as well, so Wisconsin stepped up the plate and began upgrading the route. So the need to upgrade that strech of roadway makes sense. So what are they doing here in Michigan on US-41? Not much of anything. But then again, the state of Michigan is hurting financially as it is. So it's not really much of a surprise that the state is laying low in expanding their routes. They're having a hard enough time as it is maintaining good pavement quality on their roads statewide as it is. But here in the central and western Upper Peninsula, a major north to south four-laned divided highway is sorely needed. Heck, we don't even have a divided highway that goes east and west along the entire length of the peninsula. And I know what the traditionalists and preservationists are gonna say - if you want to keep the U.P. scenic and natural as it is now, don't build major highways. But goods and services need better means of getting across the U.P. than on two-laned highways. Also, if we're to have more higher paying jobs come to our area, we need the bigger highways. It's as simple as that. Marquette, the largest city in the Upper Peninsula, is not served well by our current highway system. Major development is occuring along the highway through the city already and it's causing the roadway to become very congested. So there is definitely room for improvement when it comes to transportation issues here in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

I could go on and on about roadway issues up here, but I'm probably boring a lot of people out there on this topic. It's a topic I am passionate about and hopefully someday the traffic issues up here will begin to be improved. Obviously it's not going to happen overnight and with the way our economy is these days, it may be years and years before we finally see something evolve. Like I said earlier, it's not like our roadways up here are congested beyond belief and there's no relief in sight. Most of the highways up here are adequate but there are areas needing improvement. I see how much more aggressive the state of Wisconsin is when it comes to repairing and doing major construction on their highways and it's often like night and day between the two states. Then again, they pay more for their gasoline taxes to repair their highways. They say the state of Michigan's roadway system is crumbling with each passing day. And with an antiquated funding system currently in place for our roads, they'll only get worse before they get better. That's a pretty scary thought. Before you know it, we'll be driving on gravel roads more than paved roads soon enough (locally, at least).

Hunting Season

Right now in the states of Michigan and Wisconsin, we are in the midst of the fire arm deer season. It is probably one of the most anticipated outdoor sporting events in the late fall around these parts. Thousands of people take to the woods and venture to their respective deer blinds and have the ultimate goal in mind; a deer with a nice set of antlers. I am probably in the minority for guys my age that live around here that do not hunt. I have nothing against the sport of hunting and feel it's important to keep the deer herd in check. Otherwise we'd be slamming into them more often with our vehicles. Hunting just hasn't been something I've been interested in. That is basically my explanation as to why I've never hunted.

No one in my immediate family hunts either, which probably explains my lack of interest in the sport. I have uncles on my mom's side that hunt on their own property. I have an uncle on my dad's side that also likes to hunt but lives way down in Florida. The deer down there don't live up to the beasts that thrive around here. My dad did do some hunting with his father when he was a kid, but hasn't been interested in doing so since. He is a fan of most animals, so I have to believe it would be very difficult for him to shoot an animal like a deer. As for me, I don't think it would be as big of a deal to shoot a deer. When we had pesty racoons invade our bird feeders back home, traps just weren't doing the trick. I got out my dad's .22 and prepared to shoot a big monster of a coon that was perched on one of the feeders late one night a few summer's ago. All it took was one shot; bam, and it was down to the ground. Even for a critter like a racoon, the adrenaline that races through your body up until you pull the triger; it's a feeling unlike any other. Of course a racoon is no prize, but for the sheer thrill of hunting these creatures is amazing. Now compare that to hunting deer and I'm sure it has to be ten times better.

Back when I was in seventh or eighth grade, I took a hunter's safety course. I mainly took it because my best friend was also in the class, but a part of me then was interested in going hunting someday. I remember being a lousy shot then, using a .22 and not even able to hit the target near the edge of the woods on the school's property. My aim has improved quite a bit since then, but my interest in hunting has definitely fallen off. Just the thought of sitting out in the cold in adverse weather waiting for the smallest signs of life in the middle of the woods just doesn't intrigue me. Maybe I am not supposed to think that way; maybe I am supposed to be in it for the thrill of the hunt. And I do see these people with monster bucks portrayed on television and in the newspaper and seeing the trophy they're able to display for years to come. Now that part would be pretty cool. But I guess I'm not really up to gutting a deer and dragging it out of the woods. But if you're hunting deer, you can't have it totally easy.

Maybe someday, when I have my own place and if there's enough land in the back where I can do some hunting, I just might have the interest to search out that ultimate buck when I don't have much else going on. And there's more than just hunting deer, too, such as birds, bear, etc. In the meantime, I'm just going to stay in the warm comforts of my apartment and hear of all the other people and their success stories. At least I can be happy for them and their accomplishments.