The Seney Stretch

When you leave Naubinway and travel West you have two basic options. You can go West on US-2 or drive North up 117 to M28. US-2 will take you along Lake Michigan to Escanaba and beyond to Wisconsin. M28 will take you along Lake Superior to Marquette and points up North and then again to Wisconsin and Minnesota. My favorite path is to go up 117 to M28 and go thru the “Seney Stretch”. This is a very strait road that travels thru National Forest for about 90 miles. Along that stretch you see so many rivers I lost count. Some of them are very small, not big enough for a Kayak, others are big enough for a jet boat. In any case, there are more Trout in there that any man could ever throw a fly at in a lifetime. However, it’s strait, and it’s sleepy. Except for the occasional deer, eagle or snowmobile crossing, it puts you to sleep. It’s the best sleep aid I have ever taken. Fortunately, this weekend I had my wife with me, who was full of iced tea and well prepared to drive. I took her on a surprise Valentine’s Weekend Trip. She didn’t know where she was going. As I handed the key over to her, I told her about all the folks who have lost their life on the “Seney Stretch”. Or worse, those who had their bodies battered after falling asleep and running into a tree and then did months of physical therapy. They are never the same, with pins and rods in broken bones and ever carrying on with a limp. Well, she took it to heart and I arrived in Marquette completely whole. Well, whole is relative, I am certainly not as “whole” as I was when I was 24. Nevertheless, I was alive. I learned later that I missed the best part of the drive, where M-28 goes along the Lake Superior Lake Shore, past the beautiful log homes and parks and beaches. I slept.

Anyway, we had a great Valentine’s Day in Marquette. First, we checked into our Hotel and then I took her to Elizabeth’s Chop House. Now, this restaurant could easily be in Manhatten, and hold a candle to it. The ambience with the old brick walls, big windows looking out at Lake Superior, and the “seafood parfait” appetizer and then lamb and prime-rib was totally excellent. After that we enjoyed the Marquette Symphony Orchestra performing a Brahms Symphony and then a Beethoven Piano Concerto….Well, they were pretty nervous with the Brahms during the first two movements. The violas were pretty darn good, but the second violins were somewhere between high school and up. The third movement was heavenly, finally together. Then, when we got to Beethoven and the pianist, they were pretty warmed up and it was rather amazing. Three standing ovation encores brought the pianist back for a Brahms Hungarian Theme piano solo---it was very magical, being in the North Woods and hearing such beautiful music. I reflected on the passing of one of the founding members of the Symphony Board that the concert was dedicated to. That’s rather amazing, what a legacy, that some dedicated musicians could bring a string program up among the loggers and fishermen and burley outdoorsmen. In fact, it was really quite a “stretch”. A long stretch over the long miles of roads thru the “Seney Stretch” and millions of acres of forest.

The next day I took my “main squeeze” shopping and she told me how much she loved me and appreciated my Valentine’s Weekend Surprise. She told me so many times that it reiterated all the reasons I married her. She loves me, appreciates me, needs me, courts me, loves to be with me. She even enjoyed driving the Seney Stretch---especially when we went by the cell phone towers---as you have about 7 miles on each end of them to talk to daughters and mothers and friends. You city folks take that for granted. Many times we are watching for towers up here as we drive, and holding up the cell phone and waiting for those bars to come up. Then we try to get the call in before it drops out again. Then again, we also enjoy the time we don’t have the bars---nobody can find us!!!

When we arrived back at the Naubinway Nook, I realized what a “stretch” it is do all I have undertaken to make this complex livable. You can’t imagine all the unfinished walls and electrical wires and plywood and 2x4’s and speaker wire and cedar docks and winterized boats and lawnmowers sprawled out over 4 lots. It is bigger than me and beyond me. I finished a couple closet additions and felt pretty good about it, only to go back to the big great room that binds itself and an unfinished kitchen and Lake Michigan Front Yard together. There is a gorgeous pine paneling ceiling in there, and insulation, but no drywall and no tile floor. Then there is Jeff’s room---rather amazing too with the loft and beautiful pine stairway I built up to it---the cedar-lined closet---the big cathedral ceiling with the ceiling fan. However, it’s really an incredible stretch to think I could have these rooms even done by spring. Then, come April, the chosen men and women will be back to go even further out the back, adding another bedroom guest apartment/attached garage. In short, it’s much bigger than me and a “stretch” to think I could ever do this alone. Invest in the Nest? Oh Yeah, right.

I have come to the conclusion that my time on my weekends would be much better spent “moonlighting”, working in remote clinics on Islands or Urgent Cares, etc. and taking the money and handing it over to my contractor. In four long weekends I can make enough money to build the back bedroom and attach it to the garage. In eight long weekends I could make enough to build the guest apartment. In twelve weekends I could make enough to finish all I have unfinished. So, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s time to stick to “doctoring”, and leave this very hard, physical work, to those who need it and depend upon it. My contribution to the human race will be better spent with a hemostat and a stitch or a prescription pad in my hand. Of course, I can still run speaker wire and fine tune the recording studio out here in the “big garage”---but I’ve finally seen the “stretch” is too big for me, and it’s time to reel it in. Another epiphany, as I feel the pain of bilateral epicondylitis in my arms (tennis elbow)---sore feet, and ever exposing myself to sawblades that can take fingers off, etc. In short, it’s time to stick to what I do best and then have a little time left over to catch a few trout…time to narrow the stretch and call in the “marines”. God Bless, and may your “stretches” become narrow inches and something you can stick into your pocket with one hand and then do some fishing along the beautiful Seney Stretch.