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Posts: 7009
Location: Northwest Chicago Burbs | Google maps not working with my old eyes...so what is the name of the motel just over the border, on 11, next to the Co-Op on the shore of Rainy Lake? Need a place to stay before the final leg to AML in a couple weeks. |
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Posts: 1767
Location: Lake Country, Wisconsin | Bayview Motel |
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Posts: 7009
Location: Northwest Chicago Burbs | Musky Brian - 6/28/2017 2:15 PM
Bayview Motel
Muchas gracias! |
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Posts: 1767
Location: Lake Country, Wisconsin | Ever stay at the Super 8? That's a decent option too |
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Posts: 462
Location: Syracuse, Indiana | What is the advantage to staying in Fort Frances instead of I Falls (or northern MN)? Anything other than the border crossing is in your rear view mirror? |
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Posts: 20178
Location: oswego, il | I recommend staying in emo and taking in a stock car race saturday night. |
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Posts: 1767
Location: Lake Country, Wisconsin | dcates - 6/28/2017 4:09 PM
What is the advantage to staying in Fort Frances instead of I Falls (or northern MN)? Anything other than the border crossing is in your rear view mirror?
Nothing really, besides that (which is nice)
Was a nice place to go "trolling" if you were a younger, single guy but that's about it. |
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Posts: 7009
Location: Northwest Chicago Burbs | dcates - 6/28/2017 4:09 PM
What is the advantage to staying in Fort Frances instead of I Falls (or northern MN)? Anything other than the border crossing is in your rear view mirror?
Pass through the border at midnight when we get there versus spending time at the border the next day. Super late and super early its a breeze. I'm sure you know the drill.
*first three places i have called are booked. Might be a super caffeinated drive through the night dealio. |
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Posts: 1636
| Be sure to hit the clubs. |
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Posts: 1767
Location: Lake Country, Wisconsin | http://rendezvoushotel.com
Try there too |
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Posts: 1516
| Have u checked the Rainbow Motel on the west edge of town? |
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Posts: 7009
Location: Northwest Chicago Burbs | Thanks guys. The Rainbow was full, but I found a room at the Rendezvous. Kind of took it in the rear on the price... |
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Posts: 859
Location: MN | Slamr - 6/28/2017 5:40 PM
Thanks guys. The Rainbow was full, but I found a room at the Rendezvous. Kind of took it in the rear on the price...
You Chicago guys should be used to that by now. |
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Posts: 8716
| Do NOT under any circumstances try to make the drive up 502 in the dark. Just don't. A close friend of mine, who thought nothing of driving his boat across Eagle in November in a blizzard with 4 footers with waves coming over the bow, who admittedly "#*^@ near didn't make it that day" said this to me:
"I will never, EVER drive up 502 in the dark again as long as I live. I got lost in Chicago with people asking me for money at intersections and gas stations. I gave it to them because I thought I was gonna die. That was scary, but it was nothing compared to 502 at 4:00 in the morning!"
I'd sleep in the truck in a load-check area before I'd make that trek.
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Posts: 13688
Location: minocqua, wi. | Better off staying in Evelith ... nice locals and good town for a bar pizza. We used to stay at a mom n pop roadside walking distance from town. |
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Location: Lake Country, Wisconsin | esoxaddict - 6/28/2017 7:28 PM
Do NOT under any circumstances try to make the drive up 502 in the dark. Just don't. A close friend of mine, who thought nothing of driving his boat across Eagle in November in a blizzard with 4 footers with waves coming over the bow, who admittedly "#*^@ near didn't make it that day" said this to me:
"I will never, EVER drive up 502 in the dark again as long as I live. I got lost in Chicago with people asking me for money at intersections and gas stations. I gave it to them because I thought I was gonna die. That was scary, but it was nothing compared to 502 at 4:00 in the morning!"
I'd sleep in the truck in a load-check area before I'd make that trek.
I've driven it a ton of times in the dark. What's the issue?
Seen all kinds of cool stuff running out on the road. Slow down a bit and pay attention...
Edited by Musky Brian 6/29/2017 8:11 AM
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Posts: 24
| I have driven 502 at night for 9 out of the last 10 years without a issue. It just sucks to try to sleep in the passenger seat because all the bumps and turns. IMO the best time to go through that crossing is after midnight. Just dive the posted limit which is plenty slow enough! |
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Posts: 97
Location: Tulsa, OK | Super 8 in Fort Francis is a good option. Get nice free breakfast and then haul a to wherever you are going. I agree with crossing over Friday eve so you don't get caught in the line of boats going thru on Sat morning.
I will add, I do drive 502 at night, like coming home. Leave lodge around 4 or 5 am, it is a little freaky. So dark and your head is on a swivel waiting for something to pop out. Never had an issue though, more mental than anything.
Edited by redskeet100 6/29/2017 3:38 PM
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Posts: 1767
Location: Lake Country, Wisconsin | I've almost "bumped" a few moose over the years, but I don't think the population is what it once was. I've seen timberwolves and lynx too.
I'm more likely to hit a big deer down here in Wisconsin than I am anything up there... |
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Posts: 8716
| Musky Brian - 6/29/2017 3:43 PM
I've almost "bumped" a few moose over the years, but I don't think the population is what it once was. I've seen timberwolves and lynx too.
I'm more likely to hit a big deer down here in Wisconsin than I am anything up there...
The thing with hitting a moose is that it will likely go over the hood. Obvious why that's not good. The other thing is that they're tall enough where you might not catch the eye shine from your headlights in time to stop.
Not that I don't worry about deer. Had one go right over my hood just outside of Marshfield about 2:30 in the morning a few years ago. Missed the first one. I was just thinking "yeah, rut. Probably a big buck following her." when it happened. I will go to my grave wondering how I missed him.
But a moose? That's not just wrecking the front end of your truck. And on 502? You've got nowhere to go. All you can do is stand on the brakes and wait for the crash. |
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Posts: 97
Location: Tulsa, OK | I have also seen deer, lynx, wolves and bear on 502 over the course of the years. I have seen many moose, just not on 502. |
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Posts: 3136
| Who stacks all those rocks is it a Blair witch deal???? |
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Posts: 52
| happy hooker - 6/29/2017 6:03 PM
Who stacks all those rocks is it a Blair witch deal????
I was told the hippies think it is good luck to put the last rock on top? |
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Posts: 52
| I also had a moose's snout less than a foot from my face as i was in passenger seat on 502 at night. Butt pucker for sure. |
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Posts: 1767
Location: Lake Country, Wisconsin | I had one running ass end facing me on the yellow divider line in pitch black. Could have reached out and high fived him
The rock stacking thing is a tourist thing. One time I saw a family out doing it who had parked a mile up the road on a gravel trail. Unfortunately for them, there was going to be a 300 lb bruin circling their car whenever they decided to go back, who I assume smelled the food in their car...I miss that highway |
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Posts: 2752
Location: Mauston, Wisconsin | Right now 502 is pothole city + all the culvert replacements. You will beat the crap out of your truck & boat in the dark, and has been said, pull off area's are few and far between.
We came back from Cliff Lake via Dryden and Hwy 502 because one of the guys thought it was faster than the normal route up via Kenora, he thought that going through the small towns via the Kenora route was slower. It wasn't. The trek from Duluth to I Falls can be dangerous at night too.....we did that once, deer + bears (big bears). Very hard to see at night.
The rock stacking is a native thing, tourist do it too. Ask a native, all native peoples have used them to mark boundries, warning, etc. I have found them in the mountains of New Mexico. The person(s) are just leaving a message...like "Killroy was here!" There's a meaning for each stacking pattern.
Have fun!
Al
Edited by ESOX Maniac 7/15/2017 10:06 AM
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Posts: 656
Location: Forest Lake, Mn. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inuksuk
http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/inuksuk-inukshuk/
An inuksuk is a human-made stone landmark or cairn used by the Inuit, Iñupiat, Kalaallit, Yupik, and other peoples of the Arctic region of North America. The inuksuk may have been used for navigation, as a point of reference, a marker for travel routes, fishing places, camps, hunting grounds, places of veneration, drift fences used in hunting or to mark a food cache.
I wouldn't want to drive 502 in the dark either. |
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Posts: 4269
Location: Ashland WI | Rock stacking is a "Sackett Sign"... |
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Posts: 16632
Location: The desert | Slamr - 6/28/2017 5:40 PM
Thanks guys. The Rainbow was full, but I found a room at the Rendezvous. Kind of took it in the rear on the price...
Place is decent. Crack out a rod and go cast off the big dock. |
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Posts: 16632
Location: The desert | Used to drive 17 east towards Geraldton in the wee hours of the morning after driving 8-9 hours already. When the border guard tells you to watch for moose on the road as truckers are seeing them all over, it messes with you mind. After about 4 hours of driving in pitch black you start seeing moose that aren't there. That's when it's time for a rest.
502 at night isn't that bad. Like Brian said, go the actual speed limit and put your brights on. Stay alert, pay attention. You'll be fine. It's not the house of horrors painted here. |
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