Despite new locale, many things the same as they’ve always been

It’s been just over a week since my arrival herein the valley. I’m still “learning the ropes”—the who, what, when and where of my new lifestyle. But in many ways, things are the same as they always have been.

Back in the Western Upper Peninsula (the Yoop), life was just as laid back as here. In fact, more so. While many visitors to the Valley consider it remote, to me, this is “big-city” living. Baraga County, where I called home for almost 28 years, consisted of just over 1,000 square miles with a population of around 8,700. Almost half of those folks lived in the two villages--one on each side of Lake Superior’s Keweenaw Bay.

The morning commute to work consisted of a 5.5 mile drive down a rural road to US-41 and then about 3.5 miles up US-41 to the Broad Street turnoff into town. No red lights, in fact none anywhere in the county! I’m not used to having to look right before turning, or two lanes of traffic in each direction. Now the daily commute is 20-plus miles each way. Going for lunch meant a walk across Main Street to the IGA store, picking something up at the deli and coming back to the office.

Seeing that the Palmer-Wasilla area was a “metropolis” by my standards, I assumed adequate Internet service would be available. After all, if I can get 15 megs in a backwoods borough at the end of the blacktop—not to mention the end of the service line from my locally owned and operated phone company, surely it was available up here! Unfortunately, I found that not to be the case.

Out on the south end of Big Lake, the best I can get is 768k speed, about 1/15th of what I was accustomed to. That means no Netflix, Amazon Prime or YouTube videos. In fact, it I can watch as a picture loads on my laptop…kind of like back in the 14.4 modem days of dial-up. To my understanding, Direct TV isn’t offered out there, although I haven’t investigated it thoroughly yet. I did download EVERY Warner Brothers’ Looney Tune cartoon onto an external hard drive before I left. That, and my complete series of Northern Exposure and all the Star Trek movies on DVD are my evening’s entertainment as hourly daylight begins to wane.

Another thing I’ve noticed is a marked increase in cell phone usage. I was never one to think that I would be glued to my smartphone. The only reason I got the thing in the first place is because of my job back in the Yoop. I had certain people who insisted on texting me unless it was important to have actual verbal communication. With my flip phone, answering took forever. After being here in the Valley for a week, I’ve become dependent on it not only for phone calls, but also for communicating with friends and family across the lower 48. If I reach in pocket and can’t find it, I panic!

Other than adjusting to stop lights and walking around with my nose buried in my phone—and no, I’m not playing Pokémon Go, things seem pretty much the same the old place. The Big Lake area is almost identical to the Western Upper Peninsula—dirt roads, two-tracks, lots of trees and alder, small homes and critters. I will admit the critters are little more prevalent up here.

I might have seen a moose once or twice a year down below; seen that in the first week here. I had a red fox stick around over the winter as I fed him scraps that couldn’t be thrown in the compost pile—which was buried under 3-4 feet of snow. Big Lake has those, too.

One thing I haven’t seen is a maple tree. Fall color is spectacular on the south shore of Lake Superior—thanks mainly to hard and soft maple. Reds, oranges and purples as far as the eye can see. Yeah, we have Aspen and birch like here, but those only give you yellow.

But one thing, and it’s a biggie, is what surrounds the Mat-Su. I don’t think I have to provide the answer here. It’s early Saturday afternoon, and as soon as I finish this column, I’m going to climb some!