Yellow Vanagon: VW Connection in Ironwood, MI

Heading north from Madison, we make campsite reservations, only to realize we botched the date and have two days to spare. The interstate finally quits, leaving us on country highways through lakes and greenery. We stop into Ironwood, no expectations, just figured we'd stop in on a random mechanic some other random mechanic suggested.

Come here often? Muskey and this old shiny transporter hang out in front of Eric's shop.

What we found was a colorful, former mining town evolving into something new. It's hard to describe the moment where you find a place you weren't even looking for, and you bliss out.

Ironwood used to have a copper and an iron ore mine that built the town. The mines have petered out, leaving a shrinking population looking for opportunities. Some see good bets in the growing ski tourism industry, while others push for new mines to be open. The result is a town with a comfortable amount of space, history, and character. We had a really fun night out here. We had amazing pizza at Liberty Bell Chalet, had the entire bowling alley at Lucky Strikes to ourselves, and enjoyed the rustic decor at Indian Head Motel. The sunset provided some great light on the old buildings, and we tried capture the feel with lots of pictures.

Ironwood, MI and Hurley, WI are practically the same town, with just the skinny Montreal River flowing between.

I also met Eric, who runs European Car Service. His real passion seems to be a handful of choice old models, with VW Transporters among them. He sold us some much more comfortable front seats from '86+ model busses, and a new headlight grille. Our old grille was threatening to dissolve the next large bug we hit. He's working on a 23 window restore, in addition to eight Syncro projects! I really appreciated meeting up with him.