The 1500-mile highway circling Lake Superior crosses borders of two countries and weaves its way through stretches of dense boreal forests and along high-cliffed shorelines. It was first completed in 1963. Not long afterward, I made my first trip around it on a 10-speed Montgomery Ward bicycle carrying a tent and a Boy Scout cook kit. I've made two trips since. The most recent was for a citizen's forum last spring in Nipigon, Ontario. I was a passenger in a 1998 6-cylinder Jeep Wrangler with a driver who teaches for the nearby University's Department of Geography and, these days, is also serving a stint as faculty union president.

The Jeep, as one might suspect, is a hard ride. No air-conditioning, pullout light switches, stick shift and a set of Kevlar all-terrain tires that provide plenty of traction, but at the price of a more precarious center of gravity. I've taken previous trips to meetings in Canada with him. There are two things that make these trips special. The first is his grandfather's pipe, which he estimates is at least a hundred years old. It has a briarwood bowl, an ebonite mouthpiece and a design titled Bull Moose. The second is the realization that my colleague frequently stops from time-to-time to stretch his legs, but most importantly to smoke his pipe. He likes to make these stops at out-of-the-way trailheads, sheltered bays and historical sites.

Last May, while returning south along Superior's vast northeast Canadian shoreline, he pulled over at a portage site. You had to be alert to see the turnout. He'd obviously visited this spot before. We walked on a path under the shadow of cedar trees alongside the weaving riverbank in silence, then parted for a few minutes to find our own spot-to sit and ponder the magnificent power of the tumbling cascade of water, and mist, and rock.

Life moves too fast for most of us. We justify ourselves by saying the bigger view is grand and there's always a destination calling. Rough economic times are reminding all of us that the real task of a Good Life is to bring depth, not simply breadth, to ventures upon which we embark.

You don't have to take a Lake Superior Circle Tour to find a place to unplug or rest. There are out-of-the-way spots on any of life's roads. Unexpected restoration and healing are often found in such places. But you'll need a guide. And most importantly, a decision to stop for a few minutes and step off the highway.

-Jon