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Lake Superior Circle Tour
Tourgoers see such highlights as colorful Upper Peninsula roadsides...
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Lake Superior Circle Tour
... Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore...
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Lake Superior Circle Tour
... and Split Rock Lighthouse.
When it comes to doing the Lake Superior Circle Tour, Bill Sjoblom may hold the record. He’s circled the Big Lake 30 to 40 times during the three decades that he’s hosted bus trips.
“People are absolutely amazed at how enormous the Lake is,” Bill says, “and at the stories of shipwrecks and how powerful the Lake can be.”
Bob Berg / Lake Superior Magazine
Lake Superior Circle Tour
Tour organizer Bill Sjoblom points out scenic spots along his Lake Superior Circle Tour by motor coach.
This year Bill’s Sjo-Pro Tours is partnering with us to offer a 10-day Lake Superior Magazine Fall Tour circling Lake Superior by motor coach, September 21 to 30. The trip, open to anyone, includes a visit to Mackinac Island, Michigan.
The 1,300-mile trip starts and ends in Duluth, at the Inn on Lake Superior, and covers some of the Lake’s best experiences and most stunning scenery, from boat tours at Pictured Rocks in Michigan, the Apostle Islands in Wisconsin and the harbor in Duluth to a gondola ride at Lutsen Mountains and a voyageur canoe trek in Wawa, Ontario.
Bill, a Duluth native, joined the Air Force in the 1970s and was stationed in Texas. He returned to Duluth to work for Greyhound Lines.
“I decided the roads were a lot better in Texas,” Bill chuckles. He went to Austin and started his motor coach touring company, Sjo-Pro Tours, in 1987. He traveled around the country with groups and found a way to come back north every year: he brought Texans to do the Lake Superior Circle Tour.
“My mother always said, ‘How come the only time you come home you have 30 people with you?’” Bill literally would show up with his busload of travelers at his folks’ house along the St. Louis River and his mom served them smoked fish with a side of fruit salad in whipping cream (in other words, a true Northland potluck). The fish was appropriate, too, since Bill’s dad and granddad were both “herring chokers,” commercial fishermen.
Travelers who take his Lake Superior tour “are amazed with the friendliness of the people,” Bill says. They also note “how the fall foliage is as good as the East Coast, if not better.”
What you won’t see are crowds. “I’ve done tours of Lake Superior where we’ve literally never seen another motor coach. We’re the only ones out there, and they love that.”
Lake Superior Circle Tour
A past group on Bill's Circle Tour by bus.
The main jaw dropper for newcomers remains Lake Superior itself. “People still can’t get it into their heads how we have oceangoing vessels so far into the Midwest. They can’t fathom how in the world ships get all this way.”
The hometown boy loves taking people to Thompson Hill overlook in Duluth and hearing: “I never thought I’d see anything so beautiful.”
Bill knows quite a bit about the Big Lake and enjoys talking about it, but he brings in local people for presentations along the route.
Patsy Weaver, director of the Hometown Travelers at Huntington State Bank in Lufkin, Texas, took Bill’s Lake Superior tour. “The whole trip, I wouldn’t change anything about it,” she says, remembering high points like the Naturally Superior Adventures canoe ride. “That was really neat, and we got to see the sunset … another was the gondola ride up to Moose Mountain at Lutsen Mountains. That was pretty spectacular.”
The lively tour keeps on schedule. “It’s a good distance to cover,” Bill says. He believes his bus riders get smitten with the Lake region, so he leaves them with this thought: “Hopefully you get a chance to go back.”
Good to Know
When: September 21 to 30.
Where: The Lake Superior Magazine Fall Tour covers 1,300 miles, starting and ending in Duluth at the Inn on Lake Superior.
Who: Presented by Lake Superior Magazine and Sjo-Pro Tours.
Cost: The full price is $2,658 per person double occupancy, with nine overnight stays and 26 meals (two meals are on your own). Other price options are available, including one for those, such as local residents, who prefer not to do the two-night stay in Duluth.
Border crossings require a passport or other acceptable option, such as a U.S. passport card or state enhanced driver’s license.