Author: sandcastle

We stopped at the Father Marquette National Memorial in St Ignace to take a picture of the Mackinac bridge from that perspective.

Then we, finally, crossed the bridge.

It’s a toll bridge but so it cost us $7 for our two-axle motorhome.

So we are no longer on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, generally referred to as the UP, where the residents are known a Yoopers.

I would have sworn the sign said this stretch of road is maintained by the “Straits Area Geocaches.” It must have said “Geocachers” though, since geocachers are people and geocaches are the things they hide. Geocaching is a fun activity that is very popular with RVers since they can hunt caches all over the world. We’ve hunted a few and will likely do more some time as they often lead us to interesting sites.

In Pellston, Michigan, the train depot is now an historical museum. Lots of former train depots have been converted to other uses. The most common seems to be history museums, art galleries, coffee shop/cafe’s, realty offices, and visitor center/CVB offices. On our former Midland Industrial Railroad we modeled several of those conversions. If you are interested you can see some of them in the photos on our web site at http://www.sandsys.org/. Click on Model Railroading then Models Built.

The sun came out which has happened so rarely lately that I felt compelled to comment.

We stopped at Walmart so Dave could drop off a new prescription. Unfortunately we did that when the pharmacy was closed for lunch. Oh, well.  the best laid plans and all that.

We stayed the night at Fisherman’s Island State Park. We could only stay one night because the site, #34, was already reserved for the next night. For $12 we had no hookups but we did have a lake view with our own section of beach.  Nice, huh?

The next day we moved on to Traverse City, Michigan, where we had better luck with the timing of our visit to their pharmacy.

I saw a sign that said, “Viewtiful weddings.”  Cool word.  OK, it’s not a word but it is very descriptive.

The next sign said, “Peace Pole Makers.” What’s a peace pole? I’ve heard of a peace pipe and a totem pole but not a peace pole. I’ve never heard of a war pole either. Although, I suppose a lance could be called a war pole.

So, I looked it up on the internet and learned “A Peace Pole is a hand-crafted monument that displays the message and prayer May Peace Prevail on Earth on each of its four or six sides, usually in different languages. There [are] tens of thousands of Peace Poles in 180 countries all over the world dedicated as monuments to peace.” It’s part of the same movement that displays those “Visualize world peace” bumper stickers. I’m in favor of world peace but I prefer the bumper sticker that say, “Visualize whirled peas.” That one tickles my funny bone.

Then we traveled on to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. But that place deserves it’s own blog so I’ll stop this one here.

TTYL,

Linda

Manistique has a place known as the siphon bridge. It sits low enough that, when the water is high, the bridge deck can be lower than the height of the water apparently causing the water to “siphon” under the bridge. These pictures were taken from the bridge. In the first picture you can see the canal on the right is higher than the river on the left. The second picture looks the other way at the canal. You can see that the top of the canal is in line with the top, not the bottom, of the bridge.

I saw a motel advertising, “showers, tubs, carpet.” How many of you remember when motels had linoleum, not carpet? Those were some cold floors. They felt good if you were in a hot place, though. And they sure made sense at the motel we stayed at in the Florida panhandle area–all that sand tracked in could be swept right back out. So, are you visualizing me sweeping Dave out the door?

We were detoured off US Hwy 2 onto a “seasonal road.” That means the road is not plowed by the county during the winter. There were a lot of houses along it so my guess is the locals plow it themselves just enough to keep reasonable access to their homes. I wonder if they all get together and pay some one or if the guy closest to the highway plows as far as his house then the next guy plows to his, etc. If so, what happens when the furthest guy needs to get out before the others plow? Does one guy plow from one end and a different guy plow from the other end and no one plows the middle? Anyone want to volunteer to come back next winter to find out and report back to the rest of us?

Today is a rainy day–good for sleeping but not so good for sightseeing. We pulled into a scenic overlook to take pictures of the Mackinac bridge. Here’s my view from our RV and Dave’s view from the overlook.

We then drove into town for fuel and lunch while the sky cleared some. So we went back and Dave got this picture.

Like that one better, do you?

The Captain’s Inn Motel had a sign saying “highly recommended by owner.” It was closed. Apparently no one else highly recommended it.

We are now in the Tiki RV Park in St Ignace, MI, waiting out the weekend and the weather. Sunday we hope to cross that big bridge. If there are no wind warnings that prevent us from doing so. All you blowhards out there keep it to yourselves on Sunday, OK?

TTYL,

Linda

US Hwy 2 eastbound crosses a corner of Wisconsin as it goes across Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. My data doesn’t. The challenge of having each state have it’s own spreadsheet is those corners get left out. Sometimes. Occasionally, I include items from one state in another state’s data if it seems appropriate to do so. But, as I gathered the Michigan data I forgot to go back and include that corner of Wisconsin. Oh, well, it’s not like we are seeing everything everywhere anyway.

What we did see while crossing that corner of Wisconsin was Florence: a thriving small town. Not just surviving but thriving. I wonder why? Though the town was gussied up for it’s upcoming celebration I don’t think that’s the whole story. There were no boarded up storefronts. People were out on the streets and they looked happy. Houses looked well tended. (OK there was one that could use some paint but I only saw one like that in the entire town.) I wonder what their secret to success is?

I saw a shop named “Grease Lightening.” It was a quick lube place.

We had planned to stop at the Iron Mountain Iron Mine in Vulcan, MI. The place advertises guided underground train tours. But, as we got close to it we started seeing big red signs with white lettering saying things like, “Don’t miss it,” “Coming right up,” “An experience you won’t want to miss,” “Rock shop,” “Unique gifts,” and other things that made it feel more and more like a tourist trap. Add that to my upset stomach and the fact that Dave has been down a mine before and we decided to give this place a miss. I wonder if it ever occurs to anyone that their advertising could have negative results?

Outside the town of Norway, MI, I saw a street sign saying, “Swede Slmt Rd.” I wonder how the Swedes felt about the town of Norway? Welcome or not? They apparently choose to establish their own settlement outside of town.

We crossed into the Eastern time zone. How time flies. That whole hour went by as if it never existed at all.

I saw a place advertising “Outdoor Wood Furnaces.” I could hear my Dad saying, “Close the door. What are you trying to do–heat all the outdoors?” Really, where would you use an outdoor furnace?  And why?

We stopped for the night at Indian Lakes State Park just west of Manistique, MI. We parked on the upper level away from the lake since the lower level looked like it might be party heaven. All we heard all night was rain on the roof. I’m not sure today is going to be a good sightseeing day but we will head out shortly anyway.

TTYL,

Linda

We started our day today by backtracking. This is something we are seldom willing to do but the Northern Lakes Visitor Center appeared it would be worth seeing. So back we went just west of Ashland, Wisconsin, and we are not sorry to have done so.

The museum has several areas in which you can participate in learning experiences.  Among the things I learned there is that Lake Superior could hold all the other Great Lakes combined and that its bottom is a lower elevation than that of  Death Valley which is the lowest land in North America.

I also played with some computers intended to help you learn about sites in the area. I didn’t find any on their computers that I had not already found on my own, though.

And I watched some children “fish painting.” They painted rubber fish then used those fish to transfer their paint onto bandannas. Check this out.

I think Dave has been spending too much time reading my blog. He’s starting to sound like me. Today we saw a County Kitchen advertising a “Smothered Chicken Dinner” and he asked me, “Does that mean they killed it with a pillow?”

I saw a place named “Ex-Ray Transmission”. Do you suppose it used to be Ray’s? Maybe now it belongs to his former wife? Maybe Ray changed his name so now he’s ex-Ray?

In Crystal Falls, Michigan, there is a movie theater that on August 22th will show Buster Keaton’s movie “The General” with live pipe organ music. Wouldn’t it be fun to go? But we plan to be too far from here to enjoy that experience.

We’re still in town tonight, though. We are at the Runkle Lake Recreation Complex where we have water and electricity for $18. It’s another $5 if we hook up to the sewer as well. But we dumped yesterday so we don’t need to do so now. We don’t need the water either but we might fill anyway before we leave in the morning. It’s always good to be prepared for wherever you wind up staying each night.

But I am never prepared for our Internet connection to act as a tease. “Here I am'” it says, “ready to do your bidding.” “OK,” I reply, “Post this blog, please.” “Sure thing,” it replies. “Working, working, working. Oops.” So I try again with the same response. The next morning I try again with the same response. So, a full day later, here it finally is.

TTYL,

Linda

We stayed two nights instead of the one we planned at Dave’s sister’s house. It is nice to have family we enjoy visiting.

While there I made a curtain for our bathroom window. One of the hated mini-blinds is gone now. I have the valances for the big windows mostly done and I have cut out the material for the one for the kitchen window. Bit by bit I am replacing window coverings I do not like. I am, however, doing them at retirement speed so don’t expect to hear they are all done any time soon.

Today we crossed to the other Twin Port: Superior, Wisconsin. There we visited the Richard I. Bong Veterans Historical Center. Richard Bong was a local man who flew P-38s in WWII and became famous for his skills. He was credited with 40 kills before they sent him home the second time. He was also a good PR man which is why they sent him home the first time but he just couldn’t stay home while the war was going on so he volunteered to go back.

The museum teaches about both World Wars in a way that makes you really feel what it was like. There are a lot of first person stories told by the people who lived them.

There’s also an exhibit about the Merchant Marines. They lost a higher percentage of their men than any other branch of service yet they were not recognized as veterans until 1988.

All in all, this is a very powerful museum you should visit if you ever get even close to it.

Today’s street sign said, “Moccasin Mike Road.” Did he wear only moccasins? Did he make them? Was he killed by a moccasin snake? Who or what was Moccasin Mike?

A realty had a sign that said, “People who say you can’t buy happiness never had a place on a lake.” I’ve never has a place on a lake but now, when we get to park our RV along one, I do feel happy about that. Of course, a river or ocean do that for me, too. There’s just something about being beside water I really like. I don’t like being on it, though. Unless it’s a cruise ship. I like cruising on big boats on oceans and rivers but I don’t like small boats of any type. I don’t know where my fear of water comes from but it is strong.

Just west of Ashland, Wisconsin, is the Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center. We stopped there to see if we could get information about a local park and discovered the place is a whole museum mostly about Lake Superior. It was too close to closing time to explore the museum so we plan to go back in the morning.

There are lots of primitive campgrounds in northern Wisconsin but after three nights of driveway camping we needed to dump and fill. My database indicated a city park in Ashland where we could do that plus have an electrical connection overnight for $20. So I asked about it at the Visitor Center and got directions to Kreher Park in Ashland. We are camped alongside Lake Superior right next to this ore dock.

I like trains and I have friends who model this type of railroad operations but I’m glad we won’t be listening to trains unloading their ore into ships tonight.

TTYL,

Linda