Wind up

As we were leaving Shelbyville for home, Gene mentioned that it was Friday and we could just as well take I-59 into Birmingham for the weekend as go to Atlanta. After a quick call to see if it would be ok with the kids, that is what we did, staying at Oak Mountain State Park. Liz said she knew it was not about her and her brother, I just wanted to meet Lucy, the new dog. Well, she is a dear. Smaller than she looks in photos, sweet, calm and lovable. She will be draped over your lap in no time. Once she nosed my wallet onto the floor to make room for her head. She is a rescue about a year old.
This stop made the trip a solid three weeks. We arrived home Sunday about 3 PM. Gene wanted to park the camper in the drive so we hopped right out and started trimming the oak tree. The humidity and heat hit us full on.
This is our second full day home, and we are pretty much back to normal. Most of the chores done or started. Trying to get parts to repair the camper.
Observations:
While we did not like the crowded campgrounds, we did like the people we met due to the closeness. We have now joined Big Sams Roadside Assistance program which is like AAA for campers and covers your cars also. They would have towed the camper after that blown tire. I did not expect to see the many casinos in Michigan and Wisconsin.
Now that Gene has pulled the camper those many miles, he has gotten over his reluctance and is ready to do it again. Me?  Hmmm, I am still mulling it over.

Copper Harbor

This tiny community of about 20 square blocks once supported the copper mining industry in this town. Now it is supported by tourism. The town has two campgrounds, several motels and rental cabins. That makes the permanent resident population even smaller. It has one gas station and no stop light.  It is very picturesque harbor surrounded by low mountains. There is an island National  park called Royal Isle which is closer to Canada than Michigan, which I have never heard of. It is mostly wild and has the largest moose herd in America. It does have a resort hotel there. A big business here is a ferry to that island. Folks can take kayaks with them on the boat. We were at the dock one evening when it came in. A local told us that a few weeks back it had run aground and the whole town went into a panic as it is a major draw to bring tourists.

We did some exploring to the south, then went up on one of the mountains to an over look and could see our camper down below. This is Art in the Park weekend, with the park just two blocks from our camper. So we walked around and looked at the wares being sold. These were true artisans and many had jewelry featuring locally found metals and minerals. There were also a lot of soap makers there.  The park had lush grass, shade trees and nice restrooms. We then explored the town shops which I found mostly of little interest. There was a mineral shop that sold other things but had a lot of info about copper mining in the area. They had some huge and heavy pieces of copper that had been found in the area.

Copper harbor from atop mountain

We also hiked through the woods to Horseshoe Bay where there was a pebble beach. It was beautiful and secluded. The water is very cold so it is rare you see anyone swimming. A lot of those pebbles were agate and other metal or minerals.
We pulled out of Copper Harbor, headed south, on Monday. We had really good roads that were mostly deserted and made good time down to Mosinee, Wisconsin. The campground has a lot of permanent residents but they were mostly neat. There was another section across the entrance road that was on a lake. Those spots were more spacious. Both sides were wooded. We were down at one end, and would have been crammed in elbow to toenail, except there was no one else in a three block area. This made us quite happy.

Boulder showing mineral veins.

We had talked about stopping in Oshkosh so Gene could see the EAA museum, but he is out of the mood. He is smelling the hay and headed for the barn. He said if it was going to be hot, we might as well go home. It was in the mid  80's in Copper Harbor. So on Tuesday night we are just north of Bloomington, IL. Again the campground has a lot of permanent residents but we are on a grassy pull through with no nearby neighbors.
Today we have seen a lot of interesting old barns of a style not seen in the south. I might need to paint some of them. And grain silos galore. And corn, corn, corn, as far as the eye can see. Gosh, folks, there is a lot of corn grown in America. We saw a lot of it on the way up also. We saw some wind farms today also.
Tomorrow night it is Paducah, KY and on Thursday to Shelbyville to stay with Blake and then home.

Marquette

Today we are on the move again, first to the next town west, Marquette, about an hour away. It has a super Walmart and we need to replenish supplies and will also eat breakfast. This is where the biker rally is so we are a little unsure. We have continued to see tons of Harley's going toward Marquette and away.
As we pull into the town the first thing I see is Kohls, then Target, Michaels, and Pier 1. This is civilization! We found a Perkins for breakfast and then on to shopping. There were lots of biker dudes and chicks in the restaurant and walking along the roads, bikes parked everywhere but they are not adding to the traffic.
I will say again how friendly the people are up here. I was getting a trash  can off the shelf  to get a better look at it and a man passing offered to help. Though I declined, he insisted, putting his purchases down to do so. There does not seem to be a price and he helped me look, then helped me find the right garbage bag for it. He suggests I go to the paint counter and ask about price and on the way I encountered Gene so I stopped. The man came along and told Gene about our adventure and I told him I was still on the way to find help. He moved on but as I came to the end of the row, there he was with an employee who he showed the can to, then showed her where to find them. I followed and sure enough a price is established. Thankfully he did not go to checkout with us.
After going west for awhile along Lake Superior with stunning views, we turned north to the upper peninsula of the upper peninsula. Again, we skirted the lake for awhile, then climbed into mountains. Who knew? We passed some interesting towns and then get into dense forest. The thermometer in the car reads 88 and Gene is saying we might as well be at home if it going to be that hot. Then we start descending and curving and all at once there is a stop sign and the lake is a block in front of it.
We are in Copper Harbor which is just about the end of the road, literally. Our campground is clean and neat with good showers and frontage on a lake. There are a whole series of lakes with just a narrow strip of land between them and Superior. The sites are mostly grass but they are quite narrow, sort of like being in a parking lot. We are growing somewhat accustomed to this. It will not be as dusty as the last place.  Unfortunately they are having a heat wave and it will be in the 80s while we are here. With no haze, the sun really beats on you. The forecast calls for it to cool off the day we leave.
A good surprise is we have WiFi, due to  being parked just across from the bathhouse where it emanates from.  Our new friends, Rick and Pam, had stayed at the State Park and had no connection. We do not have cellular, though we had it most of the way up.
We will spend the next two days exploring. This was a copper and iron ore mining area. You can tour a couple of mines, actually going down in them. We say thanks but no thanks!

Pictured rocks

Though we have really enjoyed this setting on Huron, there are other lakes to see and it is time to move on. Today we headed a little south, then west along the shore of Lake Michigan. This view is more dramatic as there are no islands and the water stretches to the horizon. Every restaurant we passed all day offered whitefish and pasties which are like a large empanadas with various meat and veggie fillings. We have yet to try either. We stopped for lunch and had great turkey sandwiches on wonderful bread. Saved half of them for supper.  We overheard the woman behind the counter talking and it seems all her family makes its living from fishing.
 After awhile we turned north, the goal being the Pictured Rocks along Lake Superior at Munising. We had really good two lane roads today with  an occasional passing lane. Most of the time it was just evergreen forests lining the road.

Photo of photo of icicles in cave in winter

We saw some places that would be good moose habitat, but no moose. The trip was less than 150 miles.
This campground has dirt spaces which is fine until you get rain. They are pull through sites with full hook ups but there is no standardization as to where they will be. There are trees between the sites but because the utilities are shared, there are pairs of trailers facing one another. Like sitting on front porches facing that are about 15 ft from each other. We won't be sitting out tonight anyway as the high today was 69. However, the prediction for Thursday is 84!!
Another bump in the road. Last night we noticed the bottom panel of the jalousie window in the bedroom was loose and Gene said he put it back in place. After our arrival here, we noticed it was completely missing! Thank goodness for the cardboard box and duct tape we had to keep the cold wind out tonight .

Gene came from the shower house still unwashed and mad as a wet hen because there were only two showers and a long line. Actually there are two for men and two for women, but the campground is large. He showered in the trailer and says he will again the next two mornings. Our shower is a tight fit fir him.

1800's lighthouse

There will be a Harley Davidson Rally Thursday and Friday in Marquette about an hour west and we have large rigs here pulling the bikes in trailers from as far as Mississippi. We have also seen many groups on the roads in the past few days. We will go through Marquette Friday, which should be interesting.
Today we went on a cruise to the pictured rocks. It was a gorgeous day, perfect temp in the high 70's. Water was smooth. The pictures do not tell the whole story as the rocks were in shadow and I cannot capture the true colors. We saw a pair of bald eagles but could not get a good picture.  Minerals seeping through the limestone make the colors.Quite enjoyable.
Folks seem really friendly up here. Gene went for a walk last night and some men from near Oshkosh

noticed his Flagship shirt and invited him to sit by the fire and chat awhile, which he did.
I went to the showers at 7:30 this morning and still had to wait.I was second in line.
Cannot figure out what folks were doing as they spent a looooonngg time in there after the water went off. When I left there was no line.

Mackinac island

Rick told us that it is hard to get reservations in the UP this time of year, especially in popular spots. Since our next two destinations are just that, I spent the entire morning arranging accommodations. It is an arduous process as you have to identify campgrounds, then study amenities, then read reviews, then see if they have a vacancy. The amenities are different than in the South. Running water is a luxury and there is a lot of primitive camping. Sometimes the showers are coin operated. I did get us set through next Sunday. After that we start our descent through Wisconsin.
We then drove over to Hessel where the boat show had been with the hope that some would still be there and were rewarded to see about ten classic wooden boats from the 30's to the 50's.

If all the bikes were rented, the streets would be impassable.

The next day, Monday, we went to Mackinac Island, a tourist attraction island  where no automobiles are allowed. About a 30 minute drive down to St. Ignace and about 20-25 minute ride on the ferry. Really charming and a lot of neat houses and old hotels still in business. Interesting to see goods being delivered in horse drawn wagons, the equivalent of  Fed Ex. Smaller items are moved in carts with bicycle type wheels or in large bicycle baskets. Tourists can rent bikes and ride them around and the natives all use them also. The "downtown" strip was very congested so we spent most of our time away from that. There is a fort from the 1700s, and several beautiful old

100 lb. bags of sugar for the fudge store

churches. We saw a miniature golf course with real grass ( see photo). The flowers were everywhere and stunning. This place becomes mostly a ghost town in the winter as the lake freezes over. There are some winter activities and people come over in snowmobiles. There is also an airport on the island. The big deal here is supposed to be the best fudge what am. Of course we bought some, but I do not detect specialness.
After supper we sat on the dock with Rick and Pam. Just before dark one of the minks came out and cavorted among the rocks along the shore. It would have been too dark to try to take a photo but he sure was cute.

Destination Reached

On Friday we were up and out fairly early with another long day ahead. As we got farther north, we noticed two things. One, there were almost no tractor trailers. We wondered how goods get to the UP. The second was that almost every vehicle was towing a trailer or had kayaks or bicycles attached to it and the roads became crowded with this. Around the Saginaw area, suddenly they were all gone and the traffic cleared again. The roads were better today and the oil problem gone. We crossed the bridge into the UP around 5 and were to our campground by 6.
We are staying east of I-75 about 17 miles in Cedarville. The campground is on a small peninsula jutting into Lake Huron. This area is known as Les Cheneaux (The
 Channels) for the group of islands lying just off shore. Our campground faces the largest of these Big LaSalle.
This campground has only 55 spaces and all but 28 are individually owned. In the south, we find that where there are long term campers, it looks like a slum. Not here. They have either covered their lots in gravel or nice grass, planted flowers and have nice decks. There are also four "mobile homes" which look like tiny homes. They have front porches with columns. The first section is really crowded but our spot is down on the end where you have water all around. These spaces are larger, designed for motor homes to nose into. So our hookups are on the wrong side, but we coped. There is a big rig on one side and a pull behind on the other, both with their backs to us so it feels so much more private. There are groups of people about our age gathered here and there and some start talking to us while we are still setting up....its the Georgia tag. Before we set up in earnest we had to go get jackets and that, folks, is why we are here.
Just across from us are two docks where campers can rent a place to tie a boat. Gene walked down there and saw a mink scurrying about. We slept soundly with blankets on and no sound whatsoever.
On Saturday there was a large antique boat show in Hessel, the next town over, but we did not try to go due to the crowds. Instead we went to the two local museums, one maritime, the other history. The maritime had a lot of canoes and a few sailboats and boat models. They also had a nice maritime library and a workshop where the volunteers build one kayak or canoe each year and sell it to help support the museum. The one last ye

ar sold for $7000. They are partially supported also by the boat show.
Later that afternoon I noticed Gene in a long conversation with another man and when I went out to walk, he called me over. Turns out this was Rick. He and his wife, Pam, are Full Timers and have been for three years, living in their RV. They had just bought a "landing spot" cabin in, of all places, Blue Ridge, GA. He also had seen the Georgia tags. He was telling us about what to see and where to stay as they had come from where we were going. He invited us into his rig so he could refer to his notes on campgrounds.
Rick and Gene were sitting in the Captain's chairs in the front and suddenly Rick saw the mink, several of them, scurrying over the rocks and under the docks. One was in the water swimming and diving. Shortly after that the boat show ended and we began to see really interesting wooden boats coming by. That continued for the next several hours. The day was quite breezy and by 5PM a jacket was needed to be comfortable.
This is such a great place and the people are so friendly that it is going to be hard to leave.

The Henry Ford and Greenfield Village

The Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village cover 96 acres so we were up and ready early. We had purchased discounted tickets from the campground which were still $30 each. We jumped in the truck, Gene turned the key.........and nothing happened. We just looked at each other. I was thinking, well do we just flush $60 or do we stay another night? When Gene opened the hood, Carol, sitting just right there in her RV, asked what the problem was. In a flash, Bill was out there with a battery booster he used in his work and they had it going. Still, we had to deal with the problem. Oh, no, they said, take it with you, go enjoy the museum and deal with the problem after that.WOW! Sometimes this close quarters stuff can pay off.
   We arrived just 30 minutes later than we intended to and did the Greenfield first since it is outdoors, while it was cooler. This museum does not honor Henry Ford, he built it and opened it in 1929. The Village is a collection of mostly authentic buildings he collected and had moved to the site. When not possible they are replicas. In other words, the millinery shop really belonged to a lady whose story is told by the docent inside. There is a steam powered railroad that runs around the perimeter, many horse drawn wagons, and vintage buses. Also people strolling around in 1800's garb, playing croquet on the lawn and such. Got a real cool vibe to it.

Two things we really wanted to see were the Wright Brothers Cycle Shop ( authentic) and Edison's Menlo Park laboratories (replica). Ford brought all he could from Menlo Park but it was in ruins, he even had rail car loads of New Jersey dirt shipped to the site.On the 50th anniversary of the light bulb, he invited Edison there and asked him how he had done. Edison said he got it 99.9%. Ford wanted to know what he did wrong and Edison replied that it had not been so clean.
We did not know that Ford had also experimented with soybeans but there was also a lab for that. Ford had car bodies made from soybeans and even a suit of clothes.
There was a whole lot to see, but we skipped whole sections to have time to see the museum. There was a lot more in there on the evolution of the automobile, including campers. One camper had been a gift from Ford to the Lindbergh's. Also a section on aviation and a DC-3 (hanging from the ceiling). Another on the evolution of power that Gene loved. We skipped furniture and evolution of houses as we have seen enough of that and we lived some of it. 
As we wearily made our way to the car, Gene reminded me that we still had to boost the battery. There was a man sitting in a van facing us two spaces over and one closer than our truck. As we passed he asked if we had jumper cables. We died laughing. Gene said, "I was just about to ask you the same thing." Luckily, ours started without a jump and Gene then jumped the other man with the booster.
It would have been a fairly early evening had we not had to go to four places before we finally got the battery. But we finally did get one. When we got back, Gene gave Bill some lightered wood (fat wood) as a thank you. Bill had never heard of it. Later, Bill came to our door with his contact info and wanted us to be sure and let him know how we were progressing since we had already had two "events."