Exploring the Fifty First State -- Yooper Land

At least that is what some of the Yoopers in the UP of Michigan wish it were, and it is vast areas of forest and bog with tiny hamlets scattered along the incredibly straight roads! In our two days of travels we are still getting oriented geographically, as the sun does not set across what looks like an ocean out our RV front window, which faces south. It sets to our right, west of course. We are camped at St. Ignace, where the Michigan and Huron lakes come together.  This post is another Two-Fer; for yesterday and today's travels in Yooper country. 

Yesterday, we drove up to the Soo, as Sault St. Marie is called and this year it is celebrating 350 years as a community.  Sault means place of rapids, which was what the Chippewa portaged around, the French built fur trading posts beside and the Canadian and Americans finally built four locks across so massive ships can move from Lake Superior to Lake Huron. We visited the 20 story Tower of History to get a look at the Saint Mary's River and the locks at the Soo.  Pamela was thrilled to find a gluten free crepe place, and she delighted in a Nutella and strawberry HUGE crepe. We walked across the street to learn more at the Sault St. Marie Locks Corp of Engineers Visitor Center including, history of the river, how the locks work and why a wider and longer lock is needed.

Tower was built by the Catholic church to in memory of early missionaries

Soo Locks Observation Platform

Tug and barge in lock waiting for water to drop about 12 feet

It was a good visitor center and one of the main attractions is the observation platform so people can watch the ship traffic of over 3,000 ships a year that go through the locks.  We watched as the tug Zeus took a barge of petroleum products through and watched the approach of a large Polish ship enter on its way to a Canadian port on Lake Superior.  It is a long, straight 50 mile drive up to the Soo from St. Ignace--it is nice to have the Forester to make these trips in.  Unfortunately, it was 50 miles back as well.

Today, we decided to drive up north again to Whitefish Point on Lake Superior to visit the Great Lakes Shipwrecks Historical Society Museum and lighthouse. Off this point is the location of many ship wrecks, including the most famous.

Whitefish Point Light and Fog Horn

That famous ship is a song by Gordon Lightfoot song running through our heads today, after viewing the poignant movie on "The Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald" in 1975. He wrote the song shortly after the tanker sank. Twenty years after she sank in November, the Canadian navy took many of the family members out to sea to watch as divers cut loose the ship's bell and brought it to the surface. A diver then took down a replica brass bell with every man's name engraved on it for a memorial. The original bell was cleaned and is at the entrance to the Whitefish museum. 

We also saw a unique light house lens. This large flat lens could project light 28 miles out to sea, across Lake Superior for the early ships in the from the mid-1800's through mid- 1900's. 

We did finally find the ice cream Neil had been looking for, at a beautiful state park, called Tahquamenon, which has lower and much higher upper falls. The upper falls are the second largest volume of water east of the Mississippi. Can you guess the largest? They are on the border between the US and Canada, east of us. The walk to the the Upper Falls was well worth it. We learned the major species of trees in the forest (this one for Katherine, who asked) -- Eastern Pine, Beech, and Sugar Maple. The Beech have a beetle infestation imported from Europe into Nova Scotia that is spreading into the native trees. This explains why we have seen so many large trucks carrying short logs for firewood. 

Tomorrow, we will sail away to Mackinac (Mac-in-ah) Island, the summer home of the Governor, where no motorized vehicles are allowed. Looking forward to not driving, horse carriage ride and lunch at the Grand Hotel.  Best wishes to all,

Neil and Pamela

Faribault, Wisconsin to Lakeshore RV in Upper Michigan

Faribault WI to Lakeshore MI in Two Days

Tonight's post is for two days, since we got into Faribault, WI a bit late and had very poor cell service in the Tilleda Falls Campground in eastern Wisconsin.  As you can see from the map, there are lots of yellow construction zones along the 566 miles before arriving in northern Michigan.   It has been two long days to get here, but we are now going to settle in for nearly a week in one place and see a variety of historic and architectural sites and lighthouses on the UP (Upper Peninsula) where locals are known as Yuppers (pronounced Yoo-pers). 

Our Tilleda Falls Campsite on the "Lake" (Pond)

Boy Fishing Below Tilleda Falls

Last night we had one whole side of the campground to ourselves, with a private beach area on the lake. Course, the lake looked a little too scummy for us to go swimming, but it did not stop the kids from jumping in to paddle around and try climbing onto the water bouncy house. What an incredible little gem of an RV Park, and for the first night since leaving Rapid City, no sound of motorcycles!

Tilleda Lake and our private beach behind RV

We have been blessed on this trip with no issues along the road, major detours beyond sharing half a freeway while new bridges and pavement is laid, illness or things going wrong on RV.  In two weeks we can only think of one thing we are missing, day backpacks for tours to places such as Mackinac Island. Tonight, we are really happy to be far enough north (all of 45 degrees North) with lake cooling effect, so the day temperatures will top out in the high 70's and we might see rain showers by Wednesday.

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We Are At the Blue Dot

We drove through the Hiawatha NF (Neil wants to know what happened to Lowawatha) alongside west side of Lake Michigan for 150 miles and now are at the confluence of lakes Michigan and Huron.  We will drive south over the Mackinac Bridge to visit Sleeping Bear Dunes and Traverse City, take a ferry to historic Mackinac Island where no motor vehicles are allowed (including our new electric bikes, unless you get permission from the police department--Neil tried) and go north to touch the third big lake, Superior and Sault St. Marie with the locks big enough for the tankers, visit  Ojibwa and ship museums, lighthouses and other attractions while we are here.  Ice cream, fudge and other things might be consumed. If you have ideas to share in this area, do let us know.

Hiawatha National Forest Near Saint Ignace

Yesterday evening, we did take the time for an adult beverage (as we have to drink our supplies before going into Canada), to BBQ a steak and add Wisconsin and Minnesota to the RV map.  We will add Michigan while we are here in Saint Ignace. Yes, we know there is a hole of North Dakota, which will wait for another trip.

Minnesota is Added

And So Does Wisconsin

We will be sharing photos and information from our stay here in this middle of three Great Lakes, before we head north into Canada and on the Hiawatha Highway (Hwy 17) into Ontario.  All your comments are welcome, either on this blog (if you can figure it out) or via email to one of us.   We have traveled about 2,300 miles so far.  We have seen some interesting highway signs along the way, including these:

Amish in area with horse and buggy

Well, we are truly in the East now as we crossed the Mississippi River  yesterday and entered the Eastern time zone today. We hope all is well with you. Stay cool!

Neil and Pamela

A Tour of US Agriculture - Mitchell SD to Faribough, MN

Today was our second of three days of straight roads and open prairie scenery.  We left Mitchell, South Dakota and followed Interstate 90 due East.  It was fairly warm for most of the trip but thankfully cooled off as we got into Minnesota.  We saw lots of produce growing in the fields along the way, including corn, soybeans, and sunflowers.

East and a Little Bit North

The roads were pretty rough through the east of SD and even into MN, but not yet as bad as parts of Montana.  We are glad we are hitting these bumpy roads at 55 mph and not 80 mph.

Rough Road Today - Like Speed Bumps!

We are looking forward to getting to St. Ignace in Michigan where we will be staying for six nights, so we don't have to pack up each morning and drive every day to a new campsite.  We have shifted our sleep cycle to rise at 8:30 and on the road by 10 am. We forget how big the USA really is, until you travel to get into Maine and New England. And, we will be saving 500 miles going into Canada to Ottawa, then Vermont, rather than drive south around the Great Lakes to New England.

We did travel through some tall grass prairies along the trip and stopped at a rest area where with interpretive signs that shared of the restoration occurring in six mid-west states. The sign told us that the roots of many of these grasses go down into the soil fifteen feet.  We saw signs for Laura Ingalls Wilder's cabin in SD, so Pamela read aloud the Wikipedia life of Laura Ingalls Wilder to Neil as we drove through the miles of prairie. We had forgotten the books do cover her life in Minnesota, South Dakota, Wisconsin and eventually Missouri where she and Alonzo Wilder lived much of their married life. For those who don't know, she had written a farm column for a paper decades, before trying her hand at book writing to help them through the Great Depression. Her daughter Rose, an accomplished author, helped her complete the series and get them published.

Tall Grass Prairie

When we got to the campground at Camp Faribo, Neil found out that there was an electric adapter that he did not have, imagine that!  We needed a male 50 amp plug to a 30 amp female receptacle, like the one below.  We ere able to borrow one to get the AC working (it was 84 at 1700)  and water hooked up. When we went for a grocery run to town, we discovered the BIG Walmart in Faribault and found the adapter there, so we are more prepared for future camping sites.  We will probably never need it again.

Adapter that We Needed

We did drive through downtown Faribault, Minnesota to do some shopping, but decided not to visit the Cheese Cave as there will be more opportunities in Wisconsin.  did view some lovely century plus old homes and churches, which have begun to have the tall narrow steeples you see in New England. All is going well and we are having a good time.  

Neil's hand is beginning  to heal and he now just has a BIG band-aide over the web of his thumb and forefinger. He can still drive, type and do most things.  He does put on a nitrile glove for some things, like showers, hooking up and unhooking the RV.  We did not get the Minnesota map on today, so tomorrow will be a two state day.  Thanks for listening,

Neil and Pamela

Rapid City to Mitchell South Dakota - Miles of Miles

We got a later start than normal, and we re going to blame Pamela's cousin Virginia, since we waited for her to get back in mid morning to say so long til next time.  Actually, we just were on a slow speed this morning and we left at 1100--pause for gasps from our early morning friends.

Pamela and Virginia in Our RV

We decided to take a "short cut" leaving the family RV camping site and wound up going through some small towns on the way to connect with I-90.  One of these was New Underwood, and it seemed like there wasn't a lot going on.  The only motorcycle we saw there was a metal sculpture.

Not Sure Where Old Underwood Is!

We finally got on I-90 and drove east for about 275 miles.  We saw LOTS of motorcycles and RV toy haulers that were carrying cycles, but in style.  Pretty heavy traffic and some rough roads along the way.  We were slowed down in a construction zone and then there was a motorcycle accident to boot.  Two people were hurt with EMS tending to them.  We hope they are OK.

Cycle Accident on I-90

We pushed on after getting gas until we got across the Missouri River and up the bluff to the welcome center, where it was a balmy 97 degrees.  We stopped for a break and took pictures of the Missouri and the 50 foot high sculpture "Destiny of Earth and Sky".  She is a new statue, raised in 2016, built of stainless steel. She stands, holding a star quilt with blue diamond shapes that open in the wind. Three native women of different ages poised for the statue.

Missouri River from Overlook

Destiny of Earth and Sky

One of the reasons today felt longer than normal is that we lost an hour to the Central Time Zone.  We rolled into the Mitchell, South Dakota around 1830, which is later than we would like.  We took the time to add South Dakota to our map before we leave the state.

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We had dinner in the RV and watched a streaming Netflix movie called "Like Father" with Kristen Bell and Kelsey Grammar.  It was pretty good.  Tomorrow we drive into Minnesota, on our way to Michigan.  Wish us luck, and thanks for tuning in.

Neil and Pamela

Mount Rushmore and Unplanned Stops

All in all, today was a pretty good day.  We took off in mid morning and drove down through the southern part of the Black Hills National Forest.  There is a very scenic route through the area with views of Mount Rushmore through the tunnels.

Scenic Black Hills Road with Rushmore in Background

We went to the memorial since Virginia had special passes and a "limper sticker" so we parked right in front of the entrance.  We went in and had a good view of the dead presidents, had lunch, and ice cream while Pamela went to the gift shop.  

 It was good weather for most of the day, but started to sprinkle on us while at the memorial.  We commented that we were glad we weren't heading back to Rapid City on a motorcycle, when the sky opened up and it rained VERY heavy.  We had to slow way down and put the wipers on fast as we passed bikers who pulled over to try to get rain gear on.  The weather improved on the way back, and it warmed back up to 90 degrees.  Neil had plans to do some more work on the tire pressure sensors, but such was not to be.

While trying to take the packaging off a long breaker bar for the lug nuts, he stabbed himself in the thumb--right between the thumb and index finger.  Long story short, we had to run into Rapid City to an urgent care for three stitches and a script for anti-biotics.  That made us late for the family dinner, but we made it back in time to get something to eat and visit with Pamela's family. 

The tire sensor job will have to wait, but we plan to leave tomorrow (Friday) as planned to go to Mitchell, South Dakota.  We will close this blog with a file picture of our unplanned "attraction" that we saw today.

Rapid City Urgent Care - Our Unplanned Stop

Thanks for those of you who have sent emails or messages--we don't think that the comment section is working.

Best Wishes from South Dakota,

Neil and Pamela

All Roads Lead to Sturgis

Little did we know when we started this trip (and postponed it a week) that we would be in the Black Hills and Rapid City in the middle of the Sturgis Motorcycle Ralley just north of Rapid City.  It is estimated that at least 500,000 motorcycles are here for the event, and we believe it!  We have been seeing them for miles on the way here, and now we see entire towns with motorcycles everywhere.

Fortunately, we are staying with Pamela's cousin Virginia and her family south of Rapid City.  They have a full RV spot next to the house with a 30 amp outlet, sewer dump and water.  Since it is in the 90's here (still cooler than home in Oregon) being plugged in for air conditioning is a must for us.

We have had a good visit with Virginia and her daughter Linda, husband Glenn and son Broc.  We will have dinner with more of the family tomorrow night before we leave for Mitchell, SD on Friday.

Sturgis Street Scene--Quite a Few Bikes

We took a drive today up to Sturgis to look at the spectacle that is the Ralley and it was both loud and interesting.  We will include a few photos of the sights, but can't share the sounds.  It was pretty loud as groups of twenty or more motorcycles drove by.  They close off Main Street and allow only motorcycle parking down the middle.  Lots of stores that sell all things motorcycle related--and other stuff too.  Pamela remarked that she didn't see an audiologist booth for checking hearing--they might do a good business.

Lots of Custom Bikes to Be Seen

A John Deere and Farm All Tractor Theme Bikes

"Pain for Sale"  Interesting Marketing Approach

One of the Few Painted Tanks We Saw

After spending an hour of so walking Main Street in Sturgis, we decided to take the Spearfish Canyon Drive through the Black Hills National Forest.  We shared the road with several hundred motorcycles, and found every pull out and place to stop packed with motorcycles.  We decided to go through Lead and Deadwood to see it things were less crowed...and they weren't.

We drove back to Rapid City for lunch, a stop for some tire tools for Neil and some groceries.  It was a good day with some interesting things to see and experience.

The votes are in, and it turns out that the small, green comment icon DOES NOT WORK for most people.  We think it works only for people who use google gmail, but are not certain about that.  If you have any comments or suggestions, please send us a note at hagafinn@gmail.com and we will read them there.  Sorry for the mis-direction.

Tomorrow we will see if we can get into Mount Rushmore, and Neil wants to install the last two tire pressure sensors on the RV.  He says that it "an adventure in TPMS".

Thanks for tuning in and reading.  Best wishes from Neil and Pamela.