August 7 - 29 , 2013
Kansas, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Nebraska
Wednesday, Aug. 7
Left overcast Durango and drove to Colorado Springs. Flood in Pueblo at the underpass but never had a big storm. Stayed at Cheyenne Mountain did some shopping and spent the night. First night with the new dish TV satellite. Rained like a lot when we went shopping. Highway backed up so we took the back road and found a Walmart. An old man ran into our hitch and got stuck with his truck at Walmart but no damage.
Thursday, Aug. 8
Headed for Kansas and Road Highway 24 into the cornfields. Another overcast day did a lot of miles. Stop to tour the Cottonwood Ranch in Kansas. Spent 90 minutes there are so ended up camping at Webster reservoir. Just one night very buggy and smelled like water.
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| Cottonwood Ranch, Kansas, former Merino sheep ranch |
Friday, Aug. 9
Continued
on highway 24 in Kansas and stopped at the pony express museum in
Marysville. The mosquitoes attacked us in town. Stopped for a sandwich
and latte before driving through the cornfield some more on the pony
express highway. Crossed over into St. Joe Missouri late in the day.
Drove until 6 PM and stopped at Pershing State Park in Missouri. On the warm side and a bit humid but the bugs are not biting. Still overcast; this campground is not crowded.
Saturday, Aug. 10
Heading
for Hannibal Missouri today no breeze going to be a warm one but at
least the sun is out. Drove in from Pershing, MO park to Hannibal, MO to
tour Mark Twain town. Very interesting with all the restored historic
buildings. Drove on to Sangchris SP near Rochester, IL.
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| “Tom Sawyer”'s fence and boyhood home |
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| Marysville, KS |
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| Lake Superior sunset from Ashland, Wis. |
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| Abraham Lincoln's Springfield, IL home |
Sunday, Aug. 11
Got up early to tour Lincoln house in Springfield. Very cool, several other houses in hood also restored. Drove on to Silver Lake. Shirley not home but we tried to park alongside the cottage, but it could not get the angle down to make it fit so we found camping at the Warsaw fairgrounds. Set up and found a Mexican restaurant in town, as we were close to downtown. Surprisingly good. Will go see Mike tomorrow.
Monday, Aug. 12
Shirley stopped by the trailer for a visit, then we followed her over to Mmike's rehab facility. He is recovering from a broken back, fell off the porch. Later we went up to Shipshewanna to check out the Amish town but didn't find much except food items. Came back and visited with Mike again, then went to dinner with Shirley at the boathouse in Winona.
Tuesday, Aug. 13
Left Indiana for Michigan. Drove up to Ludington, which turned out to be the worst park ever: 10 million campers and kids and bikes and campfires, smoke everywhere. Stayed one night, did not kayak. Biked over to the lighthouse and I still hated this place - Michigan that is; for Bill, just this campground specifically. Guess I'm not a lake person.
Wednesday, Aug. 14
Drove on north, stopping for two nights at Interlochen SP. Much better in the interior! On a lake and actually had trees in the campground. Two areas, with a total of OVER 500 sites!! Ridiculous! Imagine the smoke, as they all want a fire... However, we liked our spot away from the fray and got in a bike ride to the little town to get the lay of the land.
Thursday, Aug. 15
Kayak day finally! Drove to the Betsie river and put in on the Green Lake then headed for the river. Good ride, saw lots of birds, a killer hawk, an otter, and lots of good kingfishers. Bill saw a black snake too. After that went to town to try to do laundry but couldn't find the laundromat. Got in another bike ride.
Friday, Aug. 16
Moved on again north... Stopped at Charlevoix to see the "mushroom" houses. Cute town but noisy as hell. Truck route thru town. Saw the French bulldog boutique. Drove on to St. Ignace on the other side of the Mackinaw Bridge to officially be in the upper peninsula. Stayed at the very nice Straits SP, securing a good spot after previewing. #201, once again very smoky at night, have to close windows. Went to do laundry at 4pm then to dinner at Jose's Mexican which totally sucked. What were we thinking.
Saturday, Aug. 17
Rode bikes to town to get on the ferry to Mackinaw Island. Fast 15 minute ride and you are there. Straight to the Grand Hotel for the $10 tour (not 10 cent) and loved every minute of it. Seeking out Somewhere In Time locations. Back to the very busy island downtown for lunch at the Horn saloon, and two margaritas, it was good, then back on bikes for the 8 mile ride around the island. Again very cool. Lots of people but mostly in town where there are no cars but lots of horse carriages. Insanity. Back to the Grand for the gift shop, coffee and ice cream. Then the ride back to the docks for our ferry back. Beautiful day, but tonight the skeeters are biting. Tomorrow we move on. Michigan finally got better!
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| Lighthouse at Ludington, MI |
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| The Grand Hotel, from the ferry. |
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| Inside at the Grand Hotel, I think this is where the little boy played with the ball. And got in trouble. |
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| All the bikes in busy downtown Mackinaw Island. |
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| Biking around Mackinaw Island. |
Sunday & Monday, Aug. 18 - 19
Continued on the boring drive to the Upper Peninsula, not many people up here. Drove thru small towns and thru a national park along the Lake Superior coast and settled on staying at a national forest CG called Au Train because there is a river to kayak. Got a nice spot #21 on the lake where we could put the boat right in, so stayed two nights. The first night we hung out and rode bikes. Temps were ok, not too hot. Day 2, we wanted to paddle the 11 miles to Lake Superior, but we de decided to turn back at 7 miles cuz we had to paddle back UPstream. Every time we passed more boaters all we heard was "this is a first," and, "I've never seen this before" as we paddled against the wind and strong current. Crossing the small lake was really a challenge as a small hurricane whipped up the weather as we battled wind and white caps. Talk about a workout.
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| Kingfisher along the river. |
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| This river is like the everglades. |
Tuesday, Aug. 20
Ashland, Wis. Here comes the heat. Camped in town near the shore, rode bikes all over.
Wednesday, Aug. 21
Bear Head in Ely, nice park tho busy. Kayaked two times; booze cruise had a bald eagle fishing, and I didn't bring a camera. kinda hot
Thursday, Aug. 22
Bear Head in Ely
Friday, Aug. 23
Moved to Fall Lake, Ely
Saturday, Aug. 24
Blew out of Minnesota with an all-day drive to Pipestone. The heat is on.
Sunday, Aug. 25
Toured the old pipestone mines, which are a national monument, used by the native americans to make pipes. Blew across South Dakota to Wall. Camped at Sleepy Hollow within walking two blocks to Wall Drug, yeah it was fun! 98 degrees.. Saw 100 degrees on drive near Missouri.
Monday, Aug. 26
Blew from Wall to Nebraska, then specifically to Scott's Bluff and spent two hours browsing and shopping at Brown Sheep Wool Company in Mitchell. 92 degrees and very hot at the mill but fun to be shown around. Camped at Lake Minatare. Not as warm, 89 - 92, but wiped out after yarn shopping!
Tuesday, Aug. 27
Heading like a rocket for Denver, about 240 miles. Hot and we want to get home.
Wednesday, Aug. 28
Bike ride in the am, then to museum with Sue all day at special exhibit called Spun. Dinner at Cuba Cuba. Hot @ 92 today.
Thursday, Aug. 29
Going to be 94. Went home via Walsenburg. Rain in mountains so cooling off as we get closer to home.
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| Indiana Amish Buggy |
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| Me and Jane at the Grand Hotel |
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| The Grand Hotel, Mackinaw Island, MI |
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Left EARLY from Durango (7:45 am) to head to Phoenix to pick up the trailer, drag it around and bring it on home. The weather in Durango has been sunny now after the last snow a week ago, and could be as warm as 60 by tomorrow. For a change this time we took 160 on thru Kayenta (no dogs!) and Tuba City. We stopped in Flagstaff at Thunderbird jewelry supply, sister store to the big one in Gallup, and lunch at Subway and off we went again. I wanted a McD shamrock shake, but the Micky D's in Flagstaff said they were "all out" --- what??? This is the first time in a year I want a shake and I couldn't have it? Now it will be my mission... On we drove south, leaving the pleasant 60s then 70s behind, only to find 97 in Phoenix traffic. wow dats hot. Let-down of the day: my driver also refused to take me into downtown Phoenix so I could yell "HI NANCY GRACE!" out the window during a drive-by of the Jodi Arias Trail. So close, and yet so far away. Right near the RV storage is a Mc Donalds; we hit the drive-thru. We order. We are told the milkshake machine is down. WTF????? really?! Tomorrow is another day for a milkshake. We unloaded, changed clothes to cool off, and hit the shops to kill time; we would be spending the night in the casino parking lot with no electric and no a/c, so best to stay out until dark. And we did. First, Hobby Lobby, dinner at Thai Basil Signature (very good) on Chandler, then, of course and naturally, Trader Joe's. Now we can resume life in the trailer. We were both exhausted so we were asleep before we noticed we were camped in a parking lot at the Lone Butte Casino.
