Day 27 - Sunday, July 5 - Another Beautiful Day

Hank Williams Jr. sings a song titled "If Heaven Ain't a Lot Like Dixie". I know Heaven will be far, far better than Michigan's Upper Peninsula in the summertime, and I'm sure God made a few other places on the planet that are as nice as here but this area is GRAND! Last nights low was 50 and today's high was a mostly sunny 74. We think Harlingen, TX is a nice place during the winter, but it isn't even in the same game as Michigan's Upper Peninsula in the summertime.

This morning I drove over to the Walgreen's in Hancock to pick up a couple of prescriptions I had refilled. The elevation of the ground rises sharply on both sides of the river/lake.. Walgreen's is near the top of the high ground on the south side of the river/lake. As I headed back home I looked down the street to see the river/lake below and then across to see the Quincy Mine Shaft House near the top of the high ground on the north side of the river/lake, a couple of miles away. It was absolutely beautiful.

After lunch Kathy dropped me off at the Quincy Mine, where I had signed up to take the 1:30P tour. She planned on looking the town over a little while I was on the 2.5 hour tour. The Quincy Mine was one of several Keweenaw Peninsula copper mines. All of them shut down many years ago. According to our tour guide they didn't shut down because they ran out of copper, they shut down because open-pit copper mines could produce copper cheaper. (Utah's Bingham Canyon Mine began large scale copper extraction in 1906. It is now the largest human-made excavation in the world, 2.5 miles wide by 0.75 miles deep.)

The Quincy Mine was established in 1848. Mining operations ceased in 1945.

My 2.5 hour tour plus almost another full hour walking around the site barely scratched the surface of the mine history and operation. The cog railway took us down the side of the hill to an adit (horizontal shaft). The 2,000' long adit took us back to an intersection with the 7th level of the mine. About halfway along the adit the guide pointed to some marks on the shaft wall. The marks showed that we were 345' below the surface and directly under highway US41.

The information on the tour tells you to bring a jacket. When you get near the adit entrance you feel the cold air blowing out of it. The guide mentioned that the air temperature is 43 degrees. I took a long sleeve flannel shirt and a hoodie sweatshirt to go over my tee shirt. It didn't take long before I wished I had a stocking cap for under my hard hat and gloves. I was COLD by the time we got back out of the adit.

Another interesting experience was the darkness. There were lights spaced along the adit but they were far enough apart that on the way in I could not see the the floor a lot of the time as we walked in. Some light reflected off the walls so I knew where I was relative to the walls but it was disconcerting not to be able to see if I was about to step in a hole (The floor was rock and relatively smooth, there were not holes.) At the back of the adit the guide talked about how one man would hold a rock drill while 2 other men took turns hitting it with 12# hammers. The man holding it had to rotate it slightly after each blow so that it didn't wedge itself in place. With the low lighting we had for the tour it looked like a dangerous operation. Then the guide lit a small candle, turned off the lights and asked us to think about the operation occurring in the near darkness. He blew out the candle and let us experience total darkness for maybe a minute. On the way out I noticed that my eyes changed enough that I could see the floor.

This is an "inclined shaft" mine. They followed the copper down from the surface at 55 degrees, for 9,260'. The bottom of the mine is vertically 6,200 feet below the shaft opening. Everything below the 7th level is full of water. There is a drainage channel on one side of the tour adit, it keeps the water from rising higher. 

Miner climbed into and out of the mine using ladders, until the depth of the mine was great enough that it took them an hour to make the climb, on their own time. Their 12 hour day didn't start until they were actually working. The "man engine" was next. This video gives you an idea of how the man engine worked. https://www.google.com/search?q=quincy+mine+man+engine&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS1128US1128&oq=quincy+&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqBggAEEUYOzIGCAAQRRg7MgYIARBFGDkyBggCEEUYOzIGCAMQRRg7MgYIBBBFGDwyBggFEEUYPDIGCAYQRRg80gEIMzk3MWowajeoAgCwAgA&sourceid=chrome&source=chrome.ob&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:a56e9e38,vid:smgJagniub4,st:12

The tour started in the #2 Shaft House where we walked around 

The photo below shows one of 4 steam powered connecting rods that powered the drum.

https://engines.egr.uh.edu/episode/2911

The cog railway ride down to the adit entrance was fun.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quincy_and_Torch_Lake_Cog_Railway

Inside the adit, 90% of the adit was not nearly this well lit.

There is a lot of information at this site but I was not patient enough to learn how to navigate the site.

https://kett.geospatialresearch.mtu.edu/ 

It was a great day. 

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours. He has blessed me.

Day 26 - Saturday, July 4 - Happy 4th!

 We didn't leave the campground today. It was just to beautiful a day to do anything other then enjoy it here. Today's high was a partly cloudy 73 degrees. It is now midnight and the temperature is 53 degrees. Time to close the windows and get to bed.

I forgot to include a photo that I took when we were down at the boat ramp the other day. In Michigan "triple towing", or "recreational double towing" is legal. You do need an "R" endorsement on your license. I didn't do any research to see what that entails. Overall length is limited to 75' and the combined weight of 5th wheel unit and the trailer/boat can't exceed the mfg's maximum towing capacity for your truck.

After lunch we walked over to the beach. Kathy was checking out the berries along the path.

We chose not to walk down to the beach. We sat up on the hill and bask in the wonderfulness of the day.

It was a long hard walk to the beach (not!) so it was fortunate that we were able to take some nourishment while we were sitting watching the activities. Kathy said her Amaretto Cherry Mackinac Island Fudge was good. So was my Peanut Butter Mackinac Island Fudge. If we go to the beach again I think I will try the Caramel Caribou and I bet Kathy tries the Jolted Cow.

As we were finishing our ice cream an older lady pulled into a handicapped spot close to were we were sitting. She didn't get out of her car. She had packed a lunch and was eating it. I had a notion that I ought to offer to buy her an ice cream cone, the snack place was over 100 yards downhill from the parking lot. Before I acted Kathy said you need to offer to buy her an ice cream cone. I think that was the Holy Spirit speaking to both of us. I walked up to the car and said, "May I buy you an ice cream cone." She was a little startled and then with a big smile said yes. Kathy visited with her a little, my hearing is so bad I could hardly hear her. She is 92 years old. She has lived here here entire life, with the exception of 9 months when she and her husband moved to Detroit. She said they got out of there quickly. She told Kathy that her daughter was doing something else today and she decided to pack a lunch, drive over to the park/beach and enjoy the day.

There are a lot of folks in the campground. When you are just sitting outside you don't notice it but you do when you walk around. I took the photos below looking up and down the street in front of our site.

Lots of sparklers and firecrackers from about 9PM until 10 PM and then it seemed like everyone stopped at the same time, maybe people actually were adhering to a "quiet time starts at 10" policy.

We can hardly believe how nice it is here. My brother, and a lot of his family, are getting together near Baldwin, MI in late July. (They have some property there.) We will be back in Coldwater July 25th thru August 3rd, to Mom sit. It is going to be tough deciding whether to head to Missouri after that, or come back up to the UP for another couple of weeks and get back to Missouri in late August. Maybe back down through Wisconsin & Minnesota.

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours. He has blessed me.

Day 25 - Friday, July 3 - Cooler

 LOTS of activity at the campground today. A significant percentage of folks moved out while others moved in. Overall the campground remained close to 100% occupancy.

Today's high was 79 but it was cloudy and didn't seem nearly as hot as yesterday. We turned off the AC early in the morning and haven't needed to turn it back on. Tonight's low is forecast to be 62, we are looking forward to that. Tomorrows high low is forecast to be 75/59, getting closer to the normal of 70/52. We are looking forward to it.

This morning we walked down to the boat ramp area, the swimming beach is a little further than we wanted to walk.

Looking east.

Looking west

I checked out the bathhouse. The finishes are nicer than the one at Soo Locks but it isn't as clean. This one gets a lot more use. Lots of sand gets tracked in. It is closed for cleaning at 11AM and again at 7PM.

For lunch we went to the 4 Suns Fish & Chips place. Its a little out of town. We ate there two years ago. 

The whitefish is fresh, brought in from the boats daily. Sadly it wasn't as good as it was the last time we were here. The fish was a little overcooked. 

We got there at 11:45. Shortly after we ordered the crowd started rolling in. We are to cheap to try them again. $22 for each of our fish and chips. I like the fish at Long John Silvers just as well and its a lot cheaper, but it was worth checking out.

The restaurant is across the road from the Quincy Mine, an abandoned copper mine where they still have tours. We went across the street to check it out because I want to do the tour, probably Monday. Mining operations ceased in 1945. Based on how I enjoy the tour I may also tour several of the other abandoned copper mine sites on the peninsula.

After lunch it was back home for an enjoyable afternoon. Watching all the kids go by, walking, biking and on scooters has been fun. They haven't been loud or caused any problems. Listening to a Mom down the street holler at her kids, again and again, not so much fun. We are used to camping with old folks who don't have kids to scream at 😀

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours. He has blessed me.

Day 24 - Thursday, July 2 -Moving Day, Marquette to Hancock

 We left Marquette Tourist Park around noon and headed west to the Hancock Recreation Area, in the Upper Peninsula's Keweenaw Peninsula.

On the way out of the Tourist Park I noted that this must have been these folks laundry day.

The 105 mile route passes through Negaunee and Ishpeming. They are at the bottom right of the photo below.

Between them is 460 acre Teal Lake. US41 runs right along the southern shore. At the bottom left of the photo below you might be able to pick out the Country Village RV Park. We have stayed there several times and will be there again, after our week in the Houghton/Hancock area.

It is a spectacular lake. We wonder why someone hasn't built cottages along the north side.

Along the way we stopped at the Tioga Park Falls and Park and had lunch. I didn't take any photos this time. If you are interested in seeing the "falls" you can check out my walk to the falls in 2024.

https://bertdsblog.blogspot.com/2024/08/days-58-59-wednesday-thursday-august-21.html  

If you  strain your eyes you can find L'Anse in one of the above photos. For some reason diesel is 80-90 cents a gallon cheaper than virtually all the other stations we have passed. Last Sunday, 75 miles from L'Anse we paid $5.25/gal at the cheapest station I could find. Today I paid $4.23/gal. I only put 40 gallons in. I'm hoping that the price will be even less when we go by the station next week and we will fill up totally.

Then it was on to Houghton and Hancock. Houghton is on the south side of Portage Lake/River and Hancock is on the north side. We stayed in Houghton in 2024, and drove through Hancock while exploring. We forgot how NARROW the lanes are in the towns. Kathy drove today, the first time she has driven the coach since we were in Michigan last year. I was sure glad she was the one navigating the narrow lanes. On top of that, in Hancock US41 makes a couple of strange turns that are a challenge when you don't know which lane you need to be in for the next turn. But we made it. PTL! 

We have not previously stayed at this campground. Big rigs can negotiate the roads, if the drivers are good, and Kathy is good. One thing we learned was that you need to unhook your toad before you get to the check in kiosk. After that the roads are tight and you can't stop without blocking traffic. 

We are parked under the white circle, kind of top center of the photo. There was no good place to unhook. We stopped with the front of the rig about even with the site. The street runs uphill and then flattens out after you make the curve to get in front of our site. The tow bar was in a bind from the elevation change and the curve. It was the first time ever that I had to get a hammer and screwdriver and drive  the pins out of the tow bar. It was hot and we were trying to hurry because we had the road totally blocked.

Backing into the site was tight, but doable. The back of the coach is almost tight against the bushes, I can't walk behind it.

One plus is that the campground seems to have good enough wifi that we can stream movies. There are no TV channels.

By the time we got set up it was hot in the coach. We can only run one AC unit with the 30 amp connection. With the sun and our black coach one wasn't enough. It was hot outside and hot inside. We spent the afternoon sitting under one of the AC grills, basking in the cool air. It was hours before it finally cooled down.

Now that the sun is down it is finally cooling down. It is 75 outside and still 75 inside. Kathy just turned the AC thermostat up a little to shut it off. The good news is that this is the hottest we will experience during the week we are here. Even after all the time we have spent in RV's we are still learning. The next time we are heading to a site with only a 30 amp connection, when it is hot, we will start the generator 30-60 minutes before we arrive and leave it run until the coach is cool inside. We can run both AC units on our 8,000 watt generator.

Tomorrow we can do some exploring.

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours. He has blessed me.

Day 23 - Wednesday, July 1 - Grocery Shopping

 This morning we went to a local grocery store to "fill the larder". We can't remember what grocery shopping was available in Houghton and Hancock when we were there a few years ago. Houghton has a population of around 8,600 and Hancock has a population of around 4,600. (They are separated by the Portage River.) The plan is to spend a week in the Houghton/Hancock area when we leave here tomorrow.

Kathy has seen this store as we were on our way to the Tourist Park. Disclaimer 😊I copied these photos from the online sources. The store has a nice bakery. It is privately owned. With a Walmart and a Meijer both in town, it must be tough to compete. The place was as nice/clean as it looks in the photo. Also, workers in the store were pleasant.

After lunch and a short walkabout I regened our water softener and then sat outside until around 3 PM. I have no desire to camp in a tent but I do find some of them interesting.

I've noticed the tents in the two photos below each time I've walked around. I've never seen people at either tent. 

At least the one below looks "lived in".

This little tent isn't real close to any campsites. A 5' tall person would trouble stretching out in it. There is an extension cord running from the tent to an electrical panel 40' away.

One of the people who works here must own this truck. It is nice looking. The color scheme and no front bumper is certainly eye catching. 

 Today's high was 88, not quite as hot as yesterday. It was 87/88 from 1PM-5PM. A little after 6PM a rainstorm blew through the area. We noticed the lady next door had a jacket on, right before the rain started. By 7PM the temp had dropped to 67 degrees. We actually turned the AC off. 

We are such Glampers (glamorous camper). We like it here at the Marquette Tourist Park. And, Lord willing, we will be back again. Normally only having a 30 amp connection is not a problem because it is cool enough that we don't have to worry about needing AC. This trip has been different. We are limited to running one AC unit and have to be careful with other heating appliances. No running the coffee maker, toaster & microwave (all of which I run when I fix my breakfast) and the AC at the same time. The good news is that this site has a lot of shade so it really hasn't been much of a problem. 

Next stop is the Hancock Recreation area. There we will have a 30 amp electrical connection and water, no sewer hook up. We will be there 4 nights so if we aren't careful we may have to move to the dump station and dump our gray water tank during our stay. Then its across the river to the Houghton RV Park where we will have a full 50 amp hook up, PTL.

The rain has passed, the sun is back out and it has the makings of a great evening. Almost a campfire evening.

God is good. I pray that He bless you and yours. He has blessed me.

Day22 - Tuesday, June 30 - Ore Dock & HOT!

 The temperatures in the morning weren't bad. I sat outside most of the morning. I kept in the shade and there was a slight breeze. Temperatures were in the high 70's by the time we went out  for lunch.

We went to a diner Kathy had seen on the way in. Eastbound traffic was really backed up at a roundabout on US 41. Fortunately we came into the roundabout from the north and it didn't bother us. 

We sat down and I picked up one of the menus the waitress had put on the table. As soon as I scanned it I told Kathy I was ready to leave.

The waitress had dropped 3 similar looking menus on the table. Kathy told me to pick up another. Only one of them was a vegan menu. She ordered some type of Mexican chicken burrito and I order a whitefish basket, both were good.

On the way back home we noted that the car thermometer said 91 degrees. When we got back home we turned on one of the AC units. With only a 30 amp electrical connection we can't run both AC units. It was 86 inside the coach, with 74% humidity. I dropped her off and headed over to the ore dock. I spend hours there two years ago. 

The public beach is just before you get to the ore dock. There were a lot of people enjoying the cool/cold water. Below are photos of the trestle that leads to the ore dock. I watched a pair of locomotive pull a string of 49 cars off the dock. I think there are 3 sets of tracks above the ore bins.

The Joseph L Block was in position to be loaded. I think she was partially loaded but no loading occurred while I was there. The Joseph L Block is a 700'+ self-unloading, bulk carrier.

I walked back to the car, got in and was just backing out of the parking lot when I looked out and saw another ship coming in.  I took the first two photos below at 2:48P.

Zoomed in.

I drove around to the other side of the trestle and took the photos below.

The Maumee in place to be loaded. I took this photo at 3:25P

The Maumee is a 815-foot articulated tug-barge (ATB), the tug is the "Victory" and the barge is the 'Maumee'. I wished I could have seen the rear better. I had no idea it was an ATB. 

By the time I got back home the inside temperature had only dropped a few degrees but the humidity was below 50%. We both took long naps. At 11:45P the outside temperature is 82 degrees and the humidity is 77%. Inside is 75 degrees and 30% humidity (not sure I believe the humidity is that low).

2024 visit to ore docks: https://bertdsblog.blogspot.com/2024/08/day-49-monday-august-12-day-at-ore-docks.html

As I was looking through old posts I saw the one from August 6 & 7, 2024. What a difference in temperature:  https://bertdsblog.blogspot.com/2024/08/days-43-44-tuesday-wednesday-august-6-7.html

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours. He has blessed me.

Day 21 - Monday, June 29 - Rainy

 About 5 AM it started raining. In rained, on and off, most of the morning. The rain stopped until storms rolled in around 7 PM, but it remained overcast.

I did a couple of campground walkabouts, 2 miles total. There were lots of empty sites in the electric only and electric and water sites; but only a few open full hookup sites.

Quite a few sites have multiple canopies set up around there RV's.

We have seen a few of these rooftop "tents' over the years. Note the ladder to get up into it. Not for old folks.

Lots of weather warnings during the day, for heavy rain, hail, lightening, heat, etc. The heat advisory warning started at 3PM today and runs until 8PM tomorrow. This is us sitting outside at 5PM. Do we look over heated? I think the temperature was a humid 72 degrees, with a significant breeze. 

 

There were storms west and north of us. Several thousand people were without power at 7 PM. That is a lot of people in the sparsely populated UP. There are only 19 people per square mile up here. Lower Michigan has a population density of 240 people per square mile. Missouri has a population density of 90 per square mile, Ohio has a population density of 288/sq mi and Indiana 192/sq mi.

We changed to T-Mobile cell service a couple of years ago, apparently after the last time we were up here. It has been great every where else but the service was terrible in Sault Ste Marie and Brimley. It is okay here in Marquette. According to some research I did T-Mobile only has towers in "major metro area" and along "major highways" in the UP.  In other areas they have to rely on deals they have made with other cell companies (roaming). Marquette is the largest city in the UP, pop 22,000 and Sault Ste Marie is the second largest, pop 13,000. 

Forget over the air TV. In Sault Ste Marie there was one Canadian Channel. Here in Marquette NBC has a channel split into 5 channels. I wanted to have good enough cell service to be able to stream TV, if we wanted to. Before we left I noticed that the screen on my Pixel 9a had a hairline crack in it. It is still fine for use but in case the crack got worse I brought along my old Pixel 5a. Both Verizon and AT&T are supposed to have much better service up here. Today I activated the Pixel 5a on Consumer Cellular (AT&T). It will be interesting to see if it works better when we leave here. 

It is still raining but the storms appear to have passed us by.

God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours. He has blessed me.