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. 

Day 20 - Sunday, June 28 - Brimley to Marquette

 Today we travelled from the Bay Mills Casino & RV Resort to the Maquette Tourist Park Campground, 158 miles. Most of the trip was on M-28, a Michigan state highway. A little of the pavement was in fair condition but most of it was good to excellent. 

Last night's low was in the 50's again. The high was 78. Currently, at 8:20P the temp is 73 and the dew point is 59. It is very comfortable sitting here with the windows open, no breeze but I have a small fan running. It actually borders on feeling cool. We are basking in it because the next several days here are going to be HOT, for the UP. Average high/low here at this time of years is 70/51. For the next 4 days the highs are forecast to be 79, 90, 90 & 80. It is also supposed to be rainy. So far the weather on our trip has been fantastic.

We left Bay Mills at 11AM. We weren't in a hurry since the driving time to get here was only 3.5 hours, and check in starts at 3PM. Soon after we left Bay Mills we went past a gas station that had diesel for $5.00/gal. I wasn't ready to stop yet, big mistake. We had enough fuel to make it to L'Anse on Thursday, where fuel is currently $4.29/gal (Indian reservation?) but we would drop to a quarter tank by the time we were in Marquette. The generator won't draw fuel out of the tank once the level gets to/below a quarter tank. With stormy weather forecast for several days while we are in Marquette the conservative engineer in me wanted to have enough fuel to run the generator should there be issues with power. Close to Marquette I gave up looking for cheaper fuel and put in 30 gallons at $5.25/gal.

If you have never driven across Michigan's upper peninsula you will probably be shocked by the mile after pile of virtually nothing but trees on both sides of the roads. We likened it to driving on rural roads through Iowa corn fields in last August. When we lived there we remember going mile after mile with 7' tall corn both sides of the road.

Kathy took the next two photos at places at least 10 miles apart. I don't remember anything memorable along the road between the two photos.

In some areas there are acres of dead trees. I suppose they could have been dead for over 10 years. There are occasionally live trees sprinkled in with the dead ones.

We haven't seen much wildlife but today two sandhill cranes(?) casually walked across the highway in front of us. Kathy was quick enough to take a photo of one of them. (I just remembered that yesterday we saw a couple of turkeys along the road on the way to Whiteish point and on the way back.) The other crane is only a few feet off in the tall grass. It was Sunday morning, note the lack of traffic. Traffic did pick up later in the day.

There are some great parking areas along the Lake when you  get close to Marquette. We waited for one of them to stop for lunch. This is at least a quarter pile long paved parking area that parallels the highway. 

When I opened the door I found that I had stopped right at a path to the beach. The path is not as nice as it looks. There is an almost vertical drop of 2 feet before you get to the beach.

Lots of kayakers paddled by while we sat there.

Parked at Marquette Tourist Park. We have stayed here several times in the past. Unless you schedule your trip/reservation months in advance you have to take whatever slots are available when you make the reservation. Last week I was lucky enough to get a site with 30 amp, water & sewer for 4 consecutive nights. It's the first time we ever were able to get a site for four days.

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