It was 54 degrees out when I got up this morning. Weatherbug claims today's high was 68 but I struggle to believe it was that high. Right now, at 7:30P its 57. Clouds move through the area fast. At some times during the day it was partly cloudy with a fair amount of blue sky showing. At other times the cloud cover was solid, dark and ominous. At other times is was drizzling rain.
We had originally planned on driving to Munising, MI today and doing at least one boat ride. The boat ride people's web site noted that the water was rough enough that they might not be running today. We opted for Plan B, do something in Marquette.
Kathy came up with the idea of climbing Sugarloaf Mountain. The top of the "mountain" rises to 450' above Lake Superior. She turned out to be tougher than I thought she was and I turned out to be less tough than I thought I was <grin>. We encountered a surprising number of people on our way up and down. Some locals apparently make the climb at least once a week. The view is great.
From the parking lot trail head we were offered two alternatives. the improved, not so rugged way up, and the unimproved, rugged way up. We chose the improved path.
The path was dirt, rocks sticking up, tree roots and multiple stairways (total just over 300 stair steps). There were a few short areas where the path was smooth, well-packed dirt. Then there was the majority of the path:
But the view from the top was well worth the climb. After 10 minutes of enjoying the view it started sprinkling. We decided we better get headed down, hoping that the path wouldn't get to slippery before we got down. We weren't even a quarter of the way down before the sprinkling stopped.
No "fall color" shows in these photos but we did see some brilliant reds starting to show up. Hopefully the colors will be grand before we leave in a couple of weeks.
We had lunch at Jeffrey's Restaurant. The fish was highly recommended on the website reviews. When we got our menus we found out that they only have fish on Fridays. Bummer. Our food was edible.
On the way back to the campground we stopped at one of Kathy's favorite places, a roadside farm stand.
Back at the campground I did some RV maintenance. The city water hose connection had recently started leaking. I tried doubling the washers but that still didn't stop the leak. The inlet to fill the onboard water tank is vented but some time ago the screen that keeps bugs out of the vent disappeared. I had been putting duct tape over the vent opening and ignoring the issue. Since there is both a Camping World and a big Ace Hardware within a half mile of the campground I took advantage and replaced both fittings. The Ace Hardware also came in handy because a set screw had come out of one of the faucet handles on the kitchen sink. I took the handle in with me and found a new set screw AND a the right size small allen wrench needed to tighten it. The set screw and allen wrench cost me $1.09.
I paid $2.97/gal to fill up when we left Crivitz, WI a couple of days ago. Fuel at the same brand stations here is $3.29/gal. Wisconsin's tax on diesel is 32.9 cents/gal. Michigan's tax on diesel is 44.5 cents/gal plus they whack you with another 6% sales tax on fuel, which adds another 18 cents/gal when the final price is #3.29/gal. Total MI state tax 62.5 cents/gal. When you add is the feds 18.4 cents/gal tax it means 81 cents/gal of the $3.29 pump price here goes to the governments. At least MI's roads are smooth, so far.
God is good, may He bless you and yours.
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