Day 11 - Saturday, September 25 - Travelling Ishpeming to Brimley, MI

 Last night it rained part of the night, but it stopped before we needed to start hooking up. When we drove to Munising earlier this week we took county road 480 to bypass going into Marquette on US41. We did the same today but went south on US41 to MI94 and took it across to the east side of Munising. The entire length of US41 thru Munising is a construction site. They are totally removing the old road and building a new one. Traffic is one lane each way. It wasn't bad the day we were there, but I wasn't looking forward to pulling the camper thru the narrow lanes.

My Garmin RV GPS would have routed us through all the construction. Kathy did a check on her map app and found the MI94 option. It was good, two lane highway the entire way. My Garmin kept telling us to make a U-turn until we were maybe 15 miles down the alternate route.

Today's drive was 170 miles. No rain while driving or setting up here. We  stopped at a rest area (MI has rest areas and scenic turnouts all over the place) and had lunch in the camper. 

We are staying at the Bay Mills Resort & Casino Campground. The casino complex and campground are located on the Bay Mills Indian Community reservation. The reservation consists of 2,400 acres on the "mainland" and Sugar Island (640 acres) in the St. Mary's river. The Tribe owns another 430 acres but  I don't know it that is technically part of the reservation.

The campground is across the road from the casino complex. In the photo below the You Are Here icon is at the west edge of the casino complex.

Kathy is standing near the You Are Here sign. The water in the bay is quite calm but the sky sure looks stormy.

Below is a photo of the casino complex taken from the campground. There are quite a few vehicles in the parking lot.

As we walked back over to the campground this is looking toward the west. The building at the left edge of the photo is the rest room, shower, laundry complex.

Below is Kathy on her way back to our camper, on the east end of the campground. It is a big place and while not full there are a lot of campers here.

I had read that the campground office was often unattended and that you had to go over to the casino to check in. When we arrived there was a sign on the office door saying pick out an empty site, but don't park there, go over to the hotel check in and check in, then go back and get set up. It had rained here and a lot of the grassy areas between the site contained ponded water. I walked around and found one that didn't, walked across the road, got signed up, came back across the road, drove to the site I had picked out and we set up. Shortly after we got set up it rained for maybe 5 minutes. It has rained several times since then.

The rate for the hotel rooms is $99/night for a regular queen room and $109 for a king with a jacuzzi. Campground rates are $29/night for a full hook up, wifi, and cable. ($20/night for just electricity) No sales tax on the reservation. Our total bill was $87 for 3 nights.

You have to wear a mask to enter the casino complex. It is noted on their website on posted on the doors. When the girl at the registration desk told the guy next to me, who had a room reservation, that he had to wear a mask while in side the complex he said, "I'm not wearing a mask. Cancel my reservation. I don't do business with Nazi's." He left. It was somewhat humorous. 

Saw another Trump sign today, still no Biden signs.

My supper is ready. I better get this sent, shut down the PC and get to eating; or I will be in trouble with the cook.

God is good, may He bless you and yours.

Day 10 - Friday, September 24 - Ishpeming

 The weather today was absolutely gorgeous! I could think of nothing that would have made for nicer weather than what we had today. 

Mid-morning we went into Ishpeming, parked and walked around the downtown. The "birth" of Ishpeming occurred in 1854 when iron mining got under way. 3,000 tons of ore were shipped that year. Its population peaked at a little over 13,000 in the year 1900, the current population is less than 6,500. Sadly there are lots of vacant stores along the main street. Iron mining provided jobs in the area since the 1850's, but the mines are almost all shut down now.

Over the past 10 years the population of the UP has dropped by a lot. I don't know why businesses are relocating up here, and why people aren't buying property up here. With global warming this will be prime farm country in 50 years. Buying up some property next to Lake Superior seems like a no brainer. Global warming people project that the water level in Lake Superior is going to go down over the next 100 years.

Ishpeming's City Hall is interesting. I should have checked out the inside but didn't.

Another interesting downtown landmark is the Eggbeater. It is a 162' tall vertical axis wind turbine that was built in 2010. It was supposed to provide power for a multistory housing complex. It has never generated a kwh of electricity. The Town Council has been trying to get the owner to remove is since 2013. From what I can tell he admits that this one will never generate electricity, but he has a new, improved model almost ready for production and he will replace this one with the new model. The new improved one just never seems to make it into production.

We then went out to visit Da Yoopers Tourist Trap again. We thought we should check to see is it had changed much from previous years. It hadn't. Look at photos from around August 17, 2018 if you are interested.

Back at the camper we sat outside reading and enjoying the fantastic weather. Mid-afternoon we headed to Sheri's restaurant, a few miles west of the campground. Kathy had read about their Friday fish specials. It was the best meal we have had in the UP this trip.

We did have an interesting experience while at Sheri's. Kathy was facing the door and shortly after we ordered she said, "Is your brother (David) up here?" I said no. She told me to turn around and sure enough the guy looked like my brother. She said, "Hey David." and he came over to the table with a puzzled look on his face. His name is David, and he sure looks like my brother, but he is not.

My brother sent me a selfie to show that he was restoring one his stampcrete surfaces in Coldwater. Together they don't look so much alike, but I did really think he was my brother.

Then it was back to the campground for a nap, more reading and just plain enjoying the day.

Late this afternoon the bottom started dropping out of the thermometer. Today's high was 73. Now, at 10:30 it is 50 and has been raining for a couple of hours.

Tomorrow the plan is to move to a campground in Brimley, MI, about 170 miles from here and about 15 miles west of Sault Ste. Marie.

God is good, may He bless you and yours.

Day 9 - Thursday, September 23 - Marquette, MI

We went to Marquette again this morning, late this morning. Downtown Marquette is about a 25 minute drive from the campground. We seem to by getting around later and later as the trip progresses. Soon we may not even be out of the camper by noon 😀. I did a walk around the campground, 0.57 miles, before leaving; checking to see if anything significant had changed since my walk around last evening. Nothing had.

SLOWLY the fall colors are coming. While driving we have seen an occasional tree with vivid red leaves, but not many so far.

Then it was on to Marquette. No climbing Sugarloaf Mountains today (Kathy is still feeling the effects from our earlier climb).  We parked about a quarter mile from the pier and walked down to it, stopping at a bakery place we had heard about. We mostly enjoyed some of the same sights we did when we were here that last time.

It was good to see an old downtown theater still operating.

A great playground at the park at the pier and boat launch.

Our tax dollars at work. The EPA's Lake Guardian was docked. It has been roaming the Great Lakes, between March and October, since the early 90's. Onboard are multiple labs for testing water quality, testing all types of aquatic life, etc. It is 180 feet long and "berths" 42 people, 14 crew and up to 28 "scientists".

Below I managed a quick snapshot of Kathy leaving after placing an order for us at the Fish Express. It was 57 degrees and WINDY as we sat at a picnic table and ate our fish. The fish was good, but it wasn't twice as good as Long John Silvers, even though it cost over twice as much. (Our mouths are still watering waiting for our trip to Brown's Fisheries Fish House when we get near Paradise, MI. We loved it in 2011 and again in 2018.) We had planned on experimenting with a Thai restaurant but they did not allow inside seating, and had no outside seating. Several of the downtown restaurants seemed to be the same. Don't know whether they are terrified of COVID or just can't find anyone willing to work. As you can see in the photo there aren't a lot of masked YOOPERS.

After our walk at the pier, and our outdoor lunch the Fish Express, we headed back to the camper for a nap and some afternoon reading.

Have I mentioned that retirement/travelling is great?

I didn't take many photos because the photos from our 2018 trip are still on the blog. That year we arrived in Ishpeming on Day 8 of our trip, August 16, and left on Day 11, August 19. That year I went to a couple of interesting local museums that we didn't visit this trip, at least so far. Let me know if you are interested and have trouble finding them.

God is good, may He bless you and yours.

PS. Finished my six session online study of Genesis, through Hillsdale College, this afternoon. It was interesting, but some of the big words used by the Professor stretched my mind.

Day 8 - Wednesday, September 22, Munising, MI

 Today started with a bleak look.

Kathy had called the Picture Rocks boat tour people in Munising and learned that their 2 PM trip had been cancelled but the 5 PM trip might still go. We decided to take a chance headed to Munising, a little over an hours drive from the campground. When we arrived I went in and talked to the people. They said that they had not cancelled the 5 PM trip yet but they doubted that it would go. They said that if they did go the ride would be ROUGH. We went down the road a bit to see what the glass bottom boat people had to say. They were going to run their 1 PM tour but they were only going to go to do half the normal tour. They were going to stay on the lee side of Grand Island.

Looking at the above map you have to wonder how much time could you spend in the little area between the mainland and the island. The answer is, a lot. Grand Island is 13,800 acres. It is 8 miles from north to south. I didn't check how long we were on the water, but it was a nice boat ride. Note how the flag is standing straight out as we left the dock. The temperature was in the mid 50's and there was a strong wind. The captain said that we would encounter 3-4 foot waves during our trip. If we ventured outside the protection of the island the waves would double in size.

I was wearing a tee shirt, a flannel shirt, a hoodie and a rain jacket. I was cool, but not cold during the trip.

The old Grand Island lighthouse is on the left of the photo below.

The photo below shows the lighthouse and the attached home. 

The sunlight reflecting off the water made a beautiful scene.

The average water temperature of Lake Superior in this area is 48 degrees. Because of the current the water between the mainland and the island does not always freeze over. The island receives an average of 300" of lake effect snow during the winter.

After the boat trip we headed back to the campground.

We stopped a one of the many Scenic Outlooks on the way back. Kathy had to go beach walking. I stayed up where the sand was solid, and the wind was a little less strong.

Yes, she really is wading.

It was a good day.

God is good, may He bless you and yours.

Day 7 - Tuesday, September 21 - Ispheming, MI

 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:

Yes, this is actually the path.

Lots of rock outcroppings made interesting scenery.

And then there were the stairways.

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.

Day 6 - Monday, September 20

 Today we travelled from Crivitz, WI to Ishpeming, MI, about 120 miles. We are at the Country Village RV park in Ishpeming for the next 5 nights. We have stayed here in the past.

Kathy did some laundry at the Peshtigo River campground before we left. The laundry was close to our site and she said the washer/dryer prices were good. We topped off with fuel before leaving Crivitz. We paid $2.97/gal.

Todays travels were on 2 lane US highways. We have driven 792 miles since leaving home. Todays roads were the best we have encountered since leaving Missouri. Perhaps the secret to good roads is to stay off Interstates and limited access highways when not driving in Missouri.

We started to see some fall color during the last 50 miles today. Also say a number of fields tilled and ready for spring planting.

One observation that continues to interest us is political signs. When we drove to and from Amana Iowa we drove through the two counties immediately east of Amana; Linn and Johnson counties. President Biden won 71% of the votes in Linn county and 56% of the votes in Johnson county. President Biden won 76% of the votes in Dane County, where Madison Wisconsin is located, and where we stayed two nights.  We have seen a LOT of Trump/Pence signs in Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin and now in Michigan. Today we saw a Trump 2024 sign and a "Miss Me Yet" sign. We have not seen one Biden/Harris sign.

Mask update - When I bought fuel in Crivitz I had to go into the convenience store to pay. On the counter next to the cashier was a box with free masks for their customers. Neither the cashier nor the other two customers in the store were wearing masks. This afternoon we went to the IGA in Ishpeming for some groceries. A couple of the people shopping were wearing masks, but, by far, the majority were not. 

Day 5 - Sunday, September 19

 Kathy's cold bothered her last night so she slept in late this morning while I read. The plan for today was to drive to the Peshtigo River Campground in Crivitz, WI, about 190 miles. We didn't need to be in a hurry and thought we would leave about 11 AM. We didn't need to leave the campground until 3 PM.

About 10:30 I went out to start raising the stabilizer jacks, etc. The bad news was that we had a flat tire. The good news was that I had a hydraulic jack and the was able to loosen the nuts with a 4-way. More good news was that the tire went flat while parked at a campground, not out on the road.

The good news was that there was a Walmart only a couple of miles from the campground. The bad news was the nail in the tire was so close to the sidewall that they wouldn't repair it. The good news was they had this size in stock. The bad news was that even though their repair bays only had a couple of cars in them they were horribly understaffed with repair guys. I was in the store for over an hour waiting to get the tire mounted. (As long as the feds keep piling more debt on our children so they can pay people not to work, why would anyone want to work?)

(We have a spare that has never been on the road. It looks great but it is over 10 years old. In a pinch I'd use it but I'd be scared it would blow out on a long highway drive in 85+ temperatures, because of its age. I am taking the old tire home with us. I will take it over to the local tire shop where I do business and ask if they can't put a patch on the inside. The tire is only 5 years old and has lots of tread left. I think I'd feel more comfortable with it as a spare.)

We finally hit the road around 1 PM, There was an RV ahead of us at the dump station but we didn't have a long wait for our turn. When we pulled up to dump there were already 2 RV's in line behind us.

 Of todays 190 miles only about 50 miles of it was acceptably smooth, another 50 miles was bumpy, but didn't shake the filling out of you teeth. The remaining 90 miles was miserably rough.

We had another senior surprise today. About 40 miles from Madison a car pulled up along side us and the passenger pointed back at the trailer. I'm thinking, "WHAT NOW?" As I pulled off the road I noticed the Emergency Exit bedroom window was flapping open, in the wind. It couldn't have been that way very long because I check my mirrors fairly often. We had the window open while we were in Madison and probably didn't properly lock the latch, especially considering all the vibration caused by the rough roads. Nothing was damaged. I closed the window and made sure it was locked down.

We pulled into the campground here around 5 PM.  We didn't bother unhooking the truck from the trailer since we only plan on being here overnight. In the morning we will head for Ishpeming, MI, about 120 miles from here.

Temperatures were surprisingly hot here today. The high reached the high 80's. At 9 PM the temperature is still 70, The overnight low is forecast to be 63. Last night the low here was 45.

We sat outside drinking coffee and reading until after dark. For those who have forgotten what we look like

And this is what we look like in the dark, in front of a near full moon, while playing with the camera on my new Pixel phone.

God is good, all the time. May He bless you and yours.