Big Rapids, MI

Wednesday, July 18.  The drive down from the Mackinac Bridge to Big Rapids was short and sweet.  The directions Harold gave us didn't agree with the GPS but we followed his anyway and ignored the GPS.  We found out later that the GPS route would've taken us down a gravel road even though we have it set to not go on gravel roads.  As we neared Harold's house the paved road disappeared around a curve and all I could see straight ahead of me was a dirt two-track.  Panic almost hit then we got to the curve and I could see that the paved road did end and became a wide gravel road that was nicely packed and not dusty.  Whew, that was a close one!

Unfortunately, we both forgot to take pictures of our set up at Harold's so you'll have to use your imagination.  We parked in his front yard and connected to water and electric from his garage.  The spot where we parked had an almost perfect shot of the southwestern sky which is what we needed to get our DirecTV signal.  This was VERY important because Big Brother was on for the summer and it is one of the reality shows we like.  The antenna dish whirled around and around and up and down and finally found a "happy" spot.  It wasn't happy with all of the trees but it did pick up the necessary signals.  Everyone was happy, especially me!

Thursday, July 19.  It's the Michigan Party!!  This was the 16th annual Michiganders party where folks from all over get together for food, fun and fellowship.  We were really surprised how many of them live in the  community of Big Rapids and surrounding areas.  The party started about 1ish but because of the rain it was moved to Pete & Janet Jordan's pole barn just down the road.  Harold prepared a large pork loin and everyone else brought a side dish.  Mike and I made our curried deviled eggs.  There was a LOT of food!  It was a good turnout in spite of the weather.  I would guess there were about 30-35 people in attendance.  Denny & Karen McConnell from Yakima, Wa, Marv Willy from MN, Gene & Marcene Smith from Iowa, Nancy Jebson from Iowa, and Mike and I made up some of the out of towners.  Needless to say, we had leftovers for dinner that evening and they were yummy!  Janet Jordan also made a spinach and meat sauce lasagna and it was delicious!

Friday, July 20.  This was our "free" day so we helped Harold clean out his gutters.  On Wednesday, the day we arrived, a storm came through that night that dumped a lot of rain.  His gutters were backed up with tree leaves and stuff so the water ran over the gutters and onto his window air conditioner and then poured into the house.  Poor Harold took the window a/c out of the window at 3:30 in the morning so he could shut the window then had to set up fans to dry the carpet.  We got his gutters cleaned and the a/c put back in the window which was a good thing because it was starting to get  hot and humid!

Tonight, several of us went to a newly opened restaurant in Hersey about 5 miles away.  It is the River Junction and they have all you can eat fish on Friday's for $9.95.  The fish was excellent, the french fries were tasty and cole slaw was just like I like it, sweet and creamy!  Here is a picture of the group.

Harold & Kathy, Gene & Marcene, Pete & Janet, Mike, and another Janet and her husband George.

Saturday, July 21.  Today started off with a kayak or canoe float down the Muskogen River.  This was the first time Mike and I have kayaked and I have to admit it was more fun than canoeing.  The river was perfect for first timers and the weather cooperated as well.  We put it at a bridge about 5 miles from Harold's house and floated for a couple of hours back down to his house.  The great thing about this trip is we get to do it again on Sunday, yay!

Today was also the day of the 16th annual Pig Roast hosted by Pete & Janet.  This is a fundraiser Janet puts on each year for the American Cancer Society.  She raised $1,000 this year with the expert help of her friend Janet ( referred to as the other Janet) and the generous donations from her friends.  The dinner was followed up by music and entertainment from Harold, Pete, Rob Kotecki, Gene Smith and several other local musicians who came by to jam.

This is the same pole barn we used for the Michigan Party.  There is another room at the back that is Pete's "man cave."  He has his exercise equipment and more animal trophies on the wall.  As you can see it was a good turnout for this event, too.  Lots of the neighbors stopped by to enjoy the music.

Sunday, July 22.  This is the day when Pete and Janet get to relax after their big shindig on Saturday.  The seven of us put in at Harold's place, the seventh person being Pete & Janet's neighbors' niece.  We floated down the river to the county park, about a 3 hour float.  Along the way we passed by Janee and Jack's place and happen to catch them outside.  We stopped for a chat then continued on our way.  Ahh, what a way to relax especially on a beautiful day like today!

Mackinaw Bridge, MI

Monday, July 16.  There was a lot of road construction on Hwy 2 before we got to the bridge.  Only delayed us about 30 minutes and we still arrived at the park by 4:30.  We are at the TeePee RV Park and Campground on the waters of Lake Huron.  (I think it's Lake Huron, will double check)  The weather is overcast, hot and humid... just like being in Florida!  We were drenched by the time we got the rig set up and tired sitting outside to have our evening glass of wine but gave up and went inside to the a/c!  It's a nice park, busy with lots of kids but at least it's on the water.

(insert picture of park here.  We later realized we didn't have any pics of the park!)

Tuesday, July 17.  We took the ferry over to Mackinaw Island today.  The ride took us under the Mackinac Bridge that we had driven over the day before.  It's a huge bridge, rivaling the size of the Sunshine Skyway bridge across the mouth of Tampa Bay.

There are no motor vehicles on the island, only bicycles and horse drawn rigs like carts and carriages.  The weather was perfect today, not too hot and not too humid.  After walking around the island for awhile we stopped at a bistro for lunch and a cool pitcher of beer.  Hey, we aren't driving today!  A shuttle picked us up at the campground and took us to the ferry launch and it will take us back to the campground when we return.  I had scallops and Mike had fish, both were delicious.  The beer was from a local brewery in Cheboygan.  

Of course you can't go to Mackinaw Island without purchasing fudge, that's how you become a "fudgie."  Our fudge purchase was made at Murdick's, they had a great selection and a great crew working in the shop.  The hardest part was picking which ones to buy, they all looked good!

By mid-afternoon we were ready to head back to the campground.  Another fun day of adventure under our belts.

Ontonagon, MI (Upper Peninsula)

Saturday, July 15.  We got an early start today since we knew it was going to be a long drive.  At first we thought about driving south along the coast to get to Duluth but decided against it because it would make the day even longer.  Our schedule is a little less flexible right now so we can get to the Michigan party by the 18th.  We don't want to miss any of the fun and festivities!!

There was road construction on the bridges in Duluth but we managed to get through without any problems.  It was nice to drive along the shore of Lake Superior, it really is a "great lake."  Mike had found us an RV park on the water in Ontonagon, MI about halfway between Int'l. Falls, MN and the Mackinaw Bridge where we wanted to stay before going to Big Rapids.  The park was in the Ontonagon River and we could see it from where we parked the rig.  The guy who checked us in gave us our option of any of the empty sites and there were a lot!  We picked one we thought would be the best for satellite strength and have some evening shade.  Usually, if we have a clear shot of the SE sky then we can get the satellites.  Now that we are so far east we need the SW sky.  Dang.  Didn't figure that out until the dish finally stopped spinning.  We had parked on the east side of a tree so we could have evening shade on the coach.  However, the dish pointed right through some of the outer branches but was able to pick up the satellites.  Whew!  Sunday is a big DVR night with shows like Weeds, True Blood, Episodes and Big Brother.  Got 'em all!!

Sunday, July 16.  I started doing laundry yesterday because our dirty sheets were piling up.  We bought  a new set of sheets when we were in Bottineau, ND at the Walmart.  The flannel sheets on the bed were beginning to be a little too warm at night so we bought some percale sheets and they needed to be washed before being put on the bed.  The dryer at the park took $1.25 to start and after about 35 minutes the sheets were dry and I took the sheets out.  The morning I changed the sheets on the bed and  decided to wash the other two sets of flannel sheets.  I can wash a set of sheets in the washer in the coach.  When the first set finished I took them out and started the second set with the idea of drying the two sets together in the dryer at the park.  It is a big dryer and should be able to handle the two sets of sheets easily enough.  I took both sets over to the laundry room, put them in the dryer I used yesterday and then pressed start.  Wow, the dryer started right up!  Cool beans!  I guess that means the dryer remembered I didn't use all the time up yesterday.  As I was leaving the laundry room I ran into the guy who checked us in yesterday.  I asked how much time we got for the $1.25 and he said about 45 minutes but the machines had a mind of their own sometimes and just keep running.  :)  I went back to the coach and started washing all of our dirty clothes plus towels!!  I had that dryer running for about 3 hours on my original investment of $1.25, yep, I was a happy guy!

After showers and lunch we drove into "town" to see what it was like.  Not much here, it is kind of off the beaten path.  There was a pretty large shoreline campground which we walked around and gave Jenny some exercise.  The sand on the "beach" is kind of brownish but not bad.

These were two separate pictures I had Mike put them together to give you an idea of the beach.

International Falls, MN

Thursday, July 12.  We drove from Bottineau, ND to International Falls, MN today mostly on Hwy. 11 which was being repaved in several sections.  Three detours, one time change and several hours later we pulled into Int'l. Falls.  Originally we were going to park at Edna Doris' house and plug into her electric but with the weather being so hot we needed enough amperage to run the AC's so we opted to stay at an RV park.  Mike found one online (we LOVE the iPhone!!) and made reservations for two nights.  We had the same issue with the satellite dish here as we had in Moose Jaw, lovely sites but too many trees!  After we set up in the first site and realized the dish was not happy we moved to another site which did make the dish (and me!) happy.  Tonight was the premier of Big Brother and I didn't want to miss it.

This park was in town not too far from Edna's so I called her after we were set up and she invited us over for dinner.  Her home is right on the Rainy River and is BEAUTIFUL!!  What a setting!  We had wine on the deck in the shade while Jenny romped in the yard on the REAL GRASS.  Edna had made a couple of soups (split pea and a taco soup) which were both delicious and she also had a lunch meat and cheese platter for sandwiches.  She wasn't sure what time we were going to get in so she prepared something she knew would keep.  After our meal one of her sons and his wife dropped by and had dessert with us.  Edna had made a blueberry pie (from scratch!!) with berry's her late husband Joe had picked last year.  It was definitely one of the best blueberry pies we have ever had!!  It was great to meet her son David and his wife Diane, they are a lovely couple and live only a few miles from Edna.  She has another son across the street and one of her daughters lives only a few blocks away.

Friday, July 13.  Lucky Friday the 13th!!  This morning we picked Edna up and took a drive up into Voyageur National Park and to visit Ranier, the town next Int'l. Falls.  Lots of history here with fur trappers and trading.

There is also a lot of water, hence the nickname: Land of 10,000 Lakes.  We had lunch at the Sha-Sha Resort on the water and waited out the rainstorm before heading back to town.  Edna invited us for a Walleye fish dinner at her house that evening.  It was another great meal!  She also made cole slaw and roasted vegetables, one of the veggies was rutabaga!  We had never had roasted rutabaga or Walleye and found that both were scrumptious!!  Here is a picture of us with our full bellies at Edna's table:

I can see why her kids love her so and take such good care of her!  Even Jenny was happy to be at her place!  See how relaxed she is in the living room or is that sleeping room...

Alas, the evening came to a close.  We woke Jenny up, hugged Edna good bye and thanked her for a lovely visit.  We'll see her back in Tucson the end of October or first of November.

Moose Jaw, SK

Forgive me, it has been a week since my last blog posting.  It has been a busy week and have not had a strong enough internet connection readily available.

Sunday, July 8.  We drove from Medicine Hat, AB to Moose Jaw, SK today.  Don't you just love the names of these towns?  Moose Jaw comes from an old indian name for the town because of the Saskatchewan river that runs through it curves at one point looking like a moose jaw.  As for Medicine Hat, we'll all have to google that one.  When you arrive in Moose Jaw you are greeted by a tall statue of a Moose which just happens to be across the street from the entrance to the RV Park where we stayed for three nights.   Cute?

We stayed at the Prairie Oasis Tourist Complex.  The use of the word prairie is quite prevalent in these parts, mainly because there is a LOT of prairie!  The park was nice, paved sites and plenty of shade trees.  The first site didn't work because the trees blocked the satellite dish and I gotta have my dish!!  We found a site that would work and moved.  While I was making the arrangements at the office for our new site I asked about our friends who were coming in to stay a couple of nights.  It just so happens they were booked into a site just down from us.  I asked the reservation clerk if she could move them next to us and she happily did.  Canadians are so friendly!  Here is a picture of our site, Brian & Elaine were on the right side of us.

Mike and I have been trying to take turns as to who gets in the picture at our campsite.  It was his turn this time.  That trailer to the right left the next morning and then Brian & Elaine arrived right after lunch.  They were coming to Moose Jaw to see the Tunnels of Moose Jaw.  We changed our itinerary a bit so we could join them.  

Monday, July 9.  Today was a laundry day.  When we arrived yesterday the laundry was temporarily closed so I did two loads in the motor home Sunday evening and then two more Monday morning.  I like using the washer in the RV but not the dryer, takes too long.  The dryers here in the park were great!  Each load in our washer is equal to a half a regular load so I only had two loads to dry which only cost $2.00, $1.00 per load!  We also found a grocery store and a liquor store, it was a good day made even better when Brian & Elaine arrived!  

Tuesday, July 10.  Our Tunnel reservation was at 10:45 and 11:45 today.  There are two tours to see two different parts of the tunnels.  The tour guides are "actors" portraying characters from the 1920's.  The tunnels were used to connect local businesses so whoever was in charge of the steam heating system could easily go from building to building.  Without the tunnels he would have to climb and descend a lot of stairs.  Eventually, the tunnels were used by Al Capone to smuggle boot leg whiskey in and out of Moose Jaw.  It was referred to as "North Chicago."  They would not let us take a picture inside the tunnels so all we have is the outside of the building.  

The tours were fun and entertaining.  On the first tour we were treated as newly arrived immigrant workers from China.  The tour guide called us "coolies" and instructed us to not use that word outside of these tunnels since it is a derogatory term.  The second tour guide referred to us as "bootleggers" and was going to set us up with a shipment of booze to take back with us.  The employees at the Tunnels were referred to as "cast and crew," much like Disney does with its' employees.  

Wednesday, July 11.  Moving on day.  Brian & Elaine left a little bit before we did.  They were heading to Medicine Hat to visit friends.  (What?? They have friends other than us??)  We were heading for the states to get the dreaded border crossing over with!  Mike & I both have been a little apprehensive about crossing back into the states.  The RV is our home now and when you take your home into another country it can be a little freaky.  There is stuff in our home that may or may not be ok to take across international borders.  We decided to just take a direct route back to the states and forego driving through Manitoba, we would see it another trip.  

Hwy. 39 took us right down to the border at North Portal, ND, on the east side of the state.  There were three lanes when we arrived and one was open so I pulled up to that one.  A border guard motioned for me to pull forward.  Another border guard approached us and asked to see our passports.  He asked if we owned the RV and car together and was the paper work in the car.  He asked about firearms, weapons, how much cash we were carrying and did we have any fruits and vegetables.  I answered his questions and then he asked us to step out and to stand in front of the coach while he another guard inspected inside.  Shadow, one of the cats, immediately went under the couch!  Jenny stayed on the dash and Midnight, the other cat, remained in her chair.  The guards confiscated three oranges and that was all!  Hooray!!  We had about 4 bottles of wine on board and there were vegetables in the fridge but they didn't care about them.  He put our passports on the dash, exited the coach and told us to have a nice day!  We were back in the states with our home intact!  Let's see what North Dakota is like and if we can find a Walmart to "camp" in for the night.

Mike looked online (we could use the iPhone again since we were back in the states!) and found a Walmart in Bottineau, ND that allowed overnight parking.  It was on the main road we were traveling on to get to Minnesota and only a couple of hours away.  Northern ND is very rural and very flat, lots of farmland and a few small town.  Bottineau is a small town and the Walmart was the least busy Walmart we have ever seen.  I parked on the west side of the building and we set up camp.  It was very hot that day and here we were in a spot without shade and without electricity for the AC's.  Yuck!  We did run the generator for a little while that evening so we could turn on the AC's to cool the coach down before bed.  It was still a hot night!  Note to self, no more boon-docking in hot weather!  

See you in Minnesota!!  

Medicine Hat, Alberta

Friday, July 6 we started our drive to Medicine Hat via Drumheller where a lot of dinosaur bones have been found which has made Drumheller famous.  We only stopped at the sign to take a picture, we've seen plenty of dinosaur bones in our travels.

A nice man from Winnipeg traveling with his family took our picture.  Didn't realize he didn't get the whole sign until later.  Dang!  Oh, well...

The drive was beautiful through the prairie farmland.  They grow a lot of rape seed here used for canola oil.  The fields are yellow as far as you can see.  Nice when you have the blue sky in the background, eh?

The park we stayed at in Medicine Hat is called Gas City RV Campground, Gas City because this is where it all started with the gas exploration and discovery.  It's a very nice campground on the edge of town with a paved walking trail that goes forever.  Jenny especially loved the trail!

The cats loved this park, too!  This was the first time we have let them out in several weeks.  They were going stir crazy.

Saturday, July 7, During our walk today Mike took this picture looking back towards the RV campground.

Another beautiful day!  By 1:38 it was 75 outside and 82 inside the coach.  Ahhhh......

One last thing, Saturday evening there were these young guys and girls in a trailer camped about 100; from us.  They were having a great time, not being overly loud or out of line just having fun.  One of the fun things they were doing was riding electric coolers around the campground!  They had two of them, a red one and a blue one and one guy was on a skateboard being pulled behind them.  It was too funny!  We laughed and enjoyed the show!  Here's a short movie of them...

These things were fast and they hold 24 cans of beer.  What more could anyone need?

Wetaskiwin, Alberta

Tuesday, July 3 we left Donald Station and drove over the Rockies to the front range.  We were going to visit Brian & Elaine Coggles who live in Leduc, a suburb of Edmonton.  We made reservations in a town called Wetaskiwin about 30 minutes south of Leduc.

The drive over was quite an exciting trip!  Between Calgary and Edmonton the skies were totally gray and just after we got fuel on the north side of Calgary the weather got very bad, we had rain, sleet and hail sometimes all at once!  There were black clouds moving in a circular pattern above us, all we could think was tornado!!  The wind gusts were incredible, some had to be as much as 60-80mph.  I did my very best to make sure the "rubber side stayed down!"  This picture doesn't do the storm justice, it was much uglier than this!  (that's a dead bug on the windshield)

Once again we set up in a storm, poor Mikey!  He gets to do all the outside stuff while I take care of the inside stuff.  At least the park was nice although it was on the edge of the prairie and the winds didn't die down until the next day.  We left the satellite dish down and I brought the slide back in about 1:00 in the morning.  I was afraid the awning that covers it would blow off.  That night we called Elaine & Brian and told them we would see them tomorrow, tonight we were exhausted and didn't want to fight the weather any more.

Wednesday, July 4th!  Happy Independence Day!  We drove up to Leduc to see Brain and Elaine and after a nice visit at their coach they took us to Tim Hortons for lunch.  We had seen Tim Horton restaurants all over since we've been in Canada but wasn't sure what they were.  They are like a cross between Starbucks and Krispy Kreme with soup and sandwiches.  Lunch was very good and after another we got back to their coach we left to go check on Jenny at the motor home.  The weather was starting to clear but Mike had given Jenny a doggy downer before we left just to be safe.  That evening we went back to their place for dinner.  Elaine is a wonderful chef and had prepared pulled pork and made a cole slaw which I really liked - it had chopped apples in it!  Yummy!

Thursday, July 5th, the sun came out and the wind turned to a gentle breeze!!  We were beginning to think the name of the RV Park should be changed from Prairie Breeze to Prairie Gusts!!  This is a picture of us in our "prairie schooner."

After yoga we drove up to Brian & Elaine's to go for a walk/hike on a trail that goes around their park and around the town of Leduc.  Jenny was ready for a walk and so were we. Here is a picture of one of the three rock gardens created by Elaine from leftover rocks when they cleared a section in their park.

As you can see, it was a beautiful day.  Alberta is also "big sky" country like Montana.  After our walk we headed back to the RV to chill for a while.  Later that day, E&B come down to Wetaskiwin to meet us for dinner at a local favorite restaurant called Huckleberry's Cafe.  I had one of the best steaks I've had in a long time.  Alas, it was time to say so long if only for a short time.  We are going to meet them next week in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan for a couple of days.  We're going to tour the tunnels under the town together.