This Is The Craziest Campground Setup We've Ever Had

Does something look a little strange here? Take a minute and it will come to you! 



Look how far away the utility pole is and what side of the RV it is on (note the location of the stairs and the rear of the truck).  This is the only water/electric pull through site in the campground. (We didn't need sewer tonight.)  We were told to pull in heading in this direction because of the utilities.  Rog said, "No way, that's crazy.  I'll go in the opposite direction so they are on the correct side."  So, we did.  That placed the utility pole so far away that neither our power cord nor our hose reached the RV.  We pulled out, drove around the outside circle of the park twice before we ended up driving across another site so we could pull in the original direction. The roads and sites are all screwy.  Rog still had to break out a brand new water hose he had for emergencies because the one we normally use wasn't long enough.  It's a good thing we didn't need a sewer hook up because if there had been one, it, too, would have been out of reach for us.  Crazy.  Looking around, it's a very nice, clean, well maintained park, but you can't see where any of the sites are.  There's poles with site numbers and picnic tables and fire rings and utility poles every which way.  It really is a bizarre set up.  In my walk around I noticed that we were not the only ones with utility hookup issues.  

We are in Indian Point Campground at the southern end of Duluth, MN.  We are on a point sticking out into the St. Louis River and we are surrounded by trees.  I hear a train in the distance, but there doesn't seem to be any lights in the park or any road noise.  It will be very dark tonight.  As it turns out, we stayed here on our first cross country trip in the little travel trailer.  It was a real dump then and has been cleaned up since.  We had planned on staying tonight on the other side of the bridge in WI but with the storms and high winds predicted for tomorrow morning, Rog wanted to cross the bridge today. While we had our lunch, I started calling places and this was the first one that had any sites available that could accommodate our size.  This was a last minute choice. I didn't remember that we had been here until we pulled in.  

There was a series of severe storms happening along our route, and today we got caught in one about 30 miles east of Duluth.  We could see it coming-the sky was almost black, then the wind whipped up to at least 50mph, then the rain came down in buckets.  We pulled off the road and sat while the storm cell moved past us - about 30 minutes.  The air temperature dropped from about 72 to 46 degrees as we sat there. Once it passed we had light rain and some wind but it was ok to drive in and it warmed up into the mid 50s.  By the time we reached Duluth we had no rain at all.  We are expecting another series of storms tonight and into the early morning hours.  We will check all the weather apps in the morning and determine if it is safe to travel across Minnesota tomorrow.  Right now (6pm CT) there is no rain but the wind has started howling.  We had a nice break from it for a little while, but it's back.  Maggie's ears made her look like Dumbo ready to take off when we went for her walk earlier.  

Crossing the northern most part of Wisconsin today we, were again in tree tunnels most of the way, but as we neared Duluth the landscape opened up and we could see Lake Superior.  The St. Louis River drains into the lake at Duluth.  Duluth is a huge port for shipping grains, food, whatever from the mid-west across the Great Lakes and down the St. Lawrence Seaway out to the Atlantic. This container ship was going under the bridge on his way into port as we crossed from WI to Duluth.   Duluth's other distinction is that Roger's mother was born here, as was a friend in my book group!  

Most of the territory we covered today was reservation land - the Red River Band of the Chippewa.  We stopped at a casino parking lot for lunch.  They have several large areas designated as reservation land and there is a huge BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs) facility in Ashland, WI.  The housing areas I could see and the facilities seemed to be better than most and I suppose that is because they are using the gambling revenues for the tribe.  

We will be running the furnace for sure tonight and most likely will pull the bedroom slider in to sleep to keep the rain from coming in and the pitter patter away from our heads.

We Are Ready to Move On

It's been a lovely day here - sunshine, mid 70s, a bit of a breeze.  We sat out on the deck this afternoon just enjoying the weather and the view.  Rog was having a great nap until two trailers full of grandparents and a bunch of little kids pulled in. It got a bit noisy and it woke him up. 

We went out for fuel and lunch late this morning.  We had a good fish and chips meal in a local hangout called Joey's.  I then went in search of a shop to get my UP shirt.  Rog bought one in Calumet the other day, but I had no souvenir yet.  I found a nice light-weight hoodie with the UP logo.  We stopped at the bakery on the way back to the RV and bought some pasties and fresh bread to take with us.  We should be all set for the road.

Roger did his chores outside and I did some housekeeping and check book balancing so we are all caught up before we take off.   We then went outside to sit and relax and enjoy the last few hours here. 

We both are glad we came and stayed a few days.  Neither of us have ever been in this part of Michigan and it has been great. History, scenery (when you can see through the trees), and a very nice campground. We keep meeting very friendly people who want to tell us all about "copper country."  A nice older gentleman who has lived here all his life  stopped to talk to Maggie when we were out for a walk this morning. He told us all about the history of the waterfront when I remarked on how beautiful it is.  It's been a good "visit." 

Tomorrow our destination is a small town in Wisconsin just this side of the bridge (across a portion of Superior) from Duluth. Forecast is for rain.  I think we are staying north enough to maybe not encounter the weather system that is hitting the midwest.  Let's hope so.  

BFFs

We Had Rain Off and On All Day

Last evening we sat on the deck behind the RV and watched the storm move across the sky north of us.  Then, about the time we went to bed, it dumped on us.  It was a real gully-washer and lasted about an hour.   

Today it's been raining off and on but not hard or not long at any one time. Right now (about 8pm) we can hear thunder off in the distance and we've got a pretty steady rain.  The temperature has been about 70 today, so it's cool and damp. 

Maggie and I got a walk between the rain drops this afternoon. We walked down to the bridge along the bike trail.  I noticed a woman walking into one of the houses across the street with a pail, trowel and a bright orange safety vest on that said "volunteer."  I realized as I looked around that someone has planted annuals and herbs in the small little flower beds along the bike path and waterfront park area since yesterday. Marigolds, petunias, hostas, ornamental cabbage, and some lavender.  One bed is now full of herbs and they have been labeled with river rocks with the names of the herb on them. It's all very well done and will be beautiful as the plants take hold. Some of them were still a bit droopy.  How wonderful that someone would take on that project.  It makes the walk so much nicer.  Another thing I noticed is that the irises are just starting to bloom and one yard I saw has yellow tulips all throughout the flower beds.  After the rain today the smell of lilacs just hangs in the air.  

We managed to finally get to a grocery store this morning.  We just haven't been enthusiastic about our meals lately and so we put it off until we ran out of almost everything in the fridge. The clerk in the grocery store gave us the discount that people with loyalty cards get when we told her we were from out of town and traveling in our RV.  She and the bagger then figured out for us where to go get the Maggie's food as they didn't carry it in that store. They were very kind and very helpful young ladies. We had to go to a feed store for the dog food.  It was quite an interesting place and they had all kinds of different animal food.  Very impressive.  I've not been in one before.  

We spent the afternoon plotting our trip west and discussing further the purchase of a new fifth wheel.  We did contact a salesman in a major RV dealership in Billings, MT. Rog told him what we were looking for and what things we wanted on the rig and he said he would have some picked out for us to look at when we got there next week.  We will see how all that goes.  

Right now we expect to be home around the 28/29th of June - depends on how much time we spend in Billings!!  

Weird Weather, A Wild Goose Chase, and a Nice Lunch

The furnace started running in the early morning hours and when we got up it was 53 degrees outside, rainy and windy. We kept thinking, "so much for our day outdoors."  I even put a blanket back on the bed when I made it up for tonight.  We checked the forecast and it said that this afternoon was going to be in the 90s and windy.  Sure, it is!  We have that sort of temperature differences in one day at home, but here?  No way. So, since we were going even further north and going to be on the water (so we thought), we dressed appropriately in long pants and sweatshirts.  As I write this at 6pm, we have the AC on and it is 93 degrees outside, about 83 inside, the sun is out and the wind is rocking the RV.  We have put on cooler clothes and had leftovers for dinner so I didn't have to turn the stove on. We really did have that huge temperature swing today. There are whitecaps on the channel behind us. When you exit the RV you feel as if you are walking into a blast furnace.  

The channel on the first day we were here looked as if the water was running from left to right - the waves were going in that direction.  Yesterday it was the opposite and today it is again looking like it's flowing left to right.  Very disconcerting.  The water is the same level at both ends so, it's not the current, but the wind making the waves.

Rog just came in with Maggie - he took her out for her after dinner walk while I write this.  He said her ears were flapping so fast in the wind he thought she was going to take off!  

A slab of copper outside of the Quincy Mine

Out buildings at the mine

We drove across the bridge this morning into Hancock and stopped at the Quincy Mine Historical Site.  They give tours but we had Maggie with us and we've been on mine tours before at home, so we skipped that.  It was interesting, though, to see all the rusted equipment and the buildings.  This mine was one of the biggest producers of copper during the boom.  I am so reminded of Nevada's history of boom and bust with silver in the 1860s and gold in the early 1900s. Here the derelict buildings that are left are covered in vegetation, while in Nevada the desert has creeped in on the old towns but you can see the mine tailings and abandoned buildings.  The history of both places is similar.  Immigrants and Easterners coming in to work the mines and make a fortune and when the lode runs dry, move on to other places and start again.   

We drove to Calumet - about 20 miles. This is where Roger's ancestors' lived and we wanted to see what it looked like.  Nice little town, but has seen better days.  When we checked in here at the RV park and I told the host why we were here, he told me to "talk to Tony at the Copper Shop in Calumet."   We found Tony's store and we picked up Maggie and went in.  I gave Tony some surnames that he recognized and he pulled out some directories from 1907 and looked them up .  We did find one name - Roger's great grandfather, Edward James Moyle, an immigrant from Cornwall who worked in the mines as a blacksmith.  The entry in the directory pictured here confirms what I had found in my research.  It is quite cool to see his name in the book, along with his occupation.

Window display in Calumet

Lunch at the Cafe Rosetta

Downtown Calumet

   

Another museum with copper slab in Calumet.
I thought the stone building was worth capturing.

Having Maggie with us prevented us from entering all the little shops and the museums, but that was OK. Probably saved us lots of money!  I did buy a book about the area's history, though.  Mostly Roger and Maggie stayed outside while I went into the buildings.  (I had to get my National Parks stamps and there are lots of sites here to do that!)  We found a small cafe with outdoor seating and that had a good vegetarian soup and sandwich on the menu (very surprising). We visited with a young man who teaches at Michigan Tech who was sitting outside at the other table.  He even took our picture for us.   Maggie is such a conversation starter and we have met so many nice people because they stop to talk to her and this was a good example. 

Everyone we've talked to, brochures, and in the RVParksReviews of campgrounds around here, have said that the drive up to Copper Harbor at the tip of the peninsula is worth the 40+ mile drive.  On the map it looks like the road runs right along the lake and the views would be spectacular - like the California or Oregon coasts.  Well, not so. It was a slow, curvy road through the trees that on occasion would allow a short peak at the lake. There were lots of "cottages" - some of them pretty pricey looking - that we could see, but not the lake on the other side of them.   Then when we got to Copper Harbor we discovered it's a small town of lodges, B&Bs, shops, and fishing, kayaking, and snow mobile outfitters.  Very tourist oriented.  The harbor had a very small entrance from Lake Superior, thus no real view of it.  We were quite disappointed after having driven all that way.  Maggie even objected to the drive around all the curves but at least she didn't get sick.  She just wanted to be in my lap and held so she was secure on the turns.  Oh, well.  You never know until you check stuff out yourself.  It might have been a winner.

We got home around 3pm, turned the AC on, changed clothes and, while Roger napped, I finished the book I was reading.  I'm not sure what's up for tomorrow.  We still haven't gone to get groceries and Maggie needs some food, so we will probably do that in the morning and leave the afternoon free to maybe explore a little more around Houghton.  I'm ready to find another ice cream store!

It's only supposed to be in the 70s tomorrow.  We shall see how accurate that forecast is.  I think that big heat wave blast that hit the midsection of the country today got this far north, which is amazing.  I'm sure that today probably set some records and we are certainly glad that we are no longer south of here!!!  

National Park Service boat that takes
tourists out to Isle Royale

Roger's sunset picture from the other night.

A Beautiful, Restful Day in Upper Michigan

The sun was out, the temps didn't get to 70 degrees, and it was a bit breezy, but it was beautiful today.  

We slept in a bit (still acclimating to the time change yesterday) and I had time to make pancakes for breakfast and take Maggie for a long walk.  There is a bike path along the water and we walked down to the bridge that crosses over the shipping channel to Hancock - about 1.75 miles round trip.  It's a very lovely walk along the water with very nice homes across the street to gawk at.  

We accomplished the two most critical chores we had today. We managed to find a laundromat within a couple of miles and while I supervised the washing machines Roger took the truck to get an oil change.  He then came back and kept me company and helped fold clothes when they were done.  It feels good to have an empty laundry basket - even if it is for only one day. We hadn't done any laundry since leaving Pensacola.  

On my walk I had spotted a pasty shop and bakery, so that's where we had lunch.  For the uninitiated, a pasty is a Cornish meat and vegetable pie.  The recipe includes beef, pork, potatoes, rutabaga and carrots baked in a pie dough.  They are about the size of a small calzone. The Cornish miners took them into the mines for their lunches as they can be eaten with no utensils and are good at room temperature.  Roger's grandmother used to make them all the time. The first time I tried one I was sick - it was so rich.  I did learn to love them while we were living in Michigan.  I've tried my own meatless version, but they are no where near the real thing.  This bakery does a vegetarian version - same ingredients only no meat added.  We shared one and brought one home with us.  They are so yummy.  We just might have to buy a few more for the freezer before we leave.  

Roger spent the afternoon surfing RV websites looking at the options out there that meet our needs, wants and restrictions as we have pretty much decided to replace our current RV. I read my book for a while and then took a nap.  

Spring comes late to the UP.  The lilacs are in full bloom and the jonquils are on their last legs.  

It's been a most relaxing day.  Tomorrow we will probably go north to Calumet and maybe even up to the tip of the peninsula at Copper Harbor and make a day of it.  We'll pack a lunch and Maggie and enjoy the day. 

We are in Houghton, MI in the Upper Peninsula

The map shows a part of the Keewanau Peninsula in Michigan that sticks out into Lake Superior.  This whole area (see the dark yellow strip on the map) was once a major copper mining area and is where some of Roger's ancestors came when they settled in the US. One family came from mining tin and copper in Cornwall, England (Think Poldark) and another family came from Finland to the mines.  Most of them worked in Calumet but census records also show them in Houghton and Hancock.  Roger's got some folks buried here and I hope we can find them.  It will also be nice to see where they settled and learn some more of the history of the area.  

Note the portage waterway across the land goes from one side to the other on the map.  We are in Houghton on the portage channel.  We are wondering if the waters go from one side to the other than why is it a peninsula and not an island?  Probably at one time there was a land bridge, but to expedite copper shipping a portage channel was dug?   We will find out when we go out and explore the local history in the next few days.

Me and the Maggs enjoying being able to be outside.

Nice decks with a table and bench behind the RV

After last night we were a bit leery of what we were getting into here.  What a wonderful surprise as we came around he corner and saw the park.   I had reserved four nights but as soon as we saw the place and got set up I added a night. We will be here four full days to explore and to rest before starting the trek home.  We are in an RV park run by the City of Houghton. (City of Houghton RV Park) There are 22 sites, full hook ups, WIFI (weak), and stupendous views.  We will have to find a laundromat, but that's ok.  As you can see the sites are situated for optimal views of the water and the town of Hancock on the other side of the channel.  It is really a beautiful setting.  The rest of the city park consists of a water park, beaches, pavilions with tables, and lots of tables along the water.  It looks to be quite busy and we can hear the kids screaming at the water park/beach.  It's Thursday.  I'm thinking we will need to do our exploring of the area on the weekend or we will be driven quite crazy by the screaming kids.  

View to the right.

View straight across from our site.

View to the left of our site.

The view from our dirty back window onto our deck.

It started raining a few minutes after we pulled in - a light rain that only lasted about 20 minutes.  The sun has been in and out and we have a steady breeze off the water.  Temperature today about 70.   It's not supposed to get that high tomorrow, but by Sunday will be in the 80s.  

We left that horrid campground as soon as we could this morning.  It rained a little in the early morning and the place was damp and creepy.  The mosquitoes were swarming and just enveloped Maggie when we went out for her to do her business. She was trying to fight them off.   It was awful.  I was afraid to breathe in for fear of sucking those babies down my lungs.  I noticed that next to the campground on two sides were swampy areas.  No wonder the mosquitos were so numerous.  We ended up bringing some with us and spent some time after we set up hunting those bad boys down and doing them in.  

We saw a bald eagle this morning perched on top of a tree, but that was about the only thing of interest we saw.  The roads up here are basically two lane tunnels through the trees.  In the clearings are very small towns or cottages on lakes, but nothing else.  It would be a beautiful drive in October.  There are some small blue flowers along the road and lots of lilac bushes in full bloom. Otherwise it was trees, trees, and more trees - lots of water, too.   

We were told that we need to drive out to the end of the peninsula as the views of Lake Superior are awesome from a place called Copper Harbor.  That'll be a nice day trip.  

Our camp host is a native Yooper (that's a person who lives in the upper peninsula of Michigan) from Calumet who lives half the year here and the other half in the Florida Keys. He is quite knowledgeable about the area and when I told him why we were here, he immediately started telling me of places and people we needed to see.  He even recognized some of the surnames we will be hunting down.   He's written a book that is a fictionalized account of his summer in Isle Royale National Park. Of course, I bought it.  I told him he must be the Bill Bryson of the UP.  He said his story was funnier than Bill's about hiking the Appalachian Trail.  We shall see.  Nice guy but quite the talker.   His name is Dan Kemp and the title of the book is "A Yooper's Summer on Isle Royal."  It looks to be a fun read.  

Roger had some fix-it stuff to do this afternoon.  One of the sliders made really ugly noises this morning when I pulled it in. He found the problem and managed a quick but not permanent fix for it.  This has been a rough trip on the RV.  Fortunately, he is a Mr. Fix-It.  

Tomorrow's agenda includes laundry, groceries, a stop at the frozen custard shop, and an oil change for the truck.  Busy day tomorrow!  

It's 9:05 (ET) and the sun has yet to set.  It looks like about another half hour before it drops below the horizon.  Rog is going to try and get some pictures - it looks like it will be a beautiful sunset. 

No WIFI but Hotspot Seems To Be Working OK

Surprisingly, we have a fairly decent cell signal here in the Northwoods.  I'm going to give posting an entry a try - maybe even some photos.  

It has been another lovely day with temps in the mid 70s and no humidity to speak of.  We are loving it after so long in that heatwave we had.  Tonight it supposed to dip to the 50s!  We'll take it, that's for sure.  

We started about 45 minutes earlier than usual today and we arrived at our destination an hour later than our usual stopping time.  We had almost 100 extra miles than a normal day for us due to not being able to find a place to stay.  Rog is one pooped puppy tonight.  Maggie rested, so she's wanting to play ball tonight.

We crossed Wisconsin from the lower south eastern border at Dubuque, got to mid state near Madison and then headed due north as far as Tomahawk.  We are about 10 miles east of there in a little town called Rhinelander and in a campground called Lake George Campground.  

They don't see too many travelers here as it is a destination for city folks to come for the summer weekends. The office is also a tavern and when I went in to pay about 3pm there were customers already.  About half the sites have small travel trailers sitting on them but no people around.  It's mid-week and they will probably be arriving in droves on Friday so they were able to accommodate us tonight.  

The campground has lake front property, although we are at the far back end through the woods away from the water - I think in the only site that we would fit in.  It is a pull through. That's ok, we aren't here for the lake experience, but to rest for the night. Lots of mosquitoes.  We are sitting in the woods and Rog has already decided we probably will get a bear visitor tonight.  The place reminds us of a place we stayed in New York once and a place near Quakertown, PA.  This is far nicer than both of them.

We spotted a Camping World just outside of Madison and stopped so Rog could get spare parts for his sewer hose.  When he did try and use the one he "fixed" with the new gasket it did leak.  He had to stop his dumping, and jerry rig parts from spares to put together a hose long enough and that wouldn't leak.  He now has backup for the next leak.  It was close to lunch so we just sat in the shade of the RV and ate lunch in the parking lot.  Maggie always likes going in Camping World. Everyone stops to talk to her and they have stacks of dog food bags to sniff.  She behaved quite well in the store.

Observations from today's travels:

Wisconsin recycles, uses solar power and wind power and is very clean.  There was hardly any litter at all along the roads.  

The county roads in Wisconsin have letters instead of numbers.  We saw HHH and an YZ and all kinds of other combos, but I don't know how many that the alphabet can make so they can name all their roads.  I'm pretty positive this is the only state that does this.  I did see a sign for two together - PB and L.  I started looking for PB and J but never found it.  It thought that would be a hoot to get a picture of that intersection.  

I only saw one barn quilt and it was close to the border.  It must be an Iowa phenomena.

We were quite disturbed by the number of dead deer on the road.  We must have seen at least a dozen.  Raccoons seem to be the second most popular road kill and coyote running a distant third.  Very distressing.

Rolling hills and big farms in the south turned to flatland, small farms and timber production in the north.  Lots of logging going on.  We saw some pretty distressed looking areas where the trees were all dying.   There's a lot of industry around Madison.  It is a beautiful state. Wonder how deep the snow gets???  I'm thinking a lot as we see Wisconsin plates in Arizona and California in the winter!!  The afternoon was a bit boring as all I could see were trees.  

We crossed the Wisconsin River five times today.  It certainly meanders while the road goes straight north. 

Tomorrow - Houghton, MI for four nights - maybe even five depending on how rested we get for the trip west and home from there.

P.S.  I'm happy that I can post an entry tonight.  The pics were slow coming in, but they did!