August 11, 2015

When we woke up, there were two other RV's staying overnight at the Brady's Leap rest stop. Except for stopping for diesel and to let the dogs out several times, we drove straight through. One of those times while George walked the dogs I ran in and bought Starbucks beverages. Coffee one for me and a vanilla bean frappechino for George. While there I bought two croissants to make tuna fish sandwiches in for lunch. Caught up to the storms and had to deal with wet roads and those horrible cattle chutes. It is totally a white knuckle ride. When we arrived back to Sicklerville, NJ the MDX was dead. Even though George checked my work of hooking up the break assist and running through the ritual of the manufacturer's requirements for towing a vehicle on all fours, I imagine that I must have forgotten to turn off the A/C. George set up the portable jumpstart thingy and plugged it in to the RV with the motor running to charge it up in order to jumpstart the MDX. It worked fine.While we were unpacking the RV, I left the MDX running to charge the batteries. It took us two trips we thought to unload the RV, but we noticed that we need a third one as well, as neither one of us remembered to bring home our clean shirts out of the hanging closet.

August 10 - On the way home!

August 10

Storms were in the forecast for Dearborn, MI, however we only ran into a few drops of rain. Today we went to the Henry Ford Museum to tour the Ford Rouge F-150 Pick-Up Truck Plant. Funny thing is George was given the Senior Discount and I wasn't. The tour cost us $30. and it is was a pretty amazing presentation before the actual plant tour. Previously we had toured the Corvette Assembly Plan in Bowling Green, KY which was more of a hands on assembly whereas this plant has a lot more automation. It was cool to see the robotic arms glue in both the moon roofs and the front and back windshields. All of the pick-up truck built at this plant are aluminum. It might have been my imagination but the colors on the trucks really seemed to pop. Afterward we set the GPS for home. We drove out of the parking lot and headed for home. Funny thing is the first night of our trip we stayed on the Ohio turnpike and it began to storm. Tonight we are staying in the turnpike at mile marker 197 at the Travel Plaza named Brady's Leap. The storms from earlier in a the day caught up to us.

August 9 - Belleville, MI

August 9

Travel day from Mackinaw City, MI to Belleville, MI. On the way we stopped at a rest area and George just happened to go back to the car to get his sunglasses when he noticed the cord that connected the lights on our tow vehicle and RV were mangled since they had been apparently dragging for 200 miles. Needless to say we had no lights on our tow vehicle. Fortunately we had a new one that George had accidentally put through the wrong tow arm and couldn't reach the MDX. Every night on the trip he kept saying he had to take it apart and put through the correct arm. So at the rest stop he was forced to do it do we would have lights. Inadvertently he dropped this teeny weeny little screw and by luck he saw it in a completely different place then he thought he dropped it at. I had chosen a campground near Dearborn in Belleville, MI with an odd name- Wayne County Fairgrounds RV Park, which actually is a 4H fairgrounds. While cooking mushrooms, George looked up local eateries. He said that I looked like I didn't want to cook, when in fact, he didn't want to cook since he was supposed to grill pork chops. So we went to the Twisted Rooster and had fish tacos, fried pickles and he had a pulled pork sandwich. We were too stuffed for dessert.

August 8 -Mackinac Island

(A correction from my last post: Instead of the Mackinaw Bridge, it is actually the Mackinac Bridge over the Straits of Mackinac. Once again the Internet access is poor here. I write all of my posts off-line with the hopes of being able to post at a later date or time.)

Today, instead of taking the campground shuttle over to the passenger ferry we decided to take the MDX. Originally we were going to take the dogs but Abby was in a real snit this morning. We could have taken just Nutmeg, but lately she has been slipping her collar. Plus we wouldn't be able to tour Fort Mackinac or go in any other building. So  we went without them. Arriving at the ferry, we noticed that people were taking their bicycles with them. So George asked the ferry rep if the scooters were allowed on Mackinac Island. She wasn't sure so she asked the manager. The consensus was that it was okay. So with that said, it cost us $18. to ferry the scooters round-trip. The ferries   are all hydro jet propelled which are fast. They also have a rooster tail of water that shoots from the stern of the boat. When we arrived to the island we picked up the scooters and walked them out to the street. As we were getting ready to ride them down the street a guy driving a wagon yelled that the scooters were illegal on the island. So George asked a police officer and he said they were okay. We bought carriage tour tickets and then rode our scooters up to the location to pick up the carriage. Parking the scooters across the street in the designated bike parking area along the curb. The place is CRAZY with hundreds of noodle-heads on bicycles. There are Police Assistants plus Police on Bikes patrolling the streets trying to control the craziness. We got on our carriage which turned out to be a wagon with rubber tires. Every cart, wagon or carriage was horse drawn. No horseless carriages are on the island at all. Everyone depends on horses like in the olden days. We saw bread delivered via a flat bed wagon. They use Belgian Draft horses to pull the wagons in a range of colors from palomino to dappled-grays. The wagon or carriage tours gives a lay of the land. When we got back to downtown, neither of us could remember where we had parked the scooters. After searching for them up and down the street three times, we came to the conclusion that they were missing. We thought we had parked them across the street from where the wagon loaded. So we went and told one of the Police assistants (PA) and she told us that they were impounded and were at the Police station, as they were illegal to have on the island. Actually we were relieved that the police had them. The PA walked us up to talk to the head officer on duty and he explained about the fact that there were no motor driven vehicles on the island and even motor assisted bikes needed a special permit to be allowed. Which in reality wasn't totally true since those handicapped carts that people ride are allowed, and are motorized. The police told us they would keep our scooters until we were ready to leave the island. We then stayed around the Police department area as we knew we needed to go back to get the scooters when we were ready to leave. George had asked where a good place to eat middle of the line was and The Seabisciut was suggested. We had lunch and I looked in several of the shops that didn't sell fudge. The downtown area as something in the realm of 20 fudge shops that specialize in just fudge. Some have 10, 20, 30 or 40 flavors of just fudge. I bought myself a Polartec type jacket with Mackinac Island embroidered on it. Then we went back to the police station where our scooters were locked up. George was escorted out of town on his scooter. I had to walk mine to the pier and when I arrived George and the police escort who also happened to be the officer who told George in the first place that the scooters were okay were waiting for me. We walked our scooters to the ferry location and when the boat arrived, they were placed on board. It was chilly riding back so I was glad that I had purchased the jacket. When we arrived back on the mainland George was able to get his money back for the transportation of the scooters. When we were leaving the dock area on Mackinaw, I counted 10 fudge shops. 

August 7

August 7, 2015

Today was what I refer to as a travel day, which is a day when we move from one base camp to another. With that said, George picked up a pamphlet in Munising, MI advertising a cruise through the Soo Locks. Supposed to be famous, although we had never heard of them. Since our travel day was just a short hop, I suggested we take the cruise today on the way to Mackinaw City. George was able to check out the parking situation via Google Earth which loaded one pixel at a time it seemed. There was ample parking at both docks. We arrived at the dock just in the nick of time for the 10:00 cruise. The Soo Lock connects Lake Superior with Lake Huron. One side is Canada and the other is Michigan. This cruise we were able to get seats on the upper deck right near the railing on the Port side. Of course in order to see anything George and I migrated to the bow. It took a lot longer to go North then South. North they had to fill the lock with water, which took about 20 minutes whereas going South the water drained out very fast. It really is an ingenious idea. From there we drove over the famous Mackinaw Bridge. I don't know what I was expecting but it was just painted that industrial green color, nothing fancy. It wasn't as scary as several other bridges we have been on. George claims he saw a giant hotdog on a roof as we were coming off the bridge. When we arrived at the campground and they gave us a map of the site, we got lost in the campground. Their map wasn't very good to say the least. Funny thing is George likes to sit outside and I am fine doing it as long as there are no flying insects buzzing in my ears. The Internet access in the upper peninsula of Michigan has been bad due to limited phone towers. So now that we are under the bridge as the Yoopers say for those south of the Mackinaw Bridge. The Internet access is still poor at the campground. I'm writing this post in the hopes to be able to post it tomorrow while waiting at the terminal for the Mackinaw Island Ferry.

August 5 - Newberry

August 5 - Today we went to Pictured Rock National Lake Shore which if you ask me is a waste of time from the land. I'm glad they made it a National Park to preserve it. The Eastern side of the park has giant sand dunes with a rather fast and steep slide down. It's how the loggers would slide the logs down to the Lake Superior and is called a Log Slide. It has a disclaimer above to keep people with common sense to not try to slide down as getting back up can take an hour or more for those in peak shape. And should you get injured on the way down, rescue will be difficult. We did sand dunes at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore nearly doing George and Acadia in. And of course the super high dunes at Kill Devil Hills in North Carolina. We were able to view the slide from a lookout. We met these two young people with kayaks that wanted to know if we knew where the pictured rocks were and we said based on the map there was access to the lake 35 miles away. So at this point we decided to drive the 35 miles to the town of Munising to see if they had any cruises to the Pictured Rocks and they did, only problem is I had to buy the tickets for tomorrow at 10:00 AM. So instead of going to see waterfalls tomorrow we are going to go see the pictured rocks like they should be seen. The upper peninsula is mostly forests and farm land, at least where we have traveled. The only wildlife we have seen is deer, cranes, sea gulls & chipmunks. There are moose and bear around and frankly I hope they stay off the roads. In Maine every mile there is a lookout for moose sign. 

August 6 - Newberry, MI

This morning we got up at 7:45 AM to drive 1.5 hours to Munising, MI to get our cruise at  the City Dock. We actually went for a buffet breakfast at a restaurant called Dog Patch. From my childhood, I remembered Dog Patch was in a comic strip my Mim & Dad read called "Li'L Abner" by Al Capp. I was right too, as it has the characters as decorations on the walls. I really have no idea what the series of comics were about, but I remember my Dad laughing so hard and passing the newspaper to my Mom so she could read it too! Both laughed out loud! This was the scenario every Sunday morning. After breakfast I was chomping at the bit since we had to be at the dock at 9:45 AM and we were waiting for the check and it was 9:35. When we parked there was already a mile long line on the dock of people. The crew steward said they were loading two boats and by the time we arrived at the boats the top deck was totally full on both boats so I went into the cabin of the first one and we were able to get a open window seat. After riding for 20 minutes out to the Pictured Rocks cliffs George and I were happy we were inside. The temperature outside was 55 and on the water with the wind even colder. We both put our sweatshirt and jacket on. Of course if I had, had a brain cell in action I would have asked if there were tickets available for the sunset cruise. The sun would have been shining on the cliffs making the colors pop more. At first they were darker from their own shadows. However as the sun came up the colored rocks were amazing. After that cruise we went to check out another cruise but the first available cruise was at 4 PM and we didn't want to hang around until then because of the dogs. George wanted to try another Pasty, so we asked Siri where the best Pasty's were and she was totally confused since she is obviously not a Yooper. So I ended up asking Google and it found Muldoon's Pasties & gifts. They looked smaller the my friend Becky's but they were just a different shape. So I bought two lol. Funny thing is I liked Becky's filling better but Muldoon's pastry covering the pasty was better. We ended up only eating one. Then we drove back to the campground and grabbed the dogs.

August 3 - New London, WI

Today was beautiful with hight temp of 77 degrees F. Puffy white clouds contrasting the bright blue sky. We went to Green Bay today to two places that we saw listed in a Fantasy Tour brochure at the FMCA Rally. The first place was The National  Railroad Museum. It included a toy display, advertising medallions, full sized steam and Diesel engines as well as Pullman, box cars, and sleepers that were open to walk through.  The museum had a Union Pacific "Big Boy" (steam) number 4017, one of 25 engines and the Dwight D. Eisenhower (a non-traditional looking steam engine). For an extra $1 there was a train ride too. Funny thing is every time George and I take a train ride, we always sit on the wrong side and this ride was no different. After the museum we needed a pizza fix and decided to go to a place called Old Chicago. I was thinking it might be upside down like other Chicago style pizza we have had, but it wasn't. Don't misunderstand me, the pizza was delicious, just not what I expected. From there we went to the self touted "The Nation's Largest Cooking Store" Cooks Corner in Green Bay, WI. It was big and had a lot of great products. I only bought a 1/2 pound of fudge. We stopped at a Northern something that carries tools as George gets their catalog. Then we stopped and bought 4 ears of sweet corn that was pretty bad. Of course we are spoiled with Stella's Jersey Sweet Corn which might be Silver Queen. The dogs were able to be off lease and played ball. They are also tolerating George trying to hover his drone better but only in my lap for protection from it. George uploaded my photos from the camera to his laptop. Mine is too antiquated and is well on its way to becoming a paper weight. He also uploaded my photos from my iPhone.

August 2 - New London

August 2

At first the plan was to just relax today as there was no real push to get everyone to leave. Check out time was a noon. But when drinking my coffee I saw a brochure of The Dells Boat Tours with had really cool looking sandstone formations. So we drove back up to the Wisconsin Dells with the RV and MDX. George looked on Google Earth to see how big the parking lot was. Went on 2-hour cruise which also included two land excursions with a snack bar at the end of the hike which I thought was funny. The second hike was up to an amphitheater where a German Shepard jumped from one sandstone tower to another. It was scary until George saw the dog had a net. This feat was all brought about because someone wanted to do motion photography back in the late 1800's with a still camera. He had some other guy jump the gap which is 5' wide, 65' off the ground 14 times until the photographer achieved the effect he wanted. Nowadays they use a dog for the feat. At the other landing there was a boardwalk through a narrow water eroded through the limestone channel. I was shocked as I didn't hear the narrator on the boat say that there was a concession stand at the end. George got an ice cream cone and he bought me a root beer float. After that we debated as to whether we wanted to get a campsite in Wisconsin Dells and see a magic show or go do the original plan. George said it was up to me so I chose to go to New London as I was too tired to go to a magic show. Of course if we had stayed at Wisconsin Dells we wouldn't have been hit by the 70 mph winds and hail storm on our way. When we arrived to the campground it was sunny with black skies to the East. We had been to this campground before the EAA AirVenture, so we knew that after 4 PM everyone was at the bar on site. So when I walked in they all knew me! They asked about how we liked the EAA show? They told me that the storm missed them but after we arrived we did have a two thunderstorms. George had bought a drone at the FMCA rally and Abby does not approve of him learning to fly it in the RV. 

August 1 - FMCA Rally

Laurie & Bob left a day early to go back to Jersey. I told George at around 6 AM that Laurie had been bitten the night before. He got up, took the dogs out and went over to see them off. I however snoozed for another hour. George went to a seminar after they left. I spent the morning planning the rest of the trip and getting reservations. When George came back we drove to Middleton, WI to the National Mustard Museum. Funny thing is today was National Mustard Day and the town was celebrating. They had funny parlor games such as Ring the Mustard Container; Mustard Container Bowling; Paint with Mustard; Feed the Curator; spin the mustard wheel. They had mustard judging; Miss Mustard; Honey Mustard Ice Cream, lots of mustard to taste. Well George tasted too much mustard and became ill. He tried to cut the acid from the mustard with Gelato and it worked for a while. We went into the National Mustard Museum and were amazed by all of the different mustards made not only in the USA but around the world. Found out the #1 producer of mustard seeds in Canada and the United States is the #1 importer. So after feeling better, he tried more mustard. I bought two kinds and a T-Shirt. So then we headed to Swisstown in New Glarus, WI, but when he became ill again, we aborted. He ate some TUMS and felt better. So then once again we were headed to Swisstown. However, we decided not to go. We got back to the Rally. George went to the vendor area and I went and play 3 games of Pickle Ball. After dinner which we ate late, I took the dogs for a long walk. I could see the Wisconsin Capitol building all lit up again and was kicking myself that I didn't take my camera. George and I got in the car and drove to the top of a hill but we couldn't see the Capitol building. Funny thing is we could see it from our parking lot better. George brought a tri-pod but it was too light to hold the camera with the telephoto lens. The photos came out half way decent. Tomorrow we are headed to either Reedstown or New London, WI.