Overland Park KS (Low 75 Hot and Humid High 102)
Just a quick entry to let everyone know we toughed it out through our PDD event, 830 miles in 3 days. We left the truck hooked up and just pushed on. The Cameo is at the repair facility and should be there another couple of weeks. We are safely ensconced at an extended stay hotel until we can get our home back. We already have had a few doctor's appointments and with the heat that is about all we have accomplished.
Speaking of the heat we are sure meteorologists will soon be issuing "BWE" warnings, that is the Baskerville Weather Effect. The Kansas City area has not had a 100 degree day all summer and the forecast for August was cooler than normal temperatures. That all changed with us rolling into town and causing the Baskerville Weather Effect, or BWE for short. In four years of full-timing we have seen record highs, lows, rainfall, wind gusts, you name it we have seen it when we have been in an area.
If we keep this up our tourist dollars may no longer be welcome anywhere in this country.
We will leave you with a nice sunset photo from our recent stay in Houghton Michigan.
We plan to catch up our blogging on our great Upper Peninsula visit over the next few days.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Houghton MI (Low 51 Sunny not as Humid High 75)
Lodi WI (Low 57 Mostly Sunny High 82)
Our time in the Upper Peninsula has come to an end. Today we begin our journey back to the Kansas City area to get some work done on our Cameo.
We are dreading the longer than normal days, the back to back travel days which we haven't done in 4 years, the higher temperature and humidity forecasted for the Kansas City area, and finally moving from our home into an extended stay while the Cameo is being worked on.
When we mention longer days, 300 miles on the first day, it is nothing like the Paul Dahl Disorder (PDD) that afflicts R Sanity RV Adventures. PDD causes Paul to go into a trance and drive and drive until 500 miles or so have been achieved. For us who are targeting 150 miles as a good day 300 is as far as we want to go on the PDD Scale.
It is off to Lodi Wisconsin today, then Kellogg Iowa on Saturday, and then into the Kansas City area on Sunday. We are certain to fall further behind in reading blogs and may or may not blog along the way.
We are sure going to miss the view from our site.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Houghton MI (Low 68 Thunderstorms High 82)
Although the strawberry season has ended there are more fresh fruit to enjoy. At the stands along the side of the road or the more organized farmers markets we have bought some of the best blueberries, raspberries, peaches (although Missouri peaches are still the best). It has been a disappointing year for cherries up here which is unusual. Just walking in our RV park we have been able to pick wild thimbleberries.
A thimbleberry is a member of the raspberry family that is a little tarter. Although they have seeds they are much softer so they don't cause the same dental problems. They grow wild along the side of the road and are made into a great jam that we have stocked in our pantry.
For breakfast we like to serve a little cereal with our fresh fruit.
They are also great on ice cream or greek yogurt.
A great thing about this lifestyle is traveling around the country and new food to try like the thimbleberry.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Houghton MI (Low 58 Warm with Clouds and Sun High 81)
Bob got this great card for his birthday and it was soooooooo appropriate on many levels.
Yesterday was Bob's birthday. Long time readers will recall that this area does a great job of honoring your birthday by offering free meals, all you have to do is show your driver's license.
We started off with french toast at the Kaleva Cafe as part of a traditional eggs, ham, hashbrowns, and toast breakfast. Jo got the french toast and bacon.
Next we went to Habaneros Fresh Mexican for a Torta (sandwich) for lunch. The wild mushroom and goat cheese torta with refried black beans and the carne asada torta are both excellent.
Supper was at the Loading Zone II in Lake Linden. Bob the Loading Zone Rack, which is a rack and 1/2 of ribs with spaghetti and an incredible bowl on chicken and dumpling soup. The ribs were also excellent. We brought ribs and spaghetti home to have later in the week.
We actually thought about going out for a 4th meal at Gino's where Bob was going to get a filet but by now we were stuffed so we decided to forego another meal. Still had about $50 in free food, with plenty of leftovers.
Besides great scenery and a foodies paradise and for those on a budget you get free food on your birthday, is there any better place in the country?
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Houghton MI (Low 53 Partly Sunny High 80)
Some of the best sunsets we have seen have been here on the Portage River just sitting outside our Cameo. Here is another great one.
Another great day in the UP!
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Houghton MI (Low 45 Sunny and Pleasant High 74)
We recently visited White City Park where the Portage River meets Lake Superior on the east side of the Upper Peninsula.
Here is a sailboat on the Portage River getting ready to head out. The blue water is really neat.
Some fishermen are coming back from Lake Superior.
Of course there had to be a lighthouse, notice how the water on the Lake Superior side of the breakwater is much rougher than the Portage River side. The lighthouse, and this is a mouthful, is officially called the Portage River Entry (Keweenaw Waterway Lower Entrance) Lighthouse.
This park has a nice beach on the lake although it was probably a little too cold for most swimmers.
There were some shorebirds on the breakwater on the way to the lighthouse.
The lighthouse from closer on the breakwater. As you can tell it was windy and a little brisk on the breakwater and the waves crashing sprayed a lot of water. We really like lighthouses and try to get photos of them, and visit them when we can.
Walking back from the lighthouse you can see the difference in the water on the lake side versus the river side.
After the lighthouse we drove by the Finnish Lutheran Church, which was built in 1888-1892. It is one of the oldest remaining structures in the surrounding area and retains its original furnishings, kerosene lamps and woodstove. It has neither electricity or plumbing but is still used in the summer for Vesper service. We would have loved to have seen the inside but it was not open. Still neat to see though.
Another great day in the UP.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Houghton MI (Low 53 Partly Sunny and Nice High 67)
They do like their Fests here that is for sure; BridgeFest, FinnFest, Seafood Fest, Strawberry Fest, Pasty Fest, to name a few. Turns out they also like Chicken BBQs as they are everywhere. We decided to try the Annual Bootjack Fire and Rescue Chicken BBQ not only for hopefully good food but also since it was a fund raiser for the first responders.
They bought 1000 chickens, serving a meal of a 1/2 chicken, baked beans, coleslaw, rolls and butter, as well as coffee or lemonade. Here we see the outdoor grill full of chickens.
They had quite an assembly line that is for sure.
We dug into the meal, which was very good by the way, before we could take any pictures. The meal was served in the old Fire Hall built in 1954. This is their new fire station.
Another great day on the UP.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Houghton MI (Low 47 Sunny High 68)
We recently went on a driving tour of the Keweenaw Peninsula where Houghton is located with our friends that are here from the Kansas City area. Our day began with a great breakfast of raspberry french toast at the Kaleva Cafe in Hancock.
Of course we had to make sure our route was along the water. There are neat roadside parks all along Lake Superior so we stopped at one and enjoyed the views.
We next journeyed to Bete Grise Bay which is also very scenic.
Here is a lighthouse that is now a private residence.
There is a great scenic overlook near Copper Harbor at the top tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula.
Next was the scenic West Bluff lookout. A storm was coming in and it was neat to see clouds at or below eye level.
Of course no trip up here would be complete without stopping at the snow gauge showing just how much snow they get up here in a winter. The most ever was over 390 inches. Now this is not all at the same time, just in 1 to 2 foot increments :-)
Another great day on the Upper Peninsula.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Houghton MI (Low 48 Sunny then Rain later High 68)
First the apology. This is our first blog post in a while. We have been sightseeing and taking a lot of photos so we have a lot of future blog posts once we label all those photos.
We saw a great new cat toy on Travel Bug. Bob and Susan (yes another Bob :-) travel with cats and they recently bought the HotPursuit interactive cat toy at Wal-Mart and blogged about it here. Well we just had to get one for our cats, the Houghton Wal-Mart did not stock it but with used the Site-to-Store shipping. Our cats really like it. The arm under the cloth goes round and round driving them crazy.
Here is the arm tip that they have chewed off they like it so much.
We also have another apology. On one of the blogs that we read someone mentioned having blueberry pumpkin pancakes. The blueberries are just coming in fresh so we tried it and we loved the combo. We apologize because we cannot remember who gave us this culinary tip. Funny that we would remember cat stuff and not food stuff.
We hope to do a better job blogging about our great time in the Upper Peninsula.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
