Currently in Houghton MI (Low 59 Partly Sunny High 82)
On the left side of our blog we have been adding Google Maps for each state listing places to sightsee and eat. Here is how they appear on our blog.
We finished up the 48 states recently adding Mississippi and Tennessee.
Hopefully these maps will be as useful to you as they are to us.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Currently in Houghton MI (Low 58 Partly Cloudy then Evening Storms High 75)
When massive rainfall hit the Houghton Michigan area in mid June there was a lot of flooding and damage. Believe it or not 1 3/4 inches of rain fell in one minute. We were wondering if we would be able to get to the park at all. This bridge into the park was washed away, here its how it looked when we arrived.
Another believe it or not is that this bridge was washed out on a Sunday and a couple days a new one was there on Tuesday. The road to the park was partially washed away and patched.
A huge sinkhole developed between Taco Bell and a car wash. One half of the car wash is still open as is the Taco Bell.
This used to be an outside patio area for the 5th and Elm Coffee House.
The owner was amazed that the building was deemed safe and the coffee house was back open in a few days. The water that washed out that patio came down Dodge Street.
Although there was a lot of damage the people of the Upper Peninsula came together and are putting everything back together as quickly as they can with as little disruption as possible. We appreciate all their efforts and are enjoying our stay here immensely.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Currently in Houghton MI (Low 50 Mostly Sunny; Warmer High 77)
After a couple of nights and some great pasties and a boat tour of Pictured Rocks in Munising Michigan we departed yesterday and headed to Houghton, also in Michigan. We are once again staying at the City of Houghton RV Park.
It was approximately 146 miles and we weren't exactly sure of what we would find road wise after the June 17th 500 year flood in the area and recent heavy rains but the roads were pretty good. There were some patches and some single lane closures but to be honest we weren't sure if it was flood damage or normal summer construction. This is the route we took.
We will be here six weeks enjoying the area with our friends from the Kansas City area. Especially the view from our back window.
And the Portage River Lift Bridge as seen from our site.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Currently in Munising MI (Low 51 Currently Mostly Cloudy 56)
Heading to Houghton MI (Currently 57 Partly Sunny: Pleasant High 52)
After the unsuccessful DIY project for the in-line check valve we blogged about earlier we thought we would share a successful one. We devised a simple hack to make hooking up the kingpin to the 5th wheel hitch easier. Without this hack the hitch was at an awkward angle making it difficult to set the kingpin height correctly on its approach.
Some have attached a spring to the arm but Bob thought a block of wood would do the trick.
He used cable ties to attach the block to the hitch so it would be there the next time needed.
Once the kingpin connects the block falls down ready for the next time. Sure makes hooking up easier which we will use this morning as we head to Houghton Michigan.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Currently in Munising MI (Low 63 Partly Sunny; Not as Warm High 76)
After 2 weeks at The Soo we departed yesterday and headed to Munising Michigan. We had lots of days with high temperatures or rain so we spent a little more time indoors than we would have liked but the time there did go by fast. Time indoors was helped by the view out our back window of freighters heading to/from the Soo Locks and a National Guard training exercise which we will hopefully blog about while we are in Houghton.
While in Munising we are staying at the Pictured Rocks KOA (formerly the Wandering Wheels Campground.
It was approximately 122 miles, this is approximately the route we took.
We will only be here a couple of nights with our next stop in Houghton. One place we already have visited is Muldoons for some of our favorite pasties and one of the few places that serve desert pasties.
We plan to take a Pictured Rocks boat tour today so we are sure we will have lots of photos to share. We are also looking forwards to temperatures in the 70s and not the 80s/90s we have seen for awhile.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Currently in Sault Ste. Marie MI (Low 50 Sunny; Pleasant and Warmer High 79)
We have been enjoying the freighters heading to/from the Soo Locks from our back window and sitting outside when it finally cooled down. So we thought we would post some more photos from last week.
Manistique Lakeshore Campground is one of the most scenic campgrounds we have ever stayed in. We have experienced a number of 'best evers' that week.
'Best ever' view from our bedroom exit window (not sure if we have ever been able to see water from here)
'Best ever' view from our dining room window (yet another shot of the lighthouse). Sandra enjoyed it too. Actually could say 'Best ever' view of lighthouse since this is the only one.
'Best ever' view from a grocery store parking lot, Jack's Fresh Market.
'Best ever' sitting outside and reading location
'Best ever' view from a Big Boy Restaurant.
With all these 'best evers' this is now our favorite campground.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Currently in Sault Ste. Marie MI (Low 57 Mostly Sunny; Warm High 81)
After an incredible week in Manistique we departed yesterday and headed to Sault Ste. Marie, aka The Soo, also in Michigan. We are once again staying at Aune-Osborn Campground. The heat wave that is hitting most of the country has made it this far north. It was 94 with a feel like temperature of 99 (BWE rating of +24) yesterday so we rushed our setup and went inside. Then the show began. This is the first freighter we saw from our back window, the 'American Century' and at 1000' it is one of the largest freighters that goes through the Soo Locks.
Shortly thereafter the 'Stewart J. Cort' freighter went by. It has the distinction of being the first 1000' freighter on the Great Lakes.
In the span of a an hour and a half a third 1000' freighter went by, the 'William J. McCarthy Jr'.
We felt very lucky to see three 1000' freighters in such a short time, especially considering that there are only 13 total on the Great Lakes.
Enough about freighters let's tell you about our travel day yesterday. It was approximately 122 miles, this is the route we approximately took. There was a detour on MI-2 and we avoided downtown Sault Ste. Marie. I couldn't adjust the map but this is close.
After a pretty good thunderstorm last night we were able to watch the Canada Day fireworks from the Canadian side. We will be here for 2 weeks. We will be meeting friends we have met before on our travels and some new fulltimers that will be coming in later this month. I'm sure we will see more barges from the campground and Independence Day fireworks on the 4th.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Currently in Manistique MI (Low 56 Light Fog Currently 61)
Heading to Sault Ste. Marie MI (Currently 71 A Few Thunderstorms; Some Severe High 86)
A
rare "10" of "10" for this park. After almost 9
years of fulltiming this is one of the few 10s we have ever given out,
however, if all of the others were a "10", this campground is an "11".
It is a relatively new park, just open
last year, and since built from scratch it is laid out just like we
would design a park. Very big rig friendly, asphalt streets, concrete
pads, gravel patios and wide spaces between sites. This is our new
favorite park and is the first week backed up to the water this year. This was the first week of a 9 week 2 day stretch where 9 weeks we will be on the
water.
GPS
brought us right to the park but said the park was on the left, which
was a waste treatment facility. There was a sign telling us to turn
right to the park. As mentioned above a nice new park with convenient
hookups. There are a lot of trees but we were lucky to convey our desire
for a satellite friendly site and we were lucky to get one, even though
the following photos don't seem like we could get a signal.
Here is the Lifestyle from the front.
To the right.
To the left.
Since we
were so close to the water we couldn't get a photo from the rear so here
again is a photo of the Manistique East Breakwater Lighthouse from our
site.
Why it
didn't get an "11", and mind you these are minor nits. The park is
expensive, expensive, expensive - but location, location, location. The
park is laid out with 4 pull-thrus, the rest are backins. All the
lakefront backins are right shoulder or blind side which are a little more
difficult than a left shoulder where Bob can watch how bad he backs up. Plus it would be nice if you could get mail here.
Even though it didn't get that "11" we are already talking about when we can get back up here and how long we can stay.
We depart today for Sault Ste. Marie Michigan backed up to the St. Mary River.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
