Ashland, Wisconsin

On Friday night at Lake Linden, Ted and I took a walk down to visit one of the other RVer's and found a group of people standing around, the next thing I know they said lets go over to the pavilion so we can sit down.  There they had a couple of cakes for me and a birthday card!  Hessie had set that up and told Ted on the sly!  It was really nice to be celebrated!

We left Lake Linden in a fog yesterday morning...literally!

The fog did lift as we got away from the Lake and were on our way to Ashland, Wisconsin.  When we left the temperature was a chilly 58 degrees.  On the way we took a side trip to see the Bond Falls.  The sun had come out but it was still a bit chilly, in the low 60's, but the falls were gorgeous!  Notice the little turtle on the rock.  He was right in front of the falls!

Jerry,   Joe,   Ben,    Ted

Hessie, Cindy, Karen, Susan

By the time we hiked up and around the falls we had warmed up pretty well!  We left the falls and arrived at our campground.  We are camped in a City campground right at a marina on Lake Superior!  I took some pictures around the campground.  There is a historic Ore-Dock right next to us which you will see in the pictures.  It is the last of four in the area and is being torn down because the city did not maintain it and it is falling apart and dangerous.  They say it will take a year or two to completely tear down.  It was built in 1916 to transport ore from the Soo Line (railroad) to load the iron ore onto the freighters for hauling on the river.  It is massive and one of the locals told me "it will be missed!"

Right when we got here, some of the group took off to Bay City to ferry over to one of the Apostle Island's for ice cream but we decided to stay home and chill.  It had gotten pretty warm and were were pooped!  

Today we headed out to visit historic downtown Ashland to see the murals that are painted on the sides of some of the buildings.  We've noticed a lot of the towns in Michigan and Wisconsin decorate with live flowers either in tubs on the sidewalks or in hanging baskets.  They have baskets in Ashland!  Here is a picture of downtown and a few of the 13 murals!

From there we drove along the coast stopping in Washburn for lunch at a diner style restaurant, going through the busy Bay City and stopping to buy some blueberries at a local farm!  You could pick raspberries and blueberries but I didn't think I would do well in our white pants, so we just bought already picked berries!

We went to Red Cliffs next and they have a casino!  We gambled for about an hour and Ted walked away $10 richer and I was $6.50 poorer!  It was fun.

Tomorrow we will leave here and drive about 70 miles to Duluth, Minnesota.

Enjoying local history..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Ishpeming/Lake Linden!

We left Sault Ste. Marie on Monday morning.  We were headed to Ishpeming, Michigan but scheduled a side trip to the Tahquamenon Falls with Jerry and Hessie Smith.  The drive was beautiful with lots of trees and glimpses of Lake Superior.  We arrived at the Lower Falls and found that we had to take a rowboat to really see the Lower Falls.  So we popped (LOL) in a boat and Jerry rowed us over.  You then walk around the small island and see about five falls.  We did that and then Ted rowed us back to the other side!  We made it without anyone falling in the lake!  It was a lot of fun and very pretty!

We then drove about four miles to the Upper Falls.  We had a delicious lunch at the brewery and then walked about 1/2 mile to see the beautiful Upper Falls.  Tanic acid causes the water to look brown!

We left the Park and were on our way to the campground.  About 10 miles out Ted said I think the RV isn't tracking right again.  I looked down my side but couldn't see what he was talking about (thinking he's crazy)!  Then he said he could see black rubber in back of us but not in front of us so we pulled right over into an industrial park and found a place to park so we could check it out.  Sure enough, we had a broken leaf spring on the 3rd axle!  It was the opposite side that we normally have problems with.

We called Good Sam and they sent someone out.   They took off the tire and took the spring with them and  we spent the night there in the parking lot!  You know how we love parking lot camping!  Our friends went on to the campground and actually came back and got us to go to dinner with the group!  After dinner we drove to Da Yoopers Tourist Trap!  What fun.  They had the funniest things outside and a million things inside!

 This is Dave from our RV group checking out the "car plow"!

 Looks they had a group for their charter!

Susan resting in the big old rocking chair (and what fun to get out of)!

Now for all you Dads with young daughters, I think you might want to get one of these!

Our friends took us back to the parking lot and the next morning the repair shop called us 15 minutes after they opened, and we took off to go pick up the leaf spring about two hours away round trip.  We got that one and an extra one and drove back.  The repair shop was there within a half hour but because we weren't in the shop they had a lot of trouble getting the new one on.  Our RV is very heavy and their jacks weren't able to lift us up enough.  The finally took off the middle tire and were finally able to get it on.  We decided to change the leaf spring on the other side and drove to their shop and got it done quickly.  We arrived at our Ispeming campground around 7:00 p.m. very tired!

On Wednesday morning we got up to get ready to move on to the next stop with the group.  It started raining with lots of thunder.  We got on the road about 9:00.  At times it rained so hard you could not see 10 feet in front of you.  There was tons of thunder and lightning right above us.  We all made it safe and sound and are now at Lake Linden.  We have a great campsite looking right at the lake.  This is our view:

 A group of us went to dinner last night.  I had great barbecued ribs!  This morning one of the couples made blueberry pancakes for us.  We all contributed a dish.  Ted and I brought sweet cream pancake batter that they cooked up also.  We all sat right out by the lake, the sun was shinning and it was high 60's, beautiful!  There was actually a swimmer in the lake (brrrrr)!

After breakfast Ted and I went sightseeing up the peninsula (it's like an island connected by a bridge) surrounded by Lake Superior.  We went to Copper Harbor and looked around the town and went to Fort Wilkens.  The Fort was established in 1844 to protect prospectors from Native Americans.  It is the last remaining original wooden fort east of the Mississippi River.  They have 19 buildings that you can look at and  volunteers in period costume.  There were lots of kids visiting the park and the girls got the visitors dancing and they were all having a lot of fun.  The Fort is right next to Lake Fanny Hooe!

We took a different road back and saw Jacob's waterfall and had lunch at the town of  Eagle River.  We had   a good late lunch and I've been working on pictures and this blog ever since!

We leave here on Saturday for the next leg of our adventure!

Enjoying the Keweenaw Peninsula..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Visiting Sault Ste Marie! (The Soo)

The Rolling Rally started on Friday and we caravaned in two groups from Port Hope to "the Soo"!  It is a pretty little town with lots of great architecture.  Across the waterway is the Sault Ste Marie town in Canada!  On the way up, one of our fellow RV'ers got to the rest stop for lunch and found they had left on the water pump and some how the kitchen faucet opened and they had a flood!  They mopped up what the could and we went on down the road.  They found a commercial carpet cleaner to come out Friday afternoon and everything looks like it will be okay!

Our new campground is on Lake Huron only a few miles from the Soo Locks and the International bridge to Canada.  Yes we really can see Canada from our doorstep!  There are 9 RV's camped here.  We have no plans on the rolling rally except where we are camping. Fifteen of us did go to the American Legion for the fish fry on Friday.  I had the White Fish broiled in a lemon pepper sauce and it was very good.

We have a good view from our campground!  We can see lots of BIG ships going by!

On Saturday we visited the Visitor Center for Sault Ste Marie.  We saw a movie which gives you a lot of the history of the town, you can view the locks from there and they have a lot of information you can read about!

Next a few of us visited an Aquatic Research Center.  One of the Seniors from the University was there and gave us a tour.  They are raising Atlantic Salmon and when they are a certain age they release them.   They are coming back to the Center and up the tube to spawn as they are supposed to event though it's not an area they are from!  They also have a web cam on the internet where you can watch the fish they have released.

In the afternoon six of us took the Soo Locks Boat Tour.  We went up into the locks which rise 21 feet to meet up with Lake Superior and then we went under the International Bridge and over to the Canadian side.  We took a look at one of their Steel Mills and then back through a different set of Locks down to Lake Huron.  We were on the boat trip about two hours.  It was a beautiful day for a boat ride!

Then six of us went to dinner at the Bay Mills Resort and Casino for a buffet.  Ted and I are used to buffets that have sooo many things to choose from, including Mexican food, Oriental foods and more.  This was very small.  You had a choice of a couple of salads, a few items on the salad bar, one veggie, baked potatoes, mashed potatoes, steak, shrimp, fish and ham!  They did have a lot of pies on the dessert bar!  Ted and I stayed for a little gambling.  He came out even and I came out $21 ahead!  Yippee!

Today Ted and I decided to take it easy.  We went to the "Tower of Terror"...I mean "Tower of History"!  It was originally designed as a symbol of different religions but then was turned it into a history museum.  There is a movie to watch and then you go up 210 feet by express elevator to the top where you can see the whole area.  It was interesting!

For lunch today we went to the Westside Pier restaurant.  A little whole in the wall with really BIG hamburgers!  There are five stools inside, most just eat in their cars.  Three people from our group came for lunch there and joined us inside!  It's a good hamburger but Ted says Boll Weevil's is still the best!

Tomorrow we leave this area and will travel west to Ishpeming, Michigan!

To be continued..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Pictures of the "Travel Supremely" Bad Axe Rally!

Some of my collages may have too many pictures to see well, but there were so many I tried to include them all!  We had a very busy week!

This is the county park where we camped.  We were very close to the lighthouse and had the best view of the lake!  The sunrise picture was taken right from my doorway!

After dinner the first night we were there which was Friday the 13th, several of us got together after dinner.  We didn't know a lot of people and we certainly didn't remember any names yet, but it was a good start at getting to know some people!  The rally didn't actually start until Sunday so all 25 rigs had not shown up yet!

 Sunday morning Ted and I took a tour of the Pointe Aux Barques Lighthouse that they opened especially for our group.  The lighthouse is 89 feet tall so we had quite a nice view from there!

I could look up where the lights were but was not allowed to go up there.  It gets quite warm up in the smal top section just below the lights!

We were not allowed to go out of this lighthouse so this picture was taken in the last window before the top!

On Sunday our rally officially began at one of the host's home, that of Joe and Ardis Schenk.  They had all 50 of us for dinner!  I asked her if she was insane! There were four sets of hosts for the rally and they all worked very hard to make a great week for us.  It was a fun dinner and again, getting to know a few more people!

Ted and I and another Louisiana chapter couple, Jerry and Hessie took a trip to Harbor Beach to take a tour to their lighthouse.  It was a smaller lighthouse and only 54 feet above the lake, but still very impressive.  We took a little boat ride a mile out to the lighthouse and then took a tour inside.  The original lighthouse had no living quarters but they replaced it in 1885 with this lighthouse.  The first deck is a galley and living quarters, second and third decks are sleeping quarters (lightkeeper and assistant lightkeeper).  Decks four and five are workrooms and where they stood watch and the sixth deck is the lantern room.

On Wednesday the 18th, the ladies took a ride out to the Purdy House for a tour of the Octogon Barn!

After the barn tour we had tea and a delicious lunch!  It was so much fun!

On Friday morning about 6:00 this was the sky over Lake Huron!  We left the campground at 8:30 to drive up to Sault Ste Marie!

Port Aux Barques Lighthouse!

On Saturday we were all on our own, so we to Port Austin to the Farmers Market. It was pretty typical and we didn't find anything we couldn't live without! We then took a drive around town and stopped at a little public beach. Of course I had to go wade in Lake Huron! The water was really warm and clear. After dinner we went all sat outside and we started getting to know a few more people!

Sunday morning we toured the Point Aux Barques Lighthouse. It was a good climb to the top but because it is still in operation you can't go all the way to the top! In the afternoon all 50 of us were invited to one of our "hosts" home for dinner. This rally had 4 host couples. Joe and Ardis have 10 acres of which about half are landscaped beautifully! We had a great dinner, tons of food, sat with and met some more of the group! It was a fun evening.


On Monday morning we toured the Point Harbor Beach Lighthouse with Jerry and Hessie Smith, Louisiana chapter members. You have to take a boat out to it, about a mile. It is a much shorter lighthouse and bigger around with several floors of rooms. It was a hardship back when it was built because the keeper had to row out to it and also row over to a buoy which he had to keep lit. In the lighthouse they used an interesting pulley system to keep it going! One of the volunteers had been tricked as a kid into shining the brass rail, got paid to do it while 20 years Coast Guard and now for free again as a volunteer! We decided to have lunch at the Port Hope Hotel, home of the famous Leroy Burger. We had singles which weren't too big but the double was one huge patty! They were good and we didnt have to think about dinner!

Tuesday was a pancake breakfast with the group. After eating we went back up to Port Austin to the hardware store and gift shop. Dinner was at a restaurant with the whole group. The restaurant had not had such a large group before so it was interesting, but got to know a few more Michigan people!

Wednesday morning was egg taco breakfast. For lunch all the ladies toured an Octagon barn and the 1920's Purdy House. They are also in the process of making a village! We had tea in the house and everything was delightful. Instead of the normal tea sandwiches they used a banana split dish with yellow squash for bananas, scoops of crab, macaroni and chicken salads for ice cream topped with cherry tomatoes! We had strawberry soup and Swedish cream with raspberries for dessert! One lady showed the aprons her grandmother made and a couple of ladies did some skits! It was great fun!

Today we had to go to a laundromat. We need a sewer line to do from our coach. Most of our campgrounds will not have those so thought we should do that. We tried to visit a museum in Harbor Beach but it was closed so we went to lunch!

Tomorrow we will drive up to Sault (pronounced soo) Saint Marie to begin the rolling rally!

Hoping to have better Internet soon..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Made it to Michigan!

We made it to Port Huron, Michigan on Thursday afternoon! We were camped just a couple of miles from the bridge to Canada! We had to get some errands done and then we met up with two other "Travel Supreme" couples. One from Louisiana chapter and one from the Michigan chapter! We knew one couple already.

Friday morning our caravan of three RV's headed north on the Lake Huron coastal highway. You only get a view of the lake every once in awhile, but there are also beautiful homes to see! We stopped for a picnic lunch and had a beautiful view of the lake. It looks more like an ocean because you can't see the other side! Where we had lunch, it is approximately 65 miles across to the other side! It's huge!

We are in the "thumb of Michigan near Port Hope. We have the best campsite in the Lighthouse County Park Campground. We are one of the few with 50 amp service and the best view of the lake! By Sunday there will be 25 RV's. Most are The brand Travel Supreme while a few are SOB's (some other brand)! We will be here a week and have a lot of activities planned.

The lighthouse is the Point Aux Barques Lighthouse, one of the oldest and most powerful on Lake Huron's shores. Originally built in 1847 it had to be rebuilt in 1857. It was electrified in 1932 and automated in 1934. It is an important navigatioal aid and it's white light shines 18 miles out over the lake. The lake is low and even more hazardous than usual with the shallow waters.

We went to dinner with a group of 20 last night and then to the 122 year old Grindstone General Store for ice cream. If you got the cone they were gigantic! Today we went in to Port Austin to the Farmers Market and then drove around the small town. They had a small beach area that was practically deserted and so I went down and put my feet in Lake Huron! The water was warm and very clear. It was in the high 80's today but felt a bit muggy. Tonight we are having a bonfire, it will probably still be in the low 80's lol!

We are mostly roaming here so don't have data capability so no pictures, but I'll post some when I can!

Enjoying the lake..."Ain't Life Grand!"

We are all fixed up and rolling again!

When we arrived at Camping World our shocks had arrived but not the air conditioner parts. They finally came in the afternoon and they got to us at 2:30 p.m. One of the Camping World employees even asked if we needed time cards! It's pretty bad when they start to recognize you! Meanwhile we went to lunch and then I went and got a pedicure, and boy did that feel nice!

They finished with us at 5:00 and we got on the road. We headed north and made up to a small town of Garrett which is about 10 miles north of Ft. Wayne. We made it about 8 p.m. It still staying light out until almost 10:00!

We woke up to 65 degrees this mining...nice! We are only about 30 miles from Michigan which we hope to make this morning. We should get to Port Huron tonight!

Getting on the road again..."Ain't Life Grand!"

RV service update!

On Monday we pulled into Camping World early.  They got us right in so they could work on the air conditioner.  Our main air conditioner has a heat pump in it and the part that makes it go from heat pump to air conditioner was "broken" and it was stuck on heat pump!  Of course, THAT part would have to be ordered!  In addition, we had ordered six shocks and the factory sent us their last four and had a distributor send the other two.  Of course, ONLY four showed up!


So they changed the air conditioner so at least it was stuck on air conditioning and not heat pump and they put on the new bearing and three shocks on one side.   This means we go back on Wednesday because as we have found out when you order RV parts...overnight means two days!  Of course we have to pay for the overnight shipping price!  They also found another bracket that was broken underneath and welded it together for us. We will probably need to keep an eye on that one and maybe get it replaced down the road.


We went back to the campground.  The temperature on Tuesday was mid 90's but at least we have the two airs running since we really don't need a heat pump right now!  We decided to go to the movies and went to see Men in Black 3.  We were both entertained by the movie which is very much like 1 and 2!   These guys also decided to go to the movies and were hanging out in the parking lot:

On Sunday night I took this picture from the campground, it was an amazing sunset:

We have to get going and get ready to head over to Camping World now, wish us luck!


Hoping to get everything fixed today..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Is it really starting to cool down????

On Saturday we went to the movies and saw Prometheus.  The movie kept us entertained and I think they will be making another movie the way it ended!  After the movie we took a ride through downtown Indianapolis.  Its a pretty big city and lots of tall buildings.  It was too hot to get out and look at any thing (mid 100's) so we drove around.  We saw the Hall of Champions, Victory Field, Lucus Oil Stadium (home of the Colts and the XLVI Super Bowl), White River and the Canal and more.

After our strenuous sightseeing, we stopped in a Famous Dave's for dinner.  I remembered the ribs were good when I had them in Fresno but last night they were just okay!  

It was really hot yesterday and was still over 90 degrees at 11 p.m.  Today started off warm but got very cloudy this afternoon and stayed in the mid 80's, a relief from the 100's!  We have heard thunder and are watching the weather.   There are storms north and south of us, but no rain yet!  It is 9:00 p.m. and is 83 degrees outside.  At least our air conditioner is able to keep up with these temperatures and I actually was able to cook dinner!

Tomorrow we will go back to Camping World early and hope they will fix/replace the air conditioner, put on new shocks and a new bearing.  We have plans to be up in Michigan on July 13th so we still have a few days to make sure everything gets done!

Hoping it continues to cool down..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Sizzling in Indianapolis

On Tuesday morning we left Illinois and headed for Indianapolis, Indiana.  We were going to Camping World to see about one of our sealed bearings and new shocks for the RV.  We made it over without any trouble.  I called my contact at Camping World and he gave us the name of a campground that wasn't too far from them.  He said they wouldn't have time to look at the rig that afternoon afterall so we should come in Thursday morning after the 4th.

I had not been able to do laundry for awhile so got that caught up and then we starting having trouble with the 50 amp electrical connection.   It was really hot out so we finally changed outlets with the space next to us since it was empty!  It's hard to run two air conditioners on less than 50 amps but that worked and we were okay the rest of the evening.

On Thursday we got over to Camping World early.  They took the RV in to see what needed to be ordered.  We took off for breakfast at Cracker Barrel!  We got back and started the waiting game.  Late in the day they had ordered the new bearing and six new shocks!  Yikes everything was a lot more than we expected but what can you do????

They pulled us out back to the parking area where they have installed 50 amp electric outlets on the light poles!  We got the last available space at the very end of the lot.  It was over 100 degrees out so we plugged in and started the air conditioners.  The main circuit breaker popped so I put the refrigerator on gas.  Tried again and popped the main circuit breaker again.   Next I turned off one of the air conditioners (kept on the one that cools our living room).  It's circuit popped so I switched to the kitchen air conditioner and tried again.  This time it stayed on but I noticed it smelled like the furnace was on and it was over 90 degrees inside.  I tried the front air conditioner again but couldn't keep the circuit breaker from popping.  Camping World was closed (it's like 8:00 p.m.) so I called the campground.  At first we thought we were only going to be able to stay until Saturday but when we checked in this morning they moved things around and said we could stay until Monday morning.  We only have one air conditioner going and it took awhile but we cooled down and calmed down about 10 p.m. last night.

First thing this morning I called Camping World and they should have a compressor, thermostat or new air conditioner in stock so he said Monday was still good for us to come over. Our extended warranty insurance should cover all but our $200 deductible.

It got a little warm inside this afternoon, about 86 but since it was over 100 outside, you just step out and come back in and it seems cool.  We pretty much just sat so we'd stay cool!  We finally decided to go to see a movie.  We were going to see Prometheus but they changed the time so we saw Brave instead!  It was a cute movie.  Tonight was dinner at Bob Evans.  Didn't want to heat up the place by using the oven!  

Making it through the hot weather..."Ain't Life Grand!" (I probably wouldn't have said that yesterday!)

Visiting the Bosch/Bean families!

We arrived in Pesotum, Illinois last Thursday.  Driving down the road to Todd and Shawna's house we see a big tall guy walking down the road.  It's about 100 but there was a little breeze!  It was Todd!  Crazy guy. He had walked four miles for exercise!  Guess they get used to this weather...not me!

Shawna is Ted's second cousin.  They have a lovely big old farmhouse with a couple of barns, surrounded by corn fields belonging to Todd's family.  Todd has 30 amp power out next to the driveway so we just pulled on in and made ourselves at home!

Ted noticed as we set up that the middle axle didn't look right so he got underneath and found a broken bracket that holds the leaf spring.  We got set up, talked to Todd awhile and then I started calling and we finally found a place close by.  The guy actually came by on his way home to make sure they could fix it for us and said they could take us on Friday!

So Friday morning we packed up and got over to the shop and I must add that poor Ted is doing all of this in 90 degrees (at 8:00 a.m.) and probably 90% humidity!  But we did it and it got fixed.  They did tell us that we needed to replace the shocks and that we have oil leaking from a sealed bearing...obviously not good!

After we dropped off the RV went over to Shawna's Dad and Mom's (Bill and Suzy) and they took us to Cracker Barrel in Champaign for breakfast.  We had a good visit with them before going over to pick up the RV.

Friday night we had dinner with Todd, Shawna, Stephen (their youngest son), his wife Kara and baby Sophia at the Mexican Restaurant!  The baby is only 4 months old and so sweet and pretty!

Saturday Ted and I did some shopping at Coldwater Creek and then took a drive to Arcola, a small town close by.  Shawna had mentioned that the "Wall Dogs" had painted murals on the walls in the town.  I looked them up on line and they are a group of artists that go to towns, primarily in Illinois and the surrounding areas.  They will paint murals based on the towns history and the type of business.  They were really good but I forgot to take any pictures!  We went on to Arthur, a small Amish town to have lunch but they were having their 4th of July parade down Main Street and we decided it was too crowded!  Finally went home and had a sandwich!

The Friday night group met again for dinner on Saturday night at a local bar and grill.  They have hamburgers and steaks and we had another good dinner.  We took a drive after dinner around the area.

We met Shawna and Todd for breakfast after church on Sunday and then visited Bill and Suzy again.  We went with Shawn and Todd to his parents house for fried chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans and jello cake.  Their family is really large so it was a small group of 20!!!!  We had a nice afternoon visiting with Todd's family!

Yesterday we made plans to travel to Indianapolis to get the RV shocks and the sealed bearing repaired.  Its a little over 100 miles and we hope the bearing holds!  We did a little more shopping at the outlet and then went for pizza at Monicle's (an Illinois favorite) with Todd, Shawna, their two sons and wives and Bill and Suzy Bean.  We had a nice dinner and said our good byes!

Watching the family grow..."Ain't Life Grand!"