Bucyrus, OH 8-2

Last night was another first for Larry. He got to see Fireflies! They always make us think of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride in Disneyland. They are so magical even if they are just beetles sending out mating signals. We did a load of laundry last night after the sun went down and it was a teeny bit cooler. The mosquitoes were out as well so it made watching the fireflies a “slapping” experience.

I’ll quit boring you with the temperature and humidity levels, they are the same basically. At least we had a/c last night and we used it all night. Tomorrow the heat is supposed to break and we are supposed to get a lot of rain.

We left Tecumseh, MI at 9:35 and didn’t stop until we hit Tiffen, OH around 12:30. We went into Walmart to get milk and produce and some shorts for Larry. The only big problem with staying off the interstates is frequently there aren’t many places to pull out and stop. Church parking lots are the best and there are plenty of those, but seems like every time we would see one there would be someone riding our rear and Lar wouldn’t be able to stop in time to “whip” into the parking lot. Whipping anywhere is a bad thing anyway with a trailer as it tends to toss the contents at the rear of the trailer a bit!

We are spending tonight at the Crawford County Fairgrounds in Bucyrus, OH. Fifteen dollars for electric and water and we are all by ourselves. We are near a train track. We aren’t far from my sister’s in Bellville and we could have made it today, but she works nights and we didn’t want to get in late and disrupt her schedule, so we will get in early tomorrow and it is the start of her days off.

I won’t bore you with all the roads we traveled today; we zigged and zagged all over the place and traveled 253 miles. We got in here at 3:00. Fuel is cheaper here in Ohio, all still under $3.00.

These pictures are of the Court House in Adrian, MI on highway 52 a bit north of Ohio. We have seen a lot of really pretty ones, but so far I think this one with all of its details was my favorite. It had beautiful tile work on it. Adrian was a busy little city and had some great Victorian architecture in it.

Corn and soybeans, soybeans and corn, that is what this corner of Ohio is all about so far.

HOTTER, Tecumseh, MI 8-1

We fell off the eating healthy wagon (not for the first time). The Yuma Canadians will be happy to hear that we had late evening root beer floats. Larry said if the sun was out as late and it was as hot in Yuma he’d have gone to Dairy Queen with you crazy people. Last night we waited until after the sun had set and it started feeling marginally cooler. Around nine o’clock we sauntered the several blocks to the A&W, got root beer floats and slurped them on the way back home. At ten thirty it was still 85 and the air wasn’t moving. We showered and laid ourselves out on the sheets. Thank goodness for Fantastic Fans! They do keep the air moving through the trailer when there isn’t a breeze.

The temperature when we got up at seven this morning was 80 degrees and 80% humidity. That I might add was the low for the night. Lar did yoga, I figured just breathing was sweaty enough for me. He had to shower again when he finished and our floor rug was quite damp! We packed up, hooked up and hit the road. The a/c in the truck was heavenly!!!

We went east on 10 to catch 127 south and picked up SR 57 south of Ithaca and then hit SR 52 and followed it south and then caught SR 50 east to Tecumseh, MI. We are staying outside of Tecumseh tonight at another Passport America park. Highway 52 kept us between the interstate highways and the big cities. There were some really charming little cities that we went through and our heads kept whipping back and forth while we were exclaiming over the stunning homes and gardens. There is never a place to pull out for photos! So today I didn’t take any. Shocking I know.

Today we went 183 miles and got into our site at 2:00. Took awhile for the a/c to get us cooled down, but as it creeps up to the 100 mark we are really happy to have it today. No shade here so without the a/c it would have been miserable. It is $17 for tonight with full hook-ups. Water/sewer/electric for $15 and then $2.00 to run our a/c. We aren’t far from Ohio now.

HOT in Coleman, MI 7-31

Hot, Hot, HOT. Just sitting and doing nothing the sweat just drips and rolls down your body. I see why us westerners don’t last too long in the east! We got up this morning and it was a little cooler, but the high humidity was as sticky as ever.

We got moving so we could be at the tire center when it opened at 8:30. This town’s symbol might be the smiley face, but the people don’t practice smiling at all. They just stare and barely respond if you say hi. It has been interesting going across this country. We might all be Americans, but we don’t even act friendly to our own people. It is weird to feel foreign in my own country. It has been one of the most disappointing things we have discovered about the “United” states. We can’t even use all the fingers on one hand to count the number of friendly communities we have been in. Now that isn’t to say that we don’t run into the occasional friendly person lurking around!

We have been spoiled with Les Schwabb tire centers on the west coast. They are friendly and move quickly and go the extra mile. They even give the rims and tires a wash before they put them on the vehicles. Here in West Branch at Timmy’s Tire they slogged around and Larry had to ask them for new tire stems. They were going to put the old ones onto our new tires.

We were on the road again by 9:20, but we didn’t go very far. Just to Walmart’s parking lot so we could have our toast! Then we headed south. We only went about 77 miles today. We wound around the back country again and saw some wonderful houses. For the most part they are kept up really nice and have wonderful flower gardens. Larry saw his first Amish buggy today. I had seen them before in Ohio when I had visited my sister. Today just as we were getting set up a nice man asked us what in the world we were doing in Coleman all the way from California and offered us vegetables from his garden. So I now have some summer squash and cucumbers.

We are staying tonight in Coleman’s city park on highway 10 NW of Midland. We wanted to go into Midland and see the Dow Gardens. It was 97 with 60% humidity so the heat index is up in the mid to high 100’s. Silly day to go walk around outside but when you are on your way through you just do it! I love taking photos of flowers so it made it bearable. Lots of black squirrels running around. Don’t recall ever having seen one before. After we were done with the gardens we drove all around down town Midland. It is a beautiful city. Stunning, HUGE old Victorians and Craftsman homes.

We were back home by 3:30 where the power isn’t strong enough for our a/c. Painful, but as least the wind is blowing and moving the air around! We are starting to adjust to the heat …thank goodness. Oh, I forgot to mention that it costs nothing to stay here for the night. I have to go sit outside and get some air…until tomorrow……

This was posted late because we didn't set up the satellite dish! Too hot and too many trees!

Yawn! 7-30

Today we woke up to an eerie fog wafting through the trees. It was 69 degrees with 85% humidity and no sun so we decided to take a walk. We drove into West Branch and walked through their beautiful park and past the historical buildings down town. It was too much to carry my camera, all under 1 pound of it, with this humidity. It sure makes you drag. We did our usual clip and we were both dripping and we probably only walked less than 2 miles, it wasn’t even hot. We both like drier climates!

So that was the highlight of our day. The rest of the day we talked about the problems in our society, politicians, and what our route should be the next couple of months.

I am leaving you with another lovely sunset picture over Lake Superior taken a few days back.

Happytown, USA 7-29

Not much to tell today. Hot, humid, still, stuffy and overcast. We cruised around the very busy area of West Branch. Their downtown buildings are old and in great looking condition. There are outlet stores by the freeway and every kind of fast food imaginable. We did some shopping at Super Walmart. You can tell a lot about an area’s people by going into a Walmart, I call it my Walmart test.

All mid western towns have these water towers. Some are shorter than others and most just have the towns name painted on it, but this was the Happiest one we have seen so far!!!

Lar checked out two tire places here in town and the only tire they both have to offer for our trailer are Firestone Transforce HT 10 plys. We can’t seem to find anything bad about them on the internet. They seem to be a newer model, so unless one of you out there has heard something horrible and wants to warn us, on Monday morning I guess the trailer will get a new set of tires.

So that’s all for us today, could someone out there send some air our way! I’d give anything now for a bit of that New Mexico wind we were having a few months ago!

This is one of the pictures that didn't get uploaded on Tuesday from Lake Gogebic.

West Branch, MI 7-28

We pulled out of Germfast this morning at 9:45. This is the ultimate rock lovers house! I loved it. Such a lot of work, I wish someone had been there so we could ask how old it was. It had a lot of debris on the porch as if it was being redone inside.

We continued south until we hit highway 2 and headed east. We traveled along the shores of Lake Michigan. It looked so much like the ocean, beach grasses blowing on the sandy dunes, waves rolling into shore, and no sign of land on the horizon, and the horizon was to the south, not west like we are used to. There were people stopped all along swimming and playing in the water. It was very shallow for quite a ways out.

We missed the turn for the scenic lookout for the Mackinac Bridge, the longest suspension bridge in the country. It is five and a half miles long with two towers, it bridges the north and south peninsulas and straddles Lake Michigan to the west and Lake Huron to the east. The water was so many shades of blue and green with white caps! It only cost us $600 to get across the bridge. WHAT you say? Read on. The toll for us pulling the trailer was $5.00. They were doing work on the bridge and we all had to travel on the steel grate lane. Noticed a pickup truck several miles later changing his right rear tire. We continue on and hear a loud noise and the trailer shuddered a bit; we looked in the mirrors and the right front tire on the trailer is loosing rubber. We stopped and checked it out, sure enough lost some tread and the tire was hissing. We had just crossed a county line and knew where we were so with only 5 miles to the next Rest Area we crawled on down the road. Fortunately the tire hadn’t blown completely and it wasn’t most of the rubber peeling off, which can do considerable damage to a rig, we were lucky that only a wire tie had gotten busted. Not one potty word hit the air…shocking I know. Lar got the trailer blocked up and the tire changed in no time. We have our teeny compressor, which we can plug into our trailer because of the inverter Larry had put in. My Hero! So now, with one tire gone, we need to replace all the rest, don’t want to wonder when the next one is going to kick its tread off! BUT we have to wonder about that bridge because after we got going again we passed a tent trailer getting its right tire changed and then several miles more a boat trailer getting its right rear tire changed, all within 50 miles of the bridge. Makes you go hmmmmmm! But the rest area was o.k. and we had lunch while the tire was getting up to snuff so we didn’t loose too much time.

We were heading to a Passport America club campground, didn’t call first, wound around county roads with all the other people heading for the lake for the weekend, got all the way down the lane…closed for the season! That’ll teach us. I did see this cute fawn lying next to a tree and Lar saw its sibling a few feet away. So we poured over our books and I made some phone calls while Larry drove us in the direction we wanted to be heading in and I found a place that wasn’t ridiculously expensive. So until Monday we are here in West Branch, MI off of Interstate 75. Sixteen dollars a day for water/electric. It is a lovely wooded campground in the hub of everything. We saw Super Walmart, outlet stores, every fast food and who knows what else we’ll find AND a tire store. We’ll have to get that done first thing Monday morning when we leave here. Sadly our site is caddy-corner to the dump station, every once in awhile we get a whiff! We got in around 3:30 and had traveled 225 miles today.

So that was our day. It is still hot and humid. Neither one of us like this being sticky, damp all the time. The diesel we found today was $3.099, but then we found it eleven cents cheaper down here at the off ramp in West Branch, who knew?

Germfask, MI 7/27

We are having a harder time adjusting to this time zone; maybe because we are so far north and still on the most western edge of it. At ten last night we were out walking around, it wasn’t dark yet.

We had to force ourselves out of bed at 7:30 this morning. It was a little cooler and very humid. We were on the road by 9. There wasn’t a dump station so we didn’t have to take the time to do that before we left today.

We continued east on 28 and had planned to stay at the county park in Munising, but even though it was on the shores of Lake Superior we didn’t like it. It was crowded and right on the highway. So we kept on. I had to consult with our camping guides to give us a direction to head next. At Seney we headed south on highway 77 to Germfask and found a lovely campground right on a river. We got in around three and it is $19 for water/electric. At least they have a dump station which we will being using upon our departure in the morning. Larry wants to stay just one night, so we’ll head on tomorrow to try to find somewhere to hang thru the weekend. We traveled 211 miles today. We found diesel for $2.99. When we hit the road almost 2 ½ years ago diesel was $1.50. More than doubled in most places now. Puts a crimp in our plans.

The more east we have come here on the UP the more traffic and RV’s we have encountered. There are some scenic things up here to see; shipwrecks, sandstone rock formations along the lake, 200 waterfalls, but there are so many people that we have just kept on going. This is the first summer in a lot of years that we have been out with the vacationing masses. We always did our thing in May or September or camped in the middle of the forest during the summer when we lived in Chester.

The people here on the UP of Michigan have all been really nice. Just thought I would mention that. We did a load of laundry today. We had to get Larry medium shirts because all his larges were swimming on him. Wish I had the same problem! Looks like we will be at my sisters about a month earlier than we had planned. Oh well, we can swelter there the same as anywhere else. Its hot everywhere this time of year.

These pictures are of Lake Superior. It is a HUGE lake and can be very treacherous for boats and ships. Today though it looked very serene.

Lake Gogebic pics 7-26

Well here are the pictures finally, I could only get these two on so far. Lake Gogebic as the thunderstorm was building, and a shot of our campsite. It poured buckets off and on all night, everything inside feels damp with this high humidity. Our towels didn't even dry overnight, yuck.

Gogebic means "where trout rising make small rings upon the surface." This lake is known for walleye, bass and jumbo perch.


Today is a lazy day and a planning our route day. We are also trying to adjust to another time change. I'm feeling a nap coming on as I type...hmmmmmmm

Lake Gogebic, MI 7-25

This place in Herbster was so nice we considered staying another day, but we decided to move on down the road. We hit the road at 9:15. We headed east on 13. Drove through historic Bayfield; gorgeous old mansions and touristy shops. Then hit Washburn, which was bigger and they had an IGA market there, so we pulled in and got the staples of our life: milk, bread, natural peanut butter and produce. We also ran across a lovely little coffee place so I had to run in there and get latté. It was very good. After Washburn we hit highway 2 again and headed east. Ashland was a large, pretty town. Now that we are east all the towns seem to be old and historic. Ashland had a Walmart so we stopped there for stuff we needed and then continued east. We had checked out a couple of county parks but they didn’t call to us so we kept on going. We fueled up at the Bad River Indian Reservation (the rez’s fuel is always cheaper), $2.949.

Hey, Uncle Gene! This is for you because you always want to know how the truck is doing. Today our trucks odometer turned past 50,000 miles. We are one month short of having it for three years.

We crossed over into Michigan and stopped at the visitors center to get the scoop on what to see here on the Upper Peninsula and the “mitten”. Fuel in Michigan is HIGH. Regular was $3.09-3.159 and Diesel is $3.07. We found somewhere to pull over in Bessemer and made lunch. In Wakefield we caught highway 28, the northern route across the peninsula. We took 64 south along the west shore of Lake Gogebic. Lake Gogebic is the UP’s largest inland lake. We are in the Ontonagon county park and it is lovely. Twelve dollars a night for just electrical hook-up, but the sites are spread out nicely and there are trees all around; we are in an open area so we could get a good satellite shot. We haven’t decided how long we will hang out here.

When we got here the clouds were building, it was 94 and humid. We were dripping wet by the time we got set-up. Lar doing the outside and me doing the inside. As the clouds kept building they blocked the sun so it cooled off a bit and we took a little walk to scope out the lake and campground and to put our money in the self-pay box. It had started to rain as we were walking back to the trailer. We got a really good hard rain for about a half hour after dinner. They are in drought here too, so the rain was welcome.

We lost another hour today. We are now in the Eastern Time zone. Pictures will get added later...hopefully.

Lake Superior Sunset 7-24

So beautiful, decided to post this right away!

Herbster, WI 7-24

This first picture was a couple hours before sunset.

Last night the bulk of the storm went past us. We did get a half inch of rain in an hour, and fortunately the winds didn’t get as bad as predicted. It was a beautiful show by Mother Nature. The sun glowed red through the clouds as it sank away over the horizon. The rain and wind made it hard to get a great picture. I took it through the window.

This morning we got up and it was 73 with 85% humidity, just a teeny bit damp. We walked around Herbster and then down a county road to a sawmill. Herbster seems to suffer an identity crisis, they are also known as the Town of Clover. There are a few little shops, a café, post office, fire dept., and a store/fuel station/laundry combination. They are suffering from drought here too. After our walk we did laundry at the Laundromat. It was very nice and was clean. We’ve been in some really BAD ones. It was $1.25 to wash and $.25 for 8 minutes on the dryer. Came home, put everything away and had breakfast.

The rest of the day we sat in the shade and enjoyed the cool breeze, the peace and quiet and read our books. We took walks along the beach and I now have a pile of Lake Superior rocks! For a huge lake there isn’t much activity on it. We saw a large barge heading west towards Duluth and a large sail boat, that’s about it. The sun has stayed out all day. We can see clouds north of here across the lake but they are staying up there today. I think we are going to move on tomorrow.


Thats our home in the middle, this was taken from the beach.

Here's a sad note, as we have traveled the country Larry will skim the crime blotters and in every state we have been in so far, meth-labs are the biggest problem.

Wisconsin 7-23

Today we were up and out early. We hit the road at 9:15 after hooking up and dumping the tanks. We took a county road to state highway 210 to I-35 to Duluth. There was a lookout over the harbor and looking out over Lake Superior. We never really planned to get as far north as the Great Lakes, so it is exciting to be here. Amazing that these huge bodies of water freeze in the winter and cars drive out to the islands on them.

We stopped in Superior, Wisconsin and had a late breakfast after getting visitor information at a visitor center. We noticed a change in the trees and the road kill. In Minnesota and the Dakotas we saw a lot of dead raccoons; here in WI we have seen about 6 dead porcupines already. There are a lot of aspens here too. The forests are really pretty. We are traveling highway 13 along the top of WI along Lake Superior’s shores. After traveling 164 miles we found a county park with campground in a little town called Herbster. We got in at 2:15. It is $17 for just electric, but that’s o.k. we have a full water tank and being camped across the street from the lake back off the highway is wonderful.

It was sunny, in the low 80’s and very humid when we got in, but a big cloud is moving in off the lake and it is cooling down fast. It is still humid though. We are under a thunderstorm watch right now, duh, just have to look outside at the HUGE black cloud over us and see the white caps forming on the lake and hear the thunder!

Gotta go have dinner….

Lazy Day 7-22

The highway was quiet last night, so sleeping wasn’t a problem. We got up and did our yoga, had breakfast and then walked to the lake to see what was happening. The water lilies had opened up for the day and there were people already swimming and boating.

We needed to go for a long walk. There hasn’t really been a place good for that since we left South Dakota. We walked across the highway to check out the gravel road there and it wound all around through some beautiful countryside, so we got in a good walk today. You can just tell you aren’t in the west anymore out here, even with all the trees it is just so flat. There are never any mountains hazing away in the distance. No matter where you are in the west there is always a big hill or a mountain, somewhere!

There is nothing to really explore around here so it is just a lazy day of doing not much. Those of you who haven’t mastered the art of relaxation would find our day boring! It is in the low 80’s today and a little humid, but the breeze and clouds scudding by are keeping it pleasant.

These last pictures were taken last night. Beautiful clouds!

Warba, MN 7-21

Today we were on the road by 9:30. We’d gone a little over an hour when we stopped at a campground we wanted to check out. It was beautiful, but had too many checks against it. There was road construction going on, so noisy, and the trees blocked any chance of getting a shot at the satellite, no blog, and the bugs were really annoying, so we’d end up inside, we moved on. There are lots of resorts around but they are all too pricey.

We traveled 111 miles today. We are in an American Legion campground in Warba, MN on Interstate 2 east of Grand Rapids. Pulled in at 12:15. We lucked out as we were able to get a satellite shot in one of the two spaces available. All the rest of the sites are reserved for a Good Sam Rally and a family reunion. Weekends are tough in the summer. The best thing to do is find somewhere on Thursday and settle until Sunday or Monday. If you have to move on Friday then you really need to try and get in early or the few spaces that are available are gone. It is $15 a day for elec. and water.

We are on a lake that is a little larger than the last one we were at. I am hoping to get a picture of a Loon, but no luck so far. They are loud when they are calling to each other. One popped up near us but my camera was turned off and he submerged again before it got up and running.

It is a lovely 81 here right now and mostly cloudy. Keeps it cooler!

Deep Cleaning Day 7-20

Today wasn’t getting as warm. Didn’t feel like it was going to get out of the low 70’s for awhile so it became: DEEP CLEANING DAY!

We started out with yoga, which for some reason was painful today. I was feeling about 10 years older, not what I want to be feeling as I get closer to the top of “the Hill”!!! We got through it though. Had breakfast and then got busy.

Had to boot Larry out of the house, but once I start cleaning he usually makes himself scarce anyways. We had been in such dusty places the last several months that it was time for every surface to get vacuumed, and wiped down; fabrics, walls, everything. I hate cleaning, but it is a necessary evil, I am always glad when I am done. I think all of you out there who clean because you like it or because it “relaxes” you, are NUTS! I can think of a lot more fun things to be doing with my time! Larry washed the truck and ran the generator and did some other stuff. I wasn’t paying attention. So now dinner is in the crockpot and we are spending the rest of the afternoon vegging.

Today’s pictures are of the white waterlilies that are in bloom on all the ponds around here right now and the cattails. The large lily picture is one of my photos that I altered in my software program to look very “arty”.

Flowers 7-19

Today we took our walk in Bemidji. Its the best way to see a town, driving just doesn't really let you get the feel. We enjoy admiring the different architectural styles of the homes and the landscaping. The town is right on Lake Bemidji and as we headed down the street along the lake an eagle swooped up out of no where. He was being chased by a smaller bird.

We fueled up, had lunch and picked up some groceries and then headed home. Overcast today but no rain. More humid today too.

These flowers are planted here in the campground. The red one is a poppy and the others are daylillies.

Hi, Aunt Millie. Have a great re-union. Don't work too hard! Tell everyone hello for us!