MN and MI (09-05-12)

We are now on our way to a Mobile Suites Rally in Michigan. It’s quite a drive from where we are to where we’re going, so some of our days are spent in the truck for hours at a time, trying to put some serious miles behind us. Of course, everything is relative- we don’t like traveling more than 200 miles in a day, so 275 miles sure seems like a lot!  Just ask the cat! We did stop in Duluth for two nights, partly because we couldn't fathom when we would ever come back this way again, so we figured we'd better check it out now!  We actually thought the town was really nice and had a lot to offer, and we packed a lot of adventure into the one day we had there. We started by driving down to the waterfront. Situated on Lake Superior, Duluth is the most inland seaport in the U.S.   Many freighters still come through this way, picking up raw materials.
 

We enjoyed watching the lift bridge open for the sailboats and freighters to go underneath, and were impressed that as the freighter cruised through, someone over a PA system explained to the watching crowds how the lift bridge works and gave the history of the ship that was currently coming through. 

The crew of each vessel gives one long and two short blasts of their massive horn,  as a courtesy salute to the bridge tender.  The bridge tender then blasts his horn in response,  tooting the same message.  Paul grinned as he said that as impressive as they were, he didn't have horn envy (well, actually, we both thought the freighter horn sounded really cool!).

Along the waterfront there are the usual shops, hotels, boat excursions, and a museum of the Army Corp of Engineers.  We headed to that (free) museum to read about the local history of the COE.  This is where I love modern technology.  After the first 20 minutes, I started playing on my cell phone while Paul took his time exploring the exhibits.  


a walking boardwalk right next to the bike path!



Duluth also has several bike trails so we got out the bikes and realized it had been almost a year since we'd ridden them!  That will have to change, although to be fair, it was partly  because of my broken wrist.   After riding the 12 mile round trip trail that follows along Lake Superior for a while we decided that was enough for our first day back at it.

               

On the way back to the trailer, we drove up the local scenic drive, Skyline Drive which gave us a great view of the seaport, then stopped at Walmart to pick up some diesel oil.  Paul chatted with someone the other day who changes his own oil on his F350, so Paul has decided to change ours from now on too.  We'll save about $150-250 a year by doing it ourselves, plus he'll change  the fuel filter too, which will save us even more.

---SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT---

..STRONG WIND GUSTS NEAR LAKE SUPERIOR CONTINUE THIS MORNING-

USE CAUTION...ESPECIALLY IF NEAR THE LAKE SUPERIOR SHORELINE THIS MORNING.

Lake Superior-notice the start of the rainbow

That was our weather yesterday, last night, and this morning.  Wind gusts were up to 65 mph, with a steady wind between 40 and 50 mph. The seas on Lake Superior went from calm to 20 feet, in a matter of hours.   It was a new and different experience for us, feeling a wind, inside the trailer, at 60 mph.  Usually when we have a wind of 60 mph we are on the highway.  This wind was never ending.   Trees were swaying and the trailer was rocking.  All night.  Paul insists that it's similar to sleeping in the bed of a pick up truck while driving down an old country road.   I can tell you that we did not sleep well last night.  Several campers up and left, some in the middle of the night.  The tenters were first to bail, then the pop up campers, but even some people in 5th wheels left during the night.  We didn't leave, but, we did think about it, and we did pull our two largest slides in,  to protect the awning material, and to keep the rocking to a minimum.  We thought for sure the antenna was toast, but apparently it survived.   .  

       In the morning, there were branches all over the place, the wind was still blowing, and the rain was still falling.  We are really used to that kind of wind when a storm front, or squall line comes through, not for an extended period of 20 hours.   We drove around in the morning looking at waves and beaches before leaving for our next destination- St. Ignace, which is on Lake Michigan, not Lake Superior.  When we got here, we found out that they had a hell of a night too, and the campground lost 3 trees (one of which landed on a trailer).

        Last night really reminded us both of boating- sitting on a mooring, waiting for a storm to pass.  We both remembered one of our worst storms on the boat.  We were in a small cove, tied to a mooring ball, when a major thunderstorm came through.  Lightning was everywhere, and the sailboat next to us was hit.  Waves went from non-existent to 3-4 feet in minutes- even inside the cove.  Other boats lost control and started to crash into each other.  We rode it out, with the kids, watching and listening to the mess all around us.  We heard 4 Maydays on our radio that night- one was from a child, whose dad had fallen in the water  trying to get their boat off some rocks,  and one Mayday was from a woman who had no idea where she was, but had lost all power on the boat.  The Harbormaster called her on the radio, and we watched lightening strike near his boat as he tried to reach her.   We thought about leaving the safety of our mooring to go help, but we knew that  once we left, we could have easily been one of the ones seeking help.  After that night, Paul bought a  new marine radio  that could send out an automatic Mayday in conjunction with our GPS that would automatically give the position of the boat.

       So, we are tired tonight, and hope to sleep well.

from Salad to Soup weather in one day....brrrr......(Munising, MI)

Today felt really cold.  It was in the 60s, but the wind was whipping and the rain was falling, which was a very cold combination.  The day started out OK, but the forecast called for rain by 2 pm.  We were planning on  biking on Grand Island for the day but made a last minute decision to take the bus tour instead.  Good Idea.

Grand Island "ferry"

   Grand Island is a National Recreation area just off the coast of Munising Michigan.  Come to find out, there isn't really much of interest on the island, but as I said to Paul, we wouldn't have known that if we hadn't gone there! It would have served a better purpose if we could have gotten some exercise while touring it, but driving around in a bus (in the rain), there wasn't much that was worth seeing.  The island was sold to the Government in the 1980s, but several families still have summer cottages on the island.  They are still private and inaccessible.  There was only one building we could get into, a small  one room cottage built in the 1800s.  About halfway through the 2.5 hour tour, the rain started and didn't really let up until the tour was over.  We still got out to look at the "views" but really, there wasn't much there.

Miserably wet on the ferry ride

    The only way to get to the island is by private boat or "ferry".  The real ferry isn't functioning, so we were carted over on a small pontoon boat  that holds 6 passengers.  That was fine on the way there, but after the tour, there were 12 of us waiting in the rain for the "ferry" to arrive to get us.  By now, the waves were kicking up, and by the time the ferry got there, the operator said the seas were so rough, he would only take 4 people at a time.  The first 4 went, and the rest of us went back and waited in the bus (until the bus driver had to leave with the bus.). Along came 10 more people, 6 of them extremely wet and muddy bike riders, who also needed the ferry. 6 of them grabbed the next ferry before any of "our people" could get out there.  It was really comical.  It felt like a "survivor" game where the lucky people got voted off the island first. In the end, Paul and I were in the last batch to go, because we weren't as wet as some as the others, and I was enjoying watching the ferry struggle to get across the bay.  Plus, most people were jumping over everyone to get onto the ferry.  We were so chilled by the time we made it home, we made Tortilla Soup for dinner.

   Yesterday we weren't sure what the weather would be and we were still tired from hiking, so we drove to the nearby town of Marquette and through Presque Isle Park.  Marquette is a lakeside town, but more just a regular town that happens to be lakeside.  We had lunch at a great restaurant, and afterwards watched a freighter leave the dock and turn around.  Not very exciting, but not every day has to have something  fabulous to do! 

On the way home we stopped at a cool park.  Its a park with 66 sculptures made of welded scrap iron, all made by the same man.  Its free to drive through and look at all of his artwork.  The park is called Larkenenland,  after the owner Tom Larkenen.  The town has given him a lot of grief over zoning and permit issues, so at the entrance of the park, he has 

custom  No Trespassing signs addressed to the town Board Members.  There is a well traveled snow mobile path across his property and he maintains a fire pit and supplies firewood for all of the snowmobilers to use if they want to take a break.  Pretty cool.

Hiking to Mosquito Beach

Miner's Castle

Hiking Lake Superior

     I almost got to say that we didn't get eaten alive while hiking to Mosquito Beach.  And then the wind died. It went from windy and no mosquitoes to no wind and being swarmed in the matter of about 10 minutes.  Luckily we had mosquito repellent  and the legs to our hiking pants with us.

     Yesterday's hike was a little longer than we had planned on. We accidentally got on the trail at the wrong trail head, which not only added about 4 miles, it meant that there was no way we could make it to the waterfalls that we wanted to see.  We started at Miner's castle, where the resident Bald Eagle hangs out.  Much to my disappointment, he wasn't around.  We did make it to Mosquito Beach, on a trail that  alternated between woodsy and open areas with amazing views of the water.  I was glad I took a lot of pictures on the way to the beach, since by the time we left there, the clouds were building up and the sun was pretty much gone, which changes the color of the water drastically.

    Once we got to the beach, it wasn't mosquitoes that were the problem, it was biting Stable flies. Insect repellent does not work for them, unfortunately.  We had our swimsuits with us, so we cooled off in the water for a while before eating our lunch and exploring the area a bit. I was so gooped up with sunscreen and insect repellent that I couldn't wait to get in the water.  With temperatures in the mid 80s, it felt pretty sultry. 

Mosquito Beach

      After frolicking in the water for a while we started the trek back to the truck. It was a 10 mile hike, all in all, which was a little longer than was comfortable for either of us, since we haven't seen a hiking trail in about 2 months. Walking on sand takes a bigger toll on my feet, and I hate to admit it, but I let Paul walk the last mile on his own and come back to pick me up.  While I was waiting for him, two kayakers pulled their kayaks out of the water, and attempted to bring them up the two sets of stairs to get to the parking lot. The woman dropped her end of the kayak 3 times and another couple offered to help carry it.  The kayakers admitted that they had been out on the (rough) water for 7 hours and were completely exhausted.  They welcomed the help. 

Upside down tent- they gave up and
packed everything into the car and left.

    We knew a change in weather was on it's way, since the temperature has been running 15 degrees above normal, and rain was in the forecast.  This morning it happened.  We woke up to driving rain and winds that had to be about 50 MPH.   I sure am glad we aren't in a tent.

  

Munising, MI

The  weather in Munising has been absolutely phenomenal.  Today it was in the high 80s, which is 17 degrees above normal.  I think its supposed to be closer to normal temperatures in a few days, but thats OK, by then we'll want to do some hiking or biking.  

    After swimming and relaxing yesterday, this morning we put the dinghy in  the water and went for a ride on "Gitchee Gumee".  We were only in a small bay, but within an hour the wind had changed directions twice and picked up in velocity, so we elected to head back closer to the RV park to be on the safe side.

    Lake Superior is 160 miles wide and about 400 miles long, and up to 1300 ft deep.  Its roughly the size of the state of Maine. We heard today that if you emptied the lake and spread it out at a depth of 5 inches, it would cover the entire continental U.S.  Thats a lot of water!

       After our dinghy exploration, we bumped up to a bigger vessel.  We took the sunset cruise to see Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.  The shoreline is made of sandstone- and the top layer is harder than the underlayer, so it erodes in an unusual way, creating "sculptures". 




There are a lot of minerals in the sandstone that seep out,   leaving colorful stains on the rock's surface.  The captain made the trip fun and informative-but my favorite part was just being on the beautiful water on a beautiful evening.