Usually I try to write our travel logs as we go, however, for this trip I present a synopsis, for no other reason than I was toooo lazy to write a journal entry every day.
September 13, 2002
After a 12 hour packing and cleaning frenzy day on Thursday, you would think we could leave early. NAH. But, we did manage to pull out before noon. Stopped in Napolean for lunch. Good thing we did, good thing I had to get into the trailer for something, cause we found trouble. We have decided that the first 75 miles of a trip are the worst, that is when trouble seems to make itself known. UGH. This time it was the window on the back door. It had slipped down about 2 inches. Seems the weather proofing material that held it up has deteriorated to the point where it will not hold the window in place. Out comes the duck tape, which will still be there on September 23. Actually will be there until after September 29th which is when Al started the caulking repairs required to hold the window in (we also found the front door window was in the same state, so he fixed it as well.)
We drive to Gaylord, staying in Otsego Lake State Park. Larry and Mary stay there for a week each year and told us that site 127 is their favorite! HA HA, no wonder, has to be the largest site in the park. We however, are not staying more than one night, so choose one of the 2 pull through sites (30 or 32) and leave the trailer hooked up. Since we had such a busy week, we have not been grocery shopping, and we are forced into snacking for dinner. I can’t remember what Al had, but I chowed down on salsa and chips and cookies with peanut butter.
September 14, 2002
Get a late start again, nothing new for us. Al takes his walk, twice around the park. I end up doing half of that walking the dogs for potty and exercise. We head for Gaylord proper and lunch at Wendy’s, and a HUGE grocery fill up. The frig is now stuffed and we head out again on the road to the north country.
Since we are in no particular hurry we stop at a road side park/rest area. We hang around for a while, Al walks up to the scenic outlook.
We drive on to Mackinaw City where we stop for the day, finding a nice campground on the Lake Huron side of the Mackinaw Bridge. We do not unhook the trailer, but we do have food tonight to cook. It starts to rain, it rains most of the night, but clears by morning. It clears to bright, crisp, clear blue skies. Beautiful day on the 15th!
When we arrived at the campground, the owners told us there was some parade in town that night about 8:30. First thought, that is a strange time for a parade. When the rain started (hard rain), our next thought was, parade will be cancelled. It got dark, it rained more, and MORE, and MORE. I was working on the computer, Al was watching TV, we did not really care that we were missing some parade that was gonna get washed out anyway. HA HA, jokes on us. It did go on, cause it was a parade of over 200 BIG RIGS. They cross the Big Mac bridge, in a caravan, all lit up like Christmas, and start blowing their horns, and keep blowing their horns. We heard this HUGE racket as we sat in our comfy and DRY camper. <G> Could not figure out what ALL that noise was! The next morning another camper told us what the racket was all about. No idea WHY they do this, but in a way kinda sorry we missed it, cause the other camper told us it was pretty cool. SIGH. Oh, well, life goes on, and so do we, to the UP we go.
September 15, 2002
Like I said, crisp, bright, clear skies, we could see for miles. We walk down to Lake Huron, the view of the bridge is great, we can see Mackinaw Island, which we have decided to pass, not gonna visit there this trip, as we have been over a few times, and we are thinking we should head for areas of the UP that we have never had the time to visit before, we have almost 2 weeks this time. So, we head over the bridge, center lane, thank you very much. Stop at the Visitors Center on the north side of the bridge, gather LOTS of travel brochures, and some UP phone books for Arlene.
Al’s second cousin Barry Campbell had shared with us some “things to do in the UP”. He has a cottage near Munising, he had written us 2 to 3 pages of ideas. Mackinaw and surrounding area suggestions we had done in previous trips, so we skipped those. Once on the UP side, he told us to take 2 to the west, and where to stop for beef jerkey and smoked fish. Well, we followed his “list” and oh, my!! Was he right or what?? The best and I do mean the BEST jerkey I have ever had. Truth is, I am not a fan of jerkey, rarely could I care less. However, this jerkey is tender, bar-b-que flavored, just like Barry suggested. We will snack on this the entire trip, taking it with us on our day trips, so that we can hike and do the tourist thing without worry about finding places to eat. We will enjoy several picnics in roadside parks with jerkey on the menu.
Today we enjoy a fabulous drive along 2 (except for the idiots who are sharing the road with us--passing us on double yellow lines, putting their lives and ours in jeopardy, more than a couple of close calls). We arrive at Indian Lake State Campground and find the most wonderful site to camp in. It is sandy and not a lot of grass, but the view is worth all the dirt (remember we have 4 yorks that need to potty and with all that dirt, they drag a LOT of dirt into the trailer, course, so do the two humans). Indian Lake is quite pretty, and at this time of the year, not many boats. We will stay here 2 nights.
September 16, 2002
Today we visit Big Springs, and Fayette State Park. Both are very unusual and interesting. Again the weather is cooperating, it is clear, bright, marvelous.
