2021 July Family RV Trip 2 WI, MN

   In the second half of our Family RV trip through the Midwest National Parks, we stopped to see family in Wisconsin.

First day at the family lake house and Cousin Earl was here to greet us and help set up our parking. Bob could not get his RV down next to the Lake House for it was just too big! So, he set up at the top of the hill under a good shade tree and Tom and Tanya set up next to the lake house down the hill.

Catching up with Earl, for he retired in January of this year and bought a winter home in Arizona. He had stories of his winter home and all the activities they had in that community. He said that he does not travel in his RV to get there but drive his car straight down there. Perhaps, someday he will have the opportunity to travel in the RV along the way and see some of the sights like follow Route 66!

Dinner the first night and we order from a local pizza place – it took 3 hours for our order! Understandably, they were short staffed and terribly busy, when they delivered you could see how extremely tired, frazzled you might say. Fortunately, our family does not emphasize and argue about delays or shortcomings, and we all were very tired, but joked around at the same time.

First morning and Bob catches some fish from the dock, his dog Diesel keeps thinking he is throwing a stick and wants to jump into the lake and play fetch!

The following has been written by Bunnie

 

The last 2 days have been down days, meaning we haven’t been driving in the RV (which I have named THOR, Tripod Home On the Road, but Jan and Bob don’t like it), but just staying still and taking trips in the Jeep.

This is a house that was purchased when Mom was in high school, and the house has stayed in the family since. Mom’s dad, Grampa Walt, gave it to his son with the stipulation that all family could use it whenever they wanted, and now Gerry gave it to his kids with the same stipulations. I’ve heard stories about the Lakehouse for years, as Bob and Tom (and their sibs) would come stay here with their Grampa in summers and loved running wild, swimming, fishing and doing kid stuff. It was great to finally see it in real life and meet Mom’s brother and his kids.

Tom - We spent most of the week at the lake house and have had a good time reconnecting with our Wisconsin family. Although we do not really want to go yet, there are heavy rains coming and Bob is parked on the grassy hill, so to keep from getting stuck we go to a State Fairgrounds in Milwaukee.

Had dinner that night with Cousin Ralph and his wife Jan, they had been very busy on home renovations and could not meet us at the lake house – so we came to them! Anyway, we had a great time catching up, Ralph had brought his Dad (Mom’s brother) along, so we were able to have even more time with him as well.

The following has been written by Bunnie

Today we drove from Milwaukee, Wisconsin to just across the border into Michigan. I’m not sure of the name of this town. Even though we didn’t stop at any attractions, there’s still so much interesting to see. We’re driving mostly on 2 or 4 lane highways, through the countryside. I was really struck in Milwaukee and on the road with the many different styles of architecture. The old brick buildings, some very ornate, some plain, and the wood, or stone or stucco houses often side by side. I also have noticed the billboards and signage as you near the larger cities – it really gives one a flavor of what expect by the types of things they advertise. I also love looking at the names of the roads and rivers or creeks we cross. Sometimes one can really get a sense of what the early settlers were experiencing as they named them. Or like I, make up stories about how they came up with these names. Was there really a big squirrel there? How big? Did someone’s horse actually go lame at Lame Horse Road? One funny thing we noted: all the creeks and rivers we crossed seemed really clear and clean, until we crossed the Republican River in Nebraska that was really murky and muddy and had lots of garbage in it.

Speaking of early settlers, in Nebraska we visited two historic monuments on the Oregon Trail which were markers for the settlers. Chimney Rock, so named because it stuck up higher than all the others in a cylinder, and Scott’s Bluff, which is a rectangular rock formation. It was named after a scout for one of the exploratory teams who disappeared and never returned. The next team found what they believed to be his skeleton at the bottom of the bluff, so named it after him. The Oregon Trail is also known as (or overlapped with) the Chisholm Trail, The Pony Express Trail, and the Mormon Trail. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to go hiking at any of these spots, but the visitors’ centers were all quite interesting. Chimney Rock and Scott’s Bluff were but a few days ride for the settlers (I think it was a 20 minute or half hour drive for us), but the next outcropping marker, Immigrant’s Rock, was several weeks away.

Also in Nebraska, we went 30 miles on a horribly maintained road to the Agate Fossil Field National Monument. We got there 15 minutes before the visitor center closed, and it was extremely hot, so we didn’t get to go walking on any of the trails there either. We did see the great display at the visitor’s center, where they were able to recreate some of the prehistoric dinosaurs and animal skeletons and show them fighting and the big boneyards. As the water holes started disappearing, some of the animals would die or dehydration or were simply too weak to fight off the predators. Other scavengers would come and eat what was left of the flesh, so only huge boneyards would remain. It’s amazing to me how the archeologists and paleontologists have been able to actually recreate or know what they actually looked like. Someone had put a mask on one of the smaller animals, a prehistoric dog or wolf like animal. It was amusing. When resources become scarce, living things can either adapt, leave, or die. It is believed that alligators at one time lived there and migrated south.

Another monument we didn’t get to really explore was Devil’s Tower (in Wyoming). Another huge rock formation, towering up into the sky. Normally, one could watch many climbers trying to scale it, but it was closed to climbers for the month of June at the request of the local Indians, I’m not sure why they closed it this month, but it is a very spiritual place for them, and they asked the Park Department to close it to climbers.

Tom - As Bunnie stated, we moved on from visiting our Wisconsin family to northern Wisconsin and a little of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Along the way stopped to see a friend of mine in Waupaca, WI. Mark and I worked at 2 hospitals together and really enjoyed each other’s company. I remember the great Friday night fish fry when I was here last and hoped we would be able to do this again. I had a good time catching up on what has happened with him and those 2 hospitals. He now has a 3^rd hospital he is managing and doing really well. WAY TO GO MARK! We talked a lot about the great staff he has and how well they are doing too. Unfortunately, there was only time for lunch together with my brother’s family and my wife Tanya along and after lunch we move on. Driving along to the next destination I chat with my wife reminiscing about that work assignment. I feel so lucky to work in so many different places and meet so many people all over the country, and now during my off-work times I have the opportunity to stop and see these same people as friends.

Speaking of friends, we camped at a casino in Munising, MI and the other camper here saw the Rialta and asked if I knew Georgia Strickland? YES! We had attended a Rialta Rally that she hosted in the Midwest! Wow, again it is so amazing to bump into people that we know or know of someone. What a small world we live in.

We took the boat tour of the Pictured Rocks, and it is well worth the trip! Beautiful cliffs with great colors, caves with kayakers paddling through them or into them. It was very cold on the upper deck, but the lower deck had glass covering and was warm enough.

Following the coast of Lake Michigan north to Keweenaw Peninsula we stopped for a picnic lunch on the roadside. Cool! It started to rain, and Bob pulled out the awning and we continued our lunch. I saw a caterpillar on a milkweed and texted a photo to Cousin Carol, who loves butterflies, and she returned a picture of her latest caterpillar that had turned into a Monarch butterfly! She taught me that they only eat milkweed, so I look for them along the way. I am wondering if I can raise butterflies in an RV?

Tanya’s office today is on top of a hill with a wood patio extending over the hill. The umbrella is to cut the glare on her laptop. The wine glass is mine, not hers :)

Touring Calumet, MI mining museum, it has a great display including the mold shop where wooden pieces were made then sand mixture formed around it then wood removed and cast iron poured into the mold. They made machine parts for the mining industry. The primary industry was copper mining, known for nearly pure copper this location was very profitable at first. Union wages, western mine required far less labor cost, and eventually the mines were closed here. Nearly 2 miles down with water incursion increased the cost as well.

Picture of an air driven skip loader

Early RV?

Train with wood snowplow

The town of Houghton, MI has interesting history. Built as a shipping port for copper mining, the buildings were in disrepair after mining ceased. A local fellow attended Michigan Tech to become an engineer, and after years of working in Detroit he wanted to raise his 7 children in his hometown. All his children attended Michigan Tech as well. He became the town engineer and was instrumental in revitalize the town drawing tourism while maintaining the small-town appeal. It’s a very nice town to visit. Professional hockey was created here too!

Touring Keweenaw Peninsula we saw a lot of trees that made me think that this could be a nice fall foliage trip. Along the mountain ridge especially was thick mature forest, along the shoreline you could see they were 2^nd growth woods. Even so, with occasional glimpse of Lake Superior it would be a really nice drive.

There are both sandy and rocky beaches along the waterfront. We stopped at one lighthouse and although the lighthouse itself was closed the maritime museum was open. Displays of actual salvage items from ships, pictures of shipwrecks and maps showing the locations of many shipwrecks. I did not think there were so many!

One of the many benefits of traveling with family is mornings with my brother, chatting about things to do, places to see, planning each travel day one day at a time. This time with him is special to me. Today's discussion included how much hay to set up for his Llamas for the coming winter. We also talk about the merits of boondocking and what's for breakfast. Such is the retired life, big decisions :)

We toured Apostle Islands National Park, took the boat tour and although the wind was up some creating 4’ waves it was still a pleasant ride. Most of the islands you go through are heavily wooded and there is not too much to see. The captain talked about some interesting thing to keep the journey interesting. Arriving at Devils Island where the picturesque caves are - it is well worth the journey. I committed myself to returning someday with my kayak and paddle in and through the caves.

 

Returning to the dock we have lunch at the Pickled Herring restaurant, it was originally a bar then expanded to a restaurant. True to its name it did have an appetizer of pickled herring! Tanya of course loved it, for me it was ok (I’m not a fan of pickled things or vinegar). Jan tried the Brussel sprouts (good) and Bunnie tried the fish liver (good). A very good lunch!

Ashland, WI is a clean nice small town. We stayed 2 nights in their city park campground while visiting Apostle Islands National Park.  The town has some exceptional murals throughout the central part, a handbook we picked up at the city park had descriptions of each mural and an easy-to-follow map. Quite a nice collection showing history and relevant murals of this town. I highly recommend for anyone to visit.

This morning’s discussion with brother Bob was the weather, there is a heat wave is coming. It is the 4^th of July weekend, no campsite available anywhere. Do we push through or hunker down next to Lake Superior where it is cooler? I love these chats!

Deciding to stick to the original route as planned, we continue on to Voyagers National Park. Not finding any campground openings we were truly fortunate to see a gas station with an RV lot and electric hookups across it. Although right alongside the highway, the traffic is very light and not a problem. This is 4^th of July weekend, and it seems like everyone is out camping. I had been looking for a few days now for campsites and apparently that is not soon enough.

Voyagers National Park has several visitor’s centers and hiking trails offering great views of the many lakes. Hiking a 3-mile trail we were able to see a little wildlife too. Deer, squirrel, birds. Bunnie is working hard to get ready for Bob’s Llama pack trip next month. Me, I wish I had brought the kayaks along! We were very fortunate to find a campground with electricity. Being plugged in with AC during a heat wave is so nice! Tanya looked up info on the town of International Falls, MN and learned it had a legal dispute with a town in Colorado on who was the coldest city in US. After several years International Falls got the federal trademark as the “icebox of the nation”! Its highest temperature reaches 90 degrees only a couple of days a year and we are here for one of those days!

We go to Rainey Park visitor’s center of the Voyagers National Park and there is a small botanical garden featuring local flora. There were a lot of milkweeds and we saw a Monarch butterfly as well as their former stage of caterpillar.

Tanya saw a very pretty and sparkling stone at the visitor’s center, she was very excited to see a nature-made sparkly thing! It a pyrite, Bob says it’s called Fool’s Gold - how appropriate! :) Tanya bought one and we placed it on the dash as we drive so it has little sparkles.

So ends our 2021 Family National Park RV trip. We part in Voyager National Park, International Falls, MN. This is the center of the US, 1,700 miles west for Bob's family and 1,500 miles east for us. Bob's family will also stop at Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota on the way home. We will stay around the Great Lakes, where it is cooler during the hot summer months. We are planning to meet again in Albuquerque, NM for the Balloon Fest this October.

 

2020 May, MD, PA, OH, IN, IL, WI, MN, SD, Badlands

 Wow, its finally time to go travel again! Covid-19 travel restrictions are being relaxed, places are opening and we can travel and see interesting places in this wonderful country of ours.

Thankfully, I have been employed throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, otherwise I would definitely have gone stir crazy staying at home all this time. The original plan was to depart in April, now 2 months later it is time to go. The route we had planned has been changed several times, for there is so much to see yet. When Tanya suggested that it is so warm now, how about reverse our route and go north for the summer. What an excellent idea, one thing about travel without any restrictions, you can change destination on a whim and be happy about it!

As I redrew the route it occurred to me that we would be in the southwest in the fall. I remembered the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta and had to check when it occurs. October first half, yay, I can make this work! So long that this has been on my bucket list! I texted my brother to see if he was interested and he tried to reserve and not an hour after I reserved and there were no openings left L Hopefully that will change, it would be great if my brother and perhaps my Mom can join us.

To prepare for the trip, we had replaced the A/C with a bigger unit, installed a refrigerator with a bigger freezer, covered the windows with perforated vinyl to block the heat. Of course, we are going north now so all this preparation may not have been needed but we are ready if a heat wave hits at any time.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN! 11 am and we are off, after 6 months the RV needed a good bath so stopping at a carwash we have used before with good results, we move on feeling everything is ready for a great trip experience. Taking I-68 through Cumberland, MD we look up my colleague whom I worked with at Western Maryland Medical Center. Catching up on hospital improvements and people we both knew. It so happens that the first manned space flight takes off from the US soil in 11 years. What a change in technology and we enjoyed chatting and watching the liftoff.

Staying in Western Maryland for the night, our first day’s trip was only 70 miles. Yes, we are learning to stop and smell the roses. The second day we thought to make some miles but soon felt the need for a 3-hour nap. Staying over in London, OH we realized that 2 days of driving made only 370 miles – hmmm, this is a really good way to travel.

We attempted to stop at a trail found on Alltrails to get some exercise and surprisingly there were a lot of people here. Deciding that it was too crowded to enjoy a nature hike we moved on and happened to come across a building which looks like a picnic basket. Wow!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Longaberger_Company

Read about this company, it is really interesting.

Staying the night at Madison County Fairgrounds, we saw that they had numerous electrical and water connections. We did not need power but enjoyed the solitude and quiet for the night. I had a bbq grill from the days of my Class A RV travel and we fired it up cooking stuffed poblano and green peppers. Much to my surprise this flameless grill cooked them in a reasonable time - I had removed the heat shield pan and more direct heat reached the food. Going to have to try meat products this way next time.

Tanya watched the swallows flying all over, eating the insects that come out at dusk and it reminded her of her childhood story of why swallows have a forked tail.

Monday morning – after taking an outside shower (an outdoor adventure!), Tanya works a few hours, and off we go heading for Auntie Bea and Uncle Carl in Indianapolis. Spending a few hours together is always fun. Catching up on what has been going on in each other’s lives.

Traveling into downtown Indianapolis we find that the downtown area is closed due to the protests. Later, we learned that Chicago downtown was also closed. What a shock, we often use an app called izitravel to take walking and driving tours, and this is not an option right now.

Indiana Dunes National Park was open, and we were able to take a 1 mile walk through the sand dunes. At the end of the walk, it was a big surprise to see hundreds of people on the beach of Lake Michigan. Seriously, we were practically alone on the sand dunes but once we drop down to the beach there are so many people there. The visitor center was closed so we were unable to get the passport stamp. But I wrote it in by hand.

We also have been monitoring how people are reacting to Covid-19 guidelines. Seems that larger cities have much more awareness and use of masks or gloves. Restaurants are closed in most places. In more rural areas there seems to be a slackening of mask use. MD, PA, OH were quite strong on mask use and business closures, as we continued in IN, IL, WI there was less use in the rural areas as there was earlier. While we were in WI the relaxing for restaurants occurred and we were able to sit down for a meal at last.

After finding out that Chicago was being closed due to the protests, so no tours of the Windy City. We went to our extended family’s Lake House. Tom’s niece was there with her boyfriend fishing to have a fish fry. Very nice to be here and get some down time. We plan to stay a week or so to catch up with family and rest.

Tanya works remotely and here is today's office!!

Cool co-worker

Nearly a week we stayed in WI visiting family, fishing, resting. A day with Uncle Jerry is like a trip in time, he has done so much in his life, one of the more interesting stories was about fishing in Canada. We liked his story of hunting bear as we sat in his living room looking at the stuffed 500 lb bear on the wall!

The majority of the family had quite a lot on their own schedule so not everyone was available while we were here. Along with the Covid-19 changes for all of us socializing, I in particular was very aware of how each person reacted to meeting up. I felt it was important that I explain that I had worked directly with Covid-19 testing sites and hospitals treatment rooms. As I explained this, I was also spraying my hands with alcohol and wearing face mask. Each person then could weigh how they felt best to interact with me. All turned out well and I left each family member a box of face masks that I had brought along for them.

Earl and Denise were available for dinner on Friday Fish Fry night! We really enjoyed our time with Earl and Denise, too bad we don’t live closer, I think we could have been great friends. This was a biker bar near the lake house, and you still felt comfortable in here. Wisconsin had just open restaurants with restrictions, so it was nice to have a sit-down meal.

Turns out Earl and Denise are close to retirement also; they have bought a winter home in Arizona so we plan that someday we could stop and visit them there.

Carol and Greg were available during the lawn mowing efforts, so much has changed in all of our lives, and it is so nice to catch up and share with each other. Finding out that Carol and her husband have been retired for 7 years already – where has the time gone! She has been lucky enough that the right time in her grandchildren’s lives, soon they will be in school, and Carol will not have the time as she has had with them. Hmmm perhaps some travel plans in her future?

Quiet mornings sitting on the dock on the lake as sunrise slowly wakes the day. Nice and slow I’m learning!

So, after several days of visiting and resting we had been keeping an eye on the weather, first a cold front from northwest is coming, then Cristobal, a tropical storm from the Gulf of Mexico. Thinking we would have a decent day driving on Monday we headed out going due west.

Taking 2 lane roads at the beginning of this trip is enjoyable, but sooner or later you end up on interstates. We had lunch along the Mississippi River in La Crosse, WI - hmmm I wonder how kayaking would be here? Crossing the Mississippi river is always exciting, the Mississippi goes such a long way, and we would be crossing it in many different places over time.

The Spam Museum was closed due to Covid-19 but we got to take our pic and will have to visit another time.

We stopped at a county fairground in Minnesota for the night and were kindly told that it was closed but they let us stay anyway. That was a first for me. The next night we stayed in National Grasslands alongside the Badlands of South Dakota. Wow, pretty cool, sitting on a bluff high above the erosion of hills that creates the Badlands. Morning sunrise did not have clouds but the wide expanse of sky that you could see is amazing. We chatted quite a lot about BLM lands, National Forests and how we are still just beginning to learn how and where to camp in these areas.

Corn Palace - I have stopped here before, but this is Tanya’s first visit. Unfortunately, it was rushed for the cold front was making its appearance at that time. As we drove, we could see up the cross streets a HUGE BLACK WALL of RAINCLOUDS coming right for us. Never seen anything like it. We parked alongside a building to be protected from wind and rain. WOW, scary as the whole day becomes dark, high winds, very heavy rain in fact a deluge! We sit it out, both awed and scared at the same time. It was so amazing the brief glimpses we had of the Big Black Wall coming toward us. We both thought of how we could have parked to experience that Big Black Wall coming closer to us and over us and still be safe.  This was the northern cold front we had seen on the weather reports. We were able to track it on a phone app right to the point of impact, but the real thing was so much more impressive than seeing a picture on an app.

Sunrise was very different; it began getting light at 4am and the sun does not make an actual appearance until after 5am. Everyone knows I am a sunrise kind of guy, and this was vastly different for me. I think it also had something to do with the high bluff we were on. Something to think about.

As we are moving west, Tanya’s work still starts on the East Coast time, so we are now getting up even earlier – a great opportunity to enjoy a sunrise every morning. It was quite cool when we woke up, probably in the mid-40s. So nice to have our trusted Gas Buddy heater on a cool morning like this. Tom cooks an amazing breakfast! I think hash browns with peppers and onions, eggs, and a toast taste so much better in the fresh morning air in the RV than at a diner. 😊

Touring the Badlands is awesome. Our friend Joy talked about her trips here and how much she enjoyed them. When Joy and I discussed the Badlands, I thought this is where I toured many years ago, but I discovered it is not and I have memories of a totally different mountain and sights but cannot place it, I will have to research it and go there again. OK I read through some of my old journals and found it was the Bighorn Mountains, will have to add that to this trip. Travel is interesting, places you have been before are often worth visiting again for memory fades and although it is not a new experience you see different things that you had not noticed before. So, I am looking forward to seeing the Bighorn Mountains again, seeing things I remember and new things as well.

To emphasize that thought, how about Wall Drug store? Anyone who has traveled I-90 has seen the numerous billboards for Wall Drug and just had to see it. What was on the billboards is not what I remember but the quantity is astounding, I counted the billboards this time and found 62 billboards! They started at South Dakota mile marker 410, were individual billboards and occasionally 2 and 3 together.

I noticed a new billboard for Firehouse Brewery, these billboards are unique because they had an actual firetruck next to or a part of the billboard. I did not mark what was the mile marker when I started seeing them but there were 12 firetrucks! Where did they get all of these vintage firetrucks?

Wildlife in the Badlands

   

Badlands SD Prairie Dogs

https://youtu.be/DhzmPFwZE-0

 

 

I have been doing some work on a map to show all of the places we have traveled in an RV. The current trip is in red. Sometimes there is overlap with previous trips, that’s ok too – we are seeing friends and places over again because we enjoy them!

We plan to spend time around Mount Rushmore and Custer State Park and other interesting things to see nearby. See you on the next blog.