Left Longville at 10.00am. Visited Walker for gas, sausages and wild rice. Stopped at Hornbacher’s grocery store in Fargo to stock up for the next few days of camping. Lunch in the parking lot; used our folding aluminum table for the first time.
The trees thinned out between Walker and Fargo into corn fields and open grassy range. The line is fuzzy, but the Great Plains seemed to start in North Dakota around exit 233 on I-94.
Paul Bunyan; quite a tall person, apparentlySalem Sue (or The World’s Largest Holstein Cow) is a giant fiberglass Holstein cow sculpture located in New Salem, North Dakota. I-94, North DakotaGeese in Flight – Enchanted Highway
North Dakota was certainly nicer looking and more interesting than we had previously imagined. Once we got out onto the Great Plains, the landscape was decidedly not ultra-flat. Numerous streams and rivers carved valleys into the land and there were odd mounds and hillocks dotted around. We saw an enormous Paul Bunyan in Minnesota and an enormous plastic cow in North Dakota. Driving in the US you often come across larger than life things like this.
Got to hotel in Dickinson at 6.30pm mountain time, time zone change saved us another hour!
A wonderful lakeside stay with our friends. Rides in the pontoon boat and the speedboat, visits across the lake. Baby snapping turtles. A fish fry. Minnesota grits with eggs for breakfast. Stand-up paddle-boarding. Red Wing jigsaw. Games of Sequence. Saw a bald eagle swoop over the lake and sit in the tree near the cabin with a fish. But regrettably, due to covid, no visits to local bars to experience a meat raffle or to gamble with pull tabs.
Jeri takes to the lake…Baby snapping turtles, heading for waterFederal Dam. Controlling water to numerous lakes and ultimately, the MississippiTim crosses the mighty Mississippi without a care in the world
On Sunday we erected the tent and the annex and they both dried out nicely. On Monday we drove to Federal Dam and Itasca State Park to see the headwaters of the Mississippi. On Tuesday, headed out in two ATVs; one a sit on quad bike the other a side by side Can Am. Tim and Jeri in the Can Am. What a blast! We drove for about two hours, a few miles into the forest along alternately muddy and sandy trails, nothing too difficult but definitely would have been tricky on a mountain bike. Four-wheel drive, noisy, no power steering, automatic, but it slogged through the mud no problem. Came to a clearing near a lake and had a little picnic of chicken sandwiches, red wine, cold sausage and potato chips. My arms hurt by the time we got back.
We noticed the onset of fall as some of the trees were stating to turn yellow and red. Temperature was in the 50’s, but apparently there are only two seasons in Minnesota – winter and road construction…
Packed quickly and left at 9.00am for Antigo. Glorious sunny morning drive through rich farmland. Stopped on the outskirts of the town for a coffee in a cute independent coffee shop. Cheryl at Chase was wonderful; she took charge and soon had our new account set up, she even allowed me to take a picture of the bank vault door. Strange but true.
Ignored Waze and took highway 51 north back up towards Ironwood. Stopped at a roadside stop north of Woodruff near Diamond lake and cooked sausages for lunch. Had mixed veg, cheese and stoneground bread. Lovely.
Roadside rest stop, WisconsinAlways with the Colmans…
Long drive on highway 2 in Wisconsin west to Duluth. Flattish road with trees either side not much to see but at least the sun shone. Once into Minnesota, took highway 200 towards Longville. Crossed the Mississippi. Got to Brad and Michelle’s cabin around 7.30pm. Sat by the campfire, overcast, occasional stars, full moon, fell into bed.
Went to bed last night as soon as it got dark. Soon asleep, woke at 6.30am, but it was still dark. Sat in the annex chair and read my book then climbed upstairs at 8.00am and continued reading. No point in making breakfast and starting the coffee until the wind died down and the sun started to warm things up.
Reading room
Bang! Around 8.45 a large 10 ft. branch 2 inch across hit the car. Good news; firewood. Bad news; small dent. Later we went for a walk around the campground and looked north across Lake Superior. It’s more like the sea than a lake, especially when the wind is up. Gathered more firewood.
Lake Superior
We set a fire in the early afternoon and dozed. It rained later and after a couple of hours we discovered water in the bottom of the annex and that our clothes bags were starting to get wet. This was the straw that broke the camel’s back and so we made the sudden decision to leave and find a hotel. We aren’t really geared up for unseasonable weather!
On the way out we stopped for a short walk and a look at the Potawatomi Falls and were astonished by the volume of water pouring over the rocks.
Potawatomi Falls, Black RiverGlad to get a chance to wear our new rain gear
Once we got within cell phone range we booked a Country Inn & Suites hotel in Schofield near Wausau. After a quick fast food meal, we headed south on 51 and 47 and got to the hotel at 9.30pm. Listened to Terry Jones on Desert Island Discs and Paul Simon’s Still Crazy. Nice big room; suite with fridge and microwave. After sorting out our wet clothes, took a bath and went to bed. Bliss.
Early start, got up at 6.00am and after breakfast had the car loaded quickly for an 8.10am departure. Drove north on 23 and crossed the (very long) Mackinac bridge. As soon as we got into the upper peninsula (‘UP’), spotted a pasty shop by the side of the road. Bought three beef and onion pasties (the only variety available) and shared one for second breakfast.
Mackinac Bridge, MILake HuronCrossing to the UPEstablished 1947…
The road was great – it was beautiful along the shores of Lake Michigan with the sun shining. 70-degree weather. Then the road turned north and inland.
UP trees, trees, trees
We got a text from Chase saying that a suspicious check had been presented. We confirmed it was not ours, but Chase then asked us to call them. Turns out Chase closed our account. On the phone, they told Jeri that all we needed to do is visit a local Chase branch to sort out and bring two forms of photo ID. Easy. We were 150 miles and one state away from a branch which was not in the direction of our route and who carries a passport with them on a road trip? We had lunch in a car park near the marina in Marquette; Jeri waited on the phone to the fraud people while we ate our pasties. We decided to carry on to the Ottawa National forest, but we would need to go to Antigo, WI to visit the nearest Chase branch, which was in the completely wrong direction. We booked an appointment for Saturday morning at 10.30am and carried on towards Ironwood. A lot of trees. 50 miles east of Ironwood landscape changed from continuous trees to more open space. We got to the Black River Harbor campsite late in the afternoon. Our reserved spot, #27, looked fine but was only booked through Friday morning so we chose another site, #12 which we could have until Saturday morning. With the RTT and annex set up we settled in and I sat in the annex reading my book under the string lights. Dinner was tortellini with mushrooms and white sauce. We built a small fire.
A rest day. Reading, coffee, reading, blog updating, egg frittata, washing up, reading. At noon, we headed out for a walk, Tim slowed somewhat by the Jakes Rocks bruise. Walked down to Blair St park to find the lake water sloshing over the beach and the walkway on the pier almost flush with the water. The beach did not furnish any public access at this point so we returned to State Ave and walked along to Bay View park and continued onto the breakwater. No one else was doing this for the simple reason being that waves were crashing upon the breakwater and soaking the path. We dodged the splashes, only partially successfully, and walked to the end to see the lighthouses. An apartment neighbor told us that the lake water is very high right now, the highest it has been in a very long while.
Lake HuronBlair St parkAlpena marinaWe couldn’t figure it out either
Alpena is a nice town with some stunning older houses, but it is odd that the marina area close to the lake has no bars or restaurants or even a concession stand. The center of town was similarly quite dead, only part of which could I think be explained by the pandemic.
Dinner was spaghetti with shrimp in tomato and basil sauce served with a nice Malbec.
Left the Microtel in Ann Arbor at 8.35am and headed to Starbucks for coffee and oatmeal. For the first time on this trip, it was a bit chilly, a 60-degree morning. Drove due north on highway 23 and I-75; looking for a grocery store we stopped in Saginaw (…it took me four days to hitchhike from Saginaw…) but ended up just having a hard-boiled egg.
Bay City. The story goes that a Scottish teen band in the mid 1970’s threw a dart at a map and named their band after the town. There is no monument to the Bay City Rollers here, but there used to be a mural on Adams Street. We visited the site, but alas there was no sign of it. Just to be clear, at that time 45 years ago, my brother and I did not have a high regard for the Bay City Rollers. Mott the Hoople were the exemplars of sophistication and taste for us back then.
Standing where the BCR mural once graced the side of a grain warehouse Mural at 1018 Adams St, now gone
The weather today was perfect. Around 68-70 degrees with a slight breeze and low humidity. We found by accident the perfect picnic spot next to Lake Huron, at the Arenac County park near Point Au Gres. Lingered over lunch.
Best picnic spot…ever
The route north hugged the coastline with Lake Huron to our right. Stopped at a farmer’s market to shop for vegetables. There is a preponderance of holiday rentals and family camps on Hwy 23. Just south of Alpena, we crossed the 45th parallel; the mid-point between the north pole and the equator, or it would be if the earth was perfectly spherical, which it is not. Anyway, close enough. Thus, we were at the same latitude as many northern borders of western states and curiously, Bordeaux.
Arrived in Alpena at 4.30 or so. A nice two-bedroom apartment, with loads of space. Unloaded car, ported bikes up to the apartment then did our shopping at the Save a Lot. Rib eye steak, mashed potatoes, broccoli and Justin Cabernet finished off a good day.
Although it had rained last night and the sky was cloudy when we woke up, we thought we would risk a bike ride at Jakes Rocks. When we got to the parking lot at 10.30 there was only one other car there which surprised us it being a Saturday. We chose the ‘easy’ ‘Coal Knob’ trail and it was fun zigzagging through the trees. The surface was mostly a mixture of wet sand and clay single track with some rocks. About a third of the way around the circuit we came to a steeper section with a series of rock steps. Unfortunately, there was a completely unexpected overhanging branch at Tim’s eye level and he took a tumble into some trees on the right. Tim, ever grateful for his helmet, executed a body roll into the tree sustaining a large bruise to his inner thigh (not pictured). Later, Jeri also took a tumble onto her back. Thank goodness for helmets. After the ride, whilst preparing the picnic, Tim was stung by some unnamed insect. Time to leave! Injuries notwithstanding, this was a great trail.
Tim’s bike. Tim in tree at left (not pictured)PortageEastern chipmunk
We picnicked down the road, past the Kinzua dam next to the Allegheny river. Then we took the interstate through Cleveland with glimpses of Lake Erie to our right. We arrived in Ann Arbor at 8.00pm. This was the first day we had booked a room on the fly rather than in advance. The Microtel gave us a large ADA room, but there was nothing micro about it at all.
Rain. We had plans to get up early and mountain bike at Jake’s Rocks, but decided to take it easy and wait it out. After breakfast, we spent time updating the blog and planning for the day. At noon, we left the apartment and headed north on 321, then north west on the Longhouse National Scenic Byway to the Kinzua dam area. Picnicked during a lull in the rain at Jakes Rocks and watched hawks fly between the trees. Walked to the overlook. Then we drove over the bridge to the marina and hiked up the Rimrock Trail. Steady climb through the trees to an amazing summit of huge rocks with two viewing areas on top and a staircase carved up through the middle. We met no other hikers going up but a few going down, probably because despite the earlier dire weather forecast, the rain was nowhere to be seen and the sun shone.
A lot of carvingThe difference between the Allegheny National Forest and the Angeles National Forest is that the former has trees
Then we drove to the Kinzua Bridge State Park. What a great find; built in 1882, this viaduct was at one time the tallest and longest in the world. In 2003 a tornado struck and most of the columns collapsed into the valley below. The remaining uprights were transformed into a sky-way where you can walk out to a precipice and view the devastation. Not for the faint of heart, but the view of the valley trees beneath you was just wonderful. The old railroad track has been converted into a 74-mile-long bike path. A nicely laid out and maintained state park with a good museum.
For the previous two days, we have been busy recuperating. Trips to Costco and Target to both stock up on trip supplies and shop for Beth. Mandatory trips to Starbucks and Barnes and Noble. Multiple laundry loads. Also, care and attention was devoted to the Outback and the Fiat. We booked the Outback into the local Newark Subaru dealer, (Matt Slap) for a 6000-mile service. The experience was great; efficient and courteous. The Fiat received an oil and filter change at Jiffy Lube (again, good service), a good wash and clean and four new tires from Tire Rack, to be fitted by Pep Boys.
4 Vredestein Quatrac 5s for the Fiat
This morning we set off again, this time heading north west. Got to Pep Boys at 9.00am to drop off the Fiat to have its new tires fitted. After Starbucks, the Fellowship split when we said goodbye to Beth and after a brief second stop at Barnes and Noble (there are lots of books to be read), headed for lunch at the Whip Tavern near Coatesville to meet up with Laurie and Herb.
Great lunch in an English-style pub made perfect by Old Speckled Hen on draft (tap), sausages and mash and Colman’s mustard. Does this blog mention food too much? Maybe, but before we discuss that let me tell you that for lunch Jeri had shrimp curry, Herb had fish and chips and Laurie had a salad. This was preceded by a hummus appetizer.
Ah…OSH and hard cider. Note ‘pint’ mark.Whip Tavern, Coatesville (S&M=sausage and mash)
The countryside of rural Pennsylvania seemed affluent and pretty. Lots of small farms with Dutch barns and grain silos. Maize, dairy cows and tobacco everywhere. Passed through Amish areas to get to the interstate to take us to Kane, PA. Horse buggies were spotted. Started to see some Biden signs on front lawns, sometimes right next door to a Trump one. Up until now, if there have been any signs at all they have been Trump ones, but now about 20% are for Biden. Maybe it’s because of this week’s RNC convention.
Arrived in Kane around 7.30pm. Nice one bedroom upstairs apartment on main street above a pizzeria. After carting up two bags, a cooler, a dry goods box and two bikes, we collapsed onto the sofa. Dinner was tortellini with red sauce.
