Old Guys Roaming Again

old guys · 08-05-2011, 07:35 AM

After a quiet summer, since Branson, we decided to hit the road again for a few weeks. Our plan is to go from Ontario to Grand Rapids Mi., check in at our dealer, then north to the Sault, back to Canada and around the north shore of Lake Superior to Thunder Bay, Kakabeka Falls, and possibly Quetico park, then back stateside to Duluth Minn. area and follow the south shore of the lake back to northern Mi., and take I-75 back to Port Huron and cross back to Canada and head home. Today we are in the Sault after a very enjoyable 2 day stop in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore area. We went on a recommendation from our dealer and it was well worth the trip. We have climbed enough sand hills for a while I think. Sorry no pictures as we are not real camera people and prefer to keep our memories in our noggins for instant retrieval; if we don,t lose our minds. Anyway, when we get alzheimers we won't remember what the pictures are anyway. That's all for now as it is time to head back across the border. See you when we get wi-fi again and until then travel safely. Old Guys

Labzy · 08-05-2011, 09:16 AM

I have heard that the Sleeping Bears Dunes area is awesome, we will have to add it to our list!

Enjoy the rest of your trip!

old guys · 08-05-2011, 08:06 PM

Left the U.S. this morning but not before filling up the truck and two jerry cans with gas. No problems at the border, in fact they couldn't have been nicer. One of the customs guys even came out and said it would be alright to use the nexus pass lane to be to be sure I had enough clearance. From there it was on to just west of Marathon where we are staying the night at a private campground (Neys) which was suggested by the girls at the tourist info site. It is right across the road from the provincial park but is about $12 less. Sites are a bit small but washrooms and showers are clean, have full hookups but need a 15-30 converter plug, and includes free wi-fi so all is good for the night. Gas has averaged about $1.39/litre in Can. so far or about (1.39x3.78) $5.25/U.S. gal.. Now you know why we think you have cheap gas. So far we have seen lots of trees, water and rocks. D.W. wants to see moose or other animals but you can't hurry nature so she will just have to be happy with me and the dog for now. See what tomorrow brings. That's all for now. Old Guys

old guys · 08-06-2011, 06:04 PM

Another day another drive. Some really nice scenery and D.W. is happy now. Just shortly out of camp this morning and a moose crossed the road a short distance in front of us. As I was standing on the brake she was lamenting the fact that her camera was in her purse in the back seat however she was soon quieted when a black bear crossed the road a little while later and then proceeded to amble along the opposite ditch eating grass and plants. It would look at us like "what do you want" every time my dog yapped at it, so that made her morning. Tonight we are in a well equipped Good Sam Park (Happyland RV Park) just before Kakabaka Falls and mama is excited as they have lots of wild rasberries and saskatoon berries that you are allowed to pick. We will have raspberries on our cereal tomorrow. then off to visit Old Fort William historic site for as long as it takes. We have already visited the Falls so we will move on tomorrow to the land of cheaper gas as we continue our tour around the lake. Gas here has dropped back to $1.32 a litre but that is still a lot higher than the U.S. Till the next time travel safe and happy camping. Old Guys

Oakman · 08-06-2011, 07:24 PM

Sounds like you're having a great time. Be safe.

We're heading back to the Branson area again tomorrow. We will be staying at Table Rock Lake State Park for four days. I was lucky and was able to snag one of the full hookup sites in campground 2. Since this is the last season for "Noah, the Musical" we decided to take in that show while we're down there. If I take any photos I'll be sure to start a thread and post them.

Cheers.

old guys · 08-06-2011, 07:39 PM

Yes please do. We would have loved to see Noah as well as the Dixie Stampede but we figured Carson wouldn't sit that long. We probably won't get back there that soon so I hope they replace it with something equally good for when we do. Enjoy yourselves and we hope to see you again next time around. Old Guys

photog · 08-06-2011, 09:49 PM

Glad to hear that you are having a good time, if you do the circel tour again you might want to take the time and spend a couple of days in Pukaskwa National Park (about 8 km south of the Marathon Junction on # 17 and than 8 km in to the Park Gate) It's a wonderful place right on Lake Superior. We spend time there every time that we drive by there. If you are interested here are some pictures from last year:
Pukaskwa National Park Photo Gallery by Heinrich Lohmann at pbase.com

Have a safe trip and do take care.

old guys · 08-07-2011, 07:59 AM

Wow! That does indeed look like a fascinating place. It will be included if we are ever back this way again. By the way those are great pictures. You must be a professional photographer or should be. Thanks for sharing them. Old Guys

old guys · 08-08-2011, 07:08 PM

Fort william was great and could have stayed even longer but after 5 hours we felt we should get back on the road. We should have stayed longer! No problems at the border as once again the border guards were fabulous and had several good suggestions for us. However Minnesaoa was not that kind to us. Some oh the people were just plain rude which really surprised me as most of the others were quite nice. Maybe they were tourists, as there were a lot of us around, or maybe they were just sick of tourists. I did scrape the rear side of my trailer a bit trying to get into a site that they insisted would fit (it wouldn't). Fortunately it was an area where i had a previous encounter with an immovable object and it isn't that much worse. Then I flattened one of those rear bumper things under the back of the frame, when leaving a fuel stop. It was a sharp downhill with a turn at the bottom. I went slow and they watched me all the way and then proceeded to yell at me because he had just resurfaced his lot. I guess it was funny not to warn me when it was costing me but not when he had to patch a short gouge with cold patch which would cost about $10. At any rate the rest of Minn. went somewhat better except that most of the scenic ride wasn't very until the last few miles into Duluth. When we left for Wisconson they had one bridge closed and the fire department had chosen today to do training exercise on the one that was open, You can imagine the back up that caused. Ah well we are in Wisconson now and the people seem nice so far. We are in a very nice, clean private campground. The only problem so far is that the national weather office has issued a severe storm warning with possible hail for this area for the next hour or so. They are suggesting we go to the basement but I forgot to get that option. Guess that is what makes travel exciting. See ya later. Old Guys

BOBFIDY · 08-08-2011, 08:34 PM

Sounds like a great trip OLD GUYS. We just got back from a 11 day midget racing and family visiting trip to Kansas and Nebraska.
Found some water leaking issues and delamination issues with one of our slide out walls...so we are on the couch at home until our dealer and FR get their heads together and get it fixed before our 4 week trip to North Carolina and Florida in October.
Travel safe and have fun.

BOB and NANCY

old guys · 09-07-2011, 03:09 PM

Well it certainly has taken a while to get back to finish this story and there is a good reason for that. Our only night in Wisconsin we must have had a surge from lightning in a wicked storm and the processor in my computer was apparently cooked. The weather service said the storm came across from Minnesota so I figure it was just taking one final kick at me. Actually it was as much my fault as anything. First I didn't have it plugged into a surge protector and second I had gone to bed and left it turned on as I was waiting for an e-mail from the kids earlier and forgot I had it turned on. So I have had to get a new computer and get it set up. We were lucky that nothing else was damaged and the rest of the trip was quite enjoyable all be it a little stormy at times. The U.P. of Michigan was very scenic and the storms only added to the mystique of Lake Superior. Man that is one impressive body of water when the waves get building and the skies take on a dark foreboding colour. We finished with another three nights at the Sault Locks Campground were we watched a great number of freighters pass right by the campground. There was even one tug with a large barge that was down bound who had to return to the coast guard docks when he hit a motorboat that had stalled in front of him. We never did hear if anyone was hurt but I don't believe so or it should have been in the papers. From there we spent a night at a KOA near Detroit. The next day I purchased some new tires for my truck about $50 cheaper per tire than from my local dealer and then it was on to the duty free store for some liquid product (for a friend of course) and the duty free gas pumps. Why oh why don't they have duty free gas at every border crossing? No issues at the border. As a matter of fact the customs inspector was more interested in our trip than anything else but we didn't have anything illegal anyway. Nice smooth trip from there to home and some warm familiar faces. A few days later when we were discussing our trip we decided it was a shame we hadn't taken our grandson along because he is boat crazy. The next day we took him and his mom to Welland, which is only about a 2 1/2 hr. trip, to see the ships in the Welland Canal, which bypasses Niagara Falls. The first ship we saw when we got there was the Saguenay which was also the last downbound ship we saw before we left the Sault. So that's it for this trip. A trip I would highly recommend to anyone who has the time to do it and what the heck Minnesota wasn't that bad either. Old Guys

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