Where in The World Is The Motorhome?

Some of you have been inquiring about the Motorhome.  We left it in Toronto when we flew back to Alberta in the Fall last year.  With the multiple snow storms we've had we have not had a chance to pick it up since we moved to Ontario.  I'm very happy to report that my wonderful husband and his best friend, Rob, drove to Toronto a week ago and picked it up.  It is now parked in our driveway at "Green Acres" but we didn't have a chance to clean it out and back it into the shop before another snow storm hit.  We've decided reluctantly to sell it so if you know anyone interested let us know.

Its hard to let go of it because we have really enjoyed the adventures we've had in it but, alas, we now have other priorities on the old homestead.  Still, if I won the lottery I guess we'd trade it in for an upgrade and then really travel a lot.  Until that happens, reality is....THE MOTOR HOME IS FOR SALE.

We've had a lot more snow here than this area is use to in the last few years.  We relied on a good neighbor that came over with his tractor to dig out our driveway a few weeks ago.  Since then my hubby bought a new fangled shovel that works better than a regular snow shovel but not as good as a snow blower or tractor.  We've decided that a snow fence might be the way to go.  We know that a riding lawn mower will be expensive so we've decided to save for that instead of a snow blower. Dang, I wish we had both but they are pretty expensive.  I just keep my fingers crossed and keep hoping we've seen the last of the snow.  I know I'm dreaming!

Our neighbor up the road came by with his tractor and helped clear out the driveway.

This was a couple of weeks ago.  

Woke up to snowin' and blowin' again today!!!!

At this rate we're going to need our neighbor to dig us out again.  This photo was taken this morning.

...and remember folks, there is no place like home and home is where the heart is.

Simcoe, Ontario

Well, another Charlotte story to tell.

Sunday morning Brian and I packed up. My son told us about a fantastic place in Grand Haven to have breakfast, Morning Star Cafe.  So we piled into our individual cars and met at the cafe for breakfast. It was outstanding!!! Then we headed on our way from there. .

We drove to Detroit, Michigan to the airport so we could get familiar with it for when we pick up Haylie, Sean and Chloe flying in from Kansas on Christmas eve morning. We found the airport without any trouble but when we tried to find the bridge or the tunnel to cross over to Windsor, Ontario, we missed them completely. We followed our GPS and it tried to take us back to the Port Huron/Sarnia crossing, which was way out of our way. We lost an hour just getting back on track and finally crossing over to Windsor.

We were heading to Rob & Michelle's house in Brantford for the night but when we hit London, Ontario we called them and cancelled our plans. We drove right into a horrible blizzard with white out conditions and traffic was crawling on the 401 heading East. We could see there were at least 10 cars in the ditch and guard rail plus a semi jack-knifed and there were tons of emergency vehicles on the other side of the highway. They were diverting westward traffic off the 401 to the 402. We finally got off the 401 near Ingersoll, driving to Tillsonburg and took the #3 to Simcoe. It was really scary driving in this awful stuff. London hasn't seen this kind of storm for 30 years the news said shutting down schools and roads with 4 - 5 feet of snow blown in from Lake Huron.

We found a really cheap motel room with a kitchenette just west of Simcoe called "Fairview Motel". They have weekly rates so we booked the room for four nights and are staying here since Monday till Friday morning. I'm looking for a job but this is a difficult time of year to get work.

Brian got hired by Canadian Tire basically before we moved, they just wanted to see him for a face to face interview but with his background they snatched him up and made a place for him. We arranged our cell phones to be changed to local numbers; we're arranging house insurance and have a meeting with the lawyers on Thursday; I found a hair salon today and finally caved -- wiped out the gray roots and got it cut and styled -- I feel like a million bucks right now.....it was just the pep in my step that I needed.

The weather has me a little worried though -- the snow just won't stop coming down. Everyone here is shocked and caught off guard. They haven't seen this much snow in years. Anyone who has ever heard my 'whenever I move' story in the past, may be thinking, 'oh yeah, Char did it again!'.....just when we move here they get a freak snow storm. LOL

A few more days and we'll be in our house. Worrying a bit about how this weather is going to affect delivery of our furniture but all I can do is pray and trust the Lord to handle this. Hoping we get everything taken care of that needs to be done. So excited. The next time you hear from me, we will be IN our new house and hopefully I'll have a job.

Grand Haven, Michigan

So we are in Grand Haven, Michigan and Sage is sitting on my lap while we look at pictures on my laptop. Snuggling with Sage, watching Toy Story together, hiding in a blanket tent, eating fruit loops, read "Curious George", wearing his Spiderman costume we bought him.

Today Grandpa and Sage built a snow-woman. The final touches were a little unusual -- a coconut bra and a grass skirt. We later decided it would be great to put both arms going the same direction like "she" was doing the hula. So funny!

We've been here since Thursday afternoon and will be leaving on Sunday heading to Ontario.

Davenport, Iowa and Genosea, Illinois

We spent the day driving across the state of Iowa. Now staying in Geneseo,Illinois, just outside Davenport, Iowa. A much better day for driving today and the scenery was better too -- at least Iowa has something to look at. We are only 5 hours from Grand Haven, Michigan and should be there tomorrow afternoon. Can't wait to see our grandbabies.

North Souix City, South Dakota

Drove across the cold, windy state of South Dakota. Staying tonight at the Comfort Inn. We have almost re-charged our physical batteries even though driving 6 hours a day seems like it too much, its kind of a nice change. I just can't believe how friggin' cold and windy it is here in South Dakota. I've got wind burns on my face but after meeting a homeless woman tonight, I am counting my blessings!!! This woman and her family are staying at the motel because a tornado destroyed their house this year. They were living in their motor home until winter arrived, now they're living in the motel until their house is rebuilt. She said it took this long to finally get the insurance to settle up and the house is just getting started to be rebuilt so they have another 6 months living in the motel.

I think we need to all look around us and thank God for what we have. No matter what we have to complain about, there is always someone next to us that has it worse off. I'm so thankful for everything we have.

Rapid City, South Dakota

Arrived in Rapid City for an early check in. We are still catching up on rest. With the weather issues we decided to call it an early day. Staying at the AmericInn, which we do not recommend. We went to dinner at Arnold's Classic Diner. Then went to the movies to see the new Harry Potter movie. The snow stopped but the wind is horrible here.

Long Point Provincial Park

We left Brian's mother's house this afternoon. It was very sad, she walked us outside and hugged us both and said, ‘I haven’t felt this bad since Susan went off to college’. We hugged her again and reminded her that once we get moved we would be coming up to visit her every month and she should work on her monthly ‘to do’ list for Brian. I felt bad having to say goodbye and leave her all alone. She had travel plans coming up in a day or two so she had something to look forward to with her bridge group. I still can’t believe Isobel is 83 years old.

We arrived at Long Point Provincial Park and it was raining for the last hour of the drive. It was dark by the time we got here so we can't even see where we are until tomorrow morning when we get up. It is not something I recommend when setting up camp!!!! Thankfully we found a few "pull-through" sites because there is no way I was going to direct Brian in backing up this motorhome in the dark AND in the rain to boot. As it was I had to get out of the motorhome, and with my little flashlight act like an air traffic controller, to direct him through the site till we could get it parked. I basically walked ahead of him in the rain as he followed me driving the motorhome like a lost puppy!!! Men!!! Just get out and check out the sites with a flashlight because I want to 'get er done' and obviously it can't be done from the road when you can't see 2 feet in front of you!!! It was funny but a bit frustrating.

Tomorrow our Realtor will pick us up at Long Point and drive us to the new house where we are meeting the home inspector. I'm anxious to see it again and hopefully take a few of my own photos of the inside of the house.

Interestingly I met a man at the campground tonight who just happens to live just down the road from where we'll be living if we get the house.

Turkey Point Campground

We camped last night again at Lakewood Christian Campground outside of Sarnia. Headed out today driving along Lake Huron, exploring little towns along the way. We actually arranged to meet with a realtor to look at a house but she forgot and we surprised the owner, who nicely took us around to show us his house. This, ironically, was the second time that we looked at a house showed by the home-owner and that person was a man showing the house unexpectedly without his wife's knowledge -- apologizing for how messy it was. Kind of funny.

Anyway, along the way, we stopped in London and bought our first Ipod. Wow!
We drove on to Turkey Point Provincial Park for the night.

Traveling Nomadics

Enjoying the nomadic life right now.
Feeling a bit like a gypsy.
Wishing we never had to go home.
Feeling the adventure and freedom.
Is this how it feels to be a "beach bum" without a beach?

Really like not having to go to work and not having a schedule.
We stay up late if we want and sleep in till we're ready to get up.
While we are visiting other people, we stay in one spot.
While we're traveling, we move camp every day.

Sometimes it reminds me of the pioneer days.
Traveling in a covered wagon (motorhome)scouting the areas.

Grand Haven, Michigan

We arrived in Grand Haven, Michigan and plan to leave in about four days to head back to Ontario. My son took a couple of days off work. We bought Sage a Spiderman costume because he is so infatuated with Spiderman. We also got him a Buzz Lightyear costume. We've pretty much just hung around the house with the kids. My son bought a used truck in great condition. He and Brian went over to the guys house to get it. That will give the kids two vehicles instead of just one.

We watched a movie together one night and have been just playing with the grandkids and talking. On Sunday, Coley took us to Target so we could go shopping.  Fawn stayed home with the baby. Today, Fawn and I went out to Wal-mart and then came home while the guys went shopping for running shoes and golf shoes. They are going golfing in the morning. We are planning to take the grandkids and all go to the pumpkin patch tomorrow afternoon. Its been so much fun just playing with Sage and holding the baby. They are so cute. We've been staying in our motorhome parked in the driveway. Its so nice to have the extra room and privacy when we want it.

Every day with the grandkids is a new adventure. Sage is almost four.  He is still adjusting to sharing attention with his new baby brother. The baby is sleeping more and more and growing so quickly even since we've been here. Its just so great to be with them. I'm not looking forward to saying goodbye on Wednesday but the good news is that we won't have to wait so long to see them the next time. Hopefully we'll be moved to Ontario shortly.

Sarnia

SARNIA HEADLINES: Drive-thru bandits take Tim Horton’s till.

Two customers at a Tim Horton’s drive-thru near Sarnia, Ont., took more from the pickup window than they were supposed to. Police said two men pulled up to the Bright's Grove coffee shop window around 4:40 a.m. Tuesday. They said one man then crawled through the drive-thru window. A second man held his feet so he wouldn't fall into the restaurant. Police said the first man then used a knife to cut the cables on the back of the cash register and pulled it back into the car before the vehicle pulled away from the drive-thru.

We are now in Sarnia but it IT WASN'T US!!! HONEST! We drove around the area and went to a house on Lakeshore Road, which was listed for sale. We noticed an "open house" sign just down the road so we pulled up to that house and realized we would be 2 days early as it was advertised for Sunday. Just about the time we were walking back to our motorhome, the owner drove up and got out of his car. He came over to meet us and started chatting -- a very friendly guy named Phil. Come to find out he use to live in Calgary but also use to live in Sarnia and moved back here a few years ago. He was very familiar with all the South-western part of Ontario. He told us about Sarnia from a more positive perspective. Then he offered to show us around his house. He was moving to Vancouver now because of his job. Anyway, it was funny, how it all worked out. He took us around this beautiful house and we were very impressed but knew it was way out of our league and we were right, it was way beyond our budget.

Phil was very helpful and very trusting to show two complete strangers inside his house, especially after the Tim Horton's robbery a few days ago. LOL Phil told us how to get to the nearby Centennial Park that has public beach access to Lake Huron. (Everyone we meet says they would never swim in Lake Erie because it is so dirty but that Lake Huron is great!) We told Phil that we were planning to stay at the Lakewood Christian Campground on the edge of town. He confirmed that it was a good place to stay so we drove outside of town to view an acreage for sale then we headed over to the campground.

As soon as we arrived we notice how clean and organized it was for a set up of 300 seasonal campers plus a lot more for overnighters. We set up for the evening and then rode our bikes around with Teddi running along beside us AND trying to chase squirrels! Teddi is about 70 years old in dog years so by the time she got home and ate her dinner, the poor girl just dropped onto her bed by the campfire and didn't move until we went in for the night. She loved every minute of it.

Well that’s it for the evening. Tomorrow it is suppose to rain all day and we are pulling out. We’re going back to Michigan tomorrow to see the kids for another four days.

Chatham and Mitchell's Bay

We looked over the area of Chatham today and made contact with a realtor we had spoken with in June. I suggested we meet for lunch at Tim Hortons because I really needed a “double-double”. This is when I learned something today about Ontario. The Tim Horton's chains across Ontario do not accept payment by debit or Visa, they only accept payment by Cash, Mastercard or by pre-paid Tim's card. It was a good thing I had cash on me. The manager explained to us that all Tim's, across Ontario, are just now getting debit machines in. I told her, "You've got to be kidding me. We've had them in Calgary forever." She said they were behind Calgary when it comes to getting things into getting these things. We were not happy and I said to Brian, "Well, maybe we should reconsider moving to Ontario and specifically Chatham if Tim Horton's is not up to date with the times! Maybe I should write a letter". The manager said, "Oh you don't need to do that, we're definitely will be getting the debit system anytime now, it just hasn't happened yet."

We sat down to eat when the realtor, a local resident, arrived as planned. I told him about the debit and Visa thing just as the manager came over and handed me a complimentary $25.00 Tim's card hoping this would get us off to the right start. Obviously I thanked her and was more impressed by the way she handled the situation. Of course, I felt like crap about it, but hey, it got me set up with free coffee and donuts for awhile, didn't it? Later when I read up on the situation I found a blog about it written by Steve Thoms commenting on how Ontario’s backwards ways. Neither Brian nor I ever heard anything about this but it seems there are a lot of places in Ontario that don’t take debit or credit cards. This really surprises me.

As we drove across Southwestern Ontario we noticed a lot of trucks carrying tomatoes. Leamington is known as the “Tomato Capital” of Canada -- they even have a Tomato Festival every year. The tomato is the largest vegetable crop grown in area. They also grow corn and we noticed lots of fields across Southwest Ontario growing tobacco. The moderate climate and soil are perfect for growing tobacco even though the government is trying to control it and offered farmers $300M to quit growing tobacco.

We drove as far as Mitchell's Bay today where we camped for the night. Mitchell's Bay is a community of about 350 year round residents located on the east shore of beautiful Lake St. Clair. Their website says they are well-known throughout the entire Midwest for great fishing, boating and camping and has some of the best smallmouth Bass and Pickerel fishing to be found anywhere in North America! I guess people come from as far away as Great Britain, and many travel from Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky and Texas to enjoy the world class fishing!

It must be true, because we met a guy from Ohio, named John, who pulled his fishing boat to Mitchell’s Bay. He didn’t have a camper and just slept in the back up his pickup. John said he takes off several weeks at a time to just get away and fish. He was a heck of a nice guy. He and Brian chatted for quite some time and then Brian asked him over to our motorhome for a beer or two. We had an interesting evening chatting with him for a long time. Brian kind of needed the socialization with someone other than me. We had some issues with the campsites around us -- set up strangely for non-seasonal campsites with the electrical plugs 75 feet from the water taps. We got out and started setting up camp in the pouring rain when we discovered we needed to add on the extra water hose extension just to get it to stretch far enough to reach the tap. Even then it STILL didn't reach. Another camper offered to loan us her extra hose when we found our electrical plug in wouldn't reach anyway so we had to unhook and move the motorhome off the gravel parking sideways on the grass just to get it to reach. When Brian went to the office to pay, he told them about it and how difficult that was. An older gentleman there said, "well, you know this place was built back in the 70's". Brian said, "and this is now 2010 so don't you think you should upgrade the accommodations?" The owner was real nice and drove over to the site so Brian could point it out to him. We were stunned that nobody ever complained about the stupidity of this before. It all worked out but we sure thought that was the strangest set up we ever saw.

Wheatley

Woke up and got a slow start traveling today. So enjoyed just relaxing. Brian and I have decided Fall is a great month for camping because everyone has gone back to school and summer is basically over so no crowds. The leaves are going to be turning soon, you can feel it coming. Nature is getting ready. The squirrels are busy gathering acorns and everything looks like it is winding down.

We drove through Simcoe, Delhi, Tillsonburg, Aylmer, St. Thomas, Blenheim and Wheatley before settling down for the night. We've discussed it and think that Tillsonburg is really nice but we're still checking the areas we feel we want to live in.

We found the Lakeside Village Motel and Campground just outside of Wheatley. The campground is right on the bluffs overlooking Lake Erie. We pretty much had the campground all to ourselves as the seasonal campers are gone right now...maybe they'll be out on the weekend but for now it is very quiet except for the heavy winds. The multiple wind turbines around the countryside between Blenheim and Wheatley suggest it might be too windy for us to live here. Tonight we got a little taste of it as our motorhome swayed us to sleep.

Tomorrow we are heading down to see Leamington and then back up to Chatham-Kent.

Rondeau Provincial Park

Arrived at Rondeau Provincial Park near Blenheim, Ontario. Was having a very emotional day as we left Brantford this morning. It all became very overwhelming for me as we found ourselves traveling the back roads looking for houses. It felt as though we were lost but we weren't. I had a panic attack and broke down. It just closed in on me and hit me hard. We decided to go back to our original plan, calm down and drive along Lake Erie and check out the little towns we could be living in to see if can get a better sense for the area. The stress was really getting to me of all this waiting while we move forward....in other words traveling by blind faith but tonight, well tonight God gave me the most beautiful signs that He is with us and that we are on the right path.

Our campsite has electricity but other than that it isn't much of a park....or so I thought. I remember the poster about nature trails and what this park has to offer. It mentioned the Monarch Butterfly migration. I didn't think much about it but just as it was getting dusk, we looked and suddenly notice 100's literally 100's of Monarch Butterflys roosting in the trees for the evening. We were able to get some pictures. I turned to Brian and said, this is a sign from God -- butterflys are symboling of transformation, change and new beginnings. Think about it. How many butterflys did we see all along this trip? 1. Mackinac Island Butterfly Conservatory, 2. walking Sage back from the playground we saw about 10 Monarch butterflys, 3. must have been 100 Monarchs roosting in the trees this evening.

It had been a rough day for us...stressing out while trying to get off the backroads and stop trying to find houses to look at; I had a panic attack and started crying. Then tonight, it all changed. It was like God was showing me that we were like the migrating butterflys -- we're on the right path.

Then we walked Teddi through the quiet campground over to the most beautiful setting for a sunset -- on the lake. I couldn't risk going back to the camper to get my camera so we were forced to sit down and remember it. It was the most peaceful moment in my life!!!! It was magical and time-stopping beautiful. I felt the best peace ever in my life. I knew what God was doing -- I turned to Brian and said 'God wants us to know His perfect peace and that we should be at peace about all this...He's got us on the right path and its all going to be ok.'

Finally we had to finish the walk with Teddi but I asked Brian to give me a minute. Then I prayed and thanked God for everything.

Sept 15th -- the next morning. I got up early and started walking toward the sounds of ocean waves against the shore. I followed the sound across the backside of the campground till I found a footpath to the beach. There it was...Lake Erie! The beach was desserted and quiet. The houses along the shore must be leasing the government land but all was quiet. I listened to the waves rolling in and took a couple of pictures, then headed back to campsite.



We found a dragonfly inside the camper this morning. When Brian walked to Lake Erie, he came back and told me he was swarmed by about 50 black flies and began to tell me the annoyance of black flies...something I am not familiar with. I only thought I would have to worry about millions of mosquitos in Ontario but the black flies sound horrible. There are a lot of bugs here!

Mackinac Island

Traveled by ferry to Mackinac Island in Michigan. It is a very interesting place that we both recommend highly! Check out the website www.mackinacisland.org. There are only three ways to get around on the island: by foot, by bicycle or by carriage. No motor vehicles are allowed on the island except for the emergency vehilces that you never see, unless their is an emergency. There are over 600 horses on Mackinac Island. Saddle horses for trail riding, public or private carriage tours and you can even drive your own buggies to tour the historic Mackinac Island State Park. We took a 2 hour carriage tour taking lots of photos until my battery ran down. We plan to go back and actually stay all night on the island the next time on a future trip.

For those of you who saw the time-travel romance movie "Somewhere in Time" with Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour, you'll love the island where they filmed at the Grand Hotel.

We headed to Grand Haven, Michigan to see the kids that afternoon. We have had a great time playing with Sage and holding the baby. Enjoyed our short time but we'll be coming back after we explore around southwestern Ontario looking at houses next week.

Time to go...got to hug my grandbabies!!!

Traveling through Michigan - Part 3

Last night it rained the whole evening and we discovered a tiny leak in the bedroom vent cover. To keep from getting the bed wet, we put Teddi's kennel on my side of the bed with a pot on top of it. I slept on Brian's side of the bed and he slept in one of the upper bunk beds above the cab of the motorhome. After breakfast, we pulled out of Van Riper State Park and drove to Marquette where we stopped at a Wal-Mart for duct tape and a screwdriver to temporarilly fix the tiny hole. We drove all day, mostly along the coast of Lake Michigan, to St. Ignace in the pouring rain!

We arrived this evening in St. Ignace and are staying at the KOA. We spent the rainy and windy evening in our motorhome reading our books and watching a DVD.

 How Teddi rests like this I'll never understand but this is her 'I'm so relaxed I'm dead' pose.

We are one day away from seeing Coley & Fawn and Sage & Christian. We are so excited! I can’t believe it! Finally, it is going to happen. I’ve waited so long for this moment.

In the morning we are taking the ferry to the Mackinac Island first. That trip will take about 5 hours. The KOA arranges a shuttle bus to take you to the ferry and picks you up. Then we'll come back and head to Grand Haven to see the kids.

Traveling through Michigan - Part 2

This morning we headed out to explore the upper most part of Michigan taking highway 28 and catching highway 41 to Copper Harbor. Other than seeing the lighthouse at the tip of the peninsula, we really have no plans except to tour at our own pace and stop when we want to.

Well, this turned out to be quite a surprise. We stopped in the downtown historic district of Calumet, Michigan located on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Calumet, also known as Red Jacket, was once at the center of the copper mining industry and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Calumet and Hecla Mining Company, located in the district, produced over one-half of the nation's total copper during those years.

While searching for somewhere to stop for lunch, we found ourselves having an unforgettable lunch at the historic Michigan House Cafe & Red Jacket Brewing Company. Now known as The Michigan House Cafe & Brewpub (for history go to www.michiganhousecafe.com)featuring 75 different brews and signature vintage classic stout brewed in house by Red Jacket Brewing Company. The Michigan House Hotel has occupied this corner of 6th and Oak since at least 1895 according to newspaper records at the time. The Milwaukee Associated Artists painted a large ceiling mural above the backbar in 1906. Hand pieced Italian tile floors and a large ornate fireplace in what was once the “Men’s Smoking Room”. The original bar was a "standing" bar and did not have bar stools.

One of the stories of the "Michigan House" was told by Jack Foster who worked there in 1927 as a hotel clerk. Part of Jack's duties was going down to the train depot (two blocks away on Oak Street) twice a day to pick up hotel guests or drop them off. He would take the hotel horse and buggy to the station. He received $1.00 a day for his work here.

After exploring the history of Calumet, we met a couple that told us to be sure to take the scenic pass over the mountain (only a higher level of ground, not to be confused with the rocky mountains we are use to) to Copper Harbor. It was very pretty lined with trees that I'm sure would be breath-taking in the Fall.

We were surprised to see that highway 41 actually begins at the tip and goes as far south as Florida.

The lighthouse was only a slight disappointment because I thought we could actually get to it but we could only see it from the bay. I didn't know that this is where the historic shipwreck of Lake Superior happened. The John Jacob Astor was used extensively to supply the early outposts around Lake Superior and brought many miners and missionaries to the Lake Superior country. She was the first American commercial vessel to sail Lake Superior. On September 21, 1844, the Astor had just finished unloading supplies consigned to the troops at nearby Fort Wilkins, when a change in wind direction prevented the brig from getting underway. A gale arose and caused the Astor to drag her anchor. She eventually blew up on the rocks near the Fort Wilkins dock.

John Jacob Astor historic shipwreck on Lake Superior

We took the scenic M-28 along the other side of the UP, as the locals call it. We drove as far as Van Riper State Park on Lake Michigamme, 31 miles west of Marquette, 17 miles west of Ishpeming, and about 2 miles west of Champion on U.S. 41/M-28.

Traveling through Michigan - Part 1

We've been referring to our GPS as "Gypsy", which means 'a person who moves from place to place' and almost spells the same...GyPSy and since we hear a woman's voice we thought it was appropriate. The GPS is a really cool invention but it is subject to the programmer. I'm not sure what happened but as we traveled through Wisconsin, we programed the GPS for a totally different location than where it lead us to at the end of the day.

I think God has a sense of humour. He doesn't NEED a GPS but that doesn't mean He can't use one to get us to some really cool places. We finished driving through Wisconsin and after just arriving in Michigan found our way to a Sunday Lake Campground for the night. It was a beautiful lake and not many people in the campground. When it grew dark we saw various colors of city lights from across the lake reflected onto the lake, which was so still it looked like a mirror. It was breathtakingly beautiful and quiet.

morning coffee by the lake

We didn't have any wood to build a campfire but we needed to get to bed early anyway. After a nice steak and wine dinner we cleaned up the dishes and went to bed. I had forgotten how tiring it is to just drive all day even when the scenery is nice. Tomorrow we are headed for a sightseeing tour of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

Minnesota

Today we are heading to Cass Lake, Minnesota. First we're having a look around these beautiful gardens before we head out. It is like a Garden of Eden here. So quiet and peaceful. I don't think I've ever felt such literal peace in a setting before. Our only regret was that we didn't see it in the summer because many of the flowers have already bloomed and are dyiing now.

So we move on...passed through customs the 2nd time but this time we go on through to Minnesota. I forgot to tell you the story about running into a swarm of wasps that splattered themselves all over the windshield and front of our motorhome. I've never seen anything like that before. We had a wasp guts everywhere. Grose! Then we stopped in Grand Forks, Minnesota to get groceries and when we came back out to the motorhome we noticed about 10 more wasps that found us through the scent of their dead relatives on our motorhome. Yuk!

Teddi is getting use to the motorhome and loves it! Its roomy and she feels like she is home BUT whenever we get out and go in somewhere then come back we catch her sitting in the front seat waiting for us! She knows she is not suppose to be there because she immediately jumps down and hides. So now we have to put her in the kennel everytime we both leave.

About 25 minutes from Cass Lake is a little town in Michigan called Bemidji. We stopped to have our picture taken with a legend -- Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox. Brian thought I was crazy but I said, 'This is something I remember from my childhood and I just have to see it'. There are other statues of this legendary lumberjack in other places in the U.S. but I don't know why Minnesota is the main state that features several statues of Paul Bunyan. Oh well, its a bit of fun on our trip.

We arrived at our campsite destination and that was quite a story. God was really watching out for us that night. We didn't have reservations for the campground on the lake we are staying at tonight and they were full up in the sites that have electricity. Brian needs electricity for his sleep apnea machine to operate and our motorhome doesn't have a generator. Anyway, we arrived at our destination tonight Chippewa National Forest on Cass Lake just outside of Cass Lake, Minnesota. They were completely full and because we didn't make reservations over the long weekend, it looked like we couldn't get it. Then I explained about Brian's medical condition needing the machine and the camp hosts told us there is only one site that might be available. It seems a man and his son come here every year for the last 30 years or so and they rent out two sites. The old man's motorhome broke down so he is staying with his son and they just parked the son's truck on this "empty" site. He's already paid for the site but maybe he would let us pay him for it for the use of one night.

Long story short, we went and talked to the son and the old man. Very nice people, retired navy. Not only did they give up their extra site but Rick, the son, helped us back in the motorhome.

We paid them for the site and threw in a couple of extra bundles of firewood that we had to buy there. Since we arrived late in the evening barely before dark, by the time Brian got the fire going to cook our hamburgers it was dark. So we haven't seen the lake yet but I'm sure it is absolutely gorgeous. It feels good to listen to the sounds of other campers and see the distant glow of campfires in the trees all around us. Temperature is a little cool but not bad overall -- late in the season but not frosty in the mornings like it would be back in Calgary.

Tomorrow is another day of adventure!

Manitoba and North Dakota

Got off to a late start, pulling out of camp after lunch heading to the International Peace Gardens at the border of Manitoba and North Dakota (just south of Brandon, Manitoba). We missed the entrance to I.P.G. which is actually between each border crossing. The way I read the website I thought we had to cross the U.S. customs border and then there would be an entrance to the peace gardens. So we stopped and declared our "duty-free" purchases, answered all the questions, showed our passports and let them search the motorhome and THEN we were told we missed the entrance and had to make a u-turn to get to it. It was worth it though. Beautiful flowers even this late in the season.

We knew we didn't have time this late in the day to walk the garden grounds and would save that for the next day.  I've inserted a few pictures of the Peace Gardens that I took the next day.

We spent the night at the campground there. Although they have several sites available we were surprised it was not very busy for the start of the long weekend with only 10 campers in the entire place. Needless to say it was EXTREMELY peaceful!!! Every now and then you could hear the faint ringing of the chimes from the Bell Tower.

We enjoyed our first campsite fire of the year since we left Triple Diamond in the spring. It was so nice. The firewood was free. Teddi certainly enjoyed it -- just like old times.