Two Harbors, MN or Springfield, MO

We're either in Two Harbors, MN or Springfield, MO - take your pick.  I thought we were in Two Harbors, but our android "smart" phone says we're in Springfield, MO.  Apparently, we're in Springfield according to Google, so the phone says we're in Springfield.  But I'm gonna talk about Two Harbors.

Today's our last full day in Two Harbors.  It's been more of a wet week here (and, apparently, a wet week in Springfield, MO, too).

We've gotten out, though.  Today's pictures are of a special run of the North Shore Scenic Railroad's steam locomotive #28 as it stopped in Two Harbors on Saturday.  It wasn't on any schedule we saw. But we heard the whistle while out for a walk in town, so we stopped by to see it and take a few pictures.

We also got a bike ride in on part of the Gitchi Gumi Trail on Tuesday.  We rode between Gooseberry Falls and Split Rock Light House state parks.  That got us about 17+ miles of bicycling.  It's a hilly bike path, and I walked the bike up a few of those hills, too!

Tomorrow we plan to move about an hour south back to Duluth and Ogston RV Park for 4th of July.  Donna's got bicycle riding, walking and chai tea planned for this coming, 4th of July, week. 

Things work out, we may even get a tour of the Cirrus Aircraft Factory.  We'll just have to see.  It's all just a plan.

Everyone have a great 4th of July weekend!  Thanks for dropping by.  David

Two Harbors, MN

Burlington Bay, Two Harbors, MN

Fifth Falls, Gooseberry Falls State Park

We had a nice trip over to Two Harbors, MN over the weekend.  Our planned stop in Wisconsin didn't go as planned.  Our Surge Guard just didn't like the power there, and we decided to just go on to Duluth for the weekend.  We got to Two Harbors on Sunday.  The "B" section of the municipal campground wasn't too full until today.  I guess we're getting close to the weekend.

We've had a somewhat busy week.  We've gotten out to Gooseberry Falls State Park twice, and to Tettegouche State once.  Donna's also worked in a root canal in there, too.  We've walked the town several times.  Eaten at Vanilla Bean once, DQ once, and Rustic Inn Cafe once.  Still a week to go, and we haven't ridden the bicycles, yet.   Guess that'll happen soon.

Middle Falls, Gooseberry Falls State Park

We've added a few pictures to show you what we've seen.  As we tell people, if you can't get to the west coast coastline, the north shore of Lake Superior is a great area to visit.

That's it for this week.  Should still be here next Thursday.  That's the plan, anyway!  Thanks for dropping by and checking on us.  Until next week, David

Lake Superior shoreline as seen from the Shovel Point Trail, Tellegouche State Park

U.P. Michigan

St. Ignace, MI

Happy Father's Day to everyone out there!

We're passing through the Upper Peninsula (U.P.) of Michigan as we make our way to Two Harbors, MN.  This area is experiencing pop-up storms as we travel through.  Nothing too bad has affected us.  And as you can see from the pictures, it hasn't hurt the scenic nature of the area at all.

This trip started Tuesday.  We had a nice trip up to our first stop in St Ignace where we walked the boardwalk and got some ice cream.  On Wednesday we traveled through a weather front and got to Ishpeming where we got some afternoon rain.  We took today off from traveling and took a walk along the bicycle path that runs along the Lake Superior shoreline in Marquette.  After that, a stop for groceries, diesel, a McDonald's ice cream cone, and a shopping stop at Hilltop RV rounded out the afternoon.

Plans are to move on to Saxon, WI tomorrow for the weekend.  We plan to stop at a new-to-us campground - Frontier Bar & Campground, so we're not sure what we're getting into.  I had thought it'd get us somewhat close to Bayfield, WI and the Apostle Islands.  Donna also found a state park close by to check out.  Then there's the weather apps indicating a wet weekend for the area.  I guess we'll just have to see what happens.

Truck & trailer are doing OK, so far.  One obnoxious feature of the truck is that it blows the horn if you close the door while the truck is running and no truck or Ford forum (that I know of) has come up with any way to program that feature out.  I kinda think I know why Ford did that (& it could be a U.S. DOT requirement), but it's clear that whoever approved that feature has never used a vehicle in a work environment, had to adjust where your trailer is parked in a campsite, or wanted to step out of the truck for a moment while it's raining.  As I was fussing about the RV park staff that assigned us our too-narrow-to-open-our-trailer's-slides campsite, Tuesday, our truck took that horn-blowing feature one step further. It began to blow the horn whenever you closed the door.  Truck running, truck not running, driver in the truck, driver not in the truck, it didn't matter.  Remote fob in truck or out of truck.  You close the door, it blew the horn.  Obnoxious not only to me, but to everyone in the RV park.  Restarts of the truck didn't faze it at all.  Close the door, horn blew.  Eventually, it stopped.  No idea why or what we did to stop it.  Apparently, whoever wrote this portion of the truck's software program for Ford started out writing software for printers & copiers and, unfortunately, left the ability to sense your frustration in the sub-routine!

Anyway, we're enjoying our trip through the U.P.  Hope everyone has a great weekend.  Thanks for checking up on us.  Until next week, David

Marquette, MI

Sutton's Bay, MI

On Friday we took a trip up to Sutton's Bay, MI (north of Traverse City) to bicycle ride the Leelanau Trail.  Two years ago, this is where I'd drop Donna off with her bicycle and let her ride down through Traverse City to the south end of Boardman Lake where I'd pick her up at the end of her ride.  This time I wanted to ride some of the trail, too.

Friday turned out to be a great day for bicycle riding.  We rode to the north end of the trail (mile 18) and then rode south to about mile 8 before returning to Sutton's Bay.  Almost a two-hour ride and about 20 miles.  We ate lunch at 9 Bean Rows, a French style bistro, and afterwards walked some of the shopping area, marina and picnic areas of Sutton's Bay.


As you can see from the pictures we had a great day for bicycle riding and sightseeing.

In other news, we had a great Saturday dinner & evening with Carl & Beth.  Hopefully, we'll meet up with Tom and Heather on Monday.   Plans are to continue traveling north to Two Harbors, MN next week via the Michigan Upper Peninsula.  We leave Tuesday with stops at St Ignace, MI;  Ishpeming, MI; and Saxon, WI.  As always, that's the plan!  Later, David

Traverse City Week 2

Silver Lake from the Island area of Holiday Park Campground

Historical area at Glen Haven

 We're having a nice visit here in Traverse City.  We had a nice Sunday with Carl & Beth, and they took us out on Duck Lake for the afternoon and fed us. We've gotten a walk in along Boardman Lake.  We've also gotten out on some bike rides - a couple along the Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail in Sleeping Bear Dunes Nat'l Park.

Deer along the Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail

We've had a lot of fun going out and riding on the Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail.  We like going to & parking at Glen Haven.   This puts us a couple of miles west of Glen Arbor and seven or eight miles north of Empire.  The bike trail is a beautiful ride though you have a few climbs of 9% to 11%.
 

Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail

As we're so close Glen Arbor, it's an easy stop after bicycle riding to eat & shop.  We've eaten at Art's Tavern and Cherry Emporium.  We highly recommend both stops if you're in the area.

Still a few more days before we leave.  Donna's planning a bicycle ride starting from Sutton's Bay tomorrow.  We'll probably ride from there south to Traverse City and return.  At least that's the plan.

Boardman Lake (Traverse City, MI)

So that's been our week.  Hope everyone is doing well.  Thanks for dropping by! David

Traverse City, MI

We had a nice time on our last weekend in Muskegon.  Finally got our bike ride to Country Dairy in, and Donna decided on a new bicycle seat.  The campground was full for Memorial Day and Michigan Adventure opened for the season.  And we got to visit the Cottage of Content in Bitely as a few of the Taylors were up there to open the cottage for the summer season.  So we had a great weekend!

Tuesday we left for Traverse City.  Had a nice, scenic, three-hour drive up here bouncing along US 31.  We're back at Holiday Park Campground just south of town near Chums Corner & located in the campground's plateau section.  Here for two weeks or so.  So far, we've gotten in our first visit & dinner with Tom & Heather, made a round-trip bicycle trip along the Betsie Valley Trail between Frankfort & Beulah (20 mile round trip), and got our traditional stop in at Moomers Ice Cream Parlor.  Went there this afternoon.  I'm already ready to go back to Moomers!

We still need to visit Carl & Beth.  Hopefully, we'll get our first visit in this weekend.  Haven't seem them in over a year, so looking forward to that.  I think tomorrow we're going to go to Sleeping Bear Dunes for a picnic lunch and walk.  After that, well...I'm not sure what Donna has planned.  But it'll be fun!

Anyway, that's it for this week.  Thanks for dropping in and checking on us!  Until next week,  David