Carefree Highway

As we make our way across the vast beautiful country we call home it has become clear to us that our original plan of making it all the way to the Pacific ocean will have to wait for another trip. There is simply too much to see and do along the way and as a result we have decided to enjoy the trip and not race to the coast as it were.

Since my last post we’ve had days of fairly short distances covered and as a result we’ve enjoyed the trip that much more. Here’s a short list of places we’ve been to since the last post;

• Mackinaw City Michigan village
• Crossed the Mackinac bridge
• Michigan DNR campground on Lake Superior
• Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum
• Tahquamenon Falls State park
• KI Sawyer AFB (I lived there when I was 2 and my Dad was an Air Force officer)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
• 2007 Airventure in Oshkosh, Wiconsin
• KOA directly next to I-94 (more on that later)
• Dinner at the KOA with pksublime and his fiancee (YNABer’s know who I mean)
• A full day at the MOA
• The National Buffalo Museum in Jamestown, North Dakota

We of course have piles of pictures from these visits that I’d like to share but there is simply no time. I will be doing a full vast update after we get back if you are still interested. I may find time later in the trip to get some pictures online but not today.

On a somber note we were at the Mall of America about 3 miles away from the 35W bridge collapse when it happened. We became aware of it when a clerk in one of the shops commented that we must not live nearby. When we asked him what he meant he explained what had happened and that the fact we didn’t have our cell phones stuck to our ears was what clued him in. Indeed, many people were calling friends and family letting them know about it and checking to see if their loved ones were okay. We had noticed prior to then that our cell phones kept giving us “all circuits busy” type warnings when we did try to call each other. Now we knew why.

Our condolences to everyone effected by this tragedy.

That’s all for now.

For some foolish reason before we left I had figured that I would have idle time to write about where we were and what had happened so far etc. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, the only way that I found the time to post this was by forcing myself to get up early while the rest of the family slept and just get it out of the way.

After leaving work a day early to give us the opportunity to perhaps leave early all we accomplished was instead was more of “getting ready”. A trip of this magnitude always seems to present new thoughts of “Oh yeah, we need that too.” to the point where it was making me wonder how we ever left home before without packing the kitchen sink. Thankfully the RV has a sink so we didn’t need the one from the house.

In any case we drove away Friday headed for Niagara Falls, some 650 miles from home. 300 or so miles later after some stops to switch drivers and get gas we arrived in Chicopee Massachusetts at a Wal-Mart just off the highway for the night. There were a few other RVs there and although Chicopee seemed to be a very busy place it was quiet enough that we could sleep just fine. I was up at 6:00 the next morning and on the road by 6:50 after breakfast and a stop for gas.

We crossed into Canada on Rainbow Bridge rather quickly with only a few questions by the Canadian border patrol and found our campground in no time. Since Amelia wanted to swim - it’s her #1 goal every day it seems - I took her to the pool and then the playground before we all took the shuttle down to the falls.

Niagara Falls is an amazing place if you’ve never been and there is so much to see and do that the one evening we were giving it really wasn’t enough. None the less we had a plan and tried our best. We took a ride on the Maid of the Mist right into the middle of the Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side. At one point the waterfall took up my entire field of vision when facing it and all I could think of was some scene out of a disaster move with the world flooding from every direction. I guess you know that Hollywood has done their job well when a real life scene gets compared to a special effect.

After the ride we enjoyed one of the largest fireworks displays we had ever seen since we lucked out and happened to arrive as a local business “Pizza Pizza” was paying for the show. They were calling it the “Wall of Fire” since they were launching it from 10 different locations around the falls. Normally they don’t even have fireworks on Saturdays so it was nice.

On Sunday we left for a quick look at Lake Ontario and were able to look across and see Toronto in the distance. Having never been to any of the great lakes it was little odd to see what looked for all the world like the ocean but not have the ocean “smell” and of course be fresh water. No surprise of course, just a different experience and that’s why we’re on this trip.

We arrived at Cedar Point later in the day and as we drove out to the Point on the causeway Nathaniel was simply beside himself. He’s know we were coming here for some time but the way he was gawking out the windows you’d have thought it was all just one big surprise and he was the happiest 16 year old on the planet. The rest of us had more fun watching and listening to him than looking for ourselves. The real icing on the cake was when we pulled up to the Camper Village registration building and I told him we were staying at the park. Leading up to the trip I kept hinting that we would be “nearby” but miles away. Once we checked in we ended up with a site nestled in the trees no more than 200′ away from one of the roller coasters. This of course was met with his full approval.

The next morning he and I headed into the park an hour early - a Cedar Point resort guests perk - and rode Top Thrill dragster after waiting only 15 minutes in line. At 0-120 miles per hour and 400 feet straight up it was an amazing experience. The entire ride from start to finish is over in less than 30 seconds so even if you don’t like hights you won’t have time to care.

The Red Sox game at Jacobs Field in Cleveland on Tuesday wa great with a 1-0 Boston win. The amazing part was how many times that a huge protion of the crowd would chant “Let’s go Red Sox!” complete with the clapping only to be drowned out by boos from Indians fans. Red Sox shirts were everywhere in the crowd so we felt right at home. It was great.

On Wednesday we stopped at the Cabelas in Dundee Michigan. At 200,000 square feet it is the largest one in the world and a destination unto itself. An artificial 100 foot tall “mountain” was in the center of the store surrounded by dozens of stuffed deer, bear, antelope, mountain lions, etc. all in realistic poses. Truly an amazing place.

So now we are in Mackinaw City Michigan at a KOA within 4 miles of the Mackinac bridge. We will cross it today and head onto the UP on our way to OshKosh. Since this has been our first access to the internet I’m not sure when the next chance to get online will be. However I do know that it will be short. There’s simply too much to see and do then log in and type. I’m going to upload some pictures so make sure you click on the photo of the day to get to the album to see them.

~Steve