Date: 6 August 2001 (Monday)

Start: Summer Breeze RV Park, Iron Mt MI

End: Lakeshore Park CG, St Ignace MI (207 miles)

The temperature was 78f when we got up, and just as humid as the night before.

We ate and got on the road quickly, to take advantage of the cooler morning.

We continued our way east on US-2. Downtown Iron Mountain was blocked off for construction, and we were vectored around the town to the north. Then we went through the same litany of towns I remember from coming up here as a lad on deer-hunting trips – Norway, Vulcan, Wells, Escanaba.

We saw Lake Michigan for the first time north of Escanaba. It was so hazy that we couldn’t see the horizon. It was hot here, well into the 80’s.

We had some hope that, if we got to St Ignace (the northern end of the Mackinaw bridge connecting the Lower and Upper Peninsula), we might have a chance at cooler weather, since the wind might go out of the west. There’s just enough Lake Michigan west of St Ignace that the air might be cooled by it.

It worked. About 10 miles out of town, the engine temperature of the truck went down, the air conditioning started working better, and the transmission temperature went down. St Ignace had temperatures around 82f when we arrived. The humidity was still very high; when we did any work, we started sweating.

The campground has a view of Lake Michigan from across the road running along the shore. They also have some beach property across the road we can use. It’s a nice place with friendly folks – I’d stay here again.

As we were checking in, I noticed through the haze a 1,000’ bulk freighter with self-unloading rig headed east to go under the bridge (we’re 3 miles west of the bridge). We could just barely make out the bridge from the beach.

We set up camp, ate a small lunch, and did laundry (we hadn’t done any since Bend – we were getting short of clothing to wear). I got the e-mail and sent some.

Then we took it easy till dinner time, then went downtown to dinner at the Galley, which was recommended by the campground host. We decided on what we would do tomorrow, and looked around town for a bit. D needed bananas, so we got those.

Back at the campground, we started to take a walk. The folks next door (Discovery motor home with Oregon plates) were in their motor home with the door open, so I asked if they were from Bend. It turns out they have friends in Bend. They license their motorhome in Oregon, since they are full-time travelers and can pick any state as a residence.

We chatted about Bend briefly, and I thought we were at the limits of our conversation. Then Bob (of Bob & Judy) asked where we live. I replied, "Manassas, Virginia", and he said that his father came from Manassas, many of his family people still live in Manassas, and away we went on several new discussion items.

We did the geography of Prince William county, the battlefield, the reasons battlefields today don’t look as they did to the participants, nearby (to here) attractions including Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin, the redwoods of northern California, the noisiest campgrounds we’ve ever used, Galena Illinois, and god knows what else.

In the meantime, Judy and D were discussing what full-timing is like, advantages and disadvantages, tricks, and where good places are in their minds.

We finally let them go late in the evening, saying we’d say hello tomorrow after our trip. Then we went down to the lake (after sunset, almost dark) and looked at the lights on the bridge through the haze.

Now it’s 72f outside and we’re ready for the news and bed.

We have one more day of our trip to Alaska, then we’re into family affairs in Michigan and then we’ll be back in Manassas. We’ll stop this set of notes with our arrival in the Saugatuck, Michigan area the day after tomorrow.