Holy Toledo

Not much excitement today. Just driving. Made it to a nice campground near Toledo, OH. Should be home tomorrow afternoon.

Mackinac Island

Busy day today.  Took the ferry with our bikes to Mackinac Island.  Everybody is either riding bikes or moving by horse and buggy.  Even the supplies for the stores are delivered by horse and cart.  Took a 8 mile bike ride around the island.  Very scenic. Also took a buggy ride around the island. The tour guide on the buggy ride was very informative.  The Grand Hotel is on the island.  It was built in 1887 and is quite grand.  Whiletaking the buggy ride we thought we saw Elton John walking on the sidewalk with his dog.  Later we heard that indeed Elton John was on the island.  Talking about a small world.  We came back to the campground and the camper behind us was from WV.  After talking to our neighbors we find that they live in Valley Grove, WV.  Probably less than 15 miles from us.  Tomorrow we are leaving Michigan and heading south.  Not sure where we will end up.

Crossing the Mackinac Bridge

We left Wisconsin this morning and drove north through the U.P. (Upper Peninsula of Michigan). We circled the northern part of Lake Michigan. The lake was very scenic.  After about 6 hours of traveling we came to the Mackinac Bridge.  On the right side of the bridge is Lake Michigan; on the left side is Lake Huron. It is the longest suspension bridge in the western hemisphere. The total length of the Mackinac Bridge is 26,372 feet and it is about 200 feet above the water.  It was very windy going across the bridge.  They limited the speed limit of RV's to 20 mph. We are presently in a campground located right on Lake Huron. Tomorrow we are taking the ferry to Mackinac Island.

Gone Fishing

Went fishing today in Sturgeon Bay.  We didn't catch any fish, but it was fun away.  The town has three bridges and they all are draw bridges to allow the big ships to enter the bay. The one in the picture was opened for a sail boat. Tomorrow we leave the campground and head towards St. Ignace, Michigan.  We are spending several days there and plan to visit Mackinac Island.  Motor vehicles are banned on the island, so we are planning to take a ferry over to the island with our bikes.

Potawatomi State Park

On Saturday we went biking at Potawatomi State Park.  It is on the shore of Sturgeon Bay and has 1,200 acres of gently rolling upland terrain bordered by steep slopes and rugged limestone cliffs.  The carp were spawning in the bay.  They were coming right up to the shore and being frisky.

Sturgeon Bay

Sturgeon Bay is known for ship building. They do a lot of rebuilding on big cargo ships, but the Palmer Johnson company builds yachts from scratch.  The yacht in the picture was recently launched. Not sure who bought it, but I bet they have a lot of money. 

We Made it to Wisconsin

The truck and camper were loaded on the S.S. Badger.  We then took the 60 mile trip across Lake Michigan to Manitowoc, Wisconsin. The ship was a lot of fun. They were showing the James Bond flick "Sky Fall" in their movie theater.  They had a cruise director that coordinated bingo, trivia games, etc. during the entire trip.  Once we landed in Manitowoc the camper was unloaded and we drove about 1-1/2 hours to Sturgeon Bay.