PN Hoeft State Park, Rogers City

Michigan State Parks are some of the best we've every seen. After driving a short 90 miles, we set up housekeeping on the Sunrise side of the state on the shore of Lake Huron, at Hoeft State Park. PN Hoeft was a banker, lumber baron, ship captain, mine owner. In 1922, he donated 300 acres for a park, and in 1938 the CCC built a fine stone picnic pavilion. It's big park, with 142 sites. Since it's after Labor Day, and mid-week, the place is almost deserted. The beach here is sugar sand, blindingly white, and the water is an improbably blue/green. Beautiful!

We pedaled our bicycles up the coast a little to see the Forty Mile Point Light, then drove down the coast to see the lights at Presque Isle. Michigan is serious about biking, we are to learn that there are paved bike trails everywhere. Something else Michiganders are serious about is sausage. The meat markets we've seen so far are from a distant time. Many different hand-made sausages, beautifully cut meats and a small army of men in white coats and hats behind the counter to cut something for me. We bought several different sausages from the meat market in Rogers City, pop: tiny. What a feast we had for dinner that night! Corn, peppers, sausages, all cooked on the grill.

 
 
 
 
 
 

Driving across the UP

After leaving Oshkosh, we found the coastal road heading north. Terrible road surface, but the DOT is working on it. We drove through about 50 miles of road construction. We'd spent some quality time on Michigan's UP in 2006, loved every minute of it, and were happy to be back in the southern part of the UP. Hey, this is where we saw Alice Cooper, live, at the State Fair in '06...that was memorable for all the wrong reasons.

We made a stop at our favorite place to buy GOOD maple syrup. I can't tell you name of the business, but it's on US 2, east of Blaney Park Road, on the north side of the highway, in a green building. You can't miss it; there is no other house or building for many miles. Susan showed us the maple syrup processing equipment, and sold us the last of the grade C stuff she had. Grade C is the darkest, most flavorful, even though most people want the Grade A. I think they're named wrong, but who's asking me? Susan gave me a zucchini from her garden, which we enjoyed that night for dinner.

Just a view of the beautiful Lake Superior...




















It took us three days to get from Oshkosh to St. Ignace, just taking our time. The next day we drove north and east on MI 134, to the end of that peninsula to get to Drummond Island, where there is a lighthouse at De Tour Village (by the ferry landing) and at the far end of the island. You've got to love solitude to live on Drummond Island. It's big, it's remote and it's beautiful. It's also, apparently, a summer cottage place, lots of small houses with seasonal "For Rent" signs in front of them.
This 50-foot tall tree caught my eye. It was decorated like a huge Christmas tree, with hanging pairs of shoes! Too bad I couldn't take a better picture. At the driveway to someone's house in the woods, the owners obviously have a quirky sense of humor.

















Cedarville, the hometown of my Sistah, Gypsygirl. Gypsygirl, the old hometown has grown since you left many years ago, but it's still a tiny, cold place. The gas is still the highest in the state and you can still gt your boat motor repaired, buy smoked fish and eat pasties everywhere.

on the ferry, crossing De Tour Passage, between the UP and Drummond Island. I hope I never get too 'old' to get out of the car and watch the scene when I'm on a ferry...

Alma, WI to Oshkosh, and a Big Storm

After a quick shower at the marina, we settled our bill and headed out. I felt out of balance, like what we were seeing was surreal, after being on the river for five days. The unreal feeling was soon more magnified by the strange damage in the landscape. It was as if tiny little tornadoes has touched down in the cornfields smashing down little sections of corn. Big trees were twisted off 10 feet off the ground, but the damage was very sporadic. We stopped for the night in Red Granite, WI, where we saw much hurricane-looking damage: trees down, roofs torn off houses, power lines down. This morning, about 10am, a sudden and very intense storm blew through so quickly the local tornado sirens didn't have time to warm people. We were on the river when this terrible storm blew through!
 

We spent the next day and night with Carmen, and the ghost of my Aunt Carol. I love their gardens! This year, Carmen had several new containers, and the hydrangeas in front of the pretty Victorian house were just gorgeous! We ran into old friends Geri and Jim, their daughter and grand daughter at the downtown Farmer's Market that morning, it was as if we had come home after having been away for a few years. Carmen is gearing up for another school year, this year with only 19 piano students. It was so nice to see Carmen and catch up. Nice way to ease back into the road trip.
 
 
 

Last morning on The River

This is the best image I could capture of a Bald Eagle....they are magnificent birds, and we saw 26 in the past four days. The defining image of my trip on the MS River will be of the two adults and one juvenile who sat in the trees across the river and hunted all afternoon on our second day out.
 

In the night, our last night on the river, two separate 15-barge tows came downriver, and one went up, passing us almost silently. I woke to a low rumbling noise, and when I looked out, I could see the floodlight scanning the shores of the rivers. It was a little eerie, all that big light, and almost no noise. And, no wake. There is much commercial traffic on the river, and it was exciting to see it. In the late 1800's, there was commercial traffic on the river, but it was dangerous and the channel was no always passable. Low water and rapids shortened the life of a paddlewheel steamboat to five years. When the Corps of Engerineers began building dams and locks in the 1930's, the river and it's countryside was changed forever. We learned much about the consequences of that work at the National River Museum in Dubuque, and I'm so glad I saw it all for myself!

We have a quiet little Honda generator on the back of the boat, to keep the fridge cold. A steel hulled boat wouldn't allow for a gas fridge. No way to vent it (you know I asked!). We've run the generator twice a day, for about an hour each time. This is our last morning, so we ran the generator long enough to make coffee, and turned it off. The sound, quiet as it is, will always remind me a post-hurricane days.
 

The rain began as we break camp Friday morning. By now, we're pretty comfortable with the process of bringing in the three anchors in the sand. Even the wing dams (we call them jetties on the coast of NC) on both sides of our beach don't worry me, now that I'm more comfortable handling the boat. I am not ready to go back to the marina, so we motor down river a little further, just to see what's around the next bend. The scene changes with every mile. It's hard to imagine the old river captains running this river from memory. The sky was dark, then light, then gray, and the rain tappered off. There is more to this little storm, we discover later in the day, but for now, we're glad the rain has stopped. We see more Eagles, and pretty views of the mountains through the mist. By the time we head back upriver to the Fun 'N Sun Marina, the sun is bright. I've wanted for years to make this trip, and it was better than anything I'd imagined!
 

Motoring, swimming and eating on the MS River

The first day on the river was rainy and a little cool, the storm moved on, and the temperatures rose when the sun did the next day. We motored on up to Lake Pepin, about 15 miles. We passed a few other pleasure boaters, but no big barges. The Eagle Count was terrific! We could hardly believe we were seeing so many of eagles. They are Big Birds.

Lake Pepin is the second largest naturally wide place on the River. We didn't have enough time to explore the lake, it's far too huge for even two days of motoring.  Anchoring on the shores is not allowed.  It's a beautiful windy day, making a little bit of chop.  We head south.







A view of Lake Pepin, Mississippi River, from our boat...










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A channel marker to Buffalo City, WI....we found the beach just above the junction of the two rivers to be just perfect for a camp.  A few small boats passed during the afternoon, fishermen and sight-seers.  We felt like we were back on our NE Cape Fear River during Booze Cruise hour!




Cocktails and dinner on the upper deck, after a day of eagle spotting, swimming and locking through going down river...

North of Wabasha, MN

The sun appeared as we cleared the Alma lock, Lock and Dam #4 on the Mississippi River. This lock is on the WI side of the river. Almost immediately, we began to see Bald Eagles. You must capitalize the name, they've earned honor with the amazing comeback since Rachel Carson's Silent Spring (can't find the underline!). Such magnificent birds. Pretty quickly we can identify them soaring and gliding over the bluffs, looking for fish. We can easily see them sitting in the dead trees, quiet and calm, looking for a meal opportunity.


One of these pictures is of our second night on the river, across from the entrance to Robinson Lake. We had motored up into the lake which was more like a shallow cove, but didn't find a good beach site. This little beach was just far enough from the main channel to protect us from the wake of most boats, and out of range of the huge barge/tugs that would surely be coming along. We spent the afternoon swimming and watching eagles. Stuart cooked dinner on the grill on the front deck, and we ate on our top deck, watching a beautiful sunset. An adult pair of eagles sat in a tree across the river all afternoon, watching their juvenile eagle hunting. I think they were watching us, too! No pictures of the eagles, too far away.
 
 
 
 
 

There isn't much traffic on the river. There is a big dredge project close to Great River Harbor, and the little tugs were pushing a sand barge up to a renourishment project just a few miles upriver, but above Lock 4, it's pretty quiet. Thankfully. You know, I'm a novice at driving a slab-sided vehicle with delayed response time, in moving water!

First campsite and Alma Lock

Our first day on the river was so exciting and pretty quiet at the same time. The clouds moved in, the rain began. We motored a little, and decided to go into a little cove to wait the rain. These images are from our first day/morning on the river. Coffee never tasted so good, looking down the Mississippi River!

The ring beaked gulls kept us company all day, waiting for us to throw overboard something to eat. They have more hope than any other creatures on earth!
 
 
 
 

Our first lock, upriver, at Alma, WI. We radioed to ask permission to enter the lock, and they didn't laugh! I took these pictures from the boat, watching the lower lock open, and the upper lock open when we had risen 7 feet. The clouds blew away, the sun appeared the exact moment the upper gates opened, and we headed upriver.
 
 

When a boat enters the lock, they ask that we go to the land-side of the lock, and the lockhands throw us a rope. Keeps the boat stable during the raise/lower process. This is a shallow lock, only seven feet, so it only takes a few minutes.
 
 

The Mississippi River float begins!

Our houseboat, we rented from Fun N Sun Houseboat Vacations, in Alma, WI. This is the smallest boat they rent, they call it the Couples Boat. It is perfect for us!
 

We arrived at Great Harbor Marina mid-day Monday. Jim was heading out, with Eric to bring in a returning boat and invited us to join them. An introduction to the River!
 
 

We loaded our food and a couple of clean t-shirts, some cold beer, the camera and binoculars. Tonight, we spend the night on the boat at the dock. Our homework assignment is to watch a short training video (we don't), and read through some info about the river in a book (we do). Jim and Matt, another river rat, joined us for some beers, and I baked a pan of brownies for snacks later.

Tuesday morning, Matt takes us out into the main river channel, at mile 747.9, to teach us a few basics about running the boat, and how to beach it. Another, much larger houseboat went out just ahead of us, and a Corps of Engineers tug pushing dredge material is going upriver about the same time. Matt steps off our boat onto the little 'ferry', and we're on our own. Pinch me, this is real!
 

Pike's Peak and a 'bike....

We're about 26 hours and 32 minutes from picking up our houseboat on the Mississippi River. Think I'm excited?

About two weeks ago, we began driving past cornfields. Acres, then miles. Well, miles turned into hours, which turned into days. We've been driving through undulating hills of corn and soybeans for WEEKS now. Such beautiful country.

We stopped at a roadside market to buy local vegetables, and heard about Pike's Peak State Park, just ahead in MacGregor, WI. The confluence of the Wisconsin River and the Mississippi River. This is where the high bluffs really begin. About 400,000 years ago, when this part of the continent was an ocean, layers of sand were laid down. Millions of years later, when the ice age scraped some of those layers off, the limestone and dolomite cliffs were exposed. The limestone washed away, leaving caves and caverns, which turned into mining interests in current time. The visual result is bluffs over the river, with very wide flood plains creating what is called 'braided rivers'. A braided river is pretty danged healthy, and the Corps of Engineers has seen the results of damming and un-braiding rivers. This is a seriously condensed history! But, I'm getting ahead of the story of the river. Lt. Zebulon Pike, the same man who named the famous Pikes Peak farther west, was one of the first Europeans to see this magnificent view, and this little known bluff is named for him. Of course, Native Americans had been living here for almost 6,000 years.
 
 

While we were at Pike's Peak State Park, having lunch, this man rode in on this home-made motorcycle. You KNOW I had to ask him about it! The motor and rear chassis is a 1962 VW Beetle. The front tire forks are twisted wrought iron, the transmission....I forget all the details, but it was a cool bike!