Yooperland in Ishpeming, Mich.

Ev, AKA Edith Ann

this is one of many things at "Da tourist trap" on the highway here

Notice guy's head on the wall.  In picture behind the 2 deer, threre are 3 guys hanging upside down, like you hang a deer.  A deer is touching a guy's privates, saying, "This one's hardly legal."

This bucket took a miner, his candle and his lunch down hundreds of feet into the mine.  The candle was so he could see a little bit!

They claim this is the largest working percussion cannon.  It operates with oxygen and propane.

There were 2 big yards full of stuff besides a large gift shop

Campground neighbors and a church

Mitchell Methodist church in Negaunee, Mich

this is the 2nd little Skamp trailer we've seen.  Makes ours look like the Taj Mahal.  Two people shared it.  Tom said barely large enough to carry on a conversation.  No longer than that small SUV.

May 26 - Marquette and K.I. Sawyer, Mich.

Drove past the extremely large, operational Empire Mine next to Warner Creek in Palmer.  We don't know what they mine, but we've read that nearly 70 minerals are mined in this part of Michigan.

We forgot our fireplace tongs that we use for campfires.  Stopped at a thrift store and someone had just donated the whole brass set, so they priced it at $5 and we are now happy campers again!

We want to go on a glass bottom boat tomorrow, but they don't start tours till this weekend.  Maybe in a couple of weeks we can come back that way on our way south. 

Almost every small town we drive through has a nice city park, and usually a veteran's memorial there or someplace else obvious.  Saw more nice Victorian homes and beautiful churches today.  Most are 100 yrs or more old, but we saw a couple of real modern ones in Marquette-large town.

We ate our picnic lunch at a tiny park by the lake, in view of an ore dock.  There were no ships there today, nor at the one further down the bay.  Darn it.
Marquette's iron ore and dock facts:
After being mined, the ore is crushed and the iron separated out with a chemical or magnetic process.  Ore is combined with a binding agent, like a glorified cornstarch, and rolled into small balls about an inch in diameter.  The balls are fed through a kiln and fired by temps over 2000 degrees F.  This makes taconite pellets.  Each yr approximately 8,000,000 tons of iron in the form of pellets is shipped from Marquette's docks alone.  They come via railcar and are dumped into steel pockets or bins beneath the tracks.  To load the ship, a chute is lowered to the open cargo hatch and a door at the bottom of the pocket opens, allowing the pellets to run into the ship.  Time varies-depending on size of ship, and how prepared the dock is to load - 4 hrs is typical.  This is the job of the First Mate.  It is important to load the ore in a proper sequence to avoid over-stressing the ship.  Each chute of pellets weighs about 20 tons.  Most of these local pellets are shipped to Algoma Steel in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.  These are roughly 70% iron and are combined with coke and limestone at the mill to make steel.

Next stop was K.I. Sawyer.  This was the first base Tom was assigned to - from Fall 66 to April 68.  He walked around B-52's for his 8 hour shift.  I remember one time he told me there was 7' of snow on the ground.  Often he'd come in and his hands would be too cold to clear his weapon.  He was told there was a nice aircraft museum there now, but the bldg was closed and off limits and there were several deteriorating planes on its grounds.  There was a B-52, but not one with the tail numbers he knew.  Besides, he says all those are still flying! The base closed many yrs ago and it became an intl. airport in 99.  He recognized a lot of the bldgs and showed me how far he had to walk to work since he didn't have a car.

Dessert!  On the way into town we saw a sign for a Big Boy Restaurant.  We used to stop at those in Minn on the way south to Iowa and haven't eaten in one for many yrs.  The placemats were made for Dave and Darlene since they said "Some people skip dessert.  I know, crazy, huh?"

It had been 92 and humid all afternoon and was now 4:00.  We headed to Yooperland-see attached photos - and then back to the camper to put sun tea out!

May 24 Driving to Ishpeming, Mich

This is one of those trips Tom calls getting from point A to B.  No real pretty scenery etc.  Already 77 and humid at 9:30.  We have to back track through a few of the small towns where we were this week.  When Tom was in grade school his dad was a traveling salesman for nails, wire, wire fencing etc. out of Green Bay.  One summer he rode with his dad for the 5 day week and he remembers being in some of these small towns like Hancock and Houghton.  We passed Michigan Tech, where HUGE Victorian homes are now frat and sorority houses.  In front of a business was a HUGE bear trap and a big sign saying "Big government crushes freedom."
I think Star Wars was the movie with the Klingons.  We just passed Klingville.  Hmm.  Sign in construction zone:  "injure of kill a worker - $7500 and 15 years."

Finally found a place that was making pasties (pass-tees) today.  Picture a pita, but this is a little larger with a pinched edge on one side.  This is what the miners took to work-filled with beef or fish, potatoes, rutabaga, onion.  They would hold it over the lantern in the mine to heat it.  It really didn't have a lot of taste, but s & p and a little jalapeno catsup helped!  This tiny restaurant has been in the same family for 80 years in Ishpeming.  In the winter they bake 300+ pasties daily and 600 fresh daily in the summer because of tourists!  They bake cookies and very large cinnamon rolls, pizza.  Pizza and pasties are all that are on their sign out front.  I think they'd sell a lot of baked goods if it was on the sign.  We've noticed a lot of ways people could improve their business already.  It was the baker here who told us her sister lives by Betty's Pies in Two Harbors, Mn.

Ok, we're dying here!  90 degrees and so humid that the sweat is running down our faces.  Is supposed to cool down to high 60's, low 70's where we'll be this weekend-yay!

Pictures of Copper Harbor and Delaware copper mine

a tunnel in the copper mine.  Modern lights are strung in half of it, but the second half we walked had the original lanterns hanging from the ceiling

looking down a side area

bldgs outside the mine

Copper Harbor at tip of peninsula

May 23 Calumet, MI, Delaware copper mine tour, Wilkins State Park

77 today.  Drove the Copper country trail - 33miles each way- to northern tip of this Michigan peninsula.  Calumet -small town with many neat, old rock buildings.  Lots of churches.  One was a twin spired one built in 1906 as St. Joseph's Catholic.  In 1966 it became St. Paul the Apostle Church.  One has been turned into a greenhouse and another one is now the Habitat for Humanity Restore.  As we see in every town, some of the Victorian or later houses are in pristine condition, but others are rotting where they sit.  Some money each year would save them, but some probably haven't been painted in 30 yrs.  Huge old railroad depot is boarded up and tracks have been removed.  I've read that many railroad beds in these states, as in others, are now bike and hiking paths.  Old copper smelting works buildings.  This is the weekend, so don't know if they are still used.  Several residential streets have signs saying they are made of the oldest concrete pavement in Michigan-laid in 1906.  In bad shape now.  Look like large bricks of gray.
At a wayside there is a huge snowfall gauge.  Winter of 1978-79 holds record for largest amount - 390.4".  Close to a ski area, so that's good.  Most State highways are tree lined on both sides because the roads were cut through the northwoods.  Pine type trees are intermingled with mainly green, leafy type trees.  Of course farms are laid out in between.  Next burg was Phoenix, but don't blink.  Its cemetery was established in 1843.  Eagle River -in 1800's a German man opened a factory that produced 25,000 feet of fuse daily for the mines.  Passed a tiny waterfall with a sign saying Jacob's waterfall.  Then the road winds back to lakeside.  Some protected sand dunes so beach access is prohibited for a little ways.
Drove to the top of Brockway Mtn. 726' above the lake and 1350' above sea level.  The side of the hill was small rocks and Tom said at some point this must have all been under a sea because Mother Nature doesn't make stones like that without water.  We could see a ski resort on the next mountain.  In 1563 the Indians told explorers the hills were full of copper, but mining didn't start until 1844.
Ft. Wilkins State Park was built by the Army in 1844 to keep the peace in this copper mining area.  Beautiful day, but other visitors said this week there is often still snow on the ground here.  Funds from State owned mineral deposits have paid for the preservation or development of over 46,000 acres since 1976.  As we drive on we listen to Tom's new cd of guitar music and the tide.
Delaware Copper Mine tour:  100 steps down.  We walked 1000' of the 1800' comprising 2 tunnels.  It is 1400' deep, with 10 levels.  We walked on the top level.  The other 9 are filled with water.  Here in the 1860's the wages were 14 to 25 cents per hour.  There were no mechanical drills.  Three man teams worked together, with one holding the drill and the other 2 alternately hitting it with 12# sledge hammers.  This is unreal:  98-1/2% of what they removed was rock, with the other 1-1/2% being copper.  They removed 8 million pounds of copper!  We asked the couple there if they owned it and she said yes.  He grew up in the area and thought it would be neat to buy a mine for tourists to see.  He looked at several maps and drawings and thought the smaller ones may not be appealing, so bought this large one.  That was 33 yrs ago and he continued doing some engineering work until 1985 and then it sounded like this was their only job.  I'm sure they are younger than us.  They live in a doublewide there in the summer and in Fla in the winter. 
No luck finding a pasty anywhere.  Back to campground at 5:15.  Left at 8:30.  Another great day!

Ashland, WI and McClain State Park, Mich. pictures

mural

Ashland's veterans part of Ashland's downtown.  The mural of buildings probably has the names of actual old businesses.

Coast Guard members with
lighthouse keeper and family

May 22 Ashland, Wi, and into Michigan on the Keenawaw Peninsula

We can hardly fathom that we left home 3 weeks ago tonight.  Those 6 days in Livingston tok up time, obviously.  But the weather improved and it has all worked out fine.
Ashland (pop 8600)  I had read that there were murals there, so we left the main road to drive into old downtown.  Look for the pictures I'll attach.  Really phenomenal.  A town 40 miles or so from our home has over 20 murals.  The veteran one is of the town's veterans.  Some died in wars, per the plaques.  Some were at least 1/2 block long.  Several pretty churches.  Drove out of WI and saw sign to watch for blowing and drifting snow.  Luckily today it is 65 degrees at 10:45.

State to state:  At this time we are following along the bays of Lake Superior.  In no time you can go from one state to another, unlike driving across WA or Colo.  Of course these states are huge, too, but we are in the smaller upper parts.  Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  The people call themselves Yoopers.  Hancock:  Finnish community, including Finlandia Univ.  McClain State Park -our site is across the road from the seating area on the cliff above the lake.  Park has nice decks and wooden double chairs all over.  We ate a late lunch after arriving and about dinnertime I was inside reading and Tom got out his guitar.  Two young teenaged girls asked if they could listen.  They could only stay for 2 songs and then one asked if he'd please take $1.00 as a thank you.  A few minutes later I heard a man ask if he and his wife could come over to listen.  I went out and we visited in between songs.  They live not far away in WI.  It was his birthday and his name is Tom.  About 2 hrs later he said "you know we stopped cooking to come over in case you weren't going to play long.  We should probably go finish dinner."  We had a snack and they came back and we watched the sunset over the lake in those chairs, while listening to the tide coming in below us.  We were telling them about the girls and she said, well, I'm leaving a tip, too, and dropped $5 in his guitar case.  They stayed until 10:30.  Nice couple.

Pictures from Apostle Island Natl Park and Madeline Island

loading sand that was brought from another island by tug and barge

approaching the dock at Bayfield

eons of Lake water eroding cliffs

May 21 Apostle Island National Park and Madeline Island

Red Cliff Indians are part of the Chippewa band and got their name from the iron ore deposits in the cliffs.  The Petersons own several businesses there, right amongst the Indians!  Only 3 miles to Bayfield - pop. 611.  I had an article about it and we knew we wanted to go there.  Beautiful Victorian homes, with some being inns and B & B's.  Lilacs have barely begun blooming and there are other beautiful trees.  We went to the Islands visitor center to watch an interesting 20 minute film before taking the 3 hour cruise around 45 miles and 22 islands.  Park was established 40 yrs ago.  History of name is obscure, but stories say the Indians have always thought the lake was sacred and missionaries and fur traders may have named them.  Some have a very few residents, some allow tent camping.  Some were logged, but many have real old growth forests, and rare plant life.  Some have restricted visitation times because of bird nesting etc.  We barely left the harbor when I spotted a bald eagle.  Volunteers give tours of some of the lighthouses and keeper's houses. The lights are all automated now.  Many ships have sunk on the Gr Lks and the movie said the lost lives of sailors was part of the price of America becoming industrialized.
In the winter a lot of people drive across the lake because its ice gets 2" thick.  Know what?  That isn't thick enough for me!  Captain told us a story about a man who was moving his house from one island to another in 1977.  The ice started to crack and his pickup, trailer and house sank to the bottom.  He said, the Park Service considers vehicles and houses pollution and there is a law that if anything sinks, the owner must pay to have it removed.  They put a strap around the house and started pulling it up and the bottom fell out.  Obviously if wasn't a very large home.  A local Realtor decided to have fun with the situation and placed an ad:  sunken living room, sunken dining room, sunken bedrooms and bathroom.  All for a rock bottom price!
Madeline Island is the only one of the group that isn't part of the park because there are 200 year round residents and 2000 summer ones, so it would have been too expensive to buy them out.  We got off the cruise ship and walked to the next dock to catch the 23 minute ferry ride over to it.  There was only one shop out of 5 or so open and only 1 restaurant open.  After walking many blocks we had time for a quick drink dockside at the restaurant.  On the trip over there was a pickup hauling a trailer with 2 large bear traps that looked like long 55 gallon drums.  The truck was in line for the same return trip as ours and Tom had said he wondered where one took bears they found on Madeline Island.  Being a shy person, I walked up to the truck to ask the driver.  He works for the Dept of Agriculture and he said a bear had broken into a trailer and people think there are 2 of them.  He'll come back to get them and move them to one of the more desolate islands.  He had such a heavy northern Wisc accent and must have said yup 6 times in 3 sentences.  Interesting:  1.  Kids take ferry back and forth to Bayfield to school.  When ferry can't run from end of Oct to March, they often take a wind sled.  Maybe some parents drive them too.  Can't imagine sending a kindergartener or other young ones on a ferry.  2.  As we waited to depart, a small tugboat led a small barge full of sand into the harbor.  The captain got off, climbed onto a crane/shovel and loaded 4 dumptrucks as we sat there.  We saw no grocery stores etc on Madeline.  A couple of cars and pickups on the ferry had women who had lots of trays of flowers to plant.  This is similar to the San Juan Islands in Wa where you do your shopping elsewhere.

May 20 Leaving Minn and entering Wisc

Walked down a steep path to the lake before breaking camp.  The huge rock formations reminded me of the Devil's Causeway in No. Ireland that I've seen pics of.  Tom said they should be the same type of rocks.  But in these we saw iron ore lines that have seeped in over the eons.  And this whole area was a huge sea a billion years ago.
Leaving Minn.  We'll be back and forth between Wisc, Mich and Minn over the next 5 weeks.  It isn't like driving across WA or Colo.  You go a few miles around a bay of Lake Superior and you're in the next state.  Drove back thru Superior, Wi where the WWII museum and mansion were and today there were several large lakers in the harbor.  This area often has 35" of snow per month. 
Wisc.  the first rest area we saw had a playground in it-what a neat way for the kids to run off energy too.  First time we've ever seen that.  Lots of farms and a gorgeous, huge red barn in perfect condition that said built in 1929.  So many have deteriorated and it is a shame.  We saw lots of fields full of dandelions and Tom suggested this is where they grow them for the city yards.  We weren't that far frm Superior where the temp was 70 and stopped at a wayside to eat lunch and it was 52 by the lake and here the water was brown.
Ehler's General Store-blt 1915-in Cornucopia, Wi-its northernmost town.  There we found the first postcard we'd seen with a fish and here we were in Wi-it was of several men from the town and their catch-many are deceased now, per the clerk.  Passed a sign in a driveway that said "Finnsville-pop. 2".
Arrived at our campsite outside of Red Cliff Indian Reservation, still on the Lake.  Relaxed and walked across street to their small casino.  Spent $4, won 27 and came home with 8.  Big gamblers we are.  Relaxed all evening, after I went to laundromat.  Funny how we've had to do things like oil change, car wash, laundry, groceries and other shopping!  Lakeside campground.  Talked briefly with a couple who arrived with their sailboat for the 25th summer- and they're from Mnpls.  We thought, why would they come to Wisc with all those Minn lakes.  But after sailing around the Apostles the following day, we could understand why they like it.  See May 21 about that.

May 19th. North Shore to Thunder Bay, Canada

Headed up the North Shore into Canada today.  Went 37 miles to Thunder Bay, Ontario to see the sights.  110,000 pop.  The Fort William historical park wasn't open yet, coudn't find the amethyste jewelry shop so just burned up fuel driving around.  It was 83 degrees.  90 Km = 55 MPH.  25 Km over speed limit = $10,000 Canadian dollars minimum fine!  Moose crossing signs all say "night danger".  I thought they usually bedded down then.  They call gas stations gas bars.  We saw Pelletier's Auto Body (friends' name).  I have never seen so many dandelions in my life as we've seen in no. Minn and up here.  We drove to a hill above town to see the lake and town.  As we came around a corner, mama and her 3 black bear cubs were almost across the road.  The 3 shimmied up the closest birch so fast we couldn't believe it.  Mama must have realized we weren't going to get out of the truck and they soon shimmied down and went further into the woods with her.  You should be able to zoom in on this to see the last one coming down.  By the way, some days we aren't able to upload pics. We didn't drive an hour further to walk on Canada's longest susp bridge-600' and 152' from canyon floor or its 1/2 mile zip line.
Stopped back at Grand Marais, Mn. - cute shops.  Ben Franklin dime store was the strangest one we've ever seen.  In the '50's-60's in Iowa they were the pre-K-Mart type nickel and dime store.  In recent yrs the ones we've seen have been craft stores and we have seen 2 empty ones of those on this trip.  This one had camping stuff, 1/3rd of store was clothing and everything else imaginable.  Good deal since few shopping options there. We've seen lots of Scandanavian names - yeah, sure, you betcha (that's northern Minnesotan talk).  But we couldn't pass up going to Sven and Ole's pizza and pickled herring bar.  We passed on the wild rice pizza.  Ad for Minnesota tourism:  Want silence?  Find some farmland.  Had picture of waterfall.

Superior, WI. pictures

Split Rock lighthouse,Tettegouche St Pk pictures

Catching up!!!! May 18th by Ev

I am writing more than I had planned some days, but we are finding things very interesting and always think of someone who would, too. I will try to do a lot of bold headlines so you can ignore if not of interest to you.

A big blessing-today I was able to wear my tennis shoes for the first time since being in the hospital! And my knee and back didn't hurt, so we felt very thankful!

What a day we had! 65 degrees. Left camp at 7:15 a.m. We have really been looking forward to t0day and tomorrow, so were up and raring to go. Many of you know we've gotten up at 4:15 for about 18 years. Our friends, the Cartwrights and Cozads would have enjoyed these 2 days.

We drove along the north shore of Lake Superior in Mn. Reached the lake at 8 and couldn't tell where the water ended and sky began - all the same color. Many nice homes, resorts and restaurants. So many homes for sale and later today someone told us the mkt has been bad for yrs and some of them have been for sale for yrs.
Betty's Pies-Two Rivers, Mn.
Last month we saw that the show Bizarre Foods was going to be in Mn, so we watched it for the first time. They talked about a restaurant in a town that we knew we'd be in. We stopped for bkfst and pie to go. In the 1950's a man owned a bait shop and his wife decided she could bake stuff and fishermen would buy it. Soon they closed the bait shop and opened a restaurant. It expanded greatly. She sold it several yrs ago, but still comes in to eat. They bake 300 pies a day in the summertime! 8 kinds of fruit ones and 8 cream ones. His show was about a sauerkraut pie, but that isn't on the menu. We had the Great Lakes berry one-5 berries. It's on a narrow two lane road facing the lake. A week later we were in a restaurant with lots of baked goods and the gal told us her sister lives in Two Harbors and cars line up way down the road waiting to get in the parking lot for pies.
You know you're in Mn when you see an old Cadillac with fins painted green to look like a fish. You wonder if you're in Mn when you look on 20+ postcard racks and can't find one with a picture of a fish. 11,000+ lakes, (not 10,000)
Gooseberry Falls St Park
Walked all over the park-falls had the yellow ore color. From 1934-41 an average of 200 Civilian Conservation Corps men worked on the infrastructure of the park-trails, steps, walls, well house, restrooms, etc. This was an effort to keep men employed, while performing good work for the country. Even before this trip I told Tom they should do this again.
More and more houses for sale-sometimes 2-3 in a row.
Took camper 40 miles up to our campground because last camp host told us there were a couple of places we'd never be able to pull into that we wanted to see. Ate our pie and headed back down the road. It was 1:30 and still couldn't distinguish lake from the sky.
Iron ore docks. Iron is a big economic boost to the northern parts of these Great Lks states. The ore (taconite) is loaded on 1000' Lakers (boats that sail the Gr Lks) and they sail through the locks to Cleveland, Pennsylvania, etc., for the steel mills. By 3:30 or so we could finally distinguish the sky and see Wisc across the lake.
Lake Superior's size: 160 miles north to south, 350 miles east to west, 459' average depth, though sometimes 7' or 600+. It is the largest freshwater lake in the world, holding an estimated 3 quadrillion gallons (that's 15 zeroes). Stays about 40 degrees all year.
Split Rock Lighthouse. Probably the most interesting one we have ever seen. The 23 minute film was excellent. Their slogan this year is :Just consider it 1 giant birthday candle" because it's the 100th anniversary. We walked to it. When it was built the only access was by water. All supplies for its construction were hoisted up the huge cliff. The lamp weighs 2000#. In the 1920's a tram was built to carry them up a different area. Tom walked down the 175 steps to the bottom, and up, of course. A road was built in the '40's and it became a huge tourist attraction. The lighthouses around the Lakes were so necessary because the ore in the hills sent the ships off course. By the '60's radar and other navigational tools made the lights obsolete. They now have a big RV visitor's lot, so we are driving an extra 80 miles today. I called that last camp host to tell him not to tell people that anymore and he said thanks, I haven't been there for several yrs. There are campgrounds everywhere, so they sure need to accomodate RVers.
Stopped at Flea mkt and there was some vintage Fiestaware. Large, yellow Pyrex mixing bowls were priced at $12.
Tettegouche St Pk
Sign said .7 mile to falls. Didn't tell you that the first .3 or whatever was uphill and then the next long section was downhill on mud. Then 168 steps down to them! After we climbed back up the steps we took an asphalt road thru their campground-longer, but easier.
Drove total of 177 miles and didn't get back to trailer till 7:18. 12 hour day of fun and soooo much walking. By far the most I've done in one day in over 3-1/2 yrs. Red beer for me to celebrate.

May 17th Superior, Wisconsin

Superior is across the St. Louis River from Duluth. We took the long way cross country on a two-lane road along the river instead of the interstate. Here's a picture of the river. Don't know if you can see the yellow water-caused from iron ore.

We drove southeast of Superior to check out a possible campsite for when we come back down from the north shore. It was a wasted trip. Back in Superior we stopped for lunch at a spot overlooking the harbor. There are ship-building docks, ore docks, coal docks, grain docks, and trains hauling materials everywhere. We stopped at a mansion that was built in 1889 for $150,ooo. First floor was restored a few years ago and that cost over $1.2 million. Ev toured the inside and I took pictures outside.

The owner started out in the newspaper and lumber business and ended up in the ore business-which was like the price of gold. Ev here: my sisters would love it. 42 rooms, original stained glass windows. Interesting downdraft system from roof, down through the 3 floors which helped circulate air when windows were opened. Bryan would have found it interesting. They repainted all the ceilings on the first floor and so beautiful. Each had different designs. Our dad would have loved all the exotic woods used for the woodwork and the various tiles for the 8 fireplaces. After he died she moved to Calif. and left the mansion as a children's home. She had been involved with neglected and abandoned children and it was constant. It served that purpose for 42 yrs. There is a board where adults have visited and written short memories. One girl was there from birth till 18. One guy said they ate oatmeal 6 days a week and, if they did, they could have cornflakes on Sunday. He said "I never had cornflakes and it took me 15 yrs after leaving here to look at oatmeal."

In a parking lot today a man in late 30's, probably, noticed Tom's Vietnam Veteran window sticker and said, "You fought a war for me? Thank you and God bless you."

Tom toured the Richard Bong WWII museum. Mr. Enclopedia already knew Bong was a fighter ace in the Pacific. He also earned the Medal of Honor.

May 16th pictures

train pictures came out too dark

May 16-Heading to northern Minnesota

High was 77-yay! We took off this morning, traveling as we really love to, but seldom have the time for: off the interstate, along small highways, where you see farmland, old barns, old cars and tractors for sale, marshland filled with cattails, mama with her dozen teeny ducklings at the edge of the highway-yikes! Tree-lined on both sides for miles, lakes, small towns, boat trailers behind pickups lined up for a block or two on both sides of the highway by a lake. And a bluegrass or rock and roll cd playing what Tom calls "travelin' music".

We saw lots of resort signs and one jumped out to me when it said Brindley's. We had a Campbell reunion there in '86 or '87. By the time it registered we were past the sign and who knows what driving our long rig in there would have been like. We have gotten a kick out of how many Lutheran churches we see in Minnesota-though not a surprise. Guess seeing a Methodist one was, though.

We are camped 16 miles out of Duluth in Cloquet, MN. After getting settled we drove into the big city (86,000) and went down to the waterfront - Lake Superior. Tom toured a 3 floor museum in the old train depot downtown. John Cozad, he wished you'd been there to see the Mallet engine and hear the sound tape they played talking about its power, pulling the ore trains etc. Said it was phenomenal.

The bridge picture is of the aerial bridge which they raise when a boat or a large ship that is sailing to the other lakes needs to go under it. We saw an iron ore train waiting by the docks. The cars are smaller than coal cars because of the weight they carry. We walked along the path to a lighthouse. We saw a boy carrying a 2 mo old Pomeranian that was adorable-black head and white body-small like a small cat. Mother said their male has black head, white tail and from back of head to tail it is zebra striped in black and white.

As we pulled out of the parking lot we saw a double motorcycle pulling a trailer that looked like an old Chevy. Its passengers were 2 beagles!

The State highways are sometimes bumpy and we wonder if some cupboard door will be open inside the camper, but no bad things have happened yet. I-35 between here and Duluth is much bumpier!

Another great day of retirement. Tom can't keep track of what day it is - what a shame! I think it's great for him.

May 15, 2010 Straight Lake and Itasca St Pk, Mn

Today we found the area on Straight Lake where Tom and I met 46 yrs ago! His family stayed at a resort and mine stayed at a private cabin next door. The cabin looks the same. We were both from Iowa-350 miles apart-and ready to begin our senior year in high school! It is about 36 miles from there to Itasca St Pk, where the headwaters of the Mississippi are. The water that looks like a creek is the river, too!

Pictures from Jamestown ND and Fargo Air Museum

Basillica of St. James and P-51 Mustang from WWII

May 14, 2010 N.D and on to Minn.

For our Catholic friends: we stopped to take a picture of Basillica of St. James in Jamestown, N.D. It was built in 1910 and is one of only 60 minor basillicas in America.
Flags Across America. A veteran's memorial to N.D. soldiers killed between the Phillipines and now. The 30 x 60' flag had not been hung for the summer.
Fargo Air Museum (air museum #1 we have stopped at! That's been a joke -how many will he view?) I fixed lunch while he toured it. Very interesting planes and nice WWII memorabilia.
That's all we did in Fargo. By early afternoon it was sunny and 73 degrees. About 30 degrees warmer than we've had for more than a week and the first sun in almost 2 weeks!
Detroit Lakes Minn. Had reservations made on Long Lake, so got settled and walked down to the lake. Went into town and had Tom's birthday dinner on Detroit Lake. Woman next to us had a birthday and we heard how they treat someone, so we told them it was Tom's. His dinner was $11 and they took $10 off, gave him his Coke free and brought a free huge chunk of cake for us to share. I had walleye almondine and could only eat half of it - it must have been 8" by 4". Not much flavor.
Trains-We were near no./so. and east/west lines and one went by on one or the other every few minutes. The one actually went across the highway, a few miles out of town. Weird.

Dickinson, N.D.- daytime-46 degrees, Bismarck

Ukranian cultural center-small. Beautiful costumes, altar, eggs and nesting doll just like Tom brought me from Moscow in early 70's. A museum had 50,000#of petrified wood. On was 12000#. ND was covered with rivers and marshlands, with cypress and redwoods around wtr. 60 million yrs ago. A volcano erupted, petrifying the wood. These were found over 20 yrs, 70' below the surface, near a coal mine.
Ft. Abraham Lincoln State Park-near Bismarck
Fort from which Gen. Custer left for his final battle. He was made General at age 23. Govt built nice house for he and Libby, which we toured. Tom walked all over the grounds. I went to the truck several times as I still get tired very easily and my toe hurts. I can only wear sandals and socks-I look like those Oregonians!
We went for pizza and then a mall for haircuts. Their last 2 winters here have been miserable, so since it was 41 degrees, people were walking around in shorts and flip flops! Like Fairbanks.
Oddest food seen so far - in a mall candy store: choc covered and vanilla covered Ruffles chips and fortune cookies She said they sell lots of them.
N.D. Heritage Center - large bldg with no admission fee that was filled with very interesting displays. Then on to a Lewis and Clark intrpretative center and a small fort. Rained all day and since late afternoon yesterday. 46 degrees again for high.
Economy in ND is excellent, we are told. We've seen houses of all sizes being built and commercial construction. Coal mining, oil refining etc are keeping people employed. This Walmart had a help wanted sign up for almost every dept and guy said many businesses need help. Minot - where AFB is- can't build houses fast enough, they say. We think this is all great, doncha know?
Rain has stopped since I have sat down, but this campground is what Midwesterners call a loblolly (very muddy) now, so no walks tonite. Read or watch a DVD. Head east tomorrow.

Photos from TR Nat'l Park

May 11

As we left eastern Montana we saw lots of pickups with large metal guards on the front. We assume those are so the elk, deer and antelope don't play on the front or hood of those pickups!
Suddenly in eastern Montana and western No Dak the farm roads were all red clay. That same red appears in some of the hills.

We began driving through the N.D. Badlands, not to be confused with the S. D. Badlands. Tom studied geology and loves seeing the various colors, layers and formations of areas such as this. His interest has sparked mine over the years.

We drove into the rustic town of Medora, which is the gateway to Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Very few businesses were open yet. It appears traveling through Montana and N.D. before Memorial Day is unwise if you want to shop or see museums, etc. Teddy owned a ranch in the area around 1883 - 84 and was dismayed that the huge buffalo herds had disappeared and that the grasslands were being over grazed. He encouraged Congress to establish the U.S. Forest Service, 18 national monuments, 5 national parks and 51 national forests.

The Badlands were formed from sediment being brought by creeks - all the way from the young Rockies - 60 million years ago. We saw a buffalo herd, elk herd, 3 deer, a wild horse and several prairie dog towns on our scenic loop through the park today.

It reached 55 degrees today and it appears the next few days will be cooler and probably rainy. We brought jackets and umbrellas for just such days, but that doesn't mean we have to like it!

More Helena, Mt. pictures

Whole neighborhood of restored Victorian homes.

Capitol building with copper dome.

Pictures from Helena, Montana

Cathedral of St. Helena. Much of it was paid for by a gold baron. His was the first funeral held there.

May 10th - Catching you up with what's been happening

The staph infection really hit me. Affected my white count, oxygen levels, speeded up my heart rate and dropped my blood pressure as low as 79/35. I was in Wed-Fri with antibiotic infusions and heparin shots (to avoid clots) every 8 hours. Sat, Sun and Mon went to outpatient for 1 daily antibiotic infusion. After today's infusion, went to Doctor's office where he prescribed 5 days of antibiotic pills and released me to travel on! We are very thankful it happened in his mom's town. Her pastor visited 2 days and we had a relaxing weekend and Tom sang one song during service Sunday. We only drove 4 hrs today and tomorrow will drive around here (Miles City, MT) for a bit before heading to the border of No Dak., which will only take about 2 hours. We will take it real easy the next 3 days as I am still worn out!

We woke up to snow Thurs am and it has been windy and chilly. Eastern Mont. and ND. have had temps 15-20 degrees below normal, but this week is to be nicer and it is 61 here now.

Luckily the Campbell "campground" had a huge L shaped driveway. Mr. T certainly knows how to back this monster in! I was zonked in the bed after the morphine and infusion and didn't even help guide him, as planned. The mountain picture is taken from her deck! Is this a million dollar view or what? Mountains in both directions for as far as you can see. Downtown, Interstate 90 in the distance and then the mountains.


Seen on a church bulletin board in Livingston: Remember the banana. When he left the bunch he got skinned!

Ev

May 5, Livingston, MT. We decided to leave on Saturday evening, May 1, as we had completed (we thought) loading the camper and truck. Departed Tri-Cities @ 4:50pm. As we approached Ritzville Ev asked about her box of travel books. Neither of us remembered loading them. I volunteered to unhook the camper and go back and get them as she had worked so hard on them for 6 months. She opted to travel on. We drove to the 50,000 dollar bar in Haugen, MT, arriving there about 11pm MT time. Spent the night in the parking lot, had breakfast and headed for Missoula. We "side-tripped" at a small town on the way to stop in an old book store and look at a quilting retreat hotel for Brenda, Ev's sister. Arrived in Missoula and shopped around a bit before heading south to Florence, MT to spend the night with our friends Rick and Leslie Bachman. We had a great visit with them. We headed out for Helena, MT around 9am, driving there on US 12 over McDonald Pass instead of taking the interstate. It was a very scenic drive. We stopped just over McDonald Pass and made lunch. After driving through Helena we headed out of town to find the campsite. It was 20 miles from Helena back on a lake formed by a dam on the Missouri River. It isn't someplace I'd go out of my way to stay at again.

Ev complained a little about her foot while we were walking around Helena in the afternoon looking at the state capital, beautiful old homes, and a Gothic-style cathedral. By Monday evening her 3rd toe on the right foot looked pretty bad. (That's the middle toe no matter which end you start counting from) Tuesday morning it was causing her a lot of pain. We left the campsite and drove to Bozeman - about a 2-hour drive - and checked into the emergency room there. They started her on IV antibiotics and wanted to have her come back there every 8 hours for more. We got them to pass that mission onto the ER at Livingston Memorial. Finally got her out of the hospital in Bozemen and arrived in Livingston at my mom's house around 3pm.

It was a real joy (right!) backing the camper into mom's driveway but finally got it in there. Got Ev to the ER at 7pm for check-in. They finally got the IV started around 8:30. The best of luck is that the doctor who was on-duty is a friend of ours from mom's church there so I trust what he's doing. He actually pricked the swelling on the toe and took fluid and tissue samples. Results won't be back until Thursday. Had her back for another dose this morning at 6am. It's 11:20am now and they're going to keep her overnight this time (at least) because her blood pressure is so low. My sister Kathy is arriving on Saturday for a visit over Mother's Day. We weren't going to be here for that but looks like we will be now. At least its on this end of the trip when our schedule is loose and we're not in the middle of North Dakota.

It was only 35 degrees this morning, maybe 45 now with 1 - 2 inches of snow expected this afternoon. Probably a good thing we'll be here awhile.

Tom

Retirement

Had a great retirement party Friday 4/30 and today, 5/1, we're loading up. We leave for Florence, MT tomorrow morning and will stay with our friends the Bachman's there overnight. Tomorrow's drive will be the longest one we make in a day - we hope.