The UP!

Hello again!

Well, the good thing about the UP (Upper Peninsula) is you can get away from it all, enjoy amazing scenery, have terrific time with family but the bad thing is you have no internet connection! So sorry for another long post but we've been busy and have lots to share. 

We arrived in Lake Linden in time to have a pastie dinner with mom & dad. During their travels they have been on the hunt for the "best pastie in the UP", at least based upon their opinion. :) Given mom's family lived in the UP in Hubbell during the "copper rush" and she spent many July days there, she might be considered pretty knowledgeable on the subject. We enjoyed several days there and got to revisit some of mom's favorite places where her Uncle Karl's house was, where they picked wild blueberries (yes, we picked some too and made a pie!), went to church on Sunday at St. John's Lutheran (at 8:30AM!!!!), had lunch at Lindells, and got some delicious bakery treats at the Jam Pot. We went up Brockway Mountain and then toured the Copper Harbor area and went rock hounding. We took a step back in time at Fort Wilkins where Dave got to fetch the water and I got my picture taken on the same cannon as many years ago, (yes, that's me rockin' those plaid pants, with my mom in the red coat, her parents and my brother Stephen). We went down 100 steps into the Delaware Mine, hiked to Hungarian falls, stopped and had a picnic lunch lakeside by Lac Le Belle, did a walking tour of Calumet, and even went thru some of the old mining houses at Central Mine. It was a busy few days but lots of great memories, old and new for mom.

 

 

 

Next stop was the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park. Dave & I got there a day early so we went kayaking right from our campground and enjoyed a gorgeous afternoon and some great rock hounding. Mom and dad arrived the next day and we did the Visitors center and went up to Lake of the Clouds, wow what a view! We drove over to the Presque Isle area and did some crazy hiking from Nawadaha to Manabezho Falls. It was supposed to be an easy hike but the employee at the gate failed to mention the erosion problem that took out part of the trail so we had to "detour" up about 70' of the ridge! Mom was on her hands and knees at one point with dad pulling and me pushing from behind. Over the roots and the downed trees, under other trees and finally back to the path, at 83 years young mom was a rock star on that trail! We also hiked to the Summit Peak and saw more amazing views; Michigan is truly a beautiful state!

...and that brings us to the Apostle Islands...at least for me. Mom and dad are headed south back to Grand Haven and we will miss them dearly for the rest of the trip! As for Dave you ask? He took a detour and drove the truck down to Oshkosh to spend the day/night with his son Brian and grandson Brady at the big air show. Now for you Palatine Pool people (you know who you are!) no, this is not a missed stop on our journey as I continued on as planned, drove Phoebe to the campground today and set her all up myself (thank you Lord for the safe journey and the kind camper neighbor who helped me with the uber tight sewer connection!) That's it for now but I'm sure I'll have more pictures to add once Dave gets here tomorrow and we do the Apostle Islands!

Canyon Falls on the way to Lake Linden

Today we headed up to Lake Linden to join my mom & dad but on the way stopped at Canyon Falls just off of 41. What a beautiful spot!

Definitively worth the stop if you are on 41 just south of L'Anse!

 

 

The beginning of the trip!

Hello all~

Welcome to the start of the Travlin' Thomases  Blog!

It's been hard to say exactly when we started this trip since we have been "on the road" most of July already! We started with a quick trip to Alabama for Dave's parent's 75th wedding anniversary and are so thankful for the blessings those 75 years have given them! At 94 and 92 they are both doing well, living on their own, still driving (only making right turns!) and most of all loving their Lord with their whole hearts every day. They are an amazing example for all of us!

 

On our way back north at our stop at Grissom Air Force Museum (part of the Harvest Host program) our passenger side slide broke when I was putting it out for the night. We were able to get it back in within a few inches so we could drive back to Michigan to get it repaired. Since we were fully packed for our "big trip" unloading the fridge and the basement to get it fixed was quite the "hot mess" but thanks to Trent at FabTech we were back on the road on the 7th. It was a good thing as Emma flew in from Tennessee on the 6th and we needed a "home" for all of us as we headed up to Mackinaw to meet my family. We had a fast but fun weekend with my mom & dad, brother & sister in-law, niece (this whole event was for her to celebrate her 21st birthday and graduation from West Virginia), her boyfriend and my sister in law's sister and husband. We biked around Mackinaw Island, ate pasties and did some wine tasting. We had perfect weather and such a great time, too bad it went so fast!

Next stop and RV adventure was to head back down to Ludington to camp with friends Bruce & Jan. On our way down the orange engine light came on. All the other gauges were OK so we kept driving but then turned a corner and fluid came out the back of the RV in a big gush! The engine light now turned red and started flashing STOP ENGINE! As you can imagine I am slightly freaking out telling Dave to pull over but we're on a small road with no shoulder. A few minutes later the engine just shuts down and we pull off as much as we can. The truck is still in the road so we jump out to get that disconnected and off on a side street. After many phone calls (good thing I am tenacious!), a nice stop from Mike the Sheriff, and Mel from Nelson's Truck Service we were back on the road again. Even with the breakdown, we were so fortunate that it was only the radiator hose that came dis-attached and Mel was able to fix it pretty quickly. There was also a NAPA store only 10 minutes away that I was able to get more anti-freeze at. Thankful and praying all of those "adventures" are done for this trip! We had a great few days with Bruce & Jan and will miss them so much over the next few months camping without them.

Back headed north again we stopped in St. Ignace to see my college roommate "Sandy UPper". :) It was terrific to see her again and hear about all the kids. Praying good things will happen for Sandy this year. We did the silly tourist thing and climbed Castle Rock and wow, what a view! We are now at Manistique and visiting Kitch-iti-kipi springs. Very cool place with the spring putting out 10,000 gallons a minute. 

We are heading out now to do some Kayaking in Indian Lake but we'll leave you with the picture Dave took this morning of the sunrise (ya'll know I wasn't up to see it! :). I'll try to do better going forward so the posts aren't so long. Thanks for keeping us in your prayers as we continue on our journey!