We're Home

Well our vacation is ended. We had a wonderful month at Myrtle Beach. We got home Tuesday and I have to admit, I'm glad to be home for awhile. We'll be home for awhile so hope you all check back to our blog in January. We'll be going to Vegas then. See ya!

Myrtle Beach and Friends

OK one set of legs belongs to someone who works for a living and one set of legs belongs to someone who lives the life of a beach bum. Can you guess which is which in the picture at left? Our friends Ric and Vic are visiting Myrtle Beach this week along with our friend, Ed who came in for bike week. Answer to above - the white legs belong to Ric who works for a living and the brown legs belong to Jim who is living the life of a beach bum this month. We've been busy shopping and eating, and playing cards since they arrived. Ric and Vic got a late start on their visit to Myrtle Beach because they became the grandparents of new granddaughter, Gracie born just last week. Gracie is their sixth grandchild - those lucky ducks!!! Today its raining very hard. Ric and Vic are out shopping and me, Jim and Ed are going to take a ride out to look at the bike week vendors (if any are open). We will all meet for dinner this evening at J Edwards. The rest of the weekend is looking more promising as far as weather goes.

Myrtle Beach, Crabbing & Fishing

Well Wayne, Jim and I went crabbing and between the 3 of us we caught about 15 crabs. Well actually Jim netted them in after I hooked them on the chicken neck. We lost quite a few before we actually got the hang of netting them; those critters were quick to get away if they could.
The next day Jim and I spent the day on the pier fishing; well I fished and Jim sunned himself.
I fished all day and only got 2 nibbles while people all around me were catching blues. The guy across from me was catching a blue every 15 minutes. I don't know what I was doing wrong. The lady standing next to me was not catching anything either, but then all of a sudden her line starting pulling and she reeled in the biggest stingray I've ever seen. It was so big she couldn't get it up out of the water, so this guy came along and broke her line. She didn't want to reel it all the way in anyway but was hoping to get it unhooked. The guy told her the only way to solve that problem was to cut the line. Thursday, after I went to Curves, Elaine and I went shopping again. That evening, Jerry and Elaine and me and Jim met our RV neighbors at the Crocodile Rock for a dueling piano act. It was so much fun. These guys took song requests and inter-acted with the audience and did some hilarious jokes on people. I never laughed so hard. We will definitely have to go back there. Friday, Elaine and Jerry and Jim and I went on the Sun Cruz casino boat. It was a five hour cruise. They had 4 floors of slot machines and one floor of gaming tables. I played machine poker for 3 hours on $20 and quit when I got my $20 back. So much for the big gambler. They also served lunch and had entertainment. It was really a nice day. Tomorrow, Jerry and Elaine leave and we will be by ourselves until Sunday, when our friend Ed Steckler arrives. He's coming in for bike week. Bike week actually starts on Wednesday so we have a few days of rest before then. So until next time......

More Myrtle Beach Updates

Still having a great time at the beach. Jim and I played another round of golf with Jerry and Verna. Jim and I both played at about the same level so I felt pretty good about that. More friends and family came down; Jerry and Elaine Klauber previously from Virginia now Florida, and my cousins Darleen and Kathleen from Columbia, SC. We all went to a Mystery Dinner Theater with Jerry and Verna last Friday. After dinner you have to write down "who did it" and "why" and they gave out little prizes to people who "got it". What a hoot! Elaine, Verna and Jim got acknowledged at the end of the evening as "having a clue" about the mystery but not quite the whole truth, and my cousin Kathleen got acknowledged as "not having a clue". She wrote the Gecko did it because he didn't buy his insurance at Geico!!! Saturday, Kathleen, Darleen, Elaine and I sat down at the beach and talked and read. We had a little excitement around 11:00 that morning as 4 sharks were pacing back and forth about 12 feet from shore. People were scrambling from the water like crazy. Later that afternoon, Kathleen and I went out and rode the waves and just had a blast. (There were no sharks by then!) Sunday more friends showed up, Wayne and Barbara from Virginia. We all decided to check out the Flea markets down here. We spent most of the day at the Flea Market. Then we ended up at Bimini's for all the steamed oysters you could eat between 4&6pm. Monday Kathleen and Darleen left for home and me and Elaine went to Curves. Elaine shopped while I worked out, then we both went shopping. We checked out Coldwater Creek and Chicos and found bargains at both places. That evening, we all went out to Carolina Roadhouse for dinner and Coldstone Creamery for ice cream. Needless to say, Jim and I are dieting big time today. Jim, Wayne and I are going crabbing this afternoon and with a little luck we will have steamed crabs for dinner tonight. So until next time...........

Myrtle Beach with the Dogs

What can I say - another great day at the beach! This morning Jim and I went to the Golf Club and hit two buckets of balls at the driving range. Then we practiced on the putting green. I can't wait to hit the course again. We are planning on going back out on the course with Jerry and Verna on Thursday. This afternoon we took the dogs down to the beach with us. As you can see above they were doing their "girl watching from under the umbrella. Lots of people on the pier today fishing. I still haven't been out there yet, but I'm hoping to do so later this week.

Until next time.......

Myrtle Beach RV Repairs

Friday was another wonderful sunny day. We spent our day on the beach again, and that evening we went to our friends (Jerry and Verna's) for dinner. What a wonderful time we had. Jerry was the chef that night and what a wonderful meal he served!!They also had videos of their trips (Cruise throughout Europe, and another cruise to the Antarctica). It sure peaked our interest in going on both of the cruises in the future. Meanwhile one of the parts for our RV came in on Friday so we picked that up before we went to Jerry's and Verna's. Saturday morning Jim was chopping at the bit to get the air conditioner micro chip board installed but he woke up to rain. After breakfast though, the rain had stopped and out he went and got the board in and the air conditioning works just fine. Still waiting for the thermostat part to come in as well as the power management system parts, but those repairs are not impacting our air conditioning at all. We are quite comfortable. Our neighbors down the row from us had another problem on their new Hurricane RV so Jim went down and got them fixed up again. Turns out they needed another $200 part. Again, they think Jim is their hero. On Sunday, dogs were allowed on the beach any time of day so we took Bono and Charlie down to the beach with us. They were equipped with a quilt, an umbrella, and a bowl of water. They were in hog heaven until Jim took them for a dip in the water. Bono didn't seem to mind once he got down to the water, but Charlie was not a happy camper. He hated the water!!! But they were both a lot cooler the rest of the afternoon. That evening, Jim bathed them and even though Charlie hates a bath, I think he enjoyed having all the sand washed off him. Monday, I started my day with a workout at Curves. Then we met our friend, Jerry who took us to the golf driving range and gave me some more golf lessons. I did pretty good even if I do say so myself. I've been too focused on hitting the ball, that I was not keeping good form so we did a lot of practice and it is starting to click for me. Later that afternoon, we met up with both Jerry and Verna and went to a Par 3 range. It was my first time on the course, and Jim's forth time. I've always felt too intimated to go out on the course before, but after practicing on the driving range with Jerry, I got my confidence up and we actually did pretty good. The picture above is Jerry giving me some pointers - does he look a little frustrated? Well he was, when I wasn't hitting the ball I had my swing down pat, as soon as he put the ball in front of me - I went to hell in a hand basket. But you know what they say, practice makes perfect, by the end of the practicing time, I was finally getting it. We had a wonderful day on the course and I can't wait til we go again. Until next time.......

Mytle Beach and Aftereffects of Lightning

Thursday was another typical day for me; reading on the beach and enjoying the wonderful sunshine. Jim meanwhile is still preoccupied with getting the motorhome fixed. None of the parts that he "Overnighted" have come in yet - so we are still waiting. Jim is still managing to keep the air running; however, he has to check it constantly to make sure it doesn't freeze up. Our neighbor, Jack has had the insurance people come out and an RV electronics repair guy out. The RV guy didn't have a clue where to start because nothing electrical is working. He basically ended up telling Jack to take it to a Monaco repair dealer because he felt that the entire wiring system needed replacing. They have a 2004 Beaver. More and more people on our row have been discovering they have taken on damage too. The guy on our right has had the RV repair truck here Thursday and it just pulled up again. I don't know what problems they are having today. The people two spots down from Jack told Jim their air conditioner was out. They pushed all the reset buttons but still no air. Jim took his tools over to their RV and was able to fix the air conditioner. They think Jim is their hero now. But they came over this morning and they are having other problems. (They have a brand new Hurricane RV and its their first time out in it). So Jim gathered up his tools and is trouble shooting for them again. Meanwhile neighbors have been hooking up power cords and have Jack and Linda's TV going and some fans set up. They have decided to stay here another week and make the best of their vacation.
They found a dealer in Elkhart, OH who can take it in the first week of October. The other dealers are booked until after December. So the neighbors are teasing Jack and Linda with having to roughing it on this camping trip. Last night about 20 of us went to the weekly fish fry down on the beach. The campground sponsors this fish fry every Thursday. It's all the fish and chips you can eat for $8. Looks like another wonderful sunny day so I'll be relaxing and reading on the beach today. Poor Jim he'll be waiting for parts to come in - he won't be able to relax until those parts come in and our repairs are made. I can't tell if he's in his glory or stressed - he loves fixing stuff!!!!! Tonight we are going our to our friends (Jerry and Verna's) house for dinner. They just got back from Europe so we are looking forward to hearing about their trip. So until later...........

Myrtle Beach and Lightning

Well we have enjoyed the last few days of wonderful sunshine, reading on the beach, playing cards and going to dinner with our neighbors, who have been coming here longer than we have, and just having a wonderful relaxed time. Today (Wednesday) started off with me going to Curves and Jim and I going to the grocery store. By the time we got back to the motorhome it was starting to cloud up. We walked the dogs real quick and decided to read indoors until the clouds passed over. Next thing we knew a terrific thunderstorm came through with thundering and lightning. I was laying on the couch reading when I heard what sounded like a machine gun going off. I looked out the window and my neighbor had a ball of fire and then lots of smoke coming from their motorhome and then everyone's power went off. I realized it got hit by lightning and Jim thought we did too. He called our neighbor Jack to see if he was alright and he said he was but he got all kinds of sparks and smoke in the motorhome. Jim told him what I saw happen to the top of his motorhome and he said he was still in the process of making sure he wasn't on fire inside. Meanwhile Jim started checking all of the systems in our motorhome and one by one everything started working except the air conditioning. By this time we had quite a crowd of folks out in the street that saw the hit and came over to see what happened. Jim discovered the circuit board outside to our air conditioner got fried. You know Jim - he went right into action to get things fixed. He called the company that makes the circuit boards and they are going to overnight deliver us a new circuit board tomorrow. Meanwhile Jim discovered the thermostat inside the motorhome was blown and called Camper's World and they have the part so he left right away before they closed to get that. Our neighbor Jack called his insurance company and they are sending someone over tomorrow - nothing in their motorhome works. Jack thinks all the wiring in his motorhome to include his computer is fried. He thinks he'll be getting a new motorhome because he won't trust the wiring system after this. After the rain stopped, I looked up at the top of Jack's motorhome where I saw the ball of fire and saw that his CB antenna was totally burnt up. Jim thinks the sparks Jack saw inside was probably his CB wires burning. So to say the least, we have had an exciting afternoon today. Thankfully no one was hurt but at least 3 of our motorhomes took some kind of hit with Jack getting it the worst. I feel so bad for them - they just got in yesterday from PA and their kids are coming in this weekend. They may have to leave for home tomorrow or at least get a motel room for the week the kids are here and then go home. They were so looking forward to a month at the beach. Hopefully tomorrow we can get back to relaxing on the beach! Until later........

Myrtle Beach

Well we got home from our Michigan trip and spent a week at home doing chores and left Sept 8th for our stay at Myrtle Beach, SC. We got here Saturday afternoon and that evening we met up with Lucy and Andy and their children and Lucy's parents, who were celebrating Lucy's mom's birthday. We had dinner at Dicks and had a lot of fun. After dinner we went to Coldstone Creamery for ice cream. We went back to the hotel where they were staying and Lucy's dad was going to get an earring piercing, so we all went over to watch, and the kids took pictures of their grandfather getting his ear pierced -- it was pretty cool. I tried to get Jim to get his pierced but he wasn't going for it! After that we ended up going for drinks at a lounge across from their hotel. All and all it was a great evening and a great way to spend our first day here. Sunday we were expecting a tropical storm to hit, but we woke up to a beautiful sunny day. Jim and I went to Camper's World and got a grill table for our new grill then came back and spent a wonderful afternoon on the beach reading and people watching.

Windmill Island

Today, Jim and I and Ralph and Janice went to visit Windmill Island which is located near downtown Holland, Michigan. Windmill Island is a state park that contains a 240 year old working windmill given by the Dutch. We actually got to go inside the windmill and walk up to the sixth floor where the miller actually ground the wheat. They actually produce flour at the windmill and the miller happens to be a woman right now. They also had a working Dutch street organ (see pic above). It was amazing how the organ worked. It was such a brilliant piece of work. It played songs from books specifically designed for this organ. They had a replica of a Dutch village that was interesting to see and they also had a wooden shoe factory. Both Jim and I tried on the shoes just to see what they felt like. I'm glad I didn't have to wear them for walking. This island is also abound with the most beautiful gardens. They say in the spring there are thousands of tulips and people come from all over to attend the tulip festival. That evening we went for our final dinner together at a place called the Boatworks. We had a wonderful dinner with a table overlooking the water (see pic). Later that evening we went downtown and watched the street entertainers which turned out to be a wonderful evening. The highlight of the evening was a gymnastic performance by three young women called the flying angles. It was really entertaining. Janice and Ralph leave Friday morning and Jim and I are staying until Saturday morning. Mem and Larry's grandchildren are coming in for the weekend so we wanted to stay and meet them. Mem and Larry are beside themselves waiting for the little ones to get here. Today is our last day in Michigan and we are going to spend it, cleaning the motorhome, laundry and waiting for the grandchildren to arrive. Until next time......

Holland, Michigan and Saugatuck

What a fun day we had today. We took a ride on the Dune Schooners in Saugatuck. It is an 18 passenger jeep like truck that took us on a 35 minute ride through the sand dunes on the shore of Lake Michigan. Apparently, these sand dunes can only been seen while riding the Dune Schooners. It was very different and exciting. The driver raced around corners and up and down hills. It also goes through a woodland forest. There are various joke signs along the route and they had a fake snake hanging from a tree. Of course the driver stops the schooner right under the limb hanging down with the snake and yells out "Oh watch out snake!" Well I looked up and it was hanging about 2 feet from my head and I screamed out and about jumped into Janice's lap trying to get away from it. You might know with all the people on this schooner, I would be the one to fall for it! Anyway, it was quite the ride and we all enjoyed it very much. Then we went to the town of Saugatuck and checked out all the little shops. The guys found a bench to wait for us and poor Jim he had on white shorts and sat in some fresh bird poop! And it was not a little bird, it was quite messy! We all got quite the laugh out of it and Larry and Ralph took pictures of his dirty butt, but Jim failed to see the humor. We were going to find him some new shorts, but he went in to the bar and took them off and washed them. You know Jim -- anything to save a few dollars! Next we went to a favorite of Larry's for lunch. It was called Cranes Orchard Restaurant. We had a great lunch and Janice bought a Peach fritter for dessert for all to share. It was quite good. From there, Janice and Ralph and Jim and Larry went back to the motorhomes and Mem and I went to Veldheer's Tulip Farm. It is a Dutch wooden shoe factory and Delftware (blue and white china) factory as well as a tulip farm. I bought my mother about 60 tulip bulbs for her yard. She loves to garden and I'm sure these bulbs will keep her plenty busy. We all skipped dinner tonight in lieu of another happy hour. Mem's friend Claire came over to visit. It was great to finally meet the famous Claire that Mem talks about all the time. I can see why they are great friends. We really enjoyed visiting with her. Also, Janice has been trying to teach Jim a new vocabulary. She says he needs to learn more words than shit, dam and hell! So we'll see how long the change lasts!

Holland, Michigan and Big Red Lighthouse

Mem and Larry lived in Holland for twenty-five years before moving to Fredericksburg, so this is like old home week for them. They took us on a tour of their old neighborhood, we got to see their old house (which was very nice I might add) and showed us where Larry worked. We rode through the downtown area and then we rode out to the Big Red Lighthouse on Lake Michigan. It's not an easy lighthouse to get close to. You can see it from several points of view but we actually got to walk right up to it. We had to take a 20 minute walk to get out to the lighthouse and as you can see from the picture, it was worth it. However, we did have two casualties getting there. Janice cut her toe on the walk out there and she and Ralph never did make it out to the lighthouse. They turned around and went back to the car for a band aide. Then by the time Jim made it out to the lighthouse, his knee had gone out on him. He had to sit down on a step and rest before we headed back. It was really beautiful along the shoreline. I enjoyed walking by all the coastal cottages. It must be wonderful to live there and have such a wonderful view. Mem and I also put our feet in Lake Michigan. Jim had a slow walk back to the car with several rests, but he finally made it back to the car. Then we all went to a restaurant called Piper for a "light" dinner. It was a wonderful place with great food and beautiful views. By the time we got back to the motorhomes we were pretty well wore out but all agreed it was a very enjoyable day.

Ludington

Sunday was a quiet day for everyone. As Mem says "We need a down day." Jim and I did some reading and we went for a bike ride. That evening, we had happy hour and we decided to skip dinner and finish our game of Phase 10. My prediction of Mem winning was wrong. Ralph won. Well it was still early so we decided to play a card game called Oh Hell. It was really fun and surprisingly, Mem didn't win this game either, Janice won. Monday we headed out for Ludington. Us girls went downtown for a little shopping and the guys had another "down day". That evening, we cooked out and had steaks, corn, potatoes and salad. It was a great dinner and we started another game of Phase 10. And of course we didn't get halfway through the game before we called it a night. Tuesday we headed for Holland, our last city in Michigan before we start our journey back to Virginia.

Old Mission Peninsula

After visiting Leland, we went to Old Mission Peninsula to see the Old Mission Lighthouse. This lighthouse is located at the 45th Parallel or halfway between the North Pole and the equator. The lighthouse is inhabited so we didn't get to go inside but it was still really neat to see. We stopped off at the Old Mission General Store on our way back to town. The man who worked here was quite a character. He knew lots of history about the peninsula and was very eager to share his stories. The store is jam packed with food items local to the area, as well as a small selection of groceries, fresh produce, cheeses, and antiques. It was a very scenic trip and we had such a beautiful day to enjoy the sights. We went back to the motorhomes to regroup, let the dogs out and headed back out to visit friends of Ralph and Janice, Tom and Joanne. They live in Elk Rapids, a lovely lake town and they also stay at Crystal Lake in Florida where Ralph and Janice winter. They were a delightful couple, and treated us to happy hour at her house and then we took a tour of his house. (They owned separate houses before they married, and decided to keep both houses after they married.) We then went to a wonderful restaurant on the river for dinner with Tom and Joanne. They are such nice people and we really enjoyed the opportunity to meet and spend time with them. Needless to say, we were all very tired after such a full day. We're thinking Sunday is going to be a rest day. Maybe we might finish our Phase 10 game who knows. Until next time...........

Leland

Saturday we traveled to Leland which is located on a peninsula between Lake Michigan and Lake Leelanou joined by a river. We went to an area called Fishtown which features shanties and docks which represent the life and commercial fishing that existed one hundred years ago. Inside all the shanties are quaint gift shops, and galleries offering unique gifts. You can also charter fishing trips from this area. We had lunch at a wonderful restaurant called the Cove. We ate outside and you could see a waterfall, the shanties and harbor. It was a wonderful lunch. After lunch, us girls set out to check out all the little shops. The guys did a little shopping, but were mostly happy bench sitting!

Petoskey

Petoskey is a small coastal town known for its unique shopping and fine dining. We started our day off by eating at one of the 16 restaurants recommended, Jespersons. (see Jim and Mem above). Jespersons is a family owned and run restaurant that is in its 104th year. Everyone enjoyed their meal and then on to the good stuff -- shopping. The guys checked out a store with us that had a great deal on jackets then ventured off to the General Store. After that, they found a comfortable bench to sit on and we girls hit about every store in what is called the Gaslight District. We each were successful in buying jewelry, and we had a ball trying to talk each other into buying stuff. We spent the entire day there and on the way home we stopped at a Farmer's Market and we each bought some more "stuff" (healthy of course). We only drove through Charlevoix on our way home -- we were too tired to stop. It looked like a real delightful town with more shops and restaurants. When we got home, the dogs were really excited to see us. Bono just couldn't get enough of Jim. He kept putting his paws around him and putting his head on his shoulder -- it was so cute. I kept trying to take his picture when he was doing it but he kept looking up at me when I held the camera up. When I put the camera down, he would lay his head on Jim like "I love ya Man." Janice treated us all for dinner with a delicious vegetable beef soup she made; I brought a salad and sourdough bread and Mem bought a cherry pie from the Farmer's Market and ice cream. We enjoyed the great dinner and got back to our game of Phase 10. Promptly at 9:30pm Ralph announced it was time to break to eat the pie and that we would finish the game another night. Can you believe it -- we are going into our third night to hopefully finish one game! Right now, Ralph and Janice are in the lead. I have a feeling Mem will still win the game - she wins all the games we play! Tomorrow our plan is to visit Old Mission Peninsula and Leland. Until then..........

Traverse City

We left Mackinac for Traverse City on Thursday. We are staying at the Traverse Bay Resort. It is a very nice campground or I should say resort. It is a very upscale facility. We have paved lots with manicured lawns and flower beds surrounding a pond with a waterfall. We are surrounded by Prevosts. I think we can be quite comfortable here. We decided to have a rest day today and catch up on some cleaning and laundry. The facilities here are top notch. It was actually a pleasant experience doing laundry! The resort provided a pizza dinner tonight so we decided to stay here and eat rather than go out. The pizza was a $1.00 a slice. Jim really liked the price haha. After dinner we went over to the game room and planned our agenda for the next few days. We then played a game called Phase 10. You know you're getting old when we can't even play a whole game in one evening. About 9:30pm we decided to end the game where we were and resume it another night. I never thought I'd get to this point..but I was tired too. Surprisingly, Mem isn't winning -- Jim and Ralph are in the lead. Of course the game is not over yet! Anyway, we did have fun playing the game and we are looking forward to a fun day touring two coastal towns, Charlevoix and Petoskey, tomorrow.

Mackinac Island

Wednesday we all took the ferry over to Mackinac Island. The day had started to look like rain so we went prepared with our rain jackets. But by the time we got to the island, (20 minute ferry ride) the sun came out and it was a gorgeous day to tour the island. I loved Mackinac Island. There are no cars over there. Transportation is by horse drawn carriage and/or bicycles. They had the most gorgeous horses - Belgian's and Percheron's. You might know I was in my element! The tour guide told us they don't use Clydesdale horses (Budweiser Bush horses) because those horses are mainly bred for show and parades. The Belgian's and Percheron's they purchase are raised by the Amish to work. The horses work for 4 months on the island and then are shipped backed to the lower Michigan where they have 8 months of rest, eat, and make babies! What a life!! We had a wonderful tour around the island and stopped off at a Carriage Museum and Fort Mackinac. They had reenactment's at the fort of court marshals, firing squads, and marching bands. We had lunch at the fort at the Tea Room which overlooks the port. It was wonderful. What a view. I'm still finding it hard to believe we are on a lake and not the ocean! Us girls also did some more shopping. While we were on the island we got a call from our Winnebago club friends, Rita and Joe Cannon. They were on the way back from a trip to Canada this summer and decided to stay at the same campground as us on their way through Michigan. Janice (our dinner expert) found out the place to eat in Mackinac is the Audi restaurant. So we all went to Audi's together and again had a wonderful time.

Mackinaw City

Another great day in Michigan. We arrived at Mackinaw Mill Creek Campground Tuesday about 1:00pm. After we got the motorhomes settled, the girls (Mem and Janice and I) went to Mackinaw City to do some shopping. We had a wonderful afternoon and yes we did find some treasures. Later, Janice provided us with a Georgia treat for dinner (hot dog smash). It was delicious. You put a hot dog in a hot dog bun and open the bun up and then fill the plate with lots of chili, onions, relish, cheese and oyster crackers. We finished playing our game Mexican Dominos that we started the other night and Mem won. She is so lucky - she always wins whatever games we play. After dinner we drove back into Mackinac City for ice cream and to see the Mackinaw Bridge at night all lit up. It was such a delightful evening. We took Bono and Charlie to get ice cream and they enjoyed their share too. The pictures above show the bridge in the daylight as we went over the bridge. Ralph and Janice are in front of us. The other picture is the bridge at night.

Valley Camp Museum Ship

Another great day in Sault Ste Marie. Mem and I went to Curves this morning, then to the grocery store for chicken for dinner tonight. We had a day of relaxing and reading by the river - it was wonderful. Larry cooked chicken on the grill tonight for dinner. It was wonderful. Jim and Ralph decided to go to the Valley Camp Museum Ship just down the street from the campground. They spent the entire day there. Jim's story follows: The Valley camp is a 560 foot retired freighter (1/2 the size of modern freighters)that was built in 1917 and served for 50 years and has been dry docked and renovated for use as a museum of maritime artifacts. It was powered by a three stage triple expansion steam engine. Considerable space in the museum and attention was reserved for the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. As noted previously, the Edmund Fitzgerald, a 960 foot freighter of some repute went down in a major great lakes storm just off White Fish Point on Lake Superior. You may recall that the light house that we visited yesterday was the one at White Fish Point. It turns out that the Light House light was out that night and in a small way contributed to the demise of the Fitz (as it was known). 29 men went down with the Fitz and it became famous (literally hundreds of other boats including other freighters are on the bottom of Lake Superior) mostly because of the mysterious circumstances and unknown cause of its demise. (Gordon Lightfoot's song didn't hurt its fame either!) A couple of the mangled life boats from the Fitz were on display as well as a life preserver. There is no evidence that any measures were taken by the crew to save them selves and some think the Fitz went down in as little as 20 seconds. The captain never even had time for a distress call. It sank on November 10 1975 in 540 feet of water and has been a subject of controversy every since. None of the crew was ever found and there were no eye witnesses save another freighter (the Arthur Anderson) in the vicinity that was in radio contact. We saw two one hour movies on the subject which were extremely interesting. The movies recap the tragedy and the investigation that followed, it is a stark reminder of the unforgiving nature of Lake Superior and the many lives it has taken. Ralph and I took over 6 hours to tour the museum and read almost every plaque and saw every display(Linda was EXTREMELY grateful that Ralph went with me). It was very interesing seeing the crew quarters, bridge, engine room and many other details of the ship. Neither Ralph or I had been on a freighter before. It is quite different from other ships. It is awsome to think how small the crew is (29) people or less and how low the ship sits in the water when it is fully loaded. As previously noted, the freighters are loaded such that only one foot of clearence is left between the bottem of the lock and the bottom of the ship! We noticed that 1000 foot freighters going through the locks spray water on their decks which are baking in the sun. This is because uneven expansion (hot on top and cold on the bottom) can cause the ship to bow enough that the stern or bow might drag the bottom of the lock! All in all it was an awesome day!

Whitefish Point, Michigan

Sunday, we went to Whitefish Point Lighthouse. This lighthouse was established in 1849 and is the oldest active light on Lake Superior. It is now run electronically by the Coast Guard from Sault Ste Marie. The Keepers Quarters has been fully restored and open for tours. They even have wax figures of the last lightkeeper and his family placed all about the quarters. These was figures look so real it was unbelieveable. The particular lightkeeper depicted in this lighthouse was a lightkeeper for 40 years. The going salary was $600 per year. The Shipwreck Museum is also located at this site. They had artifacts and exhibits of the various shipwrecks in Lake Superior which told the stories of the sailors and ships. They also had a theater which showed a video of the famous Edmond Fitzgerald shipwreck. It was so touching. They had actual family members in this video telling their stories. The wreck happened in 1975 but they were never able to retrieve it or get to it until 1995 twenty years later. As a tribute to the sailors, they were able to retrieve the ship's bell which can be seen in the museum and in its place they lowered a replica of the bell with each of the sailor's names on it. One man told a story in the video that said when he went to Vietnam, his brother assured him if anything happened to him he would go to Vietnam and bring him home. Well went the ship went down the brother was a sailor on the ship and he always wanted to bring his brother home. Twenty years later having his name put on the bell was the only way he could honor his brother. It was such a touching story. In all there have been 6,000 ships lost on the Great Lakes and 30,000 men and women and children lost to these shipwrecks but the Edmund Fitzgerald remains the most famous and mysterious. During the storm it was being followed by another ship and the two captains were talking to each other and then all of a sudden it just dissappeared while the other ship made it. It lies sunken just 17 miles from Whitefish Point. We walked out to the beach in front of the lighthouse and the water was beautiful, and calm. It was amazing how this lake can change to a death trap during a fog. Jim took what he calls the butt pic above. After this wonderful visit, we stopped off at a casino on the way back to the campground. It was a nice casino, but none of us came out a winner. In fact I think I was the biggest loser, $25. We got back to the campground and enjoyed another happy hour as we watched the ships cruising by. We went to dinner at this resturant called the Antler's just down the street. This resturant was so much fun. They had various animals mounted on the walls and ceilings as well as hundreds of antlers. When anyone from out of state comes in or has a birthday, they welcome them by pulling these ropes that sound off various ship horns and lights. It was a riot. Of course we got a welcome. We all agreed this was one of the best resturants we have been to so far on this trip, but we keep thinking that every city that we stop in. I guess you can see we are eating very well on this trip. Well until later...........

Soo Locks Michigan

We arrived in Sault Ste Marie, Michigan Saturday afternoon. We are camped right on the St. Mary River across from Canada. It is a very nice campground near the Soo Locks. The St. Mary River is the only water connection between Lake Superior and the other Great Lakes known as the St. Marys Rapids. The rapids fall 21 feet from the level of Lake Superior to the level of the lower lakes. The locks were built in the 1800's so that ships could pass through the rapids. We took a boat tour this afternoon. On our way out, we were on the lower end of the rapid and the locks raised the boat to higher level and on our way back, we were on the higher end of the rapids and the locks lowered the boat to the lower water level. It was pretty amazing. As were were coming back another huge ships was on the other side and they were being raised to get through the locks. As much as 2 million gallons of water is added or removed from the locks during the 10 to 20 minute process. Some of the ships that pass through are over 1,000 feet long. When we got back to the campground, we sat our chairs around the motorhomes facing the river and watched the ships come and go through the locks, had happy hour and ate dinner outside. It was such a wonderful day and evening.