After we returned home from our aborted trip on US 2 West, due to the wildfire smoke and unusually high temperatures out West. We were only home for a few days during the Labor Day weekend. Then we decided to reload and head out this time on US 2, going EAST! Our idea was to then loop around through lower Michigan and come back into Wisconsin.
I am finding it increasingly difficult to keep up with blogging and You Tube uploads while we are actually traveling. I've decided that I will not be doing them in real time, and instead be posting them after we get back or take a long enough break.
So far I have uploaded four videos made of the trip. I will catch up with coordinating blog posts in the near future, I promise!
In the meantime, I hear are the four you tube clips:
I will get back to blogging as soon as I catch up a few things around the house!
Well, we enjoyed our stay in Wisconsin over at Wissota State Park. But now looking at the calendar, we realized it would soon be Labor Day weekend. We prefer to not be out and about in the crowds in the campgrounds with the weekend warriors. Especially on a holiday weekend. We decided it was probably best to drive back across Wisconsin and if we didn't want to stop at any favorite campgrounds on the way, we would just go home.
Skies were blue and the roads were clear, it was good to get home before all the holiday traffic started.
We were driving along, I looked for the quintessential picture of Wisconsin Farm. We had seen so many different farms and ranches and grazing land and woods in our trek across the Midwest and into Montana. I just wanted to give a picture of what is familiar to our eyes back here in Wisconsin....
We rolled along on highway 29 heading east back towards the Shawano Lake area. Even though the road is divided, it really is not feeling like an interstate. We rolled along through the countryside, and we sighed as familiar images and places and towns flew past.
At Shawano Lake, we cut over on the Highway 22. This leads us directly into Oconto. We smiled when we saw this sign appear....
And before we knew it, we were pulling into our driveway. Home again home again jiggity jig...
We don't dare mention the words out loud of "home" or "house" because Nick goes crazy. We wait until the very last curve before we mention it and he is just shaking with anticipation of getting out and seeing his home. Amazing after only having him for eight or nine months, that he has identified so closely with what is his "home". Going places in the motorhome is fun. But going home for him, as well as us, is a nice feeling.
Fuel up at $3.55 per gallon diesel averaging 13.57 miles per gallon
We traveled 204 miles today
We traveled 2,224 total miles
Trip recap
19 days
$589.56 fuel
$312.04 campground fees
$24.09 extras
$118.97 souvenirs
$53.08 repair/maintenance
$165.94 groceries (Plus we were fully stocked with groceries from home)
Average of $66.50 per day for 2,224 total miles.
As we got into the house, this little stinker had to push his way past us to zoom through the entire house from room to room. He had to make sure everything was exactly the way he left it. Here he is standing at the top of the steps leading into my She Shed. He's making sure that we are coming in the house too.
He took assessment of all of his toys in the basket on the floor, and hopped up on the couch and anticipation of a good snuggle and cuddle for an afternoon nap.
The grandchildren came over and took some turns giving him some special attention. He enjoyed some time out on the front porch on the swing with the youngest granddaughter Claire.
Before school was going to be starting, we held a little tie-dye day with a couple of the grandkids. We tried to do this every year before school starts. I'm glad we got home in time to do this.
Their creations were absolutely amazing! And now they each have two new shirts to choose from to wear to school.
We decided while we were home over Labor Day weekend we were going to do a very serious upgrade to the suspension on the motorhome. My next blog will talk about that...
I am way way way behind in posting these blogs. I got the photos on and I never got around to finishing all of the dialogue.
After two really nice relaxing days at Gull Lake in Brainerd, Minnesota, we decided to move on into Wisconsin. There was a state park near Chippewa Falls called Wissota State Park that we have always meant to get to.
We looked ahead online and found a campsite for two nights so we set our GPS and away we went.
We left Gull Lake about 8:30 in the morning. We went into Brainerd and stopped for a little restocking of groceries. We stopped for some fuel but we only found BioBlend. Instead we decided to move on further and we found regular diesel number two at a Marathon. Mercedes-Benz does not recommend ever using the bio blend diesels.
It wasn't too long and we were crossing back into Wisconsin. We saw this welcome sign.
At almost every major entry point into Wisconsin they have this beautiful large wooden sign. As a child, there's a picture of all six of us kids lined up in front of it with Mom one of the times we traveled up to Michigan. It brings back such fond memories to see these familiar signs everywhere.
Yep, we were back in Wisconsin! Look at those beautiful blue skies!!!!
Now we didn't regret at all aborting our mission to reach all the way to Washington State. The wildfire smoke and high temperatures had chased us back. But everything now looked familiar and clean and fresh and clear to our eyes.
Look at these wonderful temps by Chippewa Falls. 75° days and 50 and 60 at night. This is our kind of weather!!!
The website had warned us that there might be some construction going on near our campsite. There was a new shower building being constructed. But absolutely nothing was happening when we arrived at the park. So we had total peace and quiet and no construction.
Wisconsin State Parks do not accept the Federal America The Beautiful Senior access pass. So we do pay full price. It is $28 a night with electric. There's also a $7.95 reservation fee. But by this point, we were so happy to be back in Wisconsin, that we didn't care.
Our campsite was quiet and pristine. We had beautiful shrubbery all around. The only drawback was the lower shrubs had little teeny burrs on them. This is the time of year that they reach out and grab little doggy fur coats as he brushes past them. A few times we had to take a comb and get them out of his long fur before they became entangled.
The sun dappled ground with the dipping and swaying of the leaves and the trees was absolutely beautiful. There was a slight breeze and the temperatures were perfect. The humidity was down and there were no storms in sight.
Little Nick enjoyed laying out with us on the mat. We kept him away from the brush so he didn't get any more burrs. Potty time was out on the mowed grass area in front of our site.
Our camper was set so far back into our site and we were surrounded by green on every side. I think of all the campsites we've been on for the previous three weeks, this is probably my favorite! Isn't that crazy? By now we had put on over 2,000 miles! And what do I like best? A campsite right here in Wisconsin.
We set the lawn chairs out by the campfire and we were going to light our little pellet fireplace. Steve hauled out the bikes and said let's go for a ride. Of course, Nick hopped right in his little cart.
All of the blacktop in the park had recently been repaved. It was super smooth for riding bikes up and down all of the roads. Just cruising on through the woods in the perfect temperatures was absolutely delightful. We put on over 5 miles just checking out the campground.
After it was done I realized that the two loops of the campground kind of made it look like a butterfly!!!
I cannot tell you how comfortable and relaxed we felt by hanging out in our campsite, back in Wisconsin.
I have a YouTube to correspond with this blog post, but I haven't finished editing it yet. When it's done I will post it here:
We traveled 239 miles today
That is 2058 miles so far
We fueled up at $3.45 a gallon diesel and we are averaging 13.58 miles per gallon
I am way way way behind in posting these blogs. I got the photos on and I never got around to finishing all of the dialogue.
In my last blog post I left off leaving Lake Ashtabula Corps of Engineers Park in North Dakota.
We woke up early and decided to get moving and get some miles behind us. We loaded everything up and hit the road.
We crossed into Minnesota by 10:30 a.m., and the smoke situation seem to be getting a little bit better. The sign made us feel very welcome. We were just one state away from getting back to Wisconsin.
We stopped and fueled up at a Casey's. We found fuel for $3.53 per gallon diesel and our mileage was back up again. We're at 14.1 miles per gallon. That made us feel better.
We decided to try and reach at least the middle of Minnesota if we could. One of the campgrounds that was on our bucket list earlier this spring was Gull Lake. We were wandering around in Minnesota earlier this spring hitting a lot of the Corps of Engineer parks. Gull Lake was one we had set our sights on, but there was a bunch of road construction going on, so we passed it and went somewhere else.
Now it was almost directly on our way back, right near Brainerd, Minnesota.
We looked ahead on the website and found out we could get a camp spot, for not just one but two nights. We decided we've been pushing ourselves and it might be nice to take a break for a day in between driving sessions. We took our chances and picked a campsite off the pictures and the aerial map of the campground.
We took the detour around and made our way into the park on back roads. We did see the area that had been closed down earlier in the spring that was almost now complete.
It was such a pretty area in the rolling countryside. There were quite a bit of large nice homes nearby and a few golf courses. But the campground itself was surrounded by tall trees and some very nice scenery.
We passed by this pond full of birds. At first I thought they were domestic geese or maybe some kind of trumpeter swans. Nope, they were pelicans! We really hadn't seen these species of huge white pelicans with the black tipped wings. I know the picture is blurry but it brings it up to my mind when I see it. We just flew on past but we knew it was something different that we hadn't seen before.
When we got to the campground, there was a travel trailer ahead of us making its way through the campsites. Because we were pre-registered we knew where we had to go. But we had to wait patiently for this person ahead of us to work his way into his campsite. Little did we know he was actually stopped before the entrance of his potential site. Because his potential site was still occupied by somebody else! So instead of moving somewhere else in the park, maybe a parking lot or by the entrance shack... and maybe waiting until his site was available, nope, he was going to sit right there blocking any and all traffic until the people were done packing up and leaving. We could kind of see ahead around his vehicle that these people weren't even unplugged yet nor did they even have their slides in. They seem to be quite upset and they were trying to back in and hook up and get everything thrown back in their travel trailer. Now we and all the people behind us, could have kept moving on to our sites if this one idiot in front of us would move. But he didn't. His wife was out walking around with a little yippy chihuahua in her arms. She was wandering around and talking to some people further down. It turns out they are camping with a group of three or four other people who are on nearby campsites. I guess the people on their intended site were gone somewhere and hadn't vacated yet. They were beyond the checkout time by almost 2 hours.
We sat there, trying to be patient. But are irritation at the guy ahead of us and his rudeness to everybody else lining up behind us was growing. We sure didn't want anybody behind us think we were causing the problem! We were thinking it was about time to go and find a park ranger or at least a campground host, when suddenly the guy decided that yes, he would drive around a loop and pass up the people who still were not yet hooked up. So as he moved forward, now we could move forward trying to get to our campsite. We saw the flustered people trying to get off his intended campsite and I think they were having some difficulties. It looked like quite the marital spat in the making. I think everyone was upset and short-tempered. Best for us to just let it go and wait.
So what happens? From the map it looked like we could enter our campsite from the third loop. Nope! We actually had to go all the way around it and come in from the second loop. The entrance to our campsite was on the second loop. Guess what? That same guy in front of us decided to go very slowly also down that second loop and figured he would stop again and wait THERE for his campsite to become available. So again, we were backed up behind him and waiting.
Aarrghhhhhhh
Finally, finally, he moved on and we could get into our campsite. Aahhhhhhh. It was a very nice site and we were pleased that we had picked it off photos. But little did we know that we would have to wait all that while, approximately 25 to 30 minutes to get into it.
Steve hauled out the Blackstone griddle and I steamed up some sweet corn in the microwave. It was a quick dinner, along with some veggies, but since we had to go through such difficulties to get into our site, we didn't feel like cooking an elaborate meal.
Our campsite was really nice, and it was sheltered on all three sides by thick shrubbery and trees. We still got a good Starlink signal, and it was very pleasant sitting out in our chairs. Every once in a while, that guy from down the road would walk by with his wife with their little yippy chihuahua. They were friends with the people camping just on the other side of the shrubs from us. We could kind of hear every word they said as they were complaining about how it long it took them to get on their site. He sounded like quite the "hot head". Glad that we didn't have a confrontation with him.
You think he ever considered how long it took for us to get on OUR site because of him?
As we ate our dinner at the picnic table, we smiled at how his perceived problem was the only problem in the world. Oh well, this too shall pass.
Nicholas enjoys scouting out underneath the table just in case a little piece happens to fall his way. Smart puppy.
In the evening we took a nice walk down by the dam. The weather was pretty temperate and we were losing all that horrible humidity from earlier in the day. It was nice to relax, and also to know that we didn't need to pack up the next day and drive. We had taken our site for two nights. The sites here run $28 a night. Again with our senior access pass we get it for $14. Pretty nice for a site with electric and water. Even if we had to struggle to get into it.
We were getting a little behind on laundry and our clothes needed to get washed. If you had seen back the week prior in my blog, you would see the little Costway portable washer/spinner that we carry along in our shower stall. Since we had water available at the campsite, I thought it would be a good time to catch up some laundry. We really didn't know how many days we were going to be in Minnesota or in western Wisconsin before returning to our home near Green Bay on the far east side of the state.
Here's the little washing machine and spinner. It uses about 6 gallons of water to wash and another 6 gallons to rinse.
I had actually three loads to do so I started with the whites. After they were done washing I set them aside in a laundry basket lined with a plastic bag. Then I did the colors. Set those aside. Then I did the towels and blue jeans. Once everything was washed, I drained out the soap water and added fresh rinse water. Now I repeated with each load of rinsing. As each item is rinsed it goes into the spinner basket. The spinner spins really really fast! I only spin a few things at a time. They come out actually almost dry just damp. We hang all the t-shirts and towels and pants up on hangers. The rest of the unmentionables either go on a line between the awning arms or inside hanging from the shower curtain rod.
And there you have it--- LAUNDRY DAY!
The next morning started out with some of Steve's most favorite coffee cake. It's the cinnamon swirl mix from Krusteaz. It's in the video in the link below. I cannot tell you how wonderful the motorhome smelled, intermingled with the smell of fresh perked coffee.
We decided to do an early lunch and Steve fried up some bacon. We had some delicious BLT sandwiches for an early lunch. We had along some really thick bacon from the local Mennonite store back in Wisconsin.
Just look at that!
After our lunch, we decided to take a bike ride and get out and explore this campground. We put little Nick in his cart and took him along. He really enjoys his rides around the park.
We explored over the dam and through the picnic area and boat landing. We also drove down a really nice bike path to where the construction had been taking place. That's why the road had been closed off earlier in the spring. We went quite a ways but not all of the route made it to my video link down below.
It was good that the smoke had finally cleared enough that we could get out and do a little exercise and breathe. Otherwise my lungs could have never managed 3 miles under the previous conditions.
Here's a little video length of our time in the campground. Please like and subscribe?
We traveled 214 miles today
That is 1,819 miles so far
Fueled up at Casey's in Lake Park, Minnesota for $3.53 per gallon diesel. Averaged 14.1 miles per gallon
I am way way way behind in posting these blogs. I got the photos on and I never got around to finishing all of the dialogue.
Sadly, yes, we turned around and headed back towards the Great Lakes. The smoke was just too intense, as well as the increasing temperatures coming from the west. We really weren't looking forward to traveling into 90 - 95° days.
Instead of going back on US 2, We decided to hit I-94 and get some miles underneath us towards the east. Maybe we could outrun some of the smoke?
After a couple hundred miles it got a little lighter but there was still a haze in the air. We knew the wind blowing in behind us would bring more smoke as the day went on.
Steve decided that our motorhome was absolutely filthy and we needed to stop in Bismarck North Dakota for a car wash. This was a really interesting place called the Wash Barn. Not only could we wash our motorhome or a car, they also have facilities for doing laundry. And they also had facilities for washing your dog! Nick didn't need one, but it was fun to see the dogs heading off to get a bath.
Here's a video of our experience:
Cost was $10.00
We set our sights on another Corps of Engineers Campground. This one was at the Mel Rieman Dam on Lake Ashtabula. We looked ahead and saw that we could get a campsite and snatched it. We figured if it was going to be that hot or that much smoke, at least we could hole up inside the motorhome for the afternoon and evening with the air conditioning on. Having the positive pressure outwards would help keep the smoke and haze from coming inside.
It was a really nice campground of three little loops. Very private and quiet and nestled in up on the hill above the dam.
The dam is at the southern end of the lake. It's a very long stretched out lake. We saw quite a few boats and pickup trucks go past as there is a boat landing at the northern end of the campground.
The rate is $26 a night with electric and water--- but with our Federal America the Beautiful Senior Access card, we got it for $13 a night.
The winds had died down so we had less smoke in the air. We were able to sit out for the evening after all. We set up the Blackstone griddle and kicked back in our lawn chairs for a little bit. Of course, a couple adult beverages helped.
It was a nice campsite set into a hillside. You really couldn't walk behind it because it was a steep embankment down towards the lower picnic area. I would be nervous if I had children on the site, but for the two of us and the dog on his rope, it was fine.
We started to question ourselves and second guess if we should really turn around, or if we should continue the trip going out west. It was a really tough decision to make.
We decided to sleep on it. The next morning Steve cooked up a nice breakfast while we explored the fire maps and looked at the potential air quality reports. The weatherman were talking about the unusual heat waves hitting the West Coast and we really weren't too keen on traveling in 90 plus degree weather either.
A fellow blog reader asked if I would take some pictures of the bathroom facilities because they were coming here in a couple weeks. It was a nice newer building with individual bathrooms a
shower combinations that could be used by either men or women. (Or together??)
I took a picture of the insides so she could see that everything was neat and clean. We didn't use them ourselves, because we generally use our own facilities within the motorhome.
Just about every Corps of Engineers park that we have been at has very clean facilities and good upkeep. There's usually a host on duty or at least a phone number for calling nearby if you need something.
We sat out for a little while longer and then decided we should pack it up and head on further east. It would be better for us to go back home. We will attempt maybe next spring to either head back out, or make a big loop and go down south during the winter months to Arizona or New Mexico. From there we could head north and swing back on US 2 towards Wisconsin in late spring.
The decision was not made lightly. But we were going to make the best of it on our return trip. Here's my next video that I posted on my YouTube channel. Please like and subscribe?
We drove on through the beautiful countryside. As we were facing to the east, the skies look pretty blue. But in our rearview mirrors looking west things were pretty hazy.
The countryside switched from flat flat land of North Dakota into some beautiful rolling hills. We were enjoying the farmland and the terrain as we crossed on out of North Dakota.
We had entered into the park area on a bunch of gravel roads from the west. Now heading out of the park, we went a little bit south and then turned towards the east. So this was new terrain heading out of the park towards Valley City, North Dakota.
We saw this absolutely huge train trestle that stretches almost across the entire north end of the city! I had almost hoped to train was crossing so we could watch it go over. We had to drive under it to get down to the interstate.
Eastward we go...
We had fueled up at a Cenex in Bismarck, North Dakota and paid $3.69 a gallon diesel.
