Michigan, Canada and New York state

Leaving our camp site at Tawas Point State Park on Wed, July 10^th, we had a small problem. The day before it had rained and our sandy site ended up about four inches under water. When we began backing up the motorhome, and I turned the front wheels, the front wheels dug huge holes in the sand and we were stuck. I stopped and exited the MH to survey the situation.

A nearby camper came up and said he had a pickup truck and a strap and offered to pull me out. I think I hurt his feelings when I told him I didn’t think that would work, because the MH weighs about 30,000 pounds. Later, I thought I should have asked him if he had a Tundra pickup…since they can pull the space shuttle and I’m sure the shuttle weighs quite a bit more than our MH. Anyway, we got out of the sand okay on our own and were shortly underway.

We headed north up I-75 about 150 miles towards the Mackinaw Bridge. We hadn’t crossed it in about 30-years and it’s an amazing engineering feat between Michigan’s lower and upper peninsulas.

The wind was blowing a little, and warning signs had RVs cross the bridge at 20 mph. We checked in at Straits State Park at the northern end of the bridge in St. Ignace and were pleased with the park. Our campsite was long, level and had a nice grassy area next to the site. After we got set up, we went over to our friend’s house to visit and have dinner. We met Eldon and Cindy Patton on our trip to Alaska in 2011 and had seen them again in Florida in January 2012 and 2013. It was fun catching up.

 

On Thursday, we took the passenger ferry from St. Ignace to Mackinaw Island. We also took our bicycles with us. The only modes of transportation on Mackinaw Island are bicycles and horses. After a nice lunch, we enjoyed a leisurely 8.2 mile bicycle ride around the island. The road was fairly flat and there were many bicyclists, mostly on rental bikes.  

After the bicycle ride, we parked the bikes and walked through town to the world famous Grand Hotel.

 

 

 

 

We enjoyed treats at a new ice cream shop, but the portions were way too much. I had a turtle sundae and Julie had one scoop of ice cream.

 

On Fri, July 12^th, we got up early and left St. Ignace for Sault Ste. Marie to cross the border into Canada. There was a long line of traffic waiting to cross into the USA, but we didn’t have to wait long to cross into Canada. Then we headed east towards Sturgeon Falls, Ontario, where we had reservations at a KOA, about a 300-mile trip from St. Ignace.

Saturday we drove about 20-miles east over to North Bay, Ontario, to see how things have changed over the past 30-years. We lived in North Bay, population 54,000, when the U.S. Air Force stationed us there 1982-1985. We enjoyed seeing our old house, the local indoor mall, and other areas of town. We were disappointed to learn that they had just demolished the old St. Joseph’s Hospital in April, where our son Paul was born in May 1983.

We laughed when we saw this truck and how much the Canadians love their politicians too…

We decided to leave on Sunday morning, rather than try to drive through Toronto on Monday morning. We got up at 5:30AM on Sunday and were on the road before 7AM. Toronto is about 4-hours south of North Bay and we drove through Toronto around 11:30AM with some traffic. We crossed over to the USA at Lewiston, New York (rather than the much busier Niagara Falls crossing), but it still took about a half-hour to cross.

We stayed for 3-nights at Four Mile Creek State Park, in the very northwest corner of New York state, and it was an awesome park. We had large grassy sites and a great view of Lake Ontario. We could barely see the Toronto skyline across the lake about 50-miles away.

 

 

 

On Mon, July 15^th, we went into Lewiston for lunch and enjoyed The Silo, with fantastic views of the Niagara River and its green colored water.

After lunch, we headed a few miles south to Niagara Falls. Julie and I hadn’t been there since the early-80s and there seemed to be more tourist clutter around the area. It’s a shame, since the natural beauty of the waterfalls is so amazing.

 

It was a warm day, in the upper-80s and very humid, so we headed back early to Four Mile Creek to cool off.

Tuesday, we decided to head to Lockport, NY, about 20-miles away to see the historic Erie Canal and the canal locks there.

 

Today, Wed, July 17^th, we began heading south, through Buffalo and around Pittsburg to a campground about 30-miles south of Pittsburg. Tomorrow, we head towards Luray, Virginia near Shenandoah National Park, for the weekend and a family reunion.

Steve & Julie Cornelius

sandjcornelius@msn.com