So here is week 3! It was one of the craziest weeks yet, so enjoy!
On July 27th we were still at Seney State Park and were only driving to an overnight parking spot so I was in no rush to hit the road. I had no groceries, so I headed out to the grocery store. It was just a normal trip to the store, not very interesting, but I wanted to share what a store looks like out in the U.P.. Basically all I'm eating now is chicken and vegetables, but the only chicken I could find was just one entire frozen chicken. There wasn't raw meat in any of the fridges, though there were plenty of choices for sausages and bratwurst. Another thing you can find in any store is cheese curds in a few different flavors. They have their own shelf. Some stores won't have eggs or bread, but you can always buy cheese curds! I went to 3 different "grocery" stores and still did not find chicken except for the frozen one. But I did buy a carton of eggs for $.89 which I was happy about! I also found a frozen Pasty that I quickly snatched up. A Pasty is pronounced "Pass-ty" and its an old staple of the U.P. - they even have pictures and recipes for them on postcards! It is sort of similar to a potpie, but they are made without a pan to shape them, and they don't have a sauce.
When we finally left Seney State Park, I put our destination in both my phone GPS and my Garmin RV GPS. I always compare the 2 because the RV GPS tends to be a lot longer and sometimes I just use my phone and leave the RV one on as backup. The RV GPS is programmed specifically for my height, weight, and length so that I don't end up going under low bridges, or going over ones that I will fall through.. I'll learn my lesson in a few days, but using my phone this day turned out OK. The point for this day is that the RV GPS was coming up for over an hour later arrival! It finally dawned on me what was happening when I saw that I had 75 miles to go, yet it said I would arrive in about 20 minutes. I was going to pass through my first time zone!
We arrived at Sunday Lake Overnight Parking right before sunset, and I was lucky enough to get a nice, sandy, level spot right on the edge of the lake! Free parking aside, it was the best spot I had had yet! The clouds were blocking the sunset, but it was still an awesome spot with an amazing view. I met two guys there, one was a 62 year old man who was camping out of his car and had been everywhere, and had every story to tell about it! He even once ate an elephants trunk in Africa!! The other guy was a man from Ireland, with the strongest Irish accent I have ever heard, and he was BIKING! He had been on the road for about a month, had started near Vancouver, and was averaging 50-80 miles per day! Absolutely incredible! The three of us sat outside my camper and talked about our travels over drinks while we watched the bright orange crescent moon set over the lake. We were right on the time zone line, so it had been bright out until around 10:30pm, and the moon set very quickly. It was really neat to watch!
On the 28th I started my day with a nice trip around the lake in the kayak, which by the way is a way better energizer than coffee! Shortly after we hit the road again, officially leaving Michigan and headed into Wisconsin! The drive was fairly boring, with the exception that the roads were lettered! Yep, not numbered - lettered! Any letter you could think of there was a road to match, and after that there was double lettered roads, like 'WW'. Weird, but it made the drive fun as I "collected" letters!
Saturday, July 29th, I decided that I needed to try the famous cheese curds! I went to a bar in Merrill called Ballyhoos, ordered a local draft, and read about the strange cheese while I waited for mine to come out. Apparently if they are fresh they will squeak when you bite on them due to their high elasticity, which I thought was pretty bizarre! Mine didn't squeak, I'm thinking because they were fried, but they tasted like they could have! They were very similar to mozzarella sticks, but they had a much tougher chew. From the bar I went to a local fair that I had overheard other people talking about. It was pretty much just like any other fair I have been too, with the addition of cheese curd stands!
We arrived at Sunday Lake Overnight Parking right before sunset, and I was lucky enough to get a nice, sandy, level spot right on the edge of the lake! Free parking aside, it was the best spot I had had yet! The clouds were blocking the sunset, but it was still an awesome spot with an amazing view. I met two guys there, one was a 62 year old man who was camping out of his car and had been everywhere, and had every story to tell about it! He even once ate an elephants trunk in Africa!! The other guy was a man from Ireland, with the strongest Irish accent I have ever heard, and he was BIKING! He had been on the road for about a month, had started near Vancouver, and was averaging 50-80 miles per day! Absolutely incredible! The three of us sat outside my camper and talked about our travels over drinks while we watched the bright orange crescent moon set over the lake. We were right on the time zone line, so it had been bright out until around 10:30pm, and the moon set very quickly. It was really neat to watch!
On the 28th I started my day with a nice trip around the lake in the kayak, which by the way is a way better energizer than coffee! Shortly after we hit the road again, officially leaving Michigan and headed into Wisconsin! The drive was fairly boring, with the exception that the roads were lettered! Yep, not numbered - lettered! Any letter you could think of there was a road to match, and after that there was double lettered roads, like 'WW'. Weird, but it made the drive fun as I "collected" letters!
Saturday, July 29th, I decided that I needed to try the famous cheese curds! I went to a bar in Merrill called Ballyhoos, ordered a local draft, and read about the strange cheese while I waited for mine to come out. Apparently if they are fresh they will squeak when you bite on them due to their high elasticity, which I thought was pretty bizarre! Mine didn't squeak, I'm thinking because they were fried, but they tasted like they could have! They were very similar to mozzarella sticks, but they had a much tougher chew. From the bar I went to a local fair that I had overheard other people talking about. It was pretty much just like any other fair I have been too, with the addition of cheese curd stands!
Sunday we drove to Illinois, leaving Wisconsin and it's odd lettered roads behind! I wasn't able to find a street address for the campground I was going to, so I was only using my phone GPS. I figured I was practically in trucker country anyways, why would I have any issues? Well I was about 10 minutes from my site when I turned off the "highway" and immediately saw a sign for a 10ft bridge up ahead. I'm 10'6"! The only place to turn around was a county lot that was fenced in, and the drive was gated off as well. I tried backing into it, but immediately realized that I was too long to turn around. On the other side of the road was a steep ditch, leaving me with hardly any wiggle room. With no other exit, I continued to try to spin myself inch by inch, until I was totally stuck with about a foot clearance from the fence parallel to the back of my camper. At this point I was completely blocking the road and luckily enough the first car that came along was an older couple, one of which was a retired trucker! He quickly jumped into the driver seat, reassuring me that he would get me out. And then he hit the fence.. Not his fault, I had gotten myself stuck there to begin with anyways, and was only a few inches from it! Of course the fence won, taking off my awning arm and slicing into the side of the camper 😧Two more cars showed up, and guess what? Two more retired truck drivers! They decided to unhitch the trailer - and it was very much a "they" not a "we" - I was just trying my hardest not to fully panic. I could feel the anxiety quickly building up inside - it looked like I was never going to get out unless someone came and removed the fence! With so much pressure on the hitch (it was practically jackknifed at this point) it took a lot of work to get it off, but it finally came loose. Once they flipped the truck around the trailer moved away from the fence easily. Crisis averted!! (Mostly) Throughout all of this, each person continued to tell me about how many people have hit that bridge, ripping the roof off of their truck or camper. Even at my campsite later on the guys agreed - it is very common to hear of a truck hitting that bridge! So all in all, I think I made it out OK.
The next day I was supposed to drive into Chicago, but had to get my awning arm put back on before hitting the highway again. Every place I called said they couldn't fit me in, until I finally stopped mentioning any damage, just that I needed the damn thing reattached somehow! I drove about an hour and only ended up paying $20 to have it drilled back on! I'll still have to get it repaired down the road, but at least it won't fly off in the meantime! On my way to get it fixed I drove through the countryside of northern Illinois, and it was absolutely gorgeous. You would think that endless roads of corn and farm would be boring, but it wasn't! It was a new kind of beauty unlike anything I've seen before. The rolling hills, vibrant greens and the golden tops of corn rows stretching out as far as you can see, dotted with farms and silos, contrasted against the big, blue, open sky. Every rolling hill we'd pass over would open up a new stretch of farms to see, keeping me smiling in awe. It was a big change from the endless pine trees in Michigan!
With my camper bandaged back up, we left on the 1st to head into southern Illinois. After learning my GPS lesson, I punched the address into my RV GPS and hit the road.Well a few minutes later I found myself at a stop sign, looking at a 10' bridge sign that my GPS wanted me to go under!! Thankfully I was stopped and was able to easily turn away, or I would've been in the same situation all over again! I then recognized the name of the road I was on and realized that I was on the same road but coming from the opposite direction. So I turned, and waited for my stupid GPS to reroute me, only to see that it was having me do a 5 mile circle, back to the bridge! On my phone I could see the other roads also crossed railroad tracks and didn't want to chance driving down them either. I saw someone walking and pulled over to ask them. And once again, he knew exactly what deadly trap of a bridge I was talking about! So at least I feel better about using my phone GPS the other day, because clearly my RV GPS doesn't know what it was doing anyways!
A few hours after finally getting around the bridge we made it to our site on Lake Carlyle, the largest lake in Illinois. I didn't know this when I booked it, I just like being on water! And it was the perfect spot, right on the edge of the lake with an awesome view of the sunset and the passing thunderstorm. Finally I had no mosquitoes, but the flies were HUGE! Thankfully they didn't bite, just annoying!
August 2nd I drove into St. Louis! The first parking lot I pulled into I hit the building trying to get out of traffic 😒 Not very hard, just enough to dent my bumper, but no paint damage so whatever! I've adapted a "shit happens" attitude - I just don't think there's any other way to make it through the bumps of this trip! The attendant wouldn't let me into the garage anyways with my kayak sticking out, so I had to search for awhile to find another lot. I've never seen such low parking garages! Most of them only had 6ft clearances! When I finally did find a spot, I think every other truck in the city was in the same garage! Besides having tiny garages, the city was very clean! The CityGarden was really nice, with kids playing in the water areas and a free band performing in the center. I had booked a tour up the Gateway Arch, so I headed there. They were doing construction, so the walk wasn't very direct, but who cares! The arch was incredible to look at. I learned on the tour that it is as tall as it is wide, and only looks taller because it gets narrower at the top. Regardless, even from the highway you could tell it was the tallest thing in the city. Makes me wonder if they have a rule against building taller than it..
The tour inside was pretty neat, and I got to skip the line when they only had one more spot available - yay for being single 😃 On the flip side, I ended up squished in this tiny capsule with low ceilings and a family of 4. This thing was like a enclosed Ferris wheel seat, and everyone is circled up with your knees almost touching. I would hate to be claustrophobic, especially because nothing informed you of this until you climbed through a 4ft door into it! The view from the top was really cool, and I'm glad to say I've been up it, but I wouldn't go again.
Afterwards I drove to "The Hill", the Italian neighborhood where fried ravioli was first made! My childhood favorite food! (No really, my dad convinced me to change my trade school shop choice with a fried ravioli bribe) There's two places that are rumored to have first made it, but I chose Mama's on the Hill, and I'm glad I did! It was a really cool place and the server, Nate, was really awesome. Not only was he extremely attentive, but once the other tables cleared out we got to talking and he was really cool! (And cute 😏) He told me that he was from Kentucky and was driving the 4 hours home the following day. I didn't even realize I was that close to Kentucky! On my way out the door he caught me and gave me a bottle of their house dressing as a souvenir 😃 If you're ever in St. Louis, go here! Don't expect the free dressing though, but you will have an awesome meal and spectacular service!
Week 4 to come soon!
The next day I was supposed to drive into Chicago, but had to get my awning arm put back on before hitting the highway again. Every place I called said they couldn't fit me in, until I finally stopped mentioning any damage, just that I needed the damn thing reattached somehow! I drove about an hour and only ended up paying $20 to have it drilled back on! I'll still have to get it repaired down the road, but at least it won't fly off in the meantime! On my way to get it fixed I drove through the countryside of northern Illinois, and it was absolutely gorgeous. You would think that endless roads of corn and farm would be boring, but it wasn't! It was a new kind of beauty unlike anything I've seen before. The rolling hills, vibrant greens and the golden tops of corn rows stretching out as far as you can see, dotted with farms and silos, contrasted against the big, blue, open sky. Every rolling hill we'd pass over would open up a new stretch of farms to see, keeping me smiling in awe. It was a big change from the endless pine trees in Michigan!
With my camper bandaged back up, we left on the 1st to head into southern Illinois. After learning my GPS lesson, I punched the address into my RV GPS and hit the road.Well a few minutes later I found myself at a stop sign, looking at a 10' bridge sign that my GPS wanted me to go under!! Thankfully I was stopped and was able to easily turn away, or I would've been in the same situation all over again! I then recognized the name of the road I was on and realized that I was on the same road but coming from the opposite direction. So I turned, and waited for my stupid GPS to reroute me, only to see that it was having me do a 5 mile circle, back to the bridge! On my phone I could see the other roads also crossed railroad tracks and didn't want to chance driving down them either. I saw someone walking and pulled over to ask them. And once again, he knew exactly what deadly trap of a bridge I was talking about! So at least I feel better about using my phone GPS the other day, because clearly my RV GPS doesn't know what it was doing anyways!
A few hours after finally getting around the bridge we made it to our site on Lake Carlyle, the largest lake in Illinois. I didn't know this when I booked it, I just like being on water! And it was the perfect spot, right on the edge of the lake with an awesome view of the sunset and the passing thunderstorm. Finally I had no mosquitoes, but the flies were HUGE! Thankfully they didn't bite, just annoying!
August 2nd I drove into St. Louis! The first parking lot I pulled into I hit the building trying to get out of traffic 😒 Not very hard, just enough to dent my bumper, but no paint damage so whatever! I've adapted a "shit happens" attitude - I just don't think there's any other way to make it through the bumps of this trip! The attendant wouldn't let me into the garage anyways with my kayak sticking out, so I had to search for awhile to find another lot. I've never seen such low parking garages! Most of them only had 6ft clearances! When I finally did find a spot, I think every other truck in the city was in the same garage! Besides having tiny garages, the city was very clean! The CityGarden was really nice, with kids playing in the water areas and a free band performing in the center. I had booked a tour up the Gateway Arch, so I headed there. They were doing construction, so the walk wasn't very direct, but who cares! The arch was incredible to look at. I learned on the tour that it is as tall as it is wide, and only looks taller because it gets narrower at the top. Regardless, even from the highway you could tell it was the tallest thing in the city. Makes me wonder if they have a rule against building taller than it..
The tour inside was pretty neat, and I got to skip the line when they only had one more spot available - yay for being single 😃 On the flip side, I ended up squished in this tiny capsule with low ceilings and a family of 4. This thing was like a enclosed Ferris wheel seat, and everyone is circled up with your knees almost touching. I would hate to be claustrophobic, especially because nothing informed you of this until you climbed through a 4ft door into it! The view from the top was really cool, and I'm glad to say I've been up it, but I wouldn't go again.
Afterwards I drove to "The Hill", the Italian neighborhood where fried ravioli was first made! My childhood favorite food! (No really, my dad convinced me to change my trade school shop choice with a fried ravioli bribe) There's two places that are rumored to have first made it, but I chose Mama's on the Hill, and I'm glad I did! It was a really cool place and the server, Nate, was really awesome. Not only was he extremely attentive, but once the other tables cleared out we got to talking and he was really cool! (And cute 😏) He told me that he was from Kentucky and was driving the 4 hours home the following day. I didn't even realize I was that close to Kentucky! On my way out the door he caught me and gave me a bottle of their house dressing as a souvenir 😃 If you're ever in St. Louis, go here! Don't expect the free dressing though, but you will have an awesome meal and spectacular service!
Week 4 to come soon!
Hi vanessa! Love your adventures. I read it in the edge of my seat. Your are truly an adventure author. Can't wait to read more. I am married now. Sat. 9-16-17. Lisa jo Blair. Yyour nephew or was ring bearer. Amber helped. .missed your presence there. .missing you. Careful of those stray men out there! Love you! Drive safe. Auntie Lisa jo
ReplyDeleteHi there! I'm glad you like the blog, I just added the second half of week 5! Congrats on the wedding, Amber told me all about, wish I could have been there!
DeleteSorry for type o's
ReplyDelete