On Friday, Oct 27, we drove to the Shadrack Campground in Bristol, TN.  It was about the only RV Park I could find in the area.  It is very close to the Bristol Motor Speedway, a very large auto racetrack, which thankfully is closed at this time.  The campground is another terrible RV park.  Its entrance is a hard right turn followed by a steep downhill driveway into the parking lot of the registration office.  After that, you must enter a hard left turn down an even worse downhill drive that is rutted with potholes.  Then there is a long drive to back-in parking slots with little space between slots.  The 50 amp pedestal has no breaker switch, so it is always hot.  This is the worst example of a power connection that we have seen anywhere.  Electrical arching can occur when plugging in and unplugging the power cord if done with the power on.  Then there is only one water source for four slots, so they put a 4-to-1 adapter on the faucet and split the water pressure four ways for the four slots.  The weather was beautiful when we arrived but by Friday night the rains began, creating deep puddles of water around the motorhome, especially where the entry stairs lower to the ground.  A truly horrible campground.

We took advantage of the good weather Friday afternoon.  Felix and Kathy came by to pick us up and take us on a walking tour of downtown Bristol, both Tennessee and Virginia, since State Street divides the cities of the two states.  Small brass plaques in the center line of that street have TENNESSEE on one edge and VIRGINIA on the other edge.  See photo below.  The shops along this street were a joy to visit, and Felix and Kathy made it all very easy.  We topped off the night with supper at the local Outback Restaurant.

Felix and Kathy Enjoying Ice Cream

1950s Malt Shop on State Street

Small Plaque in Center of State Street

Sign Over State Street Beside Railway Station

Attractive Railway Station

Saturday morning Felix and Kathy picked us up again, this time in the rain.  We went to Bristol Caverns, a sort of small version of Carlsbad Caverns.  As with the Carlsbad Caverns, we found that unless you take a tripod into the dark caverns to use with it, a DSLR will have little success getting clear images due to a very slow shutter speed no matter how you set your ISO rating.  Amazingly, a modern smart phone has technology to overcome dark settings that allow some images to be captured.  Some of these are below.

The Christian influence in Bristol is very pronounced, with signs everywhere displaying Bible verses. Churches are everywhere, many large and beautiful.  This influence is also evident at the caverns.  This is not a national park or monument, but rather a private company.  The gift shop at the caverns had shirts for sale with Bible verses on them and other similar statements.  See the photos below.

After a morning in the caverns, we went to the movies to see the Christian film, Let There Be Light.  This is a film worth seeing.  That night Betty and I did some much-needed grocery shopping.

Light Shines Through Original Entry to Caverns

Working Our Way Through the Caverns

Cavern Rock Formations

More Rock Formations

Writing on a Shirt for Sale in Caverns Gift Shop

Writing on Another Shirt for Sale at Caverns Gift Shop

From Another Shirt for Sale at Caverns Gift Shop

Sunday morning we drove to Felix and Kathy's to join them in Sunday School and Worship at their church of choice, which they soon will join.  See photo below.  After church they took us back to their house for lunch and an afternoon of conversation.  We actually saw light snow begin while there.  Then we had to return to our motorhome to disconnect the water hose and sewer hose, since it will be freezing tonight.  Tomorrow we leave for Charlotte to see the Billy Graham Library.

We spent 1 1/2 days in Charlotte, then headed to Savannah for an overnight stay, then left for home on Nov 2.  It was hard to believe that we should actually be returning home after so long away.  I feel like Lewis and Clark returning to St Louis after being away so long.

Church We Attended with Felix and Kathy

Wednesday morning, Oct 25, we woke to a dry day, though not sunny.  As we drove in windy conditions, we could see fall colors but they could not successfully be photographed without good light.  We drove on interstate highways in Indiana and Kentucky, surrounded by large trucks driving far above the speed limit, risking their lives and the lives of everyone on the highway around them.  With strong winds jostling vehicles around, this is very unnerving.  We finally made it to a surprisingly pretty area not far from the interstate highway in Georgetown, KY.  It was cold and clear.  The two managers of the RV park were preparing to leave next week, one headed to Yuma, AZ and the other headed to Ft Myers, FL.  The park stays open year round, so someone else will be managing the park soon.

This morning, Oct 26, we woke to a bright sunny day, but chilly.  It was a joy to see a sunny day again.  The wind was not as bad, so I was able to drive around 60 mph most of the day.  However, the level of traffic on I-75 was awful, with an endless stream of large trucks in several lanes of the highway.  The excessive speed and risky driving on their part continued today, and we often found ourselves in between two lanes of trucks edging closeby as they passed.  The driving experience in Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee on the interstate highways has been so bad that I hope I never drive that area again.  Today after we entered Tennessee, we encountered a long poorly marked area of construction that lasted for miles as the road twisted and wound its way around hills.  It was hard to know what was holding up traffic for so long, stop-and-go.  After miles of this, with more large trucks than any other vehicle on the road, we found that we were being funnelled into one lane.  Fortunately we were in the correct lane, but we only guessed this due to the odd behavior of Tennessee highway patrol cars driving backward on the right shoulder of the highway.  We were left to guess what this meant, but pulled to the left lane on supposition.  It was already a taxing drive, then topped off with this.  Thankfully it was only a few miles more to our exit for the RV park where we are staying tonight.  It is Volunteer Park Family Campground, a dump of a place.  The driving lanes are narrow and hard to navigate, the parking slots are not level and short, and we were not even escorted to our slot by management.  For the first time I used some 2X6 boards to place under the leveling jacks in the front.  Trees are close to the sides, so we had to position our motorhome carefully to allow the slideouts to extend.  At least we have full hookups with 50 amps, especially important since it was warm enough to need both air conditoners to be run to cool off the motorhome inside.  Have not used AC for quite a while, but now that we are heading south, it may be needed on the remainder of the trip.  Since we left the UP of Michigan, the trip has not been as enjoyable, mostly due to the change in weather, but also having to enter very crowded highways.  We look forward to arriving home in November.

Tomorrow, Oct 27, we leave for Bristol, TN, next door to Bristol, VA where old friends from St Augustine will greet us.  Felix and Kathy Kozielski have moved there from St Augustine, and we shall stop by to spend time with them on our way back to St Augustine.

The very nice weather that we had enjoyed the past few weeks seems to be long gone now.  We got up early this morning to get our motorhome in position at the water station to refill our fresh water tank.  It was pouring down rain and getting colder by the minute.  Once that was done, we were very glad to put our rain slickers into the shower to dry while we began the drive in the windy rain toward Indiana.  We had already decided that the weather was far too bad to make it to our originally planned destination for today, Brown County State Park.  Our original intent for staying there was photographing the fall colors, which is no longer possible considering the direction that the weather is taking.  We had to cancel the two days planned for there and make new reservations for something closer for tonight and another park in between Brown County and the next reserved spot north of Knoxville.  Our new reservations are in Peru, IN and Georgetown, KY, which replace the two nights that we were to stay in Brown County.  I write this at a rain-soaked RV park in Peru, IN.  The drive here was not only terribly windy and rainy, but very cold to boot.  Big rig trucks blasted by us constantly as we drove at 45-50 mph in the tempestuous wind and rain.  We stopped for refueling in a rain so cold that the drops felt hard and sharp like ice.  I think it must have been freezing rain.  Though we could still see through the rain some nice fall colors, the weather seems to have deteriorated to the point that we may not get any more good photos of that on this trip.  We were very glad to get set up here for the night, and warmed up some soup for a late lunch before taking a much-needed nap.  Betty is still sleeping as I write this.  Weather forecasts for tomorrow are little better than today.  By the time we get to Tennessee on Thursday we may actually see the sun again.

Sunday, Oct 22, we left Interlochen State Park.  Seemingly everyone was trying to hook up and leave at the same time.  After a couple fifth wheels pulled out from around us, we pulled the motorhome out into the drive path so that we could have room to hitch up the Jeep.  This takes time, and others in the area appeared to fume as we worked as quickly as we could to move on out of the way.  Once this task was completed, we happily said goodbye to Interlochen.  As we progressed down the state of Michigan along the western edge of the state, the winds became some of the worst experienced on our trip, then the rain began.  We twice pulled into rest areas to hope the weather would improve, but a huge weather system was moving over from the west that will likely last for days.  When we arrived at the Dutch Treat RV Park in Holland, MI we were told that the water had been turned off for the season.  The manager said that the owner of the park saw a weather report that it might snow in a week and decided to shut off the water to prevent freezing.  So we had to drive around the park to position our motorhome to use the water station to top off our water tank.  It holds 90 gallons, so we should be in good shape.  Another camper was trying to get there also, already fuming that the manager had not told him earlier so that he could have topped off his tank from his campsite.  All this made us late to arrive at Betty's cousin's house for supper.  Bob Lundman is the son of Betty's mother's brother.  Bob and his wife, Kathy, graciously accommodated us anyway, and we had a very nice supper and visit.  The rain never let up, and we returned to the motorhome later that night in the rain, which continues this morning, Monday, Oct 23.  We are very disappointed that we cannot experience this part of the country in good weather, but have opted to visit a museum or two to salvage what we can of this experience.  We will visit Grand Rapids, which my mother used to refer to as "the holy land," due to its being the location of so many Christian schools and publishing houses.  Things like Our Daily Bread, for instance, are published here.  Several book publishers, like Eerdsman Book Store and Baker Book House, are located here.  We shall start by visiting the Gerald Ford Museum.

Kathy and Bob Lundman

In pouring rain we drove to Grand Rapids to see the Gerald Ford Museum.  This was a nice tribute to a man who struggled all his life to do his best to serve others, having been abandoned by his biological father when he was two weeks old.  He is the only president to become an eagle scout.  His step father was a strong encouragement to him and brought other good mentors into his life.  This led to college at the University of Michigan, where he also played football well enough to receive offers at graduation from the Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears.  He decided to attend law school instead and was accepted at Yale Law School.  After practicing law a couple years he joined the Navy in 1942 and served for the duration of that war.  Then into politics, and you probably know the rest.  He was never elected as president but served well in that position at a very difficult time in our country's history.  It was hard to watch the footage of the Watergate trials, the pardoning of Nixon, getting our people out of Vietnam, working through an economic crisis, etc.  The museum is an amazing place, with full scale reproductions of the oval office and cabinet room, as well as other exhibits of equally strong impression.  I have never seen another presidential museum, so they may also be equally stunning.  If we had not been late into the season, we could have seen the fountain outside, whose water had been drained as cold weather approached.  After this we walked across the street to see the Grand Rapids Public Museum.  This, too, was an impressive museum.  I was especially struck by the exhibits of native animals, including skeletons of prehistoric animals that have been found in Michigan.  There were exhibits of all the fish in Lake Michigan as well.  Exhibits of what life was like when white men first came to the area were very impressively displayed.  Only a little over an hour was left for us to see everything in this museum, so we had to rush a bit.  We nevertheless were quite impressed.

Reproduction of White House Oval Office

Reproduction of Cabinet Room

Skeleton of Mastodon

Skeleton of unidentified creature

On Thursday, Oct 19, we drove to Tiki RV Park in St Ignace, Michigan.  Along the way we traveled Rt 2 following the north shore of Lake Michigan.  Betty could not resist stopping to take off her shoes so that she could wet her feet in the northern-most point of this lake.

Betty wading in Lake Michigan

Beach at Lake Michigan north end

Betty returning after wading in Lake Michigan

Beautiful drive along coast of Lake Michigan

 Tiki is a nice park with large trees and decent slots to park in.  The trees do make navigating around them a challenge, but the view is wonderful.  We got a reduced rate for being there late in the season, and we were pretty much alone in the section of the park where we stayed.  The winds continued to be very strong.  The park managers asked if we saw the two freighters in the bay outside.  They explained that large freighters take refuge in that bay when the winds become too fierce to sail in the great lakes.

Pretty much had the park to ourselves

Just down the road is the "boardwalk" area, where many vendors offered ferry rides to Mackinac Island.  We were informed that it costs $26 per person for the ride there, and even sitting on the porch of the Grand Hotel would cost us $10.  Getting a meal there would be a minimum of $40 per person.  We decided to pass on taking that trip.  We did drive up Rt 123 to see the Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point, and to visit the Tahquamenon Falls State Park on Friday, Oct 20.  We could even feel the strong winds in the Jeep as we were pushed back and forth even in that small vehicle.  All along the drive near the southern shore of Lake Superior we found very friendly, happy, seemingly carefree people who would joyfully take time to talk to you whatever they were doing.  Betty and I wondered what they did for employment there, especially in the winter which must be tough.  While people elsewhere are tensely pursuing the accumulation of things, these people live in very humble homes and perform simple chores (it appears) and give the impression of being totally satisfied with their lot in life.  At the shipwreck museum, we found that off the coast of Whitefish Point about 17 miles, the Edmund Fitzgerald sank on November 10, 1975  during a terrible storm in Canadian waters.  Gordon Lightfoot even recorded a song about it, though few if any of the lost were Canadians.  This same section of Lake Superior accounts for a huge number of shipwrecks due to the storms and crowded sea lanes headed for the other lakes.  Enormous waves took down the Edmund Fitzgerald, which was a huge freighter.

17 miles out there the Edmund Fitzgerald sank

While in the museum I met a couple from central Wisconsin.  I thought at first that they were Amish, but the man said that they were German Baptist.  I had never heard of that denomination.  They were on their honeymoon; his first wife had died after bearing 6 children.  Seemed like a story out of another century.  Very friendly couple, and they did not mind that I took their photo.

Labman and Gina Wolfe, German Baptists

After the museum we headed for Tahquamenon Falls State Park.  All the images above were taken with our phones.  We shot all the photos of the falls with a DSLR.  These images were especially great due to their having the autumn colors as a backdrop.

Tahquamenon Falls State Park in Autumn

Betty and Steven at Tahquamenon Falls

Today, Oct 21, we left St Ignace and almost immediately had to cross the Mackinac Bridge, which seems always to be undergoing construction work.  Again the winds were very strong as we drove over steel grates that allow any vehicle to drift sideways.  Driving a large motorhome over slippery grates in strong winds was quite an experience.  We made our way slowly to the Interlochen State Park south of Traverse City, MI.  Like too many state parks these days, customer service is not clearly present.  They are quite happy to take your money to stay here but do not even have a person present to greet you or check you in.  We were greeted at the entrance by a building and entry gate at which a couple cars already had gathered.  We soon found out that we must open a yellow box, remove a phone receiver, and wait for someone to talk to us.  When I got my turn, I was told that in addition to the $33 I had paid in July when I made my reservation I was also required to have a "passport" to enter the park.  Thankfully they let us in, saying that someone would come by to take additional money for this.  Upon driving to our site, we found it to be a back-in slot instead of pull-thru, which required us to unhitch the Jeep in the drive path while others wanted to pass through.  It did have a 50 amp electrical hookup but no water or sewer, and it was a rustic dirt site without paving.  It did border the lake, but wild growth mostly blocked the view.  People are very close to each other, and they seem to be very fond of pine wood fires, which choke me up.  We have to keep our exhaust fans going to keep the smell of smoke out of our motorhome.  The state park we had in Alabama was many orders of magnitude better than this place, though we had a 30 amp electrical hookup there, but did have water and sewer, and no talk of a "passport."  The slots were huge compared to this place, and two people were at the entrance to greet guests and answer questions.  I wonder if Interlochen is representative of all Michigan state parks.

"Pure Michigan?"

Tomorrow we leave for Zeeland, MI near Holland.

Sunday, Oct 15th, we drove to Garfield, MN to stay at the Oak Park Campground.  This is the park I chose to reserve as I planned a trip farther to the south than I wanted due to all the parks in Minnesota farther north being closed by Oct 1st.  If only they had known that the weather would be unseasonably warm this year.  The RV park was next to a farm, so that we could take photos of  wonderful autumn pastoral scenes.  The light and colors were wonderful.

Autumn farm scene

View out our windshield in RV park

On Monday, Oct 16, we drove to Buffalo Valley RV Camping south of Duluth, MN.  We had decided to stay here rather than continue on to Grand Marais farther up the coast of Lake Superior.  Our driving progress had been much less than planned Sunday and Monday due to fierce cross winds.  Seems these winds are about as bad as those out west that gave us so much trouble.  The only difference is that here we did not have "dust" blowing everywhere.  One advantage of staying near Duluth was that on Tuesday, Oct 17, we got to visit some old friends of Betty, Greg and Lola Elstad who now live south of Duluth on a beautiful lake.  We had a very nice visit, with Greg showing off his model train set in the basement and Lola showing us her pottery creations, even giving us two coffee mugs as we parted.

Betty with Greg and Lola Elstad

After that visit we drove up to see Lake Superior.  We visited the two lighthouses and the Lake Superior Maritime Visitor Center, and Betty got another T-shirt, this one with Lake Superior on it.

The two lighthouses

Betty among maritime artifacts

Then we drove over the bridge onto a narrow island that separated Lake Superior from Superior Bay.  We parked and walked over a sand bar to the Lake Superior side, and there we saw a movie being filmed on the beach.  We talked to the male actor while they were setting up a scene and asked him what the name of the movie would be.  He said Tuskaloosa.   I joked that Forrest Gump was filmed mostly in South Carolina instead of Alabama.  He said that this movie too would be set in Alabama but not filmed there.  As we walked back to our car, we saw an old Cadillac convertible with an Alabama tag parked in the same area.  I suppose it will be in the movie. 

Tuskaloosa being filmed on Lake Superior

Watch for this car in movie

Today, Oct 18, we drove to River Road RV Park in Ontonagon, MI.  The weather continues to be unseasonably warm but very windy, with fierce gusts on the highway.  The autumn colors continue to be a pleasure, though they seem to be past their peak here.  The area is mostly closed for the season, so we have it almost to ourselves.  Very little traffic on the highway, and we are only one of four RVers in the park.

When I planned this trip, I had thought that travelling in this area of the Upper Peninsula would afford broad views of the Great Lake area, especially Lake Superior.  Actually, there are few views due to many large trees along the shore of the lake and mostly private property enclosed around it.  There are few broad views from the roads unless they are private roads leading to private views.  Even this RV park has little to offer in views of the lake.  You could be travelling anywhere in the north woods and have a similar view.

There is a resident chipmunk here at the RV park to whom the managers feed peanuts in the shell.  Note below that it stuffs them shell and all into its mouth.

Chipmunk with mouth stuffed with peanuts

  

View from our dinner table tonight

Not many people here at the RV park

We finally have returned to Eastern Daylight Time, "losing" an hour today.  No more time zone crossing on this trip.  Tomorrow we leave for the Tiki RV Park in St Ignace, MI, in the Mackinac area.  We shall be heading south for the first time on this trip.  South and east will be the direction from now on until we reach St Augustine on November 1st.

Wednesday, Oct 11, we drove to Miles City, MT.  We stayed at a KOA with friendly management, but the park was laid out in a confusing way with roads that were hard to follow.  The park also was very dark and near a railroad.  Overall, the park was ok with a pull-thru slot and full hookups.  There was a Walmart and Albertsons in town, so we could get some shopping done, but returning to the park after dark was quite an experience.  One of the managers saw us driving around and offered his help, saying that the moon there only comes out in the day.  Huh?  We managed to find our motorhome.

Thursday, Oct 12, we drove to Beaver Valley Haven RV Park in Wibaux, MT.  The name sounds nice, but this is the worst RV park to date.  Perhaps the worst in the country.  Its only saving grace is that it is open this time of year in northeast Montana.  When we arrived, the manager rang up the $30 per night for two nights, using her kitchen counter as her business desk.  She had a toddler in her arms and two rambunctious kids running around the house.  She sat the two in front of the TV and walked with the toddler in her arms around the grounds with me.  She pointed out that most of the slots had large holes in them and suggested I pick out what I liked.  RV park slots are supposed to be level and flat, often a concrete slab or raked gravel.  This was hard mud and weeds, with holes that would swallow a motorhome wheel.   I finally found one that was reasonably safe, but had large wooden posts extending from the ground in odd locations, one of which prevented us from extending our large kitchen slide-out.  We just lived with the cramped condition for the two nights and one and a half days that we were there.  We chose this location because we needed something close to Teddy Roosevelt National Park.  I had heard only a little about this park, but since we would be in the area and were visiting all the national parks we could along the way, we decided to visit for a day and a half.  After getting settled at the RV park, we drove into the national park and stopped at the visitors center to get maps and talk to the ranger about good photo opps.   We also went behind the center to see Maltese Cross Cabin, the cabin that Teddy Roosevelt retreated to when both his wife and mother died on the same day in February 1884.  We then drove up the scenic drive and took photos with our phones, checking whether a return the next day with our DSLRs would be warranted.  We were very impressed with the landscapes, but we also saw acres of prairie dog mounds with their inhabitants swarming all over the place.  We also saw bison, wild turkeys, mule deer, feral horses, coyotes, and pronghorns. 

The following day we drove slowly and casually through the park with our Jeep windows down shooting photos as we liked.  The best national park experience we ever had.  Most parks are overrun with visitors (especially foreigners driving far too fast and ignoring all the rules, tailgating your every move), but here we were with only about a dozen others all day.  The sun was clear and warm, the air crisp and dry, and almost no wind.  Fall colors everywhere.  Herds of bison all along the road, as well as acres of prairie dog colonies.  Bison and feral horses slowly walk along and across the roads, posing for photos.

Today, Oct 14, we drove to Menoken, ND to stay at A Prairie Breeze RV Park.  We called to announce that we would be there soon, but only got a recording that this is a self service park.  We wondered what was waiting for us, but it turned out to be a nice park.  There is a registration booth at the entrance where we found an envelope with our name on it, so someone had been there in anticipation of our arrival.  In the envelope were the park rules and a smaller envelope for leaving a $30 check for the night.  Same price as the dump we left behind in Wibaux but a very nicely laid out park with 50 amp pull-thru slots, water, and sewer.  The water faucet was inside a Styrofoam box with a heating cord inside and a concrete block on top to keep the box from blowing away.  One tops off the motorhome fresh water tank, then returns the Styrofoam box over the faucet so that it does not freeze at night.  We also did without a water hookup in Wibaux due to freezing at night, which would freeze your hose and result in breaking it if you attempted to unhook it the next morning.  The drive here from Wibaux was the worst yet in terms of wind.  The cross winds were so strong that I could see semi trucks being pushed to the side of the road.  I slowed way down, especially as I approached Bismark, where 50 mph was the most I attempted to drive.  On top of that it was overcast and dismally cold the whole way.  I am glad to say that as I write this, the sun has come out and started to warm things up.  Tomorrow we leave for Garfield, MN.

Teddy Roosevelt's cabin

Bison along road

Bison resting with herd

Bison walking near road

Small bison near road

Coyote at sunset

Coyote near road

Feral horse

Feral horse

Prairie dog outside its burrow

Prairie dog feasting on leaf

The badlands of Teddy Roosevelt National Park

Closeup of Badlands in Teddy Roosevelt National Park

Betty enjoying autumn colors

Buck Hill panorama, highest point in the park