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.