Monday August 2 Up early and on the road. Stopped at a rest area that was very nice, and decided that is where we should have spent the night. Edna says , with lots of accuracy, this is where most of the days pictures were taken, as I was not good about stopping the remainder of the day to see birds or take pictures. Saw some ducks, a goose, and Edna saw yellow warbler and a phoebe. North Dakota was a lot nicer than we remembered. It’s very green with a few trees, but lots of marshes, lakes and thousands of ducks.

On to Canada, not sure when we will have next WIFI. Put Escape on ferry Aug 8 for Alaska.

Northwoods

Saturday July 31. Said good-buy to Reeder & Barb. Day started overcast and misty and was a good day to travel. Headed up Rte 141 to Route 2 and across the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It was a gorgeous drive, area is very wet with lots of rivers, streams and lakes. We had lunch at a wayside picnic area (precursor to interstate rest areas). Stopped at Ottawa National Forest information center where we watched a film, viewed displays and picked up information on campgrounds down the road.


Decided to stay at a Forest Service Campground. Ended up at Wanok Lake Campground in Chequamegon National Forest. What a great campground. It has no hook-ups, but does have picnic tables and fire rings. The sites were huge and we were on the lake. Set up camp and went to the lake shore with our chairs,, beer, camera’s and binoc’s. We watched an Bald Eagle fly across the lake twice and it spent the next few hours in a tree nearby. Then a loon landed on the lake as mist was rising and we finally said good night. Started a fire and had Will’s favorite camp meal, hot dogs on a stick with a can of beans on the fire.

view from back of Escape To

Sunday, August 1 We did not get an early start, as we went down to the lake and had our morning coffee. Drove clear across Minnesota and into North Dakota. Stopped a Bemidji because Edna though a picture of us and Paul Bunyon and his blue ox Babe would be a nice postcard. While there Edna found a woolen mill and went shopping. We got some socks and yarn for a knitting project she had in mind.

Had planned to spend the night a Spirit Lake Casino and RV Park, but they were full so we did not lose any money and went on to the local Wal-Mart where we stayed with two other campers.

Sturgeon Bay

Tuesday, July 27th. Left Home in the afternoon. Very uneventful drive, past Lexington and thru much of West Virginia it was all mountains, some fog and a little mist. Nice roads, pretty scenery, and not much civilization.. Stayed the night at a Flying J over the Kentucky line. Next morning went to buy coffee and donuts, no donuts, all the Flying J’s east coast sell donuts.


Wednesday, July 28th. Started early, drove by the other Lexington, Louisville, and into Indiana. Lots of road construction. Illinois has lovely rest areas, complete with playgrounds for the kids.

Saw a huge “wind farms” (wind turbines) and they went on for quite a few miles.

Went through a rainstorm on the plains, no trees with lots of fields of soybeans and corm.

Were tired, but decided to push to the Flying J just south of Milwaukie. That was a mistake! Spent a have hour looking for it and finally called. It is now a LOVES. We had driven by it a couple times, and it was right where the GPS said it was.

Thursday July 30th. Truckers have gone healthy. No donuts here either! Just bananas! Breezed thru Milwaukie. Lots of construction, but truckers went the other way, not thru the downtown. Stopped at the Audubon Center, but it did not open till 9:00AM, so we went to the Kohler-Andrea State Park and just before state park in I43 saw Cranes in a field on the side of the road. In the park we walked a marsh trail and saw some kind of heron (Edna believes it may have bee a Green Heron) and a Kingfisher

Arrived at Reeder & Barb’s early afternoon. Parked Escape To in driveway and they took us on a tour of Sturgeon Bay and Reeder’s church. Early evening saw Nancy, Alex, and Lily. Mario arrived after work. All in all it was a beautiful day!

Friday July 30th. Reeder & Barb took us on a tour of the entire peninsula. Lots of parks, both state and county. They have had lots of rain and everything is very green. Reeder is great on the history of the area and gave us a lot of information on what we were seeing. Door County is a big tourist area with many cute shops. We visited an olive oil shop, can you believe a shop of nothing but olive oil and vinegar. Went to the Rock Caves Park on Lake Michigan and also saw several light houses

Stopped at Ridges Natural area. Saw a sharp-shinned hawk and an endangered Emerald Dragon Fly. This area is noted for its wildflowers and Orchids, but this was not the correct season for these.