Day 43 - To the Land of Paul Bunyan

Day 43 - Mackinaw City - Duluth, Minnesota - October 2, 2014 Thursday

Choosing among these pictures was difficult because the views were so mesmerizing! 


To leave Mackinaw Island I knew that I was going to cross the bridge. Honestly, it did not enter my mind what kind of bridge this might be like. On the map it was very small - only about 1/2” long, so long could that be? Really? 

The day began with bucketing down rain, wet roads, and plenty of fog. Arriving at the bridge, I saw what I was about to encounter. A suspension bridge with limited visibility and a very long span - about 5 miles!

I took the centre lane knowing full well that slow traffic normally stays to the right, but I was not about to drive off the edge in my anxiety, and I figured those more confident than I could drive on that side. 

Water and Nothing Else All Around - and a Huge Drop!

It was one of the worst experiences of my life! I was white-knuckled, stiff armed, and fully absorbed on that road for the entire length. When I got off the other side and saw the sign: REST AREA NEXT DRIVE NORTH, I thought to myself, Yes! They even have a rest area for those of us that barely make it across. Approaching the toll booth, I told that lady about my experience, and she stated that she also hates the bridge, and sometimes she has to do patrol on it, and her preference is to drive in the nighttime when she cannot see how far down the water lies, and sticking to the inside lane makes her more comfortable also. Apparently, I was not alone in my stress! Imagine crossing that bridge daily for work. Ack!

I knew I had a drive of at least twelve hours this day, and making a pit stop at the gas station, I stocked up on junk food to make sure I could make it through!

We headed on up the freeway and eventually came to a little town called Christmas. Who would have thought there was such a town!

Lake Superior

Camping on Lake Huron began our day, and as the hours meandered by, we drove many, many miles on the banks of Lake Michigan, and eventually we stopped and played on the beaches of Lake Superior. What an extraordinary that day was! How do you try to paint a picture of that sandy beach? Though the sand was deep, it was not solid - it was fluffy, soft, and easy for the children to dig into. The whitish-yellowish colour and water that was lightly dispersed throughout it made it a pleasure to walk in and play in. If we could have had more time, I would loved to have found a campground and spent the night there and given the children the day to run and be wild. The water, being a lake, was of course fresh, and not salt, and that in itself was crazy to us given the sand that gave the huge lake the appearance of an ocean. 

Mischievously Kicking Sand to Hide His Brother's Shoes

Pure Delight at His Own Actions

Entertainment For His Biggest Fan

The Little Caravan That Could - Has All 14,000 KM So Far!

Digging To China

The colours of Michigan were like a painting. I tried to capture the essence with my camera, but it can never do it justice. The stands of trees that were bright shades of orange with layers of fresh foliage fallen at the base of the trunks was gorgeous; the red, orange, and yellow leaves that graced the various types of trees reminded me of an earlier life. I was transported in my feelings to a different time, and I tried to remember what it was, and I think it might be my life in Abbotsford, where trees changed colours, rain came down, and leaves littered the lawns. It was a good feeling. Likely because this was a time in my life when I had three small boys, I homeschooled, we made Pilgrim hats, and sewed mattresses out of sheets and filled them with leaves to experience the Pilgrim lifestyle, and the boys slid down their treehouse slide into a waiting pile of crunchy, fragrant offerings. Good memories!

I was headed for Duluth, Minnesota, being it was a direct path home to Canada through Saskatchewan. Paul Bunyan came from Duluth, so I was fully prepared for forests of trees, and perhaps a glimpse of the famous man. Suffice it to say, I was vastly surprised to find that Paul (and perhaps his lumberjack buddies) had chopped down all the trees and in its place there was a city! The forest gone, I was not without sunsets. Passing through, I saw remarkable beauty. The setting suns will always be one of my strongest memories of this road trip we have taken!

Our GPS felt it was necessary to drive us into a forest edging a furniture store when we were looking for our old haunt Walmart. As I drove in the dark and rain through the parking lot of this store, I saw a lady exit, and we had a chuckle as she headed to her ‘home’ - a long motorhome parked off to the side of the tarmac.Apparently, she had found herself employment that had kindly allowed her to park nearby. Walmart, she informed me, was down the road a ways on the left. 

We discovered that this Walmart was not welcoming of overnighters. There was a sign stating: No camping or overnight parking.  It was dark and rainy and the traffic was such that I really did not want to venture out again to find somewhere else to park, therefore, I sent an older boy in to customer service to ask them about parking for the night, given our situation: mum and children, rainy night, not able to find campground due to closures. 

The woman was nice enough to say we could stay, but we would need to be parked at the back of the parking area. Every thirty feet around the perimeter of the parking lot there were signs stating NO CAMPING, and so, though they gave me permission, I was leery. The last thing I wanted was to find myself ousted in the middle of the night by an overzealous police officer who had nothing better to do that look for vagabonds. As vagabonds we clearly are! 

I made a phone call to Target, and they said that I might park if I was gone early. Off to the store we went, a little shopping we did, and then parked under the comforting lights we slept, until we arose early to head on out for the Canadian border.

"I'm a Spy!" (with his lady gloves on) ;)

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