Week 25

Monday, September 16, 2002

I spent the night parked outside of Shorewood RV Center along with a few other customers. That way I was sure that I would be there when they opened in the morning. Sure enough, I was up by 7:00 and they were there by 7:30. I talked to the service technician and he said that he had the hood release parts from Airstream and he would take me in a few minutes. I figured since everything was going so well, I would get a few other things taken care of. I asked him if he could tighten my seat up. It was a little wobbly and I was unable to fix it. I also asked him if he could fix my CD player which was on the blink for the third time. Finally, I asked him to replace a windshield wiper blade that I broke one day cleaning the windshield. They took care of all of these things by 10:00. $247.00 later I was on the road again. I drove back on through Minneapolis and Saint Paul and shortly after that I crossed the Wisconsin border. Stopped for lunch at the welcome center, and then headed down I-94 for another 150 miles to Wisconsin Dells. This is a place that I’ve always wanted to go to. It is a typical tourist town with loads of recreation activities. The big attraction here is the cavernous Wisconsin River. One of the main attractions is 50 year old army amphibious vehicles called “Ducks”. They are driven on land and then drive right into the lake and river and float like a boat. They carry about 30 tourists with a comical driver who points out all the unusual formations along the limestone river bed. I arrived at Wisconsin Dells around 5:00, and went to the campground that I had pre-selected, Bonanza Campground. The place was deserted. There were a few campers parked there, but the office was closed with a sign saying pick a site, and put the money in an envelope and drop it in the slot in the door. What the heck, I did that. I made a few phone calls to find out schedules for the different things in town, then walked to the corner restaurant for dinner and spent the rest of the evening at the campground.

Tuesday, September 17, 2002

This morning I decided to leave the Bonanza campground and pick another place for tonight. I drove to the place where the “Ducks” were, and bought a ticket for a one hour duck ride. I also bought another ticket for another cruise aboard a more conventional craft called “The Mark Twain.” This was a cruise up and down the Wisconsin River, again with an animated guide who pointed out all the unusual rocks and other sights along the river. I went to several other places around town, and then checked into the Sherwood Forest Camping Resort, which was a whole lot more active. They offered unlimited internet access in their office, plus they had a pool table in their game room. I made myself at home for the evening.

Wednesday, September 18, 2002

I Left Wisconsin Dells this morning, stopped at the local Wal-Mart to pick up a few things, then drove down I-90 for only 19 miles, before turning onto the back roads of Wisconsin. Last night, as I was reviewing the route for today, I discovered a little known attraction along the way called La Reau’s Miniature World. After reading the review, I decided that I would take the 3 mile detour to check the place out. I wasn’t disappointed. I met Mr. & Mrs. LaReau and learned that they plan to close their attraction at the end of this month. Mr. LaReau is a retired Elementary school principal. His hobby was to build exact replicas of more than 100 famous buildings and monuments. The models varied in size from houses about 18 inches high and maybe 1 square foot, to the U. S. Capitol building which was about 10 feet high by 30 feet long. There were replicas of many of the buildings in Washington, as well as Mount Rushmore, The United Nations, Statue of Liberty, Taj Mahal and many many more. Politics prevent Mr. LaReau from advertising his establishment. He is not allowed to place a sign on any of the highways leading to it. He and his wife are getting up in years and they just figured they would sell off some of their replicas and make a personal garden with the rest. I really enjoyed my visit with them. I ate lunch before leaving, and then proceeded on thru the back roads of Wisconsin through Fond du Lac and along the beautiful, huge Lake Winnebago and on to Manitowac. Tonight I am camped at a marina in Twin Rivers, WI just north of Manitowac. I have a reservation for tomorrow at 2:30 PM aboard the SS Badger, a 410 foot long ferry boat across Lake Michigan. I’m looking forward to it.

Thursday, September 19, 2002

Today was a day that I’ve been looking forward to for quite a while. I got up this morning in Twin Rivers, WI at the Seagull Marina/campground. I went across the street to the library and used their computers to get on a DSL internet line. Wrapping that up around Noon, I drove into Manitowoc to the ferry dock. I was there almost two hours before sailing time. I was surprised to find that this ferry, unlike any other that I’ve ridden, requires that all vehicles are loaded by their personnel. I was uncomfortable turning my keys over to the attendant, but had little choice. They even load the 18 wheelers by ferry staff. There were several other motorhomes and even a couple of brand new fire engines, all of which were loaded by SS Badger staff. The massive ship sailed exactly at 2:30 and the weather was not very nice. It was only about 10 minutes before we were out of sight of land. The fog was pretty heavy as we sailed the four hours across Lake Michigan. During the time, I watched a movie, took a short nap, had dinner and read a couple of magazines. At 7:30 Eastern Daylight Time (The time changed in the middle of the lake) the ferry docked in Luddington, Michigan. All passengers disembarked and waited for the vehicles to be delivered to them, kind of like a valet parking lot. When the Princess was driven off, I ran to meet it. The attendant jumped out the door and was on his way before I got there. There was a greasy footprint on the carpeted step next to the driver’s seat. However, eventually a little “Resolve” got the stain out. I drove through the city of Luddington and spent the night at the “Vacation Station” RV part which was about 5 miles from the ferry landing.

Friday, September 20, 2002

Today was probably the worst day weather-wise since the first of April. It rained most of the night last night and rained almost the whole day today. I drove from Ludington through Grand Rapids and Lansing and stopped at the small town of Perry. I had planned to stay at Hickory Lake Campground at Perry right off of I-69. It was still raining when I arrived, so just watched a little TV and went to bed early.

Saturday, September 21, 2002

The sun was shining when I got up this morning, so it was a good day already. The campground was jumping when I got up and going, so I hit the road toward the border town of Port Huron passing through Flint. I wanted to enter Canada with a full tank of gas and enough Cokes to last me until I return to the U. S. I filled up with gas in Port Huron and after driving around a little, I found a grocery store to stock up on Cokes. By 4:00, I was ready to cross the Blue Water Bridge, a very impressive entrance into Canada. This is the 7^th time I have crossed the border on this trip, and this one was the easiest. The Canadian customs official was in a very good mood. She joked around quite a bit, never even asked me for Identification, and there was no wait at all at the border. I continued on the very good roads of Ontario passing near London and Hamilton and finally stopping at a KOA campground in the town of Campbellville, about 20 miles West of Toronto. After hooking up, I took a long walk around the campground area and stopped to talk to quite a few people. It was a very enjoyable evening.

Sunday, September 22, 2002

The weather cleared today; at least it appeared to clear. I left the KOA campground which was about one hour West of Toronto. As I approached Toronto, I left the 401, which is the major freeway in and out of Toronto; I headed south toward the Queen Elizabeth Way, the scenic route along the Lake Ontario. I was planning to stop and go up in the CN Tower, The World’s tallest structure at 1435 feet, but as I approached the building, it was so much covered with fog, that I concluded that it would be senseless to go to the top and not be able to see the ground, so I just drove around the waterfront of Toronto. This is a beautiful city with a lakefront that is a very nice park running the length of the city. Back to the 401 East of Toronto, I followed the highway all the way to Gananoque, along the Saint Lawrence Seaway. Tonight I am spending the night at Ivy Lea Campsite, a very nice park at the foot of the International Bridge across the St. Lawrence from Watertown, NY.