RV There Yet?

On Sunday Barbara and I landed in Goshen, Indiana at the Elkhart County Fairground for the Grand Design (GD) National Rally. At this year’s rally there are 617 RV’s, the largest in GD history. We are looking forward to attending the many seminars and checking out the many vendors with products for our RV. Due to the number of RV’s here, the RV’s are spread out over a large area, so GD has provided golf cart UBERS (GUBERS) so we don’t have to walk everywhere. There are GUBER stops all over the fairgrounds. Last evening we enjoyed watching cornhole toss while enjoying cheese, crackers and our favorite drink with our fellow GD owners from our section. This morning we had a nice breakfast, compliments of GD, and enjoyed the opening ceremonies featuring the GD CEO Don Clarke.

My cousin Rick’s place is truly “Wild Kingdom”. He has multiple bird feeders, hummingbird feeders and birdhouses in his yard. In addition, as I indicated in my previous blog, he assists in the birth of Monarch Butterflies. While staying with my cousin I took advantage of the many opportunities to capture nature with my camera. While traveling this year I have tried numerous times to capture a photo of a male cardinal. They appear to be camera shy. At Rick’s place I was successful.

This is the story of “Small Town America”.  This is the story of the Dundee Township, Michigan.  My dad and his many brothers and sisters were born and raised here.  Along the banks of the River Raisin, everyone drives American made cars and trucks, they have frequent get-togethers like the Pumpkin Palooza, where bigger is better, and there is farmland in every direction, as far as the eye can see.  This is a place where 94 year old uncles still mow their own lawns, 87 year old aunts still work part time at the local church and cousins grow their own vegetables and Monarch butterflies.  He doesn’t really grow butterflies he just helps them along.  These people aren’t afraid of a little hard work.

As a young boy, when we would come to visit Grandma and Grandpa, we would venture north to see the Tigers play baseball, my brother’s and I would place pennies on the railroad tracks and wait for the train to come by and flatten them for us.  In the evenings we would wait for dark to come, borrow one of grandma’s Mason jars, and catch fireflies.   

Several years ago my cousin Rick bought the property next to Grandma’s house and built a house of his own.  After Grandma passed, he bought Grandma’s property.  Today he rents out Grandma’s old house.  It doesn’t look that much different today than it did when I was a young boy.

My dad was born in August 1930 and at that time the population of Dundee was in the hundreds.  In 2019, due businesses like Cabelas coming to town, the population had ballooned to 4,252 and the latest count in 2021 came in at 7,716.  Even the Kroger Grocery Store, in town, has grown. As you can see the population has increased drastically since that faithful day in August 1930.  However, Dundee has somehow managed to keep that “Small Town Feel”.

Yesterday, Barbara and I along with my cousin Rick and his lovely wife Trula went to see the Tigers play the Cleveland Indians play at Comerica Park in Detroit. We were hoping to see history. Miguel Cabrera (Miggy) is currently sitting at 499 home runs and we were hoping to see number 500. Unfortunately, it was not to be. Not only did Miggy not hit number 500, the entire team appeared to have taken the day off. At the end of the game the Tigers had committed more errors (2) than they had hits (1). The final score was Cleveland 11 and Detroit 0. Oh well we had fun. The weather was great and Comerica Park, in my opinion, is the best ballpark in the major leagues.

Currently Barbara and I are in Elkhart, Indiana while we have our trailer serviced. Unfortunately, the roads and bridges that we have traveled on and over visiting the lower 48 states have taken a toll on our trailer, and truck. The truck goes in for service on Monday. So today while waiting to get our trailer back, we visited the nearby town of Bristol. In Bristol is a nice park along the St. Joseph River. So while Barbara was entertaining Hopper, I walked the banks and bridges over the river in search of a photo opportunity. Take a look!

Yesterday, Barbara and I made an encore visit to Niagara Falls.  Boy the time if year really makes all the difference in the world.  When we visited the falls last time it was in late September and there were very few people.  Yesterday there were lines everywhere.  However, we had decided previously that we would ride on the Maid of the Mist when we returned.  It was worth the long line.  The boat travels right in front of both the American and Canadian Falls.  On the Canadian side the water doesn’t land on large boulders at the base, like the American Falls, and due to the force upon which the water hits the river below, it creates its own wind.  This wind blew my hat off and my poncho up.  I guess that’s better than blowing my skirt up.  LOL!  The boats used by the Maid of the Mist are now powered by electric motors.  I asked one of the employees if when the boat motors short out due to the mist from the falls, do the passengers have to row the boat back to shore?  He just laughed and walked away.  I guess he didn’t get the joke. 

Since the beginning of the falls, at the end of the last ice age approximately 11,000 years ago, the falls have migrated upstream seven miles to their current location.  However, several years ago both the US and Canada began diverting water from the Niagara River for power generation and this has significantly slowed the upstream migration of the falls.

When viewing the photos below, keep in mind that some of the photos were taken with an underwater camera and due to the mist from the falls got wet.  This distorted some of the photos. Enjoy!

This past Monday, Barbara and I traveled to the town of Clayton, New York to take a boat ride on the Saint Lawrence Seaway (River) also know as the 1,000 Islands area that straddles the US/Canada border.  The 1,000 Islands area is actually comprised of 1,864 islands beginning just down river from Lake Ontario and continuing for 50 miles to the northeast.  The Saint Lawrence River joins the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean.  Canada owns 2/3’s of the islands here, but the land mass of the islands is divided equally between the US and Canada.  Over the years there have been numerous shipwrecks along the Saint Lawrence River.  In addition, in the not so distant past, Pirates patrolled and pretty much owned this area.  We got to see a couple of these shipwrecks in the glass bottom boat that we traveled on.  Today the Saint Lawrence River is a major shipping channel connecting the Great Lakes area to the rest of the world.  However, most winters the Saint Lawrence River freezes over, shutting down shipping in the area.  It doesn’t stop sportsman from fishing and hunting in the area. 

On our tour we saw many expensive homes owned by the rich residents of New York and Ontario, Canada.  We also traveled to the Rock Island Lighthouse, the only remaining working lighthouse along the Saint Lawrence River.  The other 24 lighthouses, along the river, have been decommissioned.  Today with GPS and other navigation tools, ships no longer require the assistance lighthouses used to provide.  This is a beautiful area that is enjoyed by many sportsmen, sightseers and those who enjoy the great outdoors.   

Yesterday Barbara and I traveled west from the Cooperstown area of New York to Parish, New York and the Bass Lake RV Resort. Yesterdays travels were a nice change from the previous two days. We were scheduled to spend Thursday at the baseball hall of fame in Cooperstown. However, on Wednesday as we were travelling towards Cooperstown our sliding hitch, in the back of our truck, broke leaving us stranded at the side of the road for seven hours. As we got closer to Cooperstown every road our GPS indicated we were to take had a low clearance that we could not make, so we ended up making several u-turns. And I believe the last one did in our hitch. We immediately called our roadside service and waited for six hours and no tow truck. So Barbara got on Facebook and within a few minutes we had a tow to the nearest RV park. On Thursday we had to travel 180 miles, round trip, to Camping World to get a new hitch installed. The nice part of all of this is the manufacture of the hitch covered our hitch under warranty.

Today Barbara and I traveled northwest to the small town of Oswego on the south shore of Lake Ontario. This was the only one of the Great lakes that we had not seen. We visited the Breitbeck Park and Oswego Marina. Just offshore is the West Pierhead Lighthouse. Like national parks, Barbara and I are always on the lookout for lighthouses.

This mornings forecast, once again, called for rain. However, I didn’t want to spend another day stuck inside, so I ventured outside in search of a photo opportunity. In the nearby town of Jay, New York I found the only remaining covered bridge in upstate New York. As things turned out, I got lucky. I Think! I saw more mosquitos than raindrops.

On Thursday Barbara and I left Ellsworth, Maine and began our slow journey west. We travelled through New Hampshire and into Vermont. Vermont has some beautiful countryside. We saw some buffalo and elk and a lot of lakes and rivers , but that’s where to fun ends. The roads in Vermont are awful. We were travelling along state highway VT105 when I saw a sign that read, “Road Construction Ahead”. For the next 12 miles their state highway was nothing but dirt. In addition, it was very difficult to find a fuel station where we could get diesel. The first one we saw, the canopy was too low to clear the top of the trailer. The next station had diesel, but their pump was way in the back and no way we could access it pulling the trailer. At the next station we could access the pumps, but they were out of diesel. When we finally found a station that we could access and had diesel, we only had 2.5 gallons of diesel in our tank. That equates to approximately 23 miles pulling the trailer. By visiting Vermont we completed our travels through every state in the lower 48. The only state we have yet to visit is Alaska.

After spending the night in Vermont we again headed west and are currently staying at the North Pole RV Resort just 13 miles from Lake Placid, New York. As you may recall, Lake Placid is the home of the 1980 Winter Olympics “Miracle on Ice”. Today (Saturday) we headed into Lake Placid to visit the Olympic Ice Rink where the miracle happened and hopefully get to skate on the same ice as those wonderful hockey players did in 1980. Unfortunately the Olympic Center is closed. They are currently renovating the facilities and it won’t reopen until next year. When completed this facility is supposed to be one of the most advanced Olympic training centers in the world, second only to the one in Calgary, Canada.

On our way back to the North Pole we stopped along the Ausable River at Monument Falls and the High Falls Gorge. The series of falls that make up the High Falls Gorge travel over 700 feet horizontally. Over one million gallons of water flow through the gorge every day and the rocks in the gorge date back 1.5 billion years.