Surrey, ND - May 28

A day of driving through part of the Great Plains into North Dakota to Surrey City Park just east of Minot. Lots of crosswinds, some rain, dramatic skies and birds flying everywhere in the wind. Great views of bald eagles, swans (probably trumpet) and birds that looked like falcons.

S & E will seek out repairs over the next couple days while we explore the north unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park about 150 miles away. 

We will definitely have to get used to longer days. These photos were taken at 9 p.m. central time around our campground.

1655 Miles to MN - May 24 - 27

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Back through the border landed us in Hiawatha National Forest at Monocle Lake CG, Brimley, MI for a night then on to Pictured Rock National Lakeshore recommended by Tom. The park runs for miles along Lake Superior with sandstone cliffs, perched dunes, lakes and forests with at least 5 different kinds of pines and birch. Nice campsites backed up to 12 Mile Beach on Lake Superior. Although worthy of much more time, we all felt the urge for going after a stop at Miner’s Castle to see the sandstone cliffs. 

Settling in on Rte 28 to make some distance, we stopped in a church parking lot for lunch and then time and distance came to a halt. Harry noticed Speedy’s right rear was quite low and still losing air. With a slow response from AAA, the guys decided to get started which proved to be a good exercise in learning how things worked or not. This story has many chapters that are still unfolding and detailed in Steve’s blog so I won’t repeat except to comment on the super nice guys who came by in a golf cart from a nearby campground and stopped to help. Turns out they are local power line men who had traveled to MA in Hurricane Irene when we had so much damage to the power lines. My cousin’s husband is a line man and travels the distance to help in disasters so these guys are true heroes. We got campsites at nearby Van Riper State Park in Champion, MI while Speedy doubled back about 40 miles for a new tire and joined us later.

S & E have targeted Minot, MN for repairs that have now increased x 3 adding in brakes and a macerator pump. After trying and failing to find space in 5 different campgrounds on busy Memorial Day Weekend, we are chancing a night at the Cass Lake Rest Area. Although the sign says no camping, there is a 10 hour limit which should do it. We are right by a lake with well manicured grounds and lots of birds including 2 common nighthawks that just flew over. One more for my life list along with pine siskins seen earlier in the day. 

The current plan is to follow Speed to Minot and then we will head to Theodore Roosevelt NP for several days while S & E get the needed repairs.

On the Road - May 21 - 23

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Finally we are off packed to the hilt on our journey cross country to Alaska with our friends Steve & Ellen. After an extra year of planning, tweaking, adding this and that and a clean bill of health, it feels good. We decided on the northern route through the Adirondacks in NY into Ontario, across the top of Lake Huron and back into the US at Sault Ste. Marie. From there, we’ll head west to Glacier NP, Montana and NW up through Canada to Alaska. For a fleeting moment, we talked about adding Pt. Pelee NP on the north side of Lake Erie to our route but would have been at the expense of Detroit and Chicago traffic.

Sunday’s drive was uneventful bringing us to Lake Eaton CG in the Adirondacks leaving the border crossing for tomorrow. Somehow I always seem to be driving for border crossings and this was no different when we crossed into Ontario at Ogdensburg, NY. The Canadian security guy passed my passport back with a dead pan expression and said that it was invalid! My heart sank and was speechless. He told me to read page 5 that said the passport was invalid unless signed and then he smiled! Funny guy! I passed through both Canadian and US Border checks in January and neither one picked up on it. Of course, he never asked if we had weapons, liquor or an extra body in the back.

The last two nights were spent in lakeside campsites at Lake Mew CG in Algonquin Provincial Park, Whitney, ON. Harry & I had our first black bear sighting while biking the Old Railway Bike Trail. The bear crossed the trail in front of me while coasting downhill. I think I intended to stop the bike so I could watch him but it didn’t play out that way. The squeal of my breaks sent him off at a run. Probably a good thing but it was really cool seeing this big, shiny black bear. As our friend Peter would say, “look around Harry”. We both did after that. On the same ride, I saw my first black-backed woodpecker and many of the same warblers that we left behind in MA. The park is really beautiful with many lakes, views, wildlife, birds and backcountry to explore . . . another time. Tomorrow back over the border.