2011-26 Yooper Country, U.P., Northern Michgan, Da U.P.

2011-26

Campground:  Cadillac Woods Campground.  Passport America half price, $14.50.  30 amp elect/water.  Hilly campsites, lots of trees, close to main road traffic noise.  Could be a bit touchy to get into some sites with larger rigs.

Campground:  Kewadin Casino.  Free:  $0.00  30 amp parking lot sites.  Kind of tight, so try and get the outside or last site in the row.  In Christmas Mich., outside of Munising N Mich.

Campground:  Ojibwa Casino (Marquette).  Free $0.00  50 amp.  Nice wooded large back in sites w/large picnic table.  Tall pine trees.  Casino gives you $5.00 a day real money for playing the slots or whatever and a coupon for one free drink.

Campground:  Hancock City Park. $22.00 50 amp. & water and cable TV.  Not all sites have water.  Short walk through the woods to the city beach which is really a pretty country park like setting.

Before I could get back on the road, I needed to have my alignment on the camper checked out and balance the tires.  As it turned out, the alignment was fine, but one tire had developed a bald spot due to being completely out of balance.  Will need to see if the tire manufacturer will replace it.  Likely it began the day I purchased the camper, as I had been noticing that the camper had excessive vibration.  With light bulbs, bolts and screws coming loose every time I headed on down the road.

With that all taken care, of thank you very much and why didn’t I get the tires balanced when I first purchased the camper, I was ready to head out.  

As always I was eager to get back on the road as you know I love traveling.  Crossing the Mackinaw Bridge, all 5 miles of it, was smooth sailing on a very clear day.  Needless to say, I could look down at the water below through the two inch square open metal grid road bed, or drive on the right hand side which is paved and look over what seems like a very low guard rail, out at the water way way below as the bridge arches high into the sky before coming back down on the other side.

The U.P. (Upper Peninsula) has a primitive wild atmosphere in some places, especially when driving through inland sand dunes, past boggy wetland areas with stunted spruce trees that would look right at home in the frigid north tundra area of Canada and Alaska.  Did you know the highest point in Michigan is the U.P.?  It’s Mount Arvon at 1979 feet between Marquette and L’Anse.

Towns are few and far between.  I was so mesmerized by the scenery that I almost forgot to fill up with diesel.

My first stop in the U.P. is at the Kewadin Casino in Christmas Mich.  Free camping and close to Munising.  After setting up, went inside to get a light dinner and was given a coupon for a free hotdog and drink.  Life is good on the cheap.  Some of the trees are just staring to turn color and I can’t wait to see them in their full fall regalia.

I checked out the possibility of seeing a moose up in these parts.  Both the National Park Ranger who had only seen two in all her years up here and a shop owner also had seen two, but over in the Newberry area.  They say there are about 600 in all of the U.P. A moose did walk into Munising last year and police had to stop all traffic while the moose wandered around town, then headed back into the woods never to be seen again.  After checking some online resources I drove west of Marquette where they’ve transplanted moose from Canada.  The moose herd has grown, but I wasn’t able to see any along the narrow poorly maintained paved road as it followed a meandering stream through dense woods, marshy land and dirt roads leading to private camps.

in search of a moose, at least the scenery was great

My next stop is at Ojibwa Casino, I not only get my very nice campsite for free, but they give me a $5 bill each day and a coupon for a free drink.  Imagine, $5 a day that they give me and I get to stay in their campsite for free.  And last night I won $11.00.  Of course this spoils me especially when I go to pay for the next campsite on down the road.

The Copperama (no longer in existence) is where I had my first job at 12 yrs old.

A two hour drive and I arrive in Houghton, my home town.  If you’ve been following my Blog your already know a bit about the area known as the Copper Country and home to Finlandia University and Michigan Technological University.  I went to both along with a slew of other colleges when I moved to Florida.

I’ll be visiting with my sister mainly while up here.  If I can find something interesting to write about I’ll add another report, but otherwise I’ll take a two week break before continuing my reports.

The lift bridge to the Keweenaw Peninsula