7/26

July 26th--Butter Tour Finis

   This is the last North Till the Butter Don't Melt blog. We're only 150 or so miles from home. I write this blog (a) So we can remember where we've been and some of the stuff that happened, and (b) I like to type; to see neat little letters morph into words and unfold across the page.  Thanks for reading it.

   I'll close with assorted photos of Little Beaver (the campground).

   Later......

   

7/25

Little Beaver State Park, West Va.

   July 25th  2017.  Alas....what do you do with the name "Little Beaver"?  I'll simply leave it at that. Tee-Hee-Hee.

   July 24th left Sleepy Hollow State Park, north of Lansing, Mich. and headed into a mysterious funk via highway 127 to Fayette,  Ohio, THEN onto the Ohio Turnpike which proved to be shades of the old Kingston Trio's  "Riding on the MTA": "....But he'll never return, no he'll never return & his fate is still unknown. He'll ride forever beneath the streets of Boston....". In short, once you're on the Ohio Turn Pike there ain't no getting off.  Coasting along on vapor we finally crept into what was the only rest stop, filled up, danced the jig and got an espresso.  Spent the night at Findlay State Park, in Wellington, Ohio.....truly lost in time.....lost in geography, and the showers wouldn't drain, leaving you dancing around a pool of swill,  and trying hard to maintain a carefree camper attitude.

   Off this morning for a circuitous, basically lost,  back-and-forth, around-and-around trek through remote, Ohio farm lands.  Google and Garmin were more bumfuzzled than we were, but FINALLY we stumbled upon I-77 South. Never, did we think we'd celebrate transporting ourselves down the bloody I-77!!!  Stumbling and bumbling, we ended up at Little Beaver which without a doubt, is the best camp site of the entire trip!  Hence,  we're staying an extra day or two.  There's a beautiful lake for canoeing and fishing, so I'll get my poles & we'll give her a try.  We feel so at home here in the West Virginia's thick forest.  It's dusk and spikes of sun filter next to leafy undergrowth and stately hard wood tree trunks.  It's  quiet, cool, and a joyous place to be. Trailering like this is hard work, but the gain is worth the pain.... most of the time

   A couple of goofy photos to follow (maybe).

    Later.....          

Sleepy Hollow State Park

   July 23rd,   2017.  Southeastern Lower Peninsula, Michigan.  We looked at each other over breakfast and simultaneously agreed that it was time to point the nose toward home.  

   Reflecting on the trip to the Great Lakes, several dynamics come to mind:  (1) It gets dark later at this latitude---say 9:30-10:00 pm & dawn occurs sooner than expected.  (2)  Michiganders go into a frenzy to get out of doors following 6 or more months of snow & overcast days. The states parks are overflowing with campers and children having a jolly good time. Folks seem pretty dern happy and it's  a beautiful thing. (3) The flora is exceedingly lush. Lots of photosynthesis (thank goodness) and lots of wildflowers.  (4) The upshot is that everything----the people & the flora----- seem in a panic to make up for lost time---to spring into life quickly and gloriously. (5) The five Great Lakes constitute 1/5. 20% of all water on earth! Hence, it's impossible to get you head around the massiveness of this water!  And to think,  millions of poor souls in Africa have no water & no food.

   Having spent 12 months recovering  from broken bones and sundry other medical maladies, we  simply had to leap off the medical conveyor belt. I'm thinking this trip filled the bill.  It'll be hot as a $2 pistol in Charlotte, but it'll be home, nonetheless.

   Incidentally Sleepy Hollow Camp Grounds got its name from the benefactor who donated the land. His name was I.B. Crane, as per Ichabod Crane in the Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Ain't  that a hoot?

   Later.......   

       

7/21

July 21st, '17. St. Ignace/Mackinac Island KOA Campground

   U.P. Michigander dude and former Marine told me that when you go over the Mackinac Bridge into Michigan's U.P. , set your clock back 50 years.  "We're different up here; more laid back, self-sufficient, and when they snow plow the roads up here they leave a couple of inches.  Maybe they're saving the snow plow blades.  Hell, I don't know. All I know is that for five or six months in the winter people drive on snow pack-----  fly like hell. Amazing more ain't killed than are."

    As for the video I mentioned in last night's blog, we discovered that you can't put a video on a blog---or at least we don't know how, yet.  This video is on FaceBook (public) as is another one from tonight shot at the Mackinac Grill. (Pretty silly.). What's more, there are three additional shots:  Great Lake Whitefish Dip, Whitefish dinner and the reverse of the T-shirt I bought.

   Later......