Heading East or maybe ... North!!!

Leaving the Black Hills of South Dakota, our grand plan was to drive across to Chicago so we filled up Freddie and started our mega-drive on the Interstate 90. We knew it would take a few days and were in the right head-space, still sharing the road with thousands of motorbikes who were heading to Sturgis. Along the way, we kept seeing huge billboards advertising Wall Drug, signs saying ‘free iced water at Wall Drug’, ‘25 cent coffee at Wall Drug’, ‘free coffee and donuts for veterans at Wall Drug’. The signs jogged our memory of our new friend Charlie from Yellowstone who had already told us about this place so when we got to Wall (yes, it is a town, just a small one) we stopped at Wall Drug Store.

It started out during the Depression years by offering Free Iced Water to thirsty travellers.  From their beginnings in 1931 to today, the family-owned and run business continues what their reputation was and is built on — giving friendly service to the public!

It’s easier to tell you what they don’t sell – nothing!!! It’s like an eclectic mix of all things American – just amazing collections, a bit like a museum inside a department store that fills a whole block. There’s a soda pop shop, a pub, a restaurant, a department store, a camping store, a milk bar, a jewelry shop, and a drug store, of course.

There are all sorts of attractions including a fire breathing dinosaur which, at 14 minute intervals, rises up to look and see what he can devour; eyes glowing, breathing smoke and roaring at a lot of decibels frightening or amusing children of all ages. Then he settles down to sleep for a  little while.

Another attraction is an old-time miners cottage complete with a working mine where you can work the sluice troughs and find tiny nuggets, etc. Above all this pair of animated raccoons keep you entertained by singing mining shanties and tunes just to encourage all and sundry to part with more cash.

To keep it all in context the next section we visited was the vintage toy display, everything American, toy soldiers, rapid flyers trolley carts and vintage dolls.

There were also authentic all-American displays featuring wax models where you could have your picture taken and, of course, cowboys and Indians had pride of place with an Authentic Indian Village, including a tipi, Indian statues, etc. We had agreed to stop for an hour and three hours later we made our way back to the RV with lots to talk about for next couple of hundred miles.

Moon over Michigan Lake

Everywhere we went, if the land was suitable it was planted out.  Crops included  wheat, corn, sunflowers, corn, wheat, corn, corn, wheat – I think you get the picture.

Sometimes the drive got a bit boring so we took notice of road and advertising signs – one day we noticed all the signs reminded us of people at home. Holsteins, Johnsons, Millers, Collins, Lismore, Adams, and many, many more.

Another day I took note of only signs with animals in the name like Bearskin Lodge, Beaver Trail, Whitefish Falls, Squirreltown, Turtle Creek Lodge, Bear Inn. It’s a worry when you get this bored, maybe I’ll learn to crochet.

As we left behind the Black Hills the vista changed from mountains and hills to plains and the highway got wider, more lanes, more entry and exit lanes and it got busier with lots more heavy vehicles.

We drove across two whole states, west to east and the closer we got to Chicago the more we talked about going to Chicago. What were our expectations? What did we want to see? Did we really want to hassle of the traffic, parking, etc? Where would we park the RV? Could we manage the RV in the ever-increasing traffic? And then – did we need the stress and hassle of such a big city? The resounding answer was NO so we took a break, checked out our camping reference book and decided to take a different route.

cheeky little red squirrel

A few days at West Bend, Minnesota, on the lake, would be just the thing for this old Aussie couple. We met a family enjoying their first camp out in their new caravan. Steve, Tania and Andrew were great company and Steve had lots to recommend about UP Michigan. His family were from up that way and he had enjoyed many visits up that way so we took his advice.

Around West Bend and all the way up north, beautiful little villages dotted the landscape – very old-fashioned, no big advertising billboards, and the stores are just simple single buildings except the OshKosh Outlet store at, yep! you guessed it, OshKosh.  We had to drive through there so stopped for a look-see. Johno got some new Teva’s for $30 and I bought a pair of Tommy Hilfiger jeans for $9.99.

That night we stopped and slept in the Walmart carpark at DePere.

It’s funny – all along our trip people have been telling us that “You can always stay in a Walmart carpark, you know” and when we asked if they had done it, the answer was always the same. “No, we haven’t actually stayed there ourselves.”

Well now, we’ve done it along with about half a dozen semi-trailers that night. No big deal, no-one bothered us, we just bunked down, slept well and left early the next morning.

Aalayna's camp fire

Heading north, we decided to try and visit all the Great Lakes, and our first stop was at JP Wells State Park, on Lake Michigan. A beautiful spot, camping right on the water, a great swimming beach, bike paths, with hot showers and excellent clean amenities, camp hosts – actually it’s our favourite so far. We also made some new friends there. A pleasant afternoon chatting and sharing life’s experiences with Jim and Dulce from Ottawa and our campground neighbours, Ken, Marcia and Aalayna from Clarkston, Michigan who invited us to join them around the campfire eating s’mores (biscuits filled with chunks of chocolate and roasted marshmallows) and getting more advice about what to see and where to go next.

So to put it in a nutshell – we went to the Michigan State Fair at Escanaba, ate sausage sandwiches and Pasties (thank you Aalayana), visited the Tahquamenon Falls, and went to the Soo Locks at Sault Ste Marie and then headed into Canada.

The State Fair was so very old-school, it was just plain fun. We visited the animal nursery, the livestock and dairy sheds, checked out the pavilions (mostly school exhibits), the produce, the ‘live’ entertainment, ate yummy food and ice-cream and then decided we had seen enough – another experience we can tick off the list. Once you are out of the cities, entertainment is simple and people are so uncomplicated. Many travelled for over 50 miles to go to the State fair which was comparable with small town show back in Australia – they were dressed up and keen to spend their time and money enjoying very simple pleasures. Not much hi-tech, glossy or sophisticated at Escanaba but lots of families and happy smiling faces:)

Still travelling north, often right alongside the beautiful lakes, we stopped in at Taquenomen Falls (rhymes with phenomenon).  Most of Tahquamenon Falls State Park is undeveloped woodland without roads, buildings or power lines – real wilderness. Centerpiece of the park is the Tahquamenon River with its waterfalls.

Taquaenomen Falls - upper

Taquaenomen Falls - lower 

The Upper Falls is one of the largest waterfalls east of the Mississippi. It has a drop of nearly 50 feet and is more than 200 feet across. There are upper and lower falls and the water colour is brown. Their brochure says its amber (looks brown like ti-tree to me) and is caused by tannin leached from the Cedar, Spruce and Hemlock in the swamps drained by the river – so it is a bit like Lake Ainsworth at Lennox Head. We had a good hike to the lower falls but the upper falls were an easy ½ mile walk. I love walking through the forests, reminds me of home.

Taquaenomen Falls - other lower falls

It is summertime here and there are festivals, fetes, corn roasts, and flea markets all around. Corn is growing everywhere and if it’s not corn, then it’s berries (raspberries, strawberries, blueberries) or cherries, peaches, etc. We are eating very yummy fresh fruit everyday. We stopped off at a Blue Berry Festival but it was hot and crowded (really just a huge flea market) so decided to leave it to the locals, and kept driving north still in the USA.

Soo Locks - close up

Saulte Ste Marie - Soo Locks

Our last stop in Upper Penninsula (UP) Michigan was at Sault Ste Marie. We drove in mid-morning on a Saturday, keen to visit the Soo Locks. The Soo Locks allow ships to pass from Lake Superior into Lake Huron and onto the lower Great Lakes.   



Watching the huge vessels pass through the Locks is a unique experience and cannot be seen anywhere else in the USA although there are other locks in Canada. We were lucky enough to seen the whole process. It’s amazing how they can stop the water flow, then raise the water level (21feet) lifting the ships up and then letting them sail into the higher lakes. Some very clever engineers developed this system but the first locks were running about 150 years ago. I guess necessity really is the mother of invention.

The locks don’t operate all year round. The severe cold weather up here makes it impossible in the winter. In fact, we are discovering that the winter in the north of USA and further upwards is so inhibitive of ‘life as we know it’ that our conversations often turn to “So, what do you do in the winter?”

We decided to have lunch in Saulte Ste Marie and when we saw ‘pasties’ on the menu of a local café, that was what we ordered. Our new friend, Aalayna, from Wells Park told us that she loved them and that it was traditional to eat them in UP Michigan. This is her story.

The pasties are made with meat and vegetables and wrapped in pastry. In olden times, the pasties were made for the miners and the pastry was really just the handle so that miners could eat what was inside and the pastry down to the end and then throw away the end crust. By doing this, the miners did not run the risk of germs and contamination from dirty hands.

 Our pasties were scrumptious but the crust was very short and crumbly. I don’t think they would have held together for miners to eat but certainly filled us up and gave sustenance on our journey over the International Bridge into Canada….but that’s another story.

Soo Locks - water and ship out

Soo Locks - water in