Fall Colors in door County

I finally was able to get a good enough WIFI signal to download pictures to the blog. We left Door County as the color was just past peak. It was beautiful but cold. We left on Monday the 19th -- almost the last to leave the park. The owners gave us a nice send off. We headed to Illinois and didn't stop until we got down to I-80. That was too long of a drive for one day. We only like to drive 3 or 4 hours a day and up to 250 miles in one day.

Sometimes there isn't a decent campground so we have to drive farther than we would like. We need to find campgrounds that have 70 foot pull through sites so we don't have to unhook the boat or back up. Come October in Wisconsin the campgrounds are closing down so we had to get to Illinois to find one.

We also have to stick to the interstates or major state highways because we are so long we need truck stops for fuel and rest stops. It seems like everytime you count on a rest area being open along the freeway -- its closed. We made it through Illinois in 2 and half days avoiding the route that takes you through St. Louis. We went through a corner of Missouri and then down in to Arkansas. We stayed at Tom Sawyer RV Park in West Memphis, AR for a week. It is right across the river from Memphis -- 10 minutes to Beale street. I will try to download a few pictures of that adventure in the next blog.

Pumpkin Patch Weekend

We had our busiest weekend since the 4th of July here at the campground. Pumpkin Patch weekend is a big deal here and the town of Egg Harbor has a big pumpkin festival. At the campground we had hay rides, a bonfire, trick or treating and a pumpkin carving contest. I was one of the judges of the carvings and Jim was a conductor on the hay ride.

It was so cold during all the festivities we had to wear our parkas and long underwear. Luckily we had kept some warm gear just in case we got caught somewhere cold. It is snowing now and starting to stick OMG!! we are leaving here either the 18th or 19th. We will be heading south via Illinois and checking out Memphis and from there were not sure but our ultimate destination is southwest Texas.

Jim was threatening to leave before our contract was up so a few coworkers put a chain around a tree and then around the hitch of our rig to keep us from leaving.

Remembering Mom

Jim's mother, Ernestine, passed away last week. We made it back to Minnesota in time to say goodbye. She was cremated and there was a gathering at the Wyoming Community center in her honor. She was able to die in her home which was her final wish and she was well cared for and in no pain when she left us. Her leukemia was no longer treatable and an infection set in that her body couldn't fight.

We can't say enough for the wonderful home care she had for the last two years. The company that provided the help is called A Time For Help. We felt comfortable traveling knowing that her helpers were there with her. Many of the helpers became good friends of Ernies. They provided some of the memories of Ernie at her gathering. It was really wonderful.

A rock garden is being created in her honor on her friend Craig's property. He owns Greenworld Greenhouse in North Branch. She had so many rocks that he could build another Mount Rushmore if he had the energy. We are very grateful that she had so many wonderful friends along with family that loved her.

We are sorry we didn't get to visit everyone while we were in Minnesota. We had to rush back to the campground to finish out our contract and get ready to head south. I'm sure we will swing through Minnesota in the future.

A New Plane

The owner of the campground bought a small sport plane. These kinds of planes are smaller than the normal private planes but larger than an ultralight flyer. You can fly "sport planes" without having to pass a tough medical exam. They fly pretty high and fairly fast just like their bigger cousins. The downside is these planes are very small. They look like they have a backseat but you would have to be a pygmy to fit in the back.

The owner bought the plane that has wheels. Jim saw the one with floats and loved it. Too bad these little planes cost over $100,000. Jim will get to take a ride with the owner and even get to fly it. We think the owner is trying to bribe us to come back next year by offering Jim the chance to go flying.

The new marina is coming along -- we've lost count of how many barge loads of rock they have dumped into the water to make the new pier.

Washington Island

We finally took the ferry across to Washington Island. You see Jim;s back as we head out to cross Death's Door passage to the island. It was a beautiful day with almost no wind so the ride over was wonderful. The ferry from Northport to Detroit Harbor carries passangers as well as cars. We opted to take our bikes and bike around the island. The island has about 6 miles of paved roads. Many people take their cars but most ride the "cherry train" for a tour around the island. You can also rent mopeds and putter around which we wish we would have done. We only biked about half the island. We didn't like riding against the wind uphill. There isn't much to really see there. Some stores, places to eat and places to stay but all very small.

We ate at a restaurant that advertised fresh "lawyers". The owners are commercial fishermen and they fry up and serve what they catch. We thought we might as well give the "eelpout/lawyer/burbot" a try. It wasn't bad -- they served it in very small fried pieces. They had many stuffed fish on the walls -- not a good idea to see what the fish really looks like that you are eating.

September has been warmer here so far than most of August. There is a bumper crop of blackberries all around the campground and they've been very tasty snacks. We are hoping to get in a little more fishing as long as it stays warm before we pack everything up for the trip south.

More Lighthouses

Now that it is quieter we went out to Cana Island Lighthouse. It is the picture of the lighthouse without water in it. This lighthouse is about halfway up the peninsula between Sturgeon Bay and the tip. It is the only one you can climb up into if you want -- almost 100 steps- we didn't opt to go up.

We also finally got to go out on the pier where the coast guard station is and the Sturgeon Bay Canal dumps out into Lake Michigan. You can see the mouth of the canal to the left of the station and lighthouse. There were also some very nice fish swimming close to the pier. They say you can even catch trout here in the spring and fall.

Jim got a picture of some baby Cedar Wax Wings hiding in the sumac. They were too big for their nest but they couldn't really fly much yet. They were sitting on a branch waiting for Mom to come and feed them.

A New Marina for Egg Harbor

We survived the Labor Day weekend onslaught of campers. There were close to a thousand people in the campground and most were nice -- some were rude -- but at least the campground was never noisy. We finally saw some nice walleyes that were caught by a group of campers staying here. We got some great pointers on how to catch them. They actually troll in water very deep to shallow 20 to 90 feet -- very different than in Minnesota. So we put in an order from Cabelas to get a few new supplies that will help us catch them the way they do it here.

The pictures I am showing are of the equipment and rock that was brought by barge to Egg Harbor. The citizens of Egg Harbor voted to repair and expand their marina to the tune of 6.5 million dollars. They will be tearing down the old pier (in the front of the picture) and pouring rock for a new one. They will be adding five times as many slips for boats and they already have them filled. People are on waiting lists for years around here to get a slip.

While the tugs were getting the barges pushed into place in the harbor there were all kinds of pleasure boats cruising around them. It was still a busy day on the water Labor Day. The weather was perfect and there was hardly any wind so it was perfect for boating. We did hear that the Coast Guard was searching the waters off of one of the islands for a body. Someone had fallen overboard and they were searching and of course there were many boats out watching the proceedings.