-85 Longitude and Pecans Part I

Well, this post is long overdo, so for that I am sorry. I guess I have been sleeping extremely well since the epic trip in Colorado with RevWild, and my normal writing time has not been available. That combined with some awesome experiences and transitions along our journey allowed six weeks to fly by. I have found my first restless night’s sleep now, however, as Hurricane Zeta passes just West of us in Dothan, Alabama. We have not, and are not expecting to, receive much in the way of a noisy storm. Other than some higher than normal wind and a lot of rain, we should be fine. It’s the dang pecans! You see, pecans have a very hard and dense shell and when they fall it is a very sporadic and violent thud…especially when they land on the roof of your RV. Toss in some wind during the night, and poor Faith (who’s bunkbed is but 3 feet from from the roof parked directly under a pecan tree) is trying to sleep in my spot of the bed.

So what better time than now to recap our time since leaving Indiana on August 29th and ending up in Southeast Alabama October 1st.

Leah and I desired to make a three week trip through the Northeast before accepting a contract in either Alabama or North Carolina. A few brief attempts to look up Covid quarantine regulations for visitors in each state left our heads swimming, so that trip was put on the back burner in short order. We had heard great things about RVing in Michigan, and figured this was a good time of year to spend our time there. So that is what we did.

It took quite a bit of energy and time to ready Arrow for full-time living again. One project on my to-do list was raise the landing gear. If you are a fellow RV owner, you may be aware of how low the manufactures have mounted the landing gear (stabilizing jacks) on the Solitudes. I have dinged and drug the middle and rear jacks across this country, luckily without any real damage. Alas, this project would have to wait as it was departure time. However, I did tell Leah, “I have a feeling by the end of this trip, I am really going to want to raise those things.”

Our first night was spent in Frankenmuth, MI where we were lucky enough to spend an awesome day with my mother law and her boyfriend as they caravanned up from Auburn with us. We first had to park the Arrow where we would be staying the night. For this quick one night stay, we opted to park at a “Boondockers Welcome” site. Which is a fellow Rver who allows a night or two stay on their property for free with a reservation. It is always interesting to see what the conditions are really like, and this stay was no exception. I had to turn the RV 180 degrees in a straight park way with a small driveway to back into. The owners property was beautiful, yet he still said not to worry about the grass. While I kicked chunks of sod off the landing gear feet, the completely understanding and relaxed property owner made the comment, “Boy, those jacks are really….” “Yeah, I know, low – still gotta do something about that!” Anyhow, we patched up what we could of his lawn and proceeded to go out and enjoy Frankenmuth. We were able to take Faith on a zipline/treetop obstacle course and enjoy the sites, smells and tastes of a city with proud German roots. We even had time to stop in the worlds largest Christmas store!

August 29th is also special for Leah and I as it is our wedding anniversary. Our 2019 anniversary, we got to spend our first night ever in our RV together, and this year it was our first night back in our RV marking a return to the full-time RV lifestyle! Get this… when we were wed on August 29th, 2009, my beautiful bride placed a wedding band on my finger with the words “TO JOURNEY AS ONE” inscribed on the inside. Man, is she beautiful from the inside to the outside and through and through.

From Frankenmuth, we traveled to just east of Mackinaw City, where we got to play in our first of the great lakes: Lake Huron. Of course while there, we needed to take the ferry across the lake to visit Mackinac Island. And with two kiddos in tow, we had to do it in style…on a pirate ship! I think I enjoyed making pirate sounds and shooting the water cannons off the side more than kids, but we all had fun making that trip on an bright, sunny day. We were able to make arrangements to bring our bikes across, so when on the island we did the full 8 mile loop around the perimeter of the Island, soaking in the views of the Caribbean blue water. And, yes, rewarded ourselves with some fudge at the end of the trip. For real, though, what is the deal with all the fudge? Literally, every third business is a fudge shop on both the island and Mackinaw City. Whatever works – you guys do you!

Pirate Ship cruisin’ to Macinac Island!!

After crossing the longest suspension bridge in the world, we made it to the Upper Peninsula and stayed just outside Munising (almost exactly at -85 degrees latitude) for four nights. This was a great jump-off point to explore some sandy beaches on our second great lake, Lake Superior, take in some awesome sunsets, play around our first Michigan waterfall (Miner’s Falls), and of course take a boat ride out to the famed pictured rocks. Well… a half trip almost to the pictured rocks as we had to turn around due to ever increasing swells on Lake Superior. The tour company was more than friendly and accommodating as they fully refunded our tickets. The high wind and waves weren’t ideal for that trip, however the next day, it made our time visiting the Black Rocks of Presque Isle State park very memorable. We had a blast scrambling on the shoreline rocks, having waves crash around us, and even spent some time watching a couple guys surf! Our adventures in Munising continued with a short hike to Tanery Falls, a paddle up the Au Train River from the lake, and had a chance to meet up with Nathan and Marissa from “Less Junk More Journey.” They are YouTubers who we learned so much about this lifestyle from through their content dating back prior to our move from Oregon! It was a pleasure to thank them for helping us prevent mistakes by showing us theirs!

An awesome evening of sunset beach playing!

Miners Falls near the famed pictured rocks.

The Black Rocks of Presque Isle Park in Marquette was a super fun, windy excursion.

Our next stop was in Houghton, MI, on the Keweenaw Peninsula, our most northern destination. While there, we explored some more scenic drives and cozy tourist towns, more sand and the famed pasties! Again, a unique to the location food. A tip for any future visitors: make sure you enjoy them warm and always get the gravy!

That was pretty much the first half of the trip – filled with great times visiting the “must-see” places of the U.P. The second half, however, was the more eventful within the local as well as the obstacles to overcome. My favorite part of the trip began as we dove deeper into the into the more natural and less visited regions of Michigan. Our first stop was in the Porcupine Mountains just outside Ontonagon – in the northwest portion of the U.P.

The “Porkies”, as it is known by the locals, is preserved forest land under a state park. Probably the biggest and most beautiful state park I have ever been to. It had the feel of a small national park with a great campground in a beautiful setting. The shore along superior made for great rock collecting, skipping and unique drift wood collecting. The park’s interior held lots of great hiking into abandon mining towns, through groves of huge trees and along the famed Presque Isle River. Although we were a bit too early for the spectacular fall foliage, we enjoyed some brisk fall air as we hiked and played as a family together.

Well…given the length of time it took to publish this post, I suppose I’ll wrap up part one here, and leave you wondering about the importance of Pecans and the -85 latitude! Peace!