Tin Can Travels

29th June – 12th July: Days 82-95

On the way from Madeline Island to Copper Harbour we stopped for a ‘one nighter’ in the small town of Houghton.

Things we achieved here:

1. 3 loads of laundry in a big commercial laundrette called ‘Loads Of Fun’. It had free Wifi and everything. Such fun.
2. Changing our mobile phone provider to one that actually provides cell reception and 4G anywhere but the Pacific Northwest.
3. A nice evening out combining craft beer and dinner.
4. Another trip to Walmart. This is a bit like eating a whole bag of Cheezels. Initially an excellent experience, followed soon after by the real certainty that you shouldn’t have.

The next day was a short trip up the Keewenaw Peninsula to the end of the road, Copper Harbor. The peninsula juts out so far into Lake Superior that it puts Copper Harbor almost in the middle of the lake.  The day was gloomy. A dank drizzle that never really became rain, and it was cool. We have realised that summer in this neck of the woods is a fickle and shy creature and that we can’t put the woollies away yet. We pulled up to our campsite late afternoon and spent the next hour trying to find a site that we could fit into and was available for our planned 6 days. Because of a small local celebration known as 4th of July the place was going to be busy, and the only sites available were more suitable for tents. Very wooded, with low branches. Anyway, to cut a long story short, we finally squeezed ourselves into a site, and low spirits were instantly improved with ones that involved ice, lemon and tonic.

Copper Harbor is another small town at the end of a windy narrow road that reminded us a lot of the main SH 1 through NZ. It has a permanent population of 91 and a regular summertime population of about 300. As the name might suggest its’ past is dominated by copper mining but now it is a destination for mountain bikers, hikers, kayakers, campers and general lakeside moochers. The town also lays on one of the biggest 4th of July fireworks displays of the Michigan Upper Peninsula.

If you look at a map of Michigan it is split into 2 distinct parts:  Lower Michigan and the Upper Peninsula, or the UP as it is known. Locals are ‘Yoopers’, and are quite a distinct sub species.

Copper Harbor is also one of the few departure points to take a boat out to Isle Royale, an island National Park about 55 miles away. (It is much closer to Canada and Minnesota, but belongs to Michigan). Most people go out to the Isle for several days to either to multi-day hike and camp, or stay in the lodge. We had planned to do a day trip. We called into the office to book our place on the 3 hour each-way ferry, to be told that the next available places were on the 11th July. We had planned to leave on the 6th.  Two choices: Either not go to Isle Royale, or extend our stay in Copper Harbour for 12 nights all together. We decided to stay put. It seemed a fine place to while away some time.

Things we did in Copper Harbor: in no particular order.

We had many cups of coffee from the bakery/smoked fishmongers down at the harbour front. We discovered the joys of a shot of hazelnut syrup in a coffee rather than sugar.

We spent many hours sat in the clubhouse of the campsite as this was the only place we could get wifi. Slow wifi. Copper Harbour has no cell reception and definitely no Gs.

We visited every shop and studio/gallery at least once. (About 8 in all)

We visited every eatery and bar (except one) at least once. (About 5 in all)

We cycled. Mostly for transport around town and to and from the shower block, but we did spend an excellent afternoon on the local trails.  Over the past 5 years Copper Harbour has become a destination mountain bike park, with some world class trails. There is an amazing shuttle service that will take you up to the top of the hill and then a huge variety of interlinking trails that bring you back right into centre of town again. We did 3 long runs and were happy to finish the day uninjured and tired enough to warrant eating out.

We ran. Yes, you read that right. We. Some of you may remember that we have both entered The Hogsback Half Marathon. This is a small town event in Colebrook, Connecticut on 30th Sept, right at the end of our trip. This was mainly a damage limitation exercise to try and minimise waistline expansion by training for it during our travels. Running is an alien activity to Nick, but this was his idea and although he is not exactly loving it, he is soldiering on. 10 weeks to go. The second weekend we were here there was a trail running festival. One of the events was a 10km ‘fun run’.  I entered this and after leading the field for the first 1km…here is the evidence..

…I eventually finished 2nd. This would have been a slightly more impressive if there had been more than 5 entrants, one of whom brought his dog. Still. My best result ever.

I attended a meeting of the Copper Harbor Ukulele Group.  Having got to know a lovely lady called Margaret, a photographer who runs one of the galleries and the library, I wangled an invitation the uke group that she was a member of. Fun to play some different tunes (my current repertoire is getting a bit boring) and quite nice for Nick and I to have a couple of hours of separation.

We had LOTS of campfires in our cozy private sheltered wooded spot.

We celebrated 4th of July on US soil for the first time ever.

We spent the day with a family from Detroit that we actually met whilst doing laundry in Houghton on the way here: Todd, Keta, kids KJ and Coen, and Penny the dog. We started the day watching the parade line up and set off. This consisted of the sheriff in his car with the siren going, the 3 area fire trucks and volunteer brigade, a fleet of decorated ATVs, a band playing Country music from a trailer boat, the boy scout brigade, kids in tutus, the uke group all in the back of a pick up and 2 horses.

I was competing with KJ and Coen for the thrown candies/lollies/sweeties. They were amateurs. The rest of the afternoon was a relaxed affair with hotdogs for lunch, cooked by the fire brigade, sitting in the sun and a few pints from the local microbrewery. After a power nap by one us, (apparently 2 pints of 8.8% IPA in the afternoon can make a chap a bit sleepy) we reconvened with family Thelan for dinner, and eventually at 11pm it was dark enough for the main event. The reputation of Copper Harbor’s 4th of July fireworks spreads far and wide, and suddenly the town was chock-a-block with people who had driven from far and wide to watch them.  It was a beautiful clear windless night, perfect for the half an hour long display which really was amazing, considering this is such a small place so far from anywhere.

It had been a great day, with a new friendship made. Hopefully we will be able to catch up with these guys again in Detroit.

We hired a row boat one afternoon and explored the smaller lake that our campsite was situated on, Lake Fanny Hooe. It was initially a foggy day, but by lunchtime it was hot and glorious.

 

We packed water and books and spent 2 hours messing about on the water. Just before our return to the dock and a planned swim (smaller lake, so much warmer than Superior) the fog returned, dropping the temperature by 15 degrees within 30 seconds. Swim cancelled.

We (eventually) visited Isle Royale. The least visited, but one of the most re-visited of the National Parks, and one of the most northern parts of the Lower 48. It used to be a summer playground for the well-to-do of Lower Michigan, and has been logged and also mined for copper in the past. Now it is a hiking mecca, with a moose population of 1600 (the largest herd in the US) and 2 wolves.  The boat trip over takes 3 hours, and sometimes has to contend with 20ft waves. Happily our ‘sea’ condition could have been described as ‘mirror’. It was eerie to be out of sight of land, but there be not a single ripple on the water.

We arrived into the small harbour on the Isle, which is actually an archipelago of over 400 islands, and with picnic packed, set out for a walk. The downside of only day tripping was our limited time ashore. Only 3 hours. This was plenty of time for a good walk with a stop for our lunch, but being obsessive about not being late for anything, and really not wanting to miss the boat home, we were back at the dock with an hour to spare. If we come back, we will stay at least one night. We did spot one of the moose, a big male, close to the harbour. Quite unusual apparently.

We celebrated the Halfway Point of our trip on 7th July.

Things we didn’t do much of in Copper Harbor: in no particular order.

1. Sunbathe
2. Go anywhere in the truck. Nowhere. On the last day, when we were sorting out to leave, Nick found mice and a nest under the bonnet. Luckily there were no babies, and they were evicted.
3. Get out of bed before 10.30am. Getting lazier and lazier.
4. Regular blog updates. Sorry folks. Will try harder.

We stayed in Copper Harbour for 13 nights all together. We have developed a real affection for the town and felt like we temporarily became a small part of the fabric the of place. We leave with fond memories and an invitation from Margaret to come back in visit her in the winter one year. Now there’s is an idea.

 

 

 

22nd – 29th June: Days 75 – 82

Our only stop in Wisconsin is Madeline Island, the only inhabited of the 21 Apostle Islands. These are a cluster of islands just off the shore in Lake Superior, protected as National Shoreline Park.  A small car ferry makes the 20 minute trip from the small, quiet, picturesque mainland harbour of Bayfield to tiny, sleepy, beautiful La Pointe, the only settlement on the island.  Madeline has a long history as a port and fort, with interactions between Native Americans, fur trappers and traders, loggers, prospectors and missionaries. Now it is all about holidays. The island is 15 miles long by 3 miles wide, has 3000 residents in summertime, but only 300 ‘year-rounders’. The winter residents can drive their cars across the ice to Bayfield once it has frozen thick enough. Difficult to imagine when visiting in June.

We had stocked up with provisions on the mainland, did the laundry in La Pointe and then headed out of town the 6.5 miles to our camp.  The only camping on the island is in 2 parks halfway up the island on a big bay called Big Bay. One is a State Park and the other is owned by the town called Big Bay Town Park. Logical. We were in Town Park which was a lovely wooded camp with large secluded sites, fire pits, a beach and a lagoon. The roads to and from La Point were fairly flat, wide, smooth and had designated cycle lanes. A fantastic place to be on 2 wheels.  The hottest business in town on a sunny day is the moped rental outfit.

We had 7 nights here and after getting installed on a lovely warm afternoon we started island life with sundowners on the beach and sausages cooked on an open fire. Bliss.

The next day we saddled up and rode back to La Pointe. The island was beautiful, the verges filled with wild lupins, and loads of amazing waterfront holiday homes with their own docks. I can see why this place is a popular holiday spot.

 

Our chief objective today: to find somewhere we could watch the next 2 Americas Cup sailing races the next day. The Beach Club, a bar overlooking the ferry wharf, fitted the bill perfectly. We had lunch sat up at the bar admiring the view and chatted to a local called Leon, a slightly unkempt retired lawyer, who seemingly now fills his days with margaritas.  We headed home, stocked up with firewood and had another evening sitting around and cooking on the fire. Our planned stargazing was curtailed by some rain, so we headed in and broke out Breaking Bad Season 3. Now we’ve started something…

Undeterred by the threat of showers we cycled back into La Pointe in the late morning to stake our claim by a TV at The Beach Bar for the sailing. The bar was filled with Harley Bikers, but as they were not apparently sailing fans we found a quiet spot in the corner and watched the racing on mute. NZ are comfortably ahead, but we’ve been here before…. Back at the homestead, in a rare outbreak of domestic goddess-itis, I baked brownies. (Confession: packet mix). This really is fancy camping.

The rain arrived with a vengeance the next day. Pretty much all day. Under the shelter of our large umbrella we trudged the 300m down to the camp office to use the wifi in the morning and watched DVDs and ate brownies in the afternoon. Our the Tin Can is small, but has enough mod-cons to make a rainy day more than bearable. We even actually read our real paper books. (Yup, thats what no wifi/4G will drive you to.)

We had booked a 7 hour boat trip for the following day, and awoke to ongoing rain. We had no way of finding out if the trip was still running as there was also no cell reception out at the park, so we just had to go anyway. This was a minor kerfuffle as we took the whole shebang to town, planning to swing by the island dump station on the way home. (Woop-de-poop…) The weather gods were kind to us though and the rain turned into sunshine, although there was a cool breeze. The trip was in an open 7m sports boat with a 8L petrol inboard, with a very nice young man called Kyle as skipper and a father and son as the only other 2 passengers. We bashed around the islands looking at shipwrecks, lighthouses and had a stop for a walk on an amazing deserted beach. It definitely reminded us of parts of the Bay Of Islands, but the water is much colder. Still only 41 degrees at this time of year. No swimming was contemplated. The main destination for the trip was one the outermost islands called Devils Island. It has fantastic sandstone cliffs which are multicoloured and eroded into amazing caves and shapes by the water and weather.

The lovely Kyle sorted out some inflatable kayaks and we were able to get up close and personal with the formations.  A good day. We arrived back windswept and happy to hear that the Kiwis had secured victory in the Americas Cup.

Day 5 on the island was beautiful: sunny and warm.  We biked back into La Pointe again and spent 3-4 hours drinking coffee, eating, catching up with wifi, visiting galleries, shops and the museum, and generally soaking up the easygoing island vibe. This is a sweet spot. The 13 mile round trip on the bikes is a bit further than ideal, but it is earning us some calorie credits. Damage limitation on the waistlines. The evening was warm and still and we managed to sit out by the fire until dark. We were captivated by our first ever experience of fireflies, a bit freaked out by some rustling in the woods behind us that we were sure was a black bear cruising through, and amused by the 2 guilty looking raccoons that we caught  checking out our pile of empty beer cans.

As forecast, the next day turned out wetter than an otter’s pocket. We decided to go for a walk anyway, and at least managed to set off in the dry. The trail was 12 miles along the lakeshore, through a wood and round a headland. It was beautiful and unsurprisingly deserted, given the mild monsoon.  We arrived home drenched to our under layers, but with joy just about intact.  Amazing what a hot shower, a lovely cup of tea and a brownie can do to boost morale. We filled the rest of the day with more Breaking Bad episodes and it just rained and rained and rained.

In the morning we headed back to the ferry to return to the mainland to carry on our way. Madeline Island is a real little gem of a place and despite the rainy days we have loved our stay here. Another place to add to the list of places we would like to come back to.  An ever lengthening list. Next stop, Copper Harbor.

 

 

 

18th – 22nd June: Days 71 to 75

Our next destination, Duluth, is the largest inland port in the world. It sits in a corner of Lake Superior, which is the largest body of fresh water in the world. It holds 11% of the planetary total. As we had our first glimpse of the lake on our journey from Ely it was like arriving at the seaside. It really is a behemoth. It creates its own weather, can be stormy enough to rival any sea, and definitely has some surf breaks along its shores. The trip today was only 100 miles, but challenging in the ‘road quality’ department and progress was slow. Shaken and rattled we eventually hit the (smoother) lakeshore road and followed it down towards Duluth, headed towards civilisation again. We called into the Split Rock Lighthouse, one of the most visited lighthouses in the country. It was built in response to a massive storm in 1905 which caused more than 20 shipwrecks in one night. Carnage.

Our camp in Duluth is a bit different from our previous stops. The sites are on the hardstanding of the small boat marina, and in the winter this is where the hauled out boats are stored. Great multi-purposing of a space. We had a fantastic view of the harbour, the passing ships, the town hills and we were only a short walk to the recently renovated Canal Park District.

This is the old industrial area on the waterfront that is now full of bars, restaurants, shops and is the starting place for boardwalks and cycle trails that meander up the lakeshore. But our favourite part of Duluth is its aerial lift bridge. Built in 1930 it spans the Duluth ship canal and links the town to Minnesota Point (the longest freshwater baymouth bar in the world at 6 miles long).  The whole span raises up and down, and due to the amount of ships and yachts that use the canal, it does this 5-10 times a day. The bells ring, the traffic is stopped, the span rises, the big ships sound their horns in acknowledgement, and the bridge replies with the loudest horn blasts that I have ever heard. It is quite a spectacle and kept us very entertained. The locals aren’t quite so enamoured with it though, they see it as a monumental pain in the proverbial.

We had arranged to meet another mechanic here to get our water heater fixed. He was so vague on the phone that we did not have high hopes for success. Happily, however, he knew exactly what he was doing, diagnosed the problem quickly and fixed it.  Eventually. Hot water again and we should get some of the cost back under our warranty.

We had a great few days here. A couple of bike rides, a couple of nice meals out, a couple of haircuts, a shopping trip to the mall, and hours spent watching boats go by and the bridge go up and down. Duluth has a real charm to it with a skyline a bit like a mini San Fransisco, or Wellington.  The bones of it are of from old money, when fortunes were made from ore and shipping and it is undergoing a real renaissance, with new buildings and the renovation of the old industrial sites. There were tons of people down by the waterfront, using the walking paths and bike trail and the baymouth bar has a 4 mile long sandy beach, just a stones throw from town. I think Duluth would be a pretty cool place to live. (Of course I have not factored in the months of bitterly cold winter to these musings…)

We bade farewell after 4 nights and after a short drive up and over a large harbour bridge we left Minnesota and entered Wisconsin.

 

 

13th – 18th June: Days 66 to 71

Ely, Minnesota is the self proclaimed ‘canoe capital of the world’ and it probably is.  It is a small but perfectly formed town which functions as the gateway to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, or BWCAW (a place with a less-than-catchy acronym). This is a 2 million acre park of even more watery wilderness with endless interconnecting lakes and forested shores and islands. It is devoid of human habitation and motorised access is strictly limited.  The town is full of businesses that organise canoe trips, with racks and racks of canoes stacked up on their lots and every other vehicle on the road has a canoe strapped to its roof.

We drove from Lake Kabetegoma to Ely in another thunderstorm and had our picnic lunch in the car along the way, parked up on a lakeshore watching the wild white horses on the water. We provisioned up in Ely, then drove the 5 miles out to our camp site on the shores of a lake called White Iron Lake.

We had high hopes for this camp and had booked 6 nights in a lake-front site. The camp did boat and canoe rentals and we were looking forward to many days cruising around in the sunshine exploring the edges of the BWCAW…

It wasn’t just about the shonky weather, but the place didn’t really live up to our expectations. It was tired, had mediocre facilities and the lady in the office was surly. The sites at the lake were very pretty but minuscule and we were allocated a site right next to the only other rig in an otherwise empty area of the camp. The surly lady assured me that there was no option to be moved as the camp was going to fill up over the next few days. So we sucked it up, set camp and introduced ourselves to our (very close) neighbour, a very laconic pipe smoker called Rich. He didn’t seem to care.  That evening we holed up and were treated to the most amazing lightening storm we have ever witnessed. Hours and hours of flashes that lit the sky almost once every second and  constant rolling thunder. Once we got bored of watching it out of the back window we strangely slept like babies.

The next day was sunny but far too windy to consider taking to the water. We initially set off on foot up behind the lodge to find their advertised walking trail but after 20 minutes of blithering around, over dressed and now far too hot, all we could find was a quarry. So we bailed, went ‘home’, took some clothes off and headed off on the bikes instead.  We explored down the road until we hit the end, then came back. Enough activity to partially earn sausages for our dinner.

The day after that was finally sunny with only a light breeze. Hoorah. We packed a picnic and a rug, hats, suncream, bug spray and our books and headed out in a Canadian canoe for the day.  The day started excellently as we gently blew down the lake, paddling in perfect marital harmony, admiring the lake shore homes with their docks and nice boats on their boat lifts. Around lunchtime (Ok, 1130, as all this activity was making us hungry) we found a perfect little island in the lake for a stop. We managed the canoe dismount without incident (but perhaps limited harmony and elegance) and had our picnic lunch on a lovely rocky outcrop in the sunshine. The entertainment was provided by the resident American eagle who was only party perturbed by our presence.

After about 2 minutes of post-lunch relaxation, sunbathing and reading the weather changed for the worse. We packed up and headed for home. Upwind. Into a thunderstorm squall.

Things became a bit dicey for 20 minutes, during which we pulled up to a private dock and sheltered from the brief downpour under our semi-waterproof picnic rug. I hadn’t reckoned on its potential as a survival tool as we were buying it in Walmart many weeks ago. It is slightly ironic that it has now been used as much to huddle under as to sit on. Once the storm had past we carried on paddling and reached our home dock safely: enough excitement for one day. Back at our camp site we found we had a new neighbour on the other side. Cheek by jowl. Still with the rest of the camp empty. Very bizarre.

The morning brought more sunny but windy weather, so we stayed off the water and cycled the 5 miles back into Ely. We checked out another RV camp in town, and decided that we would move the next day, rather than continue our sardine existence on the lakeshore, especially as the weather was forecast to be ropey again. That evening was beautifully calm and we finally got a chance to light a campfire and sit out all evening.  Now we saw the lake at its best. Strangely the rest of the campsite never did fill up.

Our stay in the town campsite was very civilised. Spacious with great facilities, friendly staff, fresh donuts and a big TV in the office on which  we managed to watch the first 2 races of the much anticipated Americas Cup. We walked the short mile to town for dinner and found a brew pub that was renowned for its burgers. Nick is a homing pigeon for this stuff. I had a Jucy Lucy burger, a Minnesotan speciality. This is a burger patty with a magma pocket of melted cheese on the inside. Delicious but potentially dangerous if you are hungry.

This whole area was quite unexpected. A real life wilderness that we didn’t get the chance to fully explore or appreciate. This is the first area on our travels that we feel that we would love to come back to and do a fully outfitted canoe trip into the wilderness proper. One day, one day….

Next stop Duluth.

10th-13th June: Days 63-66

One of the lesser known US National Parks is a watery wilderness on the Canadian border known as Voyageurs. It is named after the population of French-Canadian trappers, or Voyageurs, that travelled up and down these waters by canoe, exploring and trading fur. There are 500+ islands in approximately 220,000 acres of lands and water. The park is pretty much only accessible by boat or on foot, but there are a few areas that have roads to them.  Our stop for 3 nights was a small park on Lake Kabetegoma. Quite exclusive, and a bit pricy because of it. You do get what you pay for though, and it was clean and quiet with good facilities.  We caught up with laundry (…this might be becoming an obsession…) and I tried to get more up to date with the blog.  The park had the same electrical storm as we had the night prior and this had unfortunately fried the internet connection. A temporary fix had been done, but this meant we had to sit in the sun outside the office to get a signal. Not a bad spot for an office.

The lake was beautiful and we had hoped to rent some kayaks to explore the waterways but the tail end of the storm made it either quite windy or very windy for all the time we were here. We decided to stay ashore. There was hiking and biking to be done, a bar a short cycle away, and a fantastic spot for a sundowner on the lake shore.

 

 

8th-10th June: Days 61-63

Firstly, this town has a very cool name. Secondly, we have reached our first significant body of water since leaving Seattle: Lake of the Woods. Ever heard of it? No, us neither. Just a small 4000 sq miles of lake, right on the border with Canada and a fishing mecca.  Walleye is the fishy prize. Never heard of that either.

Warroad is an affluent little town although strangely a bit shabby and very uncommercialised from a tourist point of view.  I think the locals are too busy fishing to have time to mow their lawns. There are 2 major businesses here. Marvin Windows and Doors, which employs 1000 people more than the total town population and Christian, which makes ice hockey sticks.  Warroad is also known as ‘Hockey Town’.

Bob Marvin has sunk his expendable loot into many things around town to help the local population, but his personal passion is American muscle cars.  He has built a shed on the main road into town which houses his quite amazing personal car collection. This is free entry with no extra charge for drooling.  We spent a fantastic hour and a half in here and had an ad hoc private tour from the caretaker.  He let us sit in some cars and even briefly started a couple up for us too.

 

 

The collection contains far too many special cars to detail but does contain Corvette vin number 1

Our campsite was an enormous wooded municipal campground which was 99% occupied by permanent rigs here for the whole season, year on year. We felt a bit out of place, as journeymen, but it was quiet and spacious.  Our second night here we found ourself in the path of a massive storm with the potential for tornados and mega-hail. Luckily the tornados didn’t materialise but the thunder, lightning and rain was epic.

 

7th-8th June: days 60 & 61

As of yesterday we have been on the road for 8 weeks, have covered about 3800 miles and are now travelling through our 7th state. Despite the close proximity living we are still talking to each other 99% of the time, and I have become inexplicably fond of doing my laundry in a laundromat. Our favourite times have been stopping in the very small towns, and meeting the locals.  There is usually a reciprocal fascination and after the common opening gambit of “Do I detect an accent there?” (Most people pick us as Australian initially) and “You folks are a long way from home” the follow up conversation usually involves the question “Why have you come here?”. Sometimes we have no answer for that.

Today’s drive took us northwards through North Dakota. This is a farming state with rolling prairie land as far as the eye can see.  More long straight roads with mostly poor quality tar seal. No danger of going too fast or dozing off. We had no planned destination for the night, just a few things we wanted to see.

We passed the geographical centre of the USA somewhere back in South Dakota, but Rugby, North Dakota is the geographical centre of North America. This is marked by an obelisk at a crossroads. We stopped there.

Mid afternoon saw us roll up to a very small town in the middle of nowhere called Munich. (Obviously North Dakota had a strong German representation by its original settlers.) It was beautifully kept with all the lawns and edges mown, all the houses newly painted and a sweet little municipal campground with an honesty box for payment. Perfect.  This is affluent farming country and the town is surrounded by grain elevators, silos and yards full of expensive looking machinery and tractors.

Having set up camp we walked into ‘town’, a grocery store and bar, bought something for dinner from the former and then called into the latter for a ‘quick drink’ and to meet some natives.  There is always a bite the bullet moment when entering a small town bar. Usually there is no way of peering in to check it out first and the locals are always sat up at the bar having a communal conversation with the bar person. So a grand entrance by a couple of preppy looking strangers usually turns heads and stops conversation. Nick sends me in slightly ahead as I am braver but, to be honest, we have not yet met with anything but sincere friendliness.

After 2 hours we were buddies with the owner (from Oregon), the barmaid (a South African) and a local farmer, and I managed to extract Nick who, in his lubricated state, was starting to think that it would be a great idea to buy the bar and move to Munich.

On the way out in the morning we visited another bizarre spot, a decommissioned nuclear missile site just outside Necoma.  It was part of the Stanley R Mickelsen Safeguard Complex built to defend the Minuteman Missiles down the road. Its most recognisable feature is a large pyramidal structure.  It cost $6bn to build in the 70s and was only in active operation for 3 months.  It was put up for sale in 2012 and was bought by a Hutterite community (ironically a religious pacifist sect) for $530,000. They have done nothing with it, except fence it off and block anyone from visiting. Shame. We drove up as close as we could get and took some photos from the road.

 

After our sightseeing stop we continued eastwards and to our 8th state, Minnesota.

 

 

4th-7th June: Days 57-60

This stop was really just to sort out the water heater and we had no great expectations for the campground or the town.  We pulled into the camp at lunchtime and it was beautiful. Clean, large sites, lots of trees and quiet. As a completely unexpected bonus it also had a lovely swimming pool and as the temperature was in the 90s again we were into that like excited otters. I left Bob, the mechanic, a message to let him know we had arrived and asked him to call with an approximate time for the morning.  When we hadn’t heard from him by 9am I called again and he answered from his hospital bed, to which he had been transported by ambulance the day before…Bad luck for both of us.  With the help of our very helpful campground owner we spent the rest of the morning trying to secure the services of another mobile RV mechanic.  Happily we found one that could come the evening of the next day.

We made the most of the pool whilst the weather was still hot and were generally lazy until the evening when we took an Uber into town for a drink and dinner.  Downtown Bismarck, named after the 19th century German chancellor, has some great old buildings and an active railway line running right through the middle of it. We found a brewpub and sat outside watching the world go by. The evening had that lovely comfortable heat that you only get after a stinking hot day. We then walked a slow mile up to a recommended restaurant. It was in a small strip mall and looked mediocre from outside, but was very good.

Interesting that very little ‘walking as a form of transport’ happens here. We are told all the time ‘Oh no, it’s too far to walk’, or ‘you’ll need the car/a taxi/an Uber to get to there’.  The same people are probably lacing up their hiking boots at the weekends, or dressing in lycra and going for power walks with their girlfriends in their lunch breaks. There are obviously lots of non-walkers too. The car is king and fuel is cheap.

The next day was cooler and we explored the town’s network of cycle paths. There was a very pretty river trail with lots of historical info signs along the way. Bismarck is on the Missouri River and was an important port for the Lewis and Clark expedition as they headed up the river on their travels. By the time we got home we had done about 17 miles and were a little saddle sore.

The mechanic arrived at about 7pm, and eventually found the fault: a fried relay that he didn’t have a replacement for. He did a McGyver fix, and recommended we find a place further on our travels that could get the part and fit it.  Not a perfect solution, but it would have to do. Unfortunately the heater now seemed to heat fine, but in retrospect has no thermostat or functioning off switch. This meant that 1 hour later we had near boiling water spewing from the pressure release valve on the outside of the camper, and we couldn’t make it stop without turning it off at the fuse.

Some things are never simple. Our next civilisation is Daluth in about 2 weeks. We will need another mobile mechanic.

Next stop somewhere north of here.

 

 

 

3rd-4th June: Days 56 & 57

At some point over the previous 3-4 days our water heater stopped working. This is more of an irritation than a major disaster but there was no easy ‘Hampson Fix’ by reading the manuals.  All the RV service centres are booked weeks in advance at this time of year so we arranged a mobile mechanic to come out to us at our next big town, Bismarck in North Dakota. This left us with a day in hand which we decided to fill by knocking another item off The List. A night’s stay in an Indian reservation casino resort hotel, one of which happened to be on the way from Lemmon to Bismarck.

A walk-around king sized bed, a bath, full wifi, 700 pokie machines…what more could a girl ask for?? We were definitely ready for our next night on dry land, so to speak.

For those who may not be aware of the broad concept of Indian reservation casino resorts they are situated on tribal land, owned and run by the tribe with seemingly a different set of rules than normal state or federal ones.  To describe this one (for the kiwis): think a chimera of Sky City (minus the tower) and a 4 star hotel in the middle of nowhere on the west coast of Northland or the East Cape. A bit incongruous.

We rocked up and happily secured a room without having made a reservation. Next small hurdle, how to get into the Tin Can without being plugged into power.  The camper has 2 ‘slides’ which push out with motors to increase the living space when we are stopped. We can’t actually get inside when they are pulled in and we needed to pack overnight bags.  The solution was to start the LPG generator in the casino carpark, fairly destroying the peace and quiet for 10 minutes or so, whilst enjoying a car picnic.  Problem solved and overnight bags packed, (for overnight bags read reusable supermarket shopping bags-all class, Hampsons, all class.) We installed ourselves in our room and spent all afternoon watching movies on the massive high def TV. I had a long blissful bath and dressed a teensy bit smarter than usual, we ‘hit the floor’.

The main room was full of slot/pokie machines and marinated in a haze of cigarette smoke. The bar was seemingly overstaffed but it still strangely took 20 mins to get our first drinks which were served in disposable plastic cups and we had to wait 2 hours before there was availability in the ‘fine dining restaurant’ (as opposed to the ‘all you can eat buffet restaurant’). But having said that we had a fun evening. We broke even on the slot machines and had some of the best steaks we have ever had. The best bit, however, was the opportunity to observe a particular group of people in their very skewed natural environment… A woman on a portable oxygen supply, with her credit card plugged into a machine, smoking… There was a lot of money being spent.  At one point a lady on the machine next to us won a jackpot of several thousand dollars. After the excitement of the win died down it transpired that she was still significantly down overall on the evening.

The next morning we emerged back into the daylight of the real world and headed the short distance up to Bismarck.

 

 

 

 

2nd-3rd June: Days 55-56

We bade farewell to the Badlands after a slow-motion pack up. Very hot again today. 90 degrees by 11am, and 95 by mid afternoon.

Today we headed to the northern edge of South Dakota where it meets North Dakota and had no booked site for the night. Our destination was Lemmon, a small town surrounded by nothing.  We were fairly sure it had a small RV park in town, but we could only find one mention of it on a 7 year old forum post.  Fortune favours the brave, so we headed off.

To say that the roads are straight here is an understatement. We drove approx 200 miles and only encountered 6 or 7 corners all day. Our route took us through rolling prairies and we saw almost no-one, just a few truckers going the other way. All waved. Not sure if this was just ‘the country way’ or if we were a particularly unusual sight.  We are really off the standard tourist route now and there were no other RVs to be seen.  We have no 3G, barely have cell reception, and are paying close attention to our range and the distance between petrol stations. Big D needs feeding on quite a regular schedule.

We arrived in Lemmon mid-afternoon, to the darkening skies of a summer thunder storm, and no idea where the RV park may be.  (Having neither Google maps or a paper map of town. Like original explorers of sorts.)

After a few laps of town, which didn’t take long, we found it. Hmmm.  A more realistic description would be a ‘small area of scrubland between the Napa auto parts shop and the aggregate yard with 5 or 6 RV hook ups’.  There were unusable toilets in a shed, overflowing bins, and an honesty box for the fee. But we are brave, remember.  We gritted our teeth, found the only hook-up site with the functioning power and water, set up camp, and then realised that it was fine.  We had the place to ourselves (unsurprisingly) and it was a stones throw from the main street of town.

Now Lemmon is a moderately interesting place. Our hook for heading this way was another entry in the Atlas Obscura. The Petrified Wood Park. In the centre of town is a crazy sculpture garden made entirely from chunks of petrified wood.  This was the idea of chap called O.S. Quammen. He was so interested in these local fossils that he personally designed the park as a showcase for them and employed 30-40 unemployed men from the town to build it in the early 30s.

Just south of Lemmon is the area where a local man Hugh Glass had his adventures with a bear. This was the true story behind the Leo DeCaprio movie The Revenant. This area also has lots of dinosaur fossils, most notably ‘Sue’. This is the most complete T-Rex skeleton ever found and is now on display in a museum in Illinois.

The town also has a rather strange museum which showcases lots of other dinosaur fossil finds from the area including the large part of a triceratops skeleton. There is significant space given over to a Creationist Theory explanation for the fossils, citing a catastrophic flood and a scale model of the Noah’s Ark.

We are definitely in middle America and not just geographically.

Another amusing fact about Lemon relates to alcohol. Originally the town spanned the border between North and South Dakota, the border being the railway line that ran east to west. North Dakota was a dry state and South Dakota was not, so you could only drink alcohol south of the railway tracks. Needless to say the southern half of town prospered and there is no Lemmon in North Dakota any more.