This park is 33,000 acres. The outflow from the lake forms the headwaters of the Mississippi river. Jenny and I started our river trip here in August of 2011. This morning, before we left the campground, we hiked to an overlook of a whitewater stretch of the St. Louis river that is a big attraction. The morning light was pretty and there were several photographers there with big cameras and tripods. I was there with my Galaxy S-7. If you look closely you can see Jenny on the ragged edge.
We cleared customs without having anything confiscated. The drive followed the coastline of lake Superior. Did you know that Lake Superior contains more water than all of the other Great lakes combined? It contains 10 percent of the worlds fresh water. It's 1200 feet deep. No wonder it took us 3 days to get around it. We had some time to waste because we drove into the central time zone so we pulled into a couple of points of interest. Grand Portage MN was a highlight. In the 1780s, it was the location of a rendezvous of fur traders that occured once a year. The furs went east, eventually to England, and trade goods went west, to be traded with the natives for more furs. We are going to move tomorrow to Lake Itasca, the source of the Mississippi river. That is the place Jenny and I started our kayak trip in 2011.
Two big events today. We had an alarming amount of laundry. We did that this morning. Next was a city tour. Thunder Bay is kind of a rustbelt type city. Industries have come and gone and the main driver of the economy now is government. There is some port stuff, mainly grain. Our tour guide was the only city tour guide in town. He picked us up in his van. We were the only clients. Our first stop was the marina. We had a chilly, exhilarating, hour and a half sailboat ride on the lake. Our captain was a 20 something guy with shoulder length hair with his hat on backwards wearing Ray Bans. He could sail. We have decided to cross back into the States tomorrow. Our next 2 Canadian Provinces are Manitoba and Saskatchewan. We have looked at both of those provinces and not seen much of interest. I think they grow stuff there. Like Iowa or Kansas. Not that I don't like Iowa but I wouldn't want to vacation there.
We drove for 7 hours today and we are still on the North shore of Lake Superior. We had an interest in stopping here because, a few years ago we did a 2 week kayak trip around Isle Royale, an island 15 miles from here. We could see Thunder Bay and we got our weather reports from here during that trip. The Trans Canada highway took us close to the shore with scenic overlook turnouts many times, but with the MP, towing the Forester I was worried we couldn't get turned around. We were unable to pull over very many times. Oh well. Tomorrow we have booked a tour of the city. We are thinking that we might have reached a Yogi Berra, fork in the road moment. More on that tomorrow.
After a long drive we are camped on the North shore of Lake Superior. We are literally feet from the breaking waves. It would be great if we could leave the windows open and let the waves lull us to sleep but alas, its going to be in the 40's tonight. Yikes. Jenny and I might have to snuggle. Or turn up the heater. We have been fairly lucky with wifi so far this trip but not tonight. Its going to be difficult to post this. If I can't, I'll do it tomorrow.
We are now in Ontario. Our original planned stop for today, fell apart last night. The park HQ is in a town that is 3 hours from the park and we figured our driving time based on the HQ location. That was a Rick Perry Oops! Moment. Jenny jumped through a hoop and found us this park. The one weird thing about it is that the electrical hookup is 65 feet away from the site. They are all like that. I had to use 3 extention cords to get electricity. I've always wondered why I had 3 extension cords. We are going to move both of the next 2 days. Thunder Bay is a short term goal. I took this pic on a short ride I did after we got set up.
Thats what we were going to do today. That didnt work out. I went out on my bike this morning for a little bit and came back an hour and a half later. We drove into town and visited a grocery store. The only things I recognized were Lays potato chips and Diet Coke. We ate lunch in the MP and then did a 17 mile bike ride. There are 40 kms of trails in the park and I feel sure they are primarily for cross country skiing. We leave tomorrow and will be in Ontario at a Provincial park.
We put a few miles in the bank today. We are now in Quebec. Quebec City and Montreal slowed our progress a little. When we crossed the border all the road signs were in French only. We did have a gas station adventure. US credit & debit cards cannot be used to pay at the pump. Most gas stations have some 'pay at the pump only' pumps. We barely had room to maneuver and I pulled up to a pump I couldn't use. I left and came back twice before I found a pump that would work. I still haven't figured out a price/gallon because they sell it by the liter and I think that would take algebra or something to get a number. I dont want to know anyway. We are here for 2 nights. There are alot of bike trails. The low temp tomorrow morning is forecast to be 48.
We are in the French speaking part of Canada. I think everyone, by law, is supposed to be bilingual. We have had no trouble. This morning we visited the botanical garden. There was a butterfly room that was pretty cool. We ate lunch at the garden. There really wasn't anything that was unhealthy on the menu. A burger and fries with a big gulp is not something that would be popular I don't think. After lunch we went yakking on the Saint John river. There's a little boat ramp in the park. We move further West tomorrow. Hopefully we will be through Montreal.
We left Nova Scotia and are now in New Brunswick. During the drive we passed exits for towns called Pugwash and Sackville. We drove on the Trans Canada highway to get here. There were very few cars and fewer trucks. There was no litter and no shredded truck tire debris. We have determined that we need to make 113 miles / day in order to be in Anacortes Washington on the proper day in order to catch the ferry to the Orcas islands.That's a pretty relaxed schedule. Jenny gets full credit for finding this place. There is a bike trail that goes forever, there is a river for yakking, and there is a botanical garden. The pics below were taken during our exploratory bike ride.
When it comes to vacation one upmanship Jenny and I did something that will be hard for anyone to top. We went to a Super Wal-Mart in Truro Nova Scotia. That was after we rode the chaotic maelstrom that the Shubbie river became during the incoming tide. We followed the tide as it careened up stream. Wave trains formed and dissipated as the out going current was overwhelmed by the incoming tide. The zodiac we were in was pointed skyward some of the time as our trusty guide, a petite 20 somthing, steered us into the largest swell. Tomorrow we begin our 2800 mile journey to Washington.
This campground has a few issues but location isn't one of them. The camp is located on that unpronounceable river which branches off of the bay. When the tide comes in it clashes with the flowing river and a wave forms, a bore. It gets more and more violent as the tide gains strength. There are companies that take people out in small outboard powered Zodiac boats and motor through the increasingly gnarly standing waves. We will do that tomorrow. After we watched the bore we explored some of the bay. I am going to try and post a few pics. Verizon only allows 1/2 gig of 4g every day while we are in Canada. We ate that up pretty quickly.
What constitutes a good travel day. Is it tropical storm strength winds? Or maybe torrential continuous rain? How about dense fog with 1/4 kilometer visibility? Today was an excellent travel day. We are here to witness the largest tidal change on earth. 47 to 53 feet. When the outgoing and incoming tides collide they form a tidal bore. A wave that can reach 16 feet. There are companies that take groups out on the bore in zodiacs. We have been told that you should wear old clothes if you book one of those trips because you will get soaked, and the muddy water will forever stain what you are wearing. Jenny is excited about the prospect of ruining some clothes but I, using common sense, have said no. We are far enough north that Directv satellites are too low on the horizon for us to use. SiriusXm, satellite radio, does work. We can listen to MSNBC on the radio. I play the part of Chris Matthews and its almost like the real thing. No pics today. It was an all day drive.
We took a NP guided boat tour this morning. I learned some stuff. I will share. Lobster used to be considered a large, disgusting, aquatic insect and no one would eat it. The waters off of Maine used to be teaming with Cod. They were extremely abundant. You can guess what happened. A Cod's favorite food is young lobster. No Cod, lobster population explosion. What are the Cod fisherman to do? Suddenly lobster became a delicious delicacy. Problem solved. The lobster fisherman didn't want to repeat the mistakes of their Cod fishing fathers so there are restrictions on what they can keep. Too small or too large or a breeding female are thrown back. Only 1 in five that are caught are kept. It's working so far. Tomorrow we should be in Canada. We have changed our phone plan for this trip so nothing should be different. I'm currently waiting in the Wal-Mart parking lot. I couldn't bring myself to go in.
This is high season in coastal Maine. The weather is exquisite and that apparently is attractive to some people. I'm going to vent here for just a little while, please bear with me. It is so crowded that there is no place to park. We couldn't eat lunch in Bar Harbor because there was no place to park. We looked. For 20 minutes. You can't pull over to visit park attractions because there is no vacant place to pull over. The quietest, calmest place we visited today has been the KOA for crying out loud. I'm not done yet so hang in there. The cell reception here is 1 bar 1x if we are lucky. Texting works and we can make calls if we use the signal booster. See, I found a silver lining. I can't post pictures on the blog because of those short comings. We were able to see some stuff today and we did find a place to eat. I think I fixed my phone camera problem. Gee, maybe things aren't so bad. Thanks for listening.
I'll get to that in a minute. Today was one of those event filled vacation days. I'll list the events. 1. Bike ride up Mt Battie (epic). 2. Two hour walk around scenic Camden followed by a lobster lunch. 3. Drive to the KOA near Bar Harbor. 4. Visit Acadia NP visitors center. 5. 1 hour bike ride on a carriage road in the park. 6. Drive into Bar Harbor for beer and lobster. 7. Return to MP at the KOA. I took some artistic photo's of all of those events but sadly while fiddling with my phone I deleted them. They might be somewhere in the ether of the cloudy internet but they are no longer available to me. I will post the only picture that survived. Jenny might not be happy. We are here for 3 nights.
Another driving slog. 6 1/2 hours. The drive was fairly scenic as we headed through New Hampshire into Maine. Our campsite is at the edge of a big grassy field. Perfect for satellite reception. The fog rolled in at the same time we did so there were no expansive views. Tomorrow is Bar Harbor and Acadia NP.
Today was our longest drive. 6 hours. This park is on the Hudson. We did some exploring on our bikes after we got here but nothing of note occurred today. We did drive for a while on the New York State Thruway. The only reason I'm aware of that road is that it is mentioned in the Woodstock album. There was an exit for Woodstock on the Thruway. We should be in Camden Maine tomorrow.
We hired a guide to ride with us in the Forrester. We drove around for 2 hours and he explained what we were seeing. The park covers 25 square miles. There are 1400 monuments scattered throughout the park. The monuments show the location of the Confederate and Union military units during the 3 day battle. R.E. Lee wanted to have a decisive victory in a northern state, hoping to break the will of the North. Gettysburg ended up hosting this battle because 10 roads intersect here and those roads facilitated troop movement. Listening to our guide was like drinking from a fire hose. The South finally had to withdraw because they were running low on ammunition and the North had a very defensible position. The battle ended after "Picketts" charge. That was Lee's last attempt to overrun the North's position. The town of Gettysburg has many homes with obvious war wounds. The battlefield was farmland and those farms are still there. The scene had to have been horrific. 17,700 Union and 16,900 confederate soldiers were killed or wounded. Later in the year when the national cemetery was dedicated, Abraham Lincoln gave his Gettysburg Address here. After the car tour, Jenny and I did a 2 1/2 hour hike on some trails. Tomorrow we move to NY.
We broke camp in the rain this morning. I really don't enjoy that. Icing on the cake was our route. We had to skirt Washington DC. That town has a severe traffic problem. It was a 4 lane parking lot in places. We did the visitors center after we got set up. There was a cyclorama in the visitors center that was unreal. Its a 360 degree painting that has a convex shape that gives it a 3d look. Tomorrow we will tour the battlefield. I sensed Abe was having a bad day so I gave him a supportive pat on the shoulder.
Rain was in the forecast today. It rained on us after we got here. That lasted about 15 minutes. The sun came out and the humidity went up. It felt like home. We we're walking through a garden and there were a couple of Pawpaw trees that were fruiting. I have heard that the fruit has an exquisite taste. They are not sold in stores because the fruit has a 1 day shelf life. Anyway, I was given a couple of them and will try them when they ripen. We explored the colony for 6 1/2 hours. Everyone we talked to was a walking encyclopedia. All of our questions were answered and then expanded upon to the point that we had to thank them and then walk away. We both feel comfortable that we have seen enough. There is a lot of history in this area but we have a time constraint and gotta go. Tomorrow is Gettysburg.
We didn't get to the park until around 2. That wasn't enough time to see anything so we elected to not buy passes and just walk around and get a feel for what we would like to see tomorrow. We are camped in a coaa campground. That's a KOA for non Rvers. During our informal walk around the park I noticed TJ was writing something and I was curious to see what he was up to.
We needed to do some administrative duties today (laundry). That was our only real 'must do'. We did spend a few hours in Manteo, a village on Roanoke island. In 1587, 117 men women and children came ashore on Roanoke island to establish an English settlement. 3 years later in 1590 a small flotilla returned with supplies for the settlers, only to find the island deserted. There has been very little evidence to indicate what happened. FOX news reported at the time that they got tired of the BS and moved to Canada. Tomorrow we move to Williamsburg Va.
The weather today was abysmal. It started last night with what felt like hurricane force winds. The MP was bouncing around and swaying back and forth. We went for a walk this morning and got back with a mild case of windburn
Just as the deluge started. Our plan was to drive south and take the ferry to Ocracoke island. We drove south to the ferry landing but when we got there the rain was blowing horizontally so we didn't do it. We found a place to eat and then visited the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. That area is called the graveyard of the Atlantic because of all the shipwrecks. During WW2 the Germans were sinking a ship a day. They called it the Carolina Turkey shoot. Tomorrow will be our last day here.
It's amazingly audacious that 2 high school dropouts would even think they were capable of building something and doing something that had never been built and never been done. After coming up with the wings that Wilbur designed after watching a turkey vulture, they built the engine using an aluminum block, something that had never been done. On Dec 17th 1903 Orville flew their contraption 120 feet. Orville and Wilbur swapped out piloting duties and made 3 more flights-175 feet, 200 feet and finally 852 feet. The plane was destroyed later that day by a gust of wind. They hadn't tied it down. Sounds like something I'd do. The monument is well done. Kudos to the Park service. The big boulder in the pic is the takeoff point. That rock has been touched by pilots ranging from Amelia Earhart to Chuck Yeager to Neil Armstrong and now me. We also visited Jockey Ridge SP. It has the largest sand dunes on the east coast.
We did a guided paddle this morning in the WR. The Alligator river is salty so there are no alligators in it. It apparently is shaped like an alligator if you look at it on a map. We put in at a place called 'Buffalo City'. There is no city. Garmin had no clue. There used to be a city there that housed all the people who were needed to cut down all the trees. It took 75 years but after they cut 'em all down the town was abandoned and eventually disappeared. The land is recovering and should return to it's original condition in a couple of hundred years.
We are in a commercial campground. Our parking spot backs up to the Pimlico sound. We have a great view out the back window. It's raining pretty hard at the moment so we can't see out of it. We couldn't check in until 1:00 so I had time to ride the other bike trail in Medoc Sp. I ate gobs of spiderwebs during the ride. I took some selfies but they were mostly blurry. We visited the beach just to say we did. The day was capped with a FaceTime call from the Williams and Wights to wish me a happy birthday.
