Home at last.....

So we wound up staying in Gaylord at the Otsego Lake State Park ($22/night) and taking a day trip to Petoskey in search of sushi and fresh mozzarella to go with all these tomatoes I seem to have accumulated. The general store was sold out, but the gourmet store in Bay Harbor was selling them for a whopping $12.69 a ball!!!!!!!!!!! Outrageous! I guess there are some people with more money then brains. We walked around Petoskey a bit before placing a carryout order for sushi that we ate outside at a picnic table. YUM!!!!!!! SUSHI!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was great!

This morning, I went back to visit CaroleSue while Rich rode his mountain bike at Aspen Park in Gaylord. Rich dropped my bike & I off at CS's so I could ride back to the moho after I was done, since it was only 2 miles and the mtb. trail was 7 miles away. I had a great time again with the birds. We took them outside & when she put Nicky (the Molluccan) on the ground, he went streaking towards the woods. She had to stop him because he's been known to try to climb up a tree....and not come down. I've put a pic of me, Sonny (Umbrella 'too) and Nicky at the top. Now we're home and chilling while we go through the mounds of laundry we've accumulated. Thank goodness we did laundry in Copper Harbor.

On the way home

Today we left Copper Harbor for the loonnggg drive home. I’m pretty sure it’s over 625 miles to home, but we’re doing the trip over 3 days. Our plan today was to get going by 10am., then stop for lunch and groceries in Marquette. We’d planned temporarily park the RV at the Wal-Mart there. We pulled in and the place was PACKED! We couldn’t figure out what was going on. We did manage to find a place to park, then went into town for some Thai food (I’ve been craving asian food and sushi). On our way we passed Northern Michigan University and saw that it’s move-in weekend….which explains the packed Wal-Mart. We figured it’d be a nightmare in Wal-Mart, so we just got lunch & left town. Instead we did grocery shopping at the Glen’s in Munising, after parking our RV at the Munising Tourist park campground. We had a huge site for $16/night, but it’s pretty darn close the the main highway. The cool thing was that there was 3 large and very expensive bus conversions parked side by side. I know one was a Prevost, one was a Bluebird (they make school buses), and I’m not sure what the last one was. Each of those buses is at least $500k-$1 million, depending on what’s inside. Appeared to be a group that all knew eachother and was in the area for the local casino. After a great dinner of fresh whitefish & zucchini, we settled down to watch a movie and have some popcorn. Tomorrow we’re headed out again but not sure where to stay. We’ll wind up in either Indian River, Gaylord, or Petoskey.

A road ride

Today Rich & struck out by ourselves for a road ride from Copper Harbor to Eagle Harbor, 14 miles away. We didn't take the camera, so there's no pictures from today's ride. When we got into town, we found a nice place to have lunch. I had a lobster pizza. It was incredibly good!! I'm not even a pizza person. I am, however, craving sushi like nobody's business. I'm sure there's nowhere to get sushi anywhere in the U.P. In fact, we're considering a stop in Petoskey on the way back just 'cause we know they have sushi there. Anyway, after lunch we headed back to CH, which turned out to be a pretty quick ride, at least for the first 12 miles since we had the wind at our back and a relatively flat ride. The roads here are sooooo smooth, no potholes from salt use. So I really started pooping out in the last 2 miles because there was a couple of climbs and I was just dead. We did have a nice downhill into town. After a quick shower, Rich is taking a nap, and I'm aimlessly surfing the web.

Tomorrow morning we're packing up to head home over the next 3 days. We're thinking of stopping in Munising the first night, then either Petoskey or Gaylord the 2nd, then home on Sunday. I have my last day of work on Monday. Woo Hoo!

Kayaking and a much needed nap

This morning we went down the street and had a very good breakfast. Then we were off to do a "intro to kayaking" 2.5 hour tour around the harbor. I thought it would be harder than it was. We did go quite a way....all around the harbor and into Lake Superior. We got back around noon. Rich ran to the store to get chips while I showered. After I showered I was suddenly exhausted. My legs were already very sore this morning from 2 days of hard biking, then after kayaking this morning, I was bushed. After lunch Rich went for more biking, while I took a 2 hour nap. Ahhhhh....
Tonight we're having the group over for an outdoor BBQ of steaks over a wood fire.

Ahhh....so much to write about since my last post. On Sunday we had a great breakfast with all our mtb (mountain bike) friends, then we packed up and headed for Copper Harbor, waaaayy at the tippy top of the U.P.(Upper Peninsula) of Michigan. The last 10 miles or so was a very narrow, very twisty road. The whole trip had been tiring because of the wind, but this last 10 miles was a bit nerve wracking. Rich needed a nap after that. By the way....our campground is Lake Fanny Hooe resort and campground. It's very nice. Our site has full hookups including cable TV and free wireless internet. I'm digging this campground internet stuff, especially free.

Yesterday we did a bike ride that included 1000' feet of climbing, possibly the most I've ever done, or at least in the past 2 years. Once we got to the road there was a choice of a downhill singletrack, or a easy cruise down the road (1 mile). Rich, George, and I rode the singletrack. Mary, Michelle, Yale and Lucas (their kids) opted for the road. At first it was some short twisty sharp downs, but then it leveled off and was just fun swooping through the trees. I had a big grin on my face afterward.

Today was slated as a "relatively flat 8-10 mile" dirt road ride to the point. It wasn't flat.....at all. It was some huge ups (one at least a mile), but mostly up & down. I turned back at 6.5 miles. Rich did the whole thing which was about 10 miles out. Above are pics he took at the point. After he got back and showered, we tried to nap but couldn't, so we drove up to a virgin pine forest (some 500+ yrs. old) and did a 1.2 mile hike. I thought it would be a nice wander through the woods, but turned out to be up up up, then down down down...all while stumbling over roots and rocks. It was beautiful but my knees were aching on the downs.

August 20, 2005

Today is the 2005 Ore to Shore Mountain bike race. The pic at the top is Rich after a 48 mile mountain bike race. And for the first time in the 4 years we’ve coming up here, I’m not doing it. Usually I do the shorter race, 28 miles. Rich is doing the longer race, which is 48 miles. I’m not doing it because I’m just not in the shape I need to be in to do the race. I’ve never been in super shape, but one needs to be able to do more than 10 miles on a mountain bike to do a 28 mile race, even if it’s more downhill than up. The race starts in Negaunee, 1400’ above sea level and finishes in Marquette, at the shores of Lake Superior, 600’ above sea level. I had somewhat decided to do the race, even as late as last night, knowing it’d be a big struggle and I’d be the fat girl to come in last, huffing and puffing….if I could even finish. Then it was pouring rain this morning and that was all I needed to decide not to do it. Since I dropped Rich and our friend’s the Mitchell’s (riding tandem) off at the start, the sun has come out and the clouds have disappeared. Figures. We’re off to Copper Harbor tomorrow, the very tippy top of the U.P. from what I hear, it’ll be a 1.5 mile climb to do any road biking, or you can ride along the very windy coast. To get to any mountain bike trails, it’s a 3 mile climb on a dirt road. It’ll be the death of my just to get up any of those climbs, but I’m willing to try.

NEWS FLASH! Our friends, the Mitchells snapped their tandem mountain bike in half!!! Mary is fine, but George got impaled by the severed tube and took 8 stitches to the knee. This was a very expensive carbon fiber and titanium tandem that snapped where the carbon fiber & Ti join together. It also dented the titanium tube. Pics to follow later after they figure out what to do legally.

August 19, 2005

Today was the day we drove to Marquette from Rapid River. It was our easiest drive yet, only 54 miles. Although I’ll miss the free wi-fi from the last place, I won’t miss the train that traveled 25 yards from our campsite at 2pm, 5:45 a.m. and 7 a.m. Nor will I miss hearing the big trucks zoom by on US-2. Now we’re in Marquette at the Tourist Park campground. It’s very nice and wooded and has a separate tent area. We’re on a full hookup 30 amp. site. Won’t be needing 50 amps since we probably won’t even be running our a/c. The temp is only about 75, cloudy and humid. It’s been raining for a lot of this trip, but at least it’s not hot. Tomorrow is the Ore to Shore mountain bike race (www.oretoshore.com) I’m still not sure if I’ll do it. I’m soooo out of shape compared to past years. Last year I hardly rode my mountain bike, but at least I was out on my road bike at 2-3 times a week. This year I just didn’t feel like riding any bike when it was 90-95 and humid, which is was for most of June & July. I’m signed up and can’t get a refund, so I’ll probably do it. Even though it’s 28 miles and has a few “Oh Sh*t!” big hills, it’s an overall descent of 800’, so it’s more down than up. Wish me luck! .

By the way….the picture is Rich being a funny guy when I tried to take his picture when driving to Marquette.

On our way to Marquettte

Yesterday was a long but fun day, full of adventure. First, in an attempt to get our of the construction traffic on US-23, just outside of Fenton, we exited and took a very bumpy road around the construction. In the course of this bumpy road, our kitchen drawers got loose, so as soon as we turned on to the entrance ramp to the freeway, all our drawers (including silverware & knives) went flying.

Later we did a pre-arranged stop at CaroleSue's house in Gaylord to see her flock of birds. She recently acquired Sonny, an Umbrella cockatoo from one of my co-workers. In addition to Sonny, we also played with Nicky, an Molluccan (sp?) cockatoo. Both of them were sooo animated. I wish Snuggles was so animate, but I'm glad that she's not that loud. Whew!

We wound up at Straits State Park
for the night. It was quiet, and we had a pull-through site. Yea! We're on to Rapid River, just 50 miles south of Marquette, or 125 miles east on US-2 today.

The California people are back!!!

So we just got a phone call from our real estate agent....the California people are back in the game! Apparently they disappeared because the deal on their house fell through. So they are coming back to Michigan on Sunday to see our house and one other. Cross your fingers, pray, whatever it takes! This would be just too perfect!

Just 7 days of work left!

I thought I only had 7 days of work left, and I somewhat do. I originally was going to have Augugst 12th be my last day, but I figured out if I use the remainder of my vacation time and work on the 29th, I'm saving 1/2 month of Cobra payments and I'll have insurance through the end of August...so that's what I'm doing. Either way, I'm a "short-timer" around here.

Nothing much new on the house except it's going to get "radio play" in a week or two. My agent is friends with a mortgage broker who started his own company and is going to be advertising how you can get our fabulous home for the same payment as one that's $150,000 less. It'll get mentioned daily for a week. Let's hope this generates something. I had hoped that an article in the paper about Hartland Twp. and how great it is last week would have generated some interest. We're still getting "drive-bys", but no showings since the California people, who have since decided not to move to Michigan. :-(