Monday, August 16, 2010

Cheboygan, MI

A word of advice to all would-be travelers. The border stations get increasingly more suspicious of you when their computers tell them that you have been in and out of Canada twice in the span of only a week…




Details to follow... But first, some pics from our drive to Sudbury, Ontario last night!!







Like I said, not much to see in the way of civilization, but plenty of beautiful wilderness to help you pass the time driving. And, if you are from Maine, it might make you a little homesick actually…



This morning we got up and back on the road along Lake Huron. Didn’t see much of the lake this time around either, besides a few quick glimpses. But that doesn’t mean the scenery was any worse. This stretch had a bit more vegetation…





Finally we reached the old shipping city of Sault Ste. Marie and our passage to Michigan. A bridge spans the border as well as the connection between Lake Huron and Lake Superior, which was a neat complex of canals, locks, hydro power dams, and river…









Our last few experiences crossing the border were in the early morning and, apparently that is the best time to do it, because this time we sat in traffic for about an hour. Once we finally reached the border station we played a rousing game of twenty questions, covering topics ranging from our trip plans, to where exactly we stayed the night before, to even our professions… And then he took a peek inside the RV for good measure… So far just about everyone has been impressed with our plans to cross the country. The US government? Not as much. Hopefully the 3 weeks before we make our third trip into Canada will be enough of a buffer for them to calm down a bit. We will probably mentally prepare for the worst though…



So Michigan may get a bad rap from just about everyone, yours truly included, but the Upper Peninsula is really picturesque! The great weather certainly helped out…



By the time we crossed over the connection of Lake Superior to Lake Michigan, however, it was already 2pm or so in the afternoon. Not too late but probably not enough time for us to do what we’d like in Mackinaw City and on Mackinac Island. (FYI, those are both pronounced the same way…) So we decided that, after a long week, we were due for an afternoon of relaxing and getting ourselves organized a bit. And some of us, who shall remain nameless, were probably way overdue for a shower…



And that is how we found ourselves in Cheboygan, Michigan. Cheboygan. Man, it really just rolls off the tongue perfectly… Cheboygan. Try it, I dare you. The town itself is nice, kinda in the middle of nowhere. Although most places up here are in the middle of nowhere… And the downtown looks like the entire thing was built in the 50s or 60s and has never seen any updating beyond a can of paint.



We found our way to Cheboygan State Park. Down a dirt road through the forest, but we made it alive… Apparently there were a few lakeview sites but, for the most part, you wouldn’t guess that the campground was on the lake… We paid our $8 dollar day pass to be allowed to dump and then were charged another $2 each to use the showers. Mental note not to mention about the showers next time. So we pulled up, dumped the tanks, refilled all our water bottles and tanks, and pulled off to the side to park so we could use the shower. Saw a power plug nearby and figured that we would get our $8 worth and cook some lunch as well. Went great for a couple hours.





Then a guy came by who either took his job way to seriously or just was pissed to have to deal with stupid tourists for another day… He asked if we had paid. I’m not sure how he expected us to have gotten in otherwise… We informed him that we were told to pull over to the side to park for the shower and all. He then informed us that we were using the electricity from campsite 4. I found this humorous that he decided we needed to know what campsite we were stealing power from. But we swallowed any snide comments and just played the dumb tourist card. Which is amazing by the way…



So we packed up and shipped out to Walmart. Megs has been on a mission for the past few days that we have to fit in a trip to the movie theatre to see the amazing Step Up 3D. And this afternoon would have been perfect but Cheboygan seems to be anti-dancing movies. Somebody call Kevin Bacon. I smell a Footloose sequel!!!!

3 comments:

  1. the clouds today look gorgeous (as i said on the phone). you better be careful with your border patrol escapades! stay out of trouble, mister. and don't buy anything shady for the rv :-P
    michigan - bad rap! psh! michigan is gorgeous and very reminiscent of maine, and you know it. better be careful dissin' michigan, my family could be reading this!!!
    hope you enjoy mackinaw tomorrow! i don't really remember going when i was little but everyone raves about it!

    love you!

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  2. Hey Scott!

    I'm a friend of Sara's, and she mentioned you're heading towards WI (where I'm from)! If you have a chance, you should definitely take a tour of Lambeau Field when you're in Green Bay. Also, depending on your route, the Dells and Madison are awesome and totally worth a visit. If you're taking Hwy 10 across towards Minneapolis, the Chain of Lakes in King, Wisconsin are really pretty too! Hope you enjoy it!

    Allison

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  3. Hi Scott,
    My name is Jane and I'm with Dwellable.
    I was looking for blogs about Cheboygan to share on our site and I came across your post...If you're open to it, shoot me an email at jane(at)dwellable(dot)com.
    Hope to hear from you soon!
    Jane

    ReplyDelete