Bozzlife: Travels in the U.P.
I have been pretty much MIA from all things Steem related for the past week or so. About once a year @mrsbozz and I take a little bit longer camping trip and we head up to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
We usually make this a longer trip just because the travel time is so much greater than most of our other ones. It is much different from Europe where a couple hour drive can take you through several countries. Next year we are looking at an eight hour drive to reach our destination in the same state!
A couple days before we left on our trip, I took my truck over to my buddies house to put it up on the lift and check things over. I hadn't had a chance to pull the tires off since I bought it so we wanted to check out the brakes and rotate the tires.
The brakes were looking pretty good but we found something else under the truck that was a little concerning... There appeared to be about twenty pounds of dirt cake up on the skid plates. We pulled those off and dumped the dirt in a pile on the floor. In addition to the dirt we also found something else:
That's right, lodged up under the skid plate behind the front grill was a very very dead bird. I couldn't believe it when we pulled it out. It was pretty disgusting...
It also doesn't speak very well about the job the dealership did getting the truck ready to be sold.
With everything checked over and the tires rotated, we were ready to get on the road. We left pretty early on Sunday morning and met up with our friends at a gas station about two hours North of where we live.
I've gotta say, the new truck pulls the travel trailer like a dream and it is a huge improvement over my old truck. It is amazing how easy a job can be when you have the right tools!
We got over the Mackinaw Bridge into the Upper Peninsula around lunch time and stopped to get some food. That is where the opening picture was taken. We take a group selfie every year on our way up.
@mrsbozz did a really good job of snapping some shots on our way up. While I was concentrating on the driving (and narrowly missing a family of deer), she was looking for interesting things to capture. This is the small town of Munising, MI. It is right next to the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore and the spot where most of the tour boats leave from to view that attraction.
It was also necessary to pass through it on our route. Marquette, MI was our final destination and while there are a couple of ways to get there, this was the most direct.
I think we pulled into Rippling River Resort right around 2:30 in the afternoon if not a little later. It used to just be a ski resort, but they have recently added a campground that is pretty nice. I would definitely recommend staying here to anyone that is RV'ing in the area. It is a little pricier than State parks, but the facilities are top notch and the bathrooms are clean(should you need them).
The weather was much warmer than we had anticipated. The forecasts we saw were calling for temperatures in the 60's (F). Instead we were given temps in the 80's (F) most of the week. I had to make the one pair of shorts I had packed last several days...
We also noticed that there was a lot of pollen floating around. Much more than I would have anticipated for this time of year. In fact, at one point it almost looked like snow along side the road as we were walking.
Later that evening we walked down to the rustic (tent only) camping area which runs along the river. It was a beautiful (but buggy) area and I really like the way they had it setup and kind of secluded for people wanting to "rough it".
They have these light posts all over the campground that are solar powered and I thought were pretty cool looking in addition to the significant amount of light they put out.
Although the majority of this day was spent on the road, it was a great start to our trip and thinking back I am sad that our "big camping trip" for the year is already over. I always enjoy getting away with @mrsbozz and our friends to explore new areas.
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That was a lot build up under there good thing you checked and cleaned it up
Glad the trip went well and looking forward to hearing more about it
I couldn't believe it when we pulled the plates off. The dirt filled a five gallon bucket when we swept it up. The truck was originally registered in Canada and my buddy wonders if it was used in the oil fields up there since it is a heavy duty truck.
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WOW that is even more dirt than I thought it was from the photo, that theory sounds quite logical to me
Very very dead bird. Guess it’s a good thing you checked no
Yes, it is hard telling how long that fella was up there!
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Thanks for taking us along in your trip. You documented it well. Crossing the Mackinaw Bridge is pretty neat. The RV camping area looked nice, but the moment I read "too buggy", I thought of ticks. I am sure they are plenty in there too. Hope you and Mrs. Bozz had a great time!
Possibly in the rustic area. In my many years of camping I have yet to encounter a tick yet (knock on wood).
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I really enjoy the UP during the 6 weeks or so that it has a reasonable temperature :P
About your "bird issue": There was a time when i was young where something had died inside the engine of our enormous station wagon and man oh man did it stink. There was nothing we could do but wait for it to fully decompose. I remember the entire family loaded up in the wagon with tissues up our noses whenever we all went somewhere.
I miss that sort of nature that you have access to. 'Round here we do have plenty of nature, but it is 90 degrees plus unless it is raining (then it is 87) and of course high humidity.
Yikes! That is pretty crazy. It is funny how different of a world the UP is between Summer and Winter. I have a friend that owns some property up there with a cabin (no electricity, no running water) but he goes up year round. The temps were actually a bit hotter than I had hoped this trip. The weather was beautiful though.
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