2014 MONTANA AUG 27

We made to Havre last night and staid at the Evergreen CG a couple of miles out of town. It was a pleasant Mom and Pop CG. He had an old 1928 Model Ford he drove his grand kids around in.

We had a chance to do our laundry since it was convenient to our camper.

I mentioned before about the under ground city at Havre.

In 1904 the town burnt down but the floors were save and the basements. This covered about a 7 block area. Well they cleaned up and set there businessess up in the basements. They knocked holes in the walls connecting everything and did not have to go above ground for anything. They did this for several years until everything was rebuilt. Afterwards they left it intact and the other side of the track people starting operating out of there. Bordelo's, whiskey stills , bootleggers , chinese laundry, opium dens, everything on the other side of tracks people would do. One guy ran all kinds of illegal enterprises out of there and even had a contract withe Al Capone controlling the whisky in that part of the state. Quite interesting. The polite people did not bother them.

 Dry Goods

 Post Office

 Dentist

 Saloon

 Saloon

 Madame

Blacksmith

 The big boss

 Chinese laundry

 guress

 Butcher shop

 Butcher saw

Whiskey Still

 Prescriptions drugs  -- opium

 Opium den

Restrurant

2014 MONTANA AUG 26

Getting up early now because we are on mountain time. After we left the camp ground heading for Glasgow the road took us thru the old construction town and to the top of the dam which is over 200 ft high.

It had rained over 5 inches a couple days ago and the Milk river had flooded parts of the area and farm land.

                                                                       Near Glasgow

                                                                   
                                                                      Glasgow, Mt

                                              Bales of grass flooded. This went on for miles

                                                                 Old gas station

                                                                  Storage Silos

2014 MONTANA AUG 25

We drove into Montana 8/25 from the Lewis and Clark center. We stopped at the visitor center in Culbertson, Mt for info on must see things  in Montana. It is a very nice center and Museum abut Montana. She suggested we should see the underground city in Havre, sounded unusual so we put it on our list. We went on to Wolf Point which is an Indian Resevation. Then on to Fort Peck CG at the power dam on the Missouri near Glasgow. This is one of the better camp grounds we have been at in regards to size and openness. It has walkways along the Missouri and by reed ponds for wildlife. There were only about 10 sites in our section over at least 2 or 3 acres.

We chose this to be clean up day, so Dena did the inside and I worked on the bugs in front. It was a mess, afterwards I added Rain-x to the windshield and wax on the front for easier cleaningnext time.

We were able to go on long walks for the first time sincce we left.

                                                  On wild life viewing platform

                                                         Dam Power Generator Bldg

2014 WEST TRIP MINNESOTA

2014 WEST TRIP MINNESOTA

We got started a little late from the American Legion camp ground in Warba on our way to Bemidji  , we programmed the GPS for ITASCA State Park where the Mississippi starts its long trip to the Gulf of Mexico just south of Bemidji. . We first stopped at the Corp of Engineers Dam project outside of town. I was able to pick up a CD with the locations of all the Corp Camp Grounds thru out the West. Hopefully, we can use some a long the way. Along the way we saw this roadside store advertising wild rice. Dena did not know they grew rice up here but the Indians have been doing it for years. Her curiosty got her so we stopped and  got a couple of pounds and some Clover Honey.

We arrived at the State Park Visitor center around lunch time. Spent a couple of hours in the area alog with lots of other tourists. We were able to dip our toes in but it was cold. It is 1475 ft above sea level. Afterwards we continued toward Grand Rapids, ND.

Along the we found the POLK County camp ground near Mentor and stopped for the night.

                                                            Dena & Wes at Dam

                                                                 Popegama Dam

                                                                    Road side store

                                                             They are big up here near Grand Rapids , MN

                                                                        Entrance

                                                                       Dipping her toes

                                                                           Its cold

                                                                     Overview

                                                      Nice Fir trees in the park

                                                      Unusual golf cart at Cmp Gnd

                                                                  Camp Site

2014 WEST TRIP /WISCONSIN

islandcamper.blogspot.com/Wisconsin

 8/22/2014
Stayed at MICHIGAMME SHORES CG last night near Champion, MI. (Hwy 28/41) Got on the road about 9 heading for Duluth area. Crossed into Wisconsin about 12 at Ironwood and found gas about 15 cts cheaper/gal. Stopped at a Indian casino at junction of 28 & 2 for gas and have lunch (in Rv).

Later stopped at Anicon water falls near Superior for a while. Continued on thru Duluth and that is one busy place of shipping grain and such. Hugh elevators all over the place. General Mills has a hugh complex there.

We have been having a lot of difficulty getting wireless service every since we got on to the upper pennesular.  By the time we got a signal and started calling for a camp site we found nothing was available because this is the last weekend before school starts. We kept going and whenever we got a signal we would call somebody. One CG said try the Corp of engineers campground near Grand Rapids. We thought they were on the east side of Grand Rapids, anyway I stopped in Warha asking about it and the fellow said he thought it was on the West side of town, Anyway he suggested we stop at the American Legion campground about a mile down the road.That is where we are and we have good signal.

We have had mostly overcast skies and rain since we got into Michigan except yesterday morning, notice by the pics of thre lakes I sent. It has been very chilly and rainy around the lakes the last few days but when we started toward Grand Rapids and got away from the lakes it has warmed up. Will be back in shorts tomorrow. Although I heard the camp host here that it is going to be down in the 40's in North Dakota by the time we get there. His grandson works in the oil fields in western ND.

                                             Dena getting artesian water in Ashland park

                                                     Lake Superior at Ashland

                                                        Dena at Ancicon Falls

                                                                     Reason for falls

                                                                   Testing the waters

2024 WEST TRIP /MICHIGAN

 islandcamper.blogspot.com/Michigan


We left the KOA in Wapakoneta about 8:30 heading for Fort Wayne. The GPS redirected us up 127 thru Van Weet and then left to Fort Wayne. It was and interesting drive thru the countryside. Out of Van Weet to the Indiana border there were lots of electric wind turbines scartered all over the place. We got interstate 69 towards Michigan. At Battle Creek we redirected to Grand Haven on the West Coast of Michign. The closer we got the more it cloudied up and a few miles out it came  down pour of over 2 inches in a very short time. We were able to get a camp site at Grand Haven State Park.
It was overcast the rest of the day.

The next day (8/20) it was very clear and nice. We got an early start on our way to Traverse City, (we had heard it was a pretty place). Before we arrived it got heavy overcast so we did not do much site seeing, we went on toward Mackinac City thru Petoskey. We had planned on crossing the Mackinac Bridge and camp in St Ignace and take the ferry the next day to Mackinac Island for the day. Before we got there it starting raining so we stayed in Mill Creek RV CG in Mackinac City.

We decided not to take the ferry ride and go on.

Thursday 8/21 it was still a little cloudy but nice (63 deg). (First day we have had the sun. ) We got out early, gassed up and headed across the bridge. We had planned on starting on Hwy 2 right across the bridge but decided to detour to the Paradise City and WhiteFish point on Lake Superior. That was interesting and then back tracked back to Paradise. We had lunch at a local resturant and then continued on to the Tahquamenon falls. Continued on toward Marquette looking for Moose, as this is a good area to see them. It was a pretty drive as a lot of it was a long the shore of Lake Superior. Tonight were are in the MICHIGAMME SHORES CG, in Champion

                                                             Grand Haven sunset

                                                              Grand Haven Inlet

                                                       Grand Haven park sculpture

                                                               Wes at Lake Huron

                                                                  Mackinac Bridge

                                                  Wes and Dena at Tahquamenon Falls

                                                                          Wes

                                                                   Long climb out

                                                      Boneyard beach on Lake Superior

                                            Light house at WhiteFish Point , Lake Superior