6/17/19 – For the last few days in Michigan’s UP, we were on the northern tip of the Keweenaw peninsula which juts out into Lake Superior about 75 miles – great camping sites in state parks. We spent the last night on the UP in Berglund, a city campground that cost $15. It was on the shores of Gobegee lake – the largest inland lake in Michigan.
6/19/19 – Arrived in Duluth yesterday. We could not find campgrounds for the entire time we needed so we ended up with 2 days in a KOA 20 miles south of town, then 3 more downtown at the marina, where we are now.
This is the weekend Duluth has Grandma’s Marathon, over 9,000 runners and there are no available RV spaces, vacant hotel rooms, and long wait times at every restaurant. We were told we were beyond lucky to get an RV spot here at the marina. Most of those here reserved their spots a year ago.
The race finishes just a few blocks from here, so, as of 5AM tomorrow morning everything is shut down and we are trapped until mid afternoon. We will walk up to the finish line.
We will leave Duluth Sunday morning and drive north to International Falls (known as the “Icebox of the US” with 110 days a year with a high temp below freezing). It is on the Canadian border and we will continue on after a night or two at Int Falls.
The best news here – we met up with Susan’s sister in law, Jessie, and her kids Carrie, Kristin, Nick, and Kristin’s kids Cleo, and Clara. Also Todd, Carrie’s beau, and his mother Linda. They all live in the Duluth area, and all were formerly from Ukiah. Tonight we all went to dinner together.
The pickup’s check engine light came on yesterday. It was a faulty thermostat. I was sure we couldn’t get it fixed in one day, but we did. Diesel engines have 2 and they both were replaced. Hooray for Brad’s Auto Clinic.
This is a picture of a picture of the iconic landmark of Duluth; Aerial Lift Bridge. (Notice the jetties with snow – not June obviously).The steel road shown here at near ground level is raised well over 100 feet (top of the structure) to allow these huge cargo ships enter and exit the harbor (other pic). We use the steel road to get to the marina RV park and have twice been delayed waiting for these HUGE ships to pass thru. The other picture shows typical freighter. Lake Superior transports more goods than the Panama and Suez Canal’s combined.
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