We are in the central time zone

We spent one night in St. Ignace at the Tiki campground. The owners told us that it used to be called the Old Indian Burial Ground Campground. It was a nice evening and our friends from the UP got there late and we had a lovely campfire. The next morning it started to pour. (Sometimes it seems like the rain follows us.) So it did not make sense to take the ferry ride to Mackinac Island. We waited until the rain let up a little and then packed it up. We headed for Marquette. We were going to stop on the way so that I could get a look at the Mackinac bridge. But it was still too foggy to see anything. So I have not seen the bridge. Disappointing. (I had heard so much about it when it was first built.) We headed along the shores of Lake Michigan. There is a local dish called a pastie (pronounced pass-tee), We went to lunch and tried it. It tasted a lot like a shepherd's pie without the potatoes.

The drive to Marquette was more interesting than I thought it would be. You would think that we would get tired of seeing scenery, but we don't. As we were driving along I asked Bob if we had seen any scenery like this along the way. He agreed with me that he had not. The trees were really stunted and the land was very flat. We drove through the Hiawatha National Forest. (I didn't know that Hiawatha was in Michigan. Apoparently Gitchee Gumee is Lake Superior.) One of the things I noticed in Michigan is that they do not have convenience stores - they have party stores. We stopped for gas along the way at a place with a party store and went in. First we saw rows of animal skins hanging form the ceiling. Then there were rows and rows of soda and chips. Very much a party store.

Marquette is a delightful small town that reminds me of Burlington Vermont. The college is very dominant in the town. There is a wonderful biking path and they have worked to make the Lake Shore a beautiful and inviting place. Our friends took us on a wonderful little tour. (There is a little park called Presque Isle that overlooks the beautiful painted rocks. It seems to me that there are a lot of places called Presque Isle. I will have to look up the origin of that name.) We are far enough north and west in the eastern time zone- and it is the longest day of the year - so that it was light until very late. Bob and I went to the trailer after 10 pm and it was still light for a very long time.

We had some great restaurant food and Bob made his pasta putanesca again. Yummy! We dry camped for two nights in the parking lot of the YMCA. Interesting.

Today we got up early and it has been a long day of driving. Bob decided that he wanted to cover lots of ground and he did not want to pay to stay in a campground. We drove through the rest of the UP. It felt very isolated and abandoned. There were parts that were pretty but for the most part it felt like Michigan had forgotten about it.

We drove through the upper part of Wisconsin and into Minnesota. We are now on central time and getting closer to home. The roads in Minnesota leave a little bit to be desired. They are as bad as the ones in New York. It was some hard driving. Bob decided that he wanted to try staying in a WalMart parking lot. He thought that we would see one from the highway. We did not. I finally convinced him that we should ask when we got to a moderate sized town. We did and found the place. They were very nice. We will see how I feel about this in the morning.

One thing that Bob and I have noticed is that you can really tell the difference as you go from one state to another. Wisconsin felt a lot more prosperous that the UP. There were more towns and more doing. Minnesota feels pretty basic. There are lots of lakes and lots of signs welcoming the fishermen.

The further south we have gone, the more agriculture we have seen. The corn fields are not only planted but the corn is about two feet high. (The last corn that we saw was in lower Michigan and it was about two inches high.)

I have gone now for nine months letting my hair grow and I have decided that I will get it cut as soon as I get home. I do not like long hair and the bother of it. I think that I look better in short hair. OK for the experiment.