From Massey, ON it was a short drive down Canada 17 to the US border at Sault Ste Marie, ON.  (That is pronounced “Sue Saint Marie”).  Google Maps guided us through the streets of town until we reached the bridge that crosses the St Mary’s River between Lake Superior and Lake Huron and into the US.  We almost missed the last turn but a nice guy on the street gave me a quick directional point, and we made it into the line.  He said it happens all the time!

The line wasn’t too long and shortly we made it to the window where the US Border Patrol guy looked at our passports, asked where we lived and said, “Welcome home”!   That’s it.   We and the RV were back in the US.  We crossed the bridge and saw the SOO locks and ships below and soon were in Sault Ste Marie, MI.  A new state for the RV and the trip!  And we were on the north end of Interstate 75 that runs all the way to Miami!  Seemed like home! 

50 miles later we had crossed the eastern end of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and pulled into our RV park in St. Ignace, MI.  It was a small park but located within a short distance from the ferry over to Mackinac Island which was our plan for the next day.

We contacted Shepler’s Mackinac Island Ferry and arranged a shuttle pickup for the next morning.  This particular ferry also made a quick loop under the “Old Mac” I-75 Mackinac Bridge, so we were actually in Lake Michigan for a little while before heading over to the island itself.  The weather was perfect, and the trip was very smooth as well as interesting!  We arrived at the island about 20 minutes after leaving the dock.

And what a surprise!  We knew that cars were not allowed on the island and learned later that the rule was established in 1898.  I didn’t think there were cars in 1898 but googled Henry Ford and found that his first models were in 1896.  And this was also in Michigan where the cars were made.  And they were loud, and they scared the horses.  And so, no cars, period, since then!

Speaking of horses, there a still several thousand horses on the island!  They do everything.  Deliveries, taxis, tours, and you can even rent a horse drawn carriage and drive it yourself. (But we just realized that neither of us got any pictures of the horses!)  Nowadays there are also thousands of bicycles and lots of trails and roads around the island that you can travel.  And they go a lot faster than the horses, so you needed to watch out especially on the downhill roads!

We decided to take the horse drawn wagon guided tour that went through town and then out to the old carriage house and new butterfly gardens.

The carriages were beautiful as you might imagine due to the wealthy families that lived on the island in the past.  The old Grand Hotel coach that delivered guests from the docks to the hotel was there and is still used today. 

Another interesting historic coach story was about Billy Durant who started building coaches in 1886 and grew that business into forming General Motors by purchasing Buick Motor Cars and later others like Cadillac, Oldsmobile and Pontiac.  And then in 1916, they acquired Chevrolet and the rest is history!  He later even founded Frigidaire as the demand for the old “ice box” declined.  A very interesting story.

Then on to the butterfly house.  Compared to the house in Miami at the Fairchild Gardens, it was much smaller making it easier to see the butterflies up close.  And to see many different kinds as well. (I know that is a lot of butterflies but Gail couldn’t choose).

Finally, we got on another larger carriage drawn by 3 horses to take us through the Mackinac Island State Park with a very quick stop (8 minutes) at the Arch Rock.  They dropped us at Fort Mackinac  where we had a bite to eat looking out over the harbor and walked through some of the buildings.  Then we headed back down to the main street.  By now the streets were getting crowded as more people arrived, including those from a small cruise ship in the harbor.  And it had started to rain heavily.  We had come prepared with rain jackets and umbrellas. 

And we learned that this weekend was the famous sailboat race from Chicago to Mackinac.  So, we decided to drop in at the Mackinac Yacht Club house and check on the progress of the race.  The first cruising classes had departed Chicago the day before and the leader was about halfway to Mackinac.  The performance boats were just getting started as we watched their status on the computer screen.  So historic and so cool to be in the yacht club headquarters!

After a few more stops at some of the original houses and some shopping(had to buy some famous Mackinac fudge) we headed back to the ferry and back to the RV.

Next day was Sunday so we started off with a nice Sunday breakfast. And then we crossed the Big Mac on I-75 and drove down the coast highway to Traverse City to meet up with one of my Grove Yacht brokers (plus sailing instructor and captain) and his wife, Jeff and Hindy, who come up to Michigan every summer.  They have a beautiful place in the woods just outside town.

First though we had some shopping and pharmacy things to handle.  Everything worked out successfully and we got what we needed plus a few other goodies.  Jeff came by later to see the RV and filled us in on some things to do in the area and invited us to their house the next evening. 

On Monday, after a quick hike around the RV park, we decided to rent a canoe and go out on Silver Lake.  The RV park is at one end of the lake that extends about 3.5 miles to the other end.   The weather was perfect, and we took off up the east side and then around the west side to get back.  Lots of nice houses along the shore, most with boat docks and nice patios or beach areas.  One even had a float plane parked behind their house.  Nice to be out on the water!

After cleaning up, we headed to see Jeff and Hindy and show him the error code on the Jeep.  He had been a Jeep mechanic for years (in his youth!) and had an OBD scanner to read the error and tell what was wrong.  Short story, he diagnosed a leak in the vapor vacuum system (that sucks gas vapors from the tank back to the engine, or something like that!) and fixed it with some duct tape!  Yep.  That easy!  I really should get a new part the next time I am at a Jeep dealer but it’s working now.!

Then we took off for a quick drive up the Old Mission Peninsula to see the lighthouse.  Traverse City is at the bottom of a large bay as part of Lake Michigan’s eastern shore.  The peninsula divides the bay almost exactly in half and the two smaller bays are called, logically, East Arm Grand Traverse Bay and West Arm Grand Traverse Bay. 

And the north end of the peninsula is the lighthouse.  On the way up there were lots of vineyards and cherry stands.  The area is famous for both!  We broke down and bought some mixed cherries.  Very good.

The lighthouse is not in use anymore and was closed to visitors already.  But the views of the lake are very nice, and we took the chance to walk along the beach a little.  The lighthouse is also famous for being located on the 45^th latitude which puts it halfway between the equator and the north pole!  All in all, a nice visit.

On the way back down, we stopped at the Jolly Pumpkin for dinner with a pulled pork quesadilla and pumpkin cake for dessert! 

On our last day there we headed out to the west side of the larger peninsula along the shore of Lake Michigan to a National Park called Sleeping Bear.  We didn’t realize that it was a National Park, and we had forgotten our Senior Parks card and my Parks Passport stamp book in the RV, so yes, we had to pay to get in!

 But the main attraction was worth it.  The shore is the largest (and longest?) freshwater sand dunes in the world.  Very sandy, and very duney!   But people were still clambering down and trudging back up the shore dunes even though the signs suggested not to and that it was very dangerous to do so!  Hard to take photos with all the crazy people around! But again, the view was great.

We continued driving the loop to see Glen Lake and then headed back into town to meet up with Jeff and Hindy for dinner.  We shopped around and found a nice, soft flamingo rattle for Draven, our new, 2 week old Great Grandson!  And stocked up on some cool cherry-based items at the Cherry Republic store. 

And we got back to The Boat and packed up for and early departure in the morning to go see more friends and other famous places on our way back to Canada.  All to be covered in the next blog!  Bet you can’t wait!!