2019 Driving Vacation

[Maverick]

Had a LONG day today. Up at 6 AM EST to get the ferry to Wisconsin at 9 EST.
B&B had a lot of good-looking breakfast food which Lois enjoyed but I can't eat that early.

Cute dog jumped up between us as we sat having breakfast.

Docked in Wisc after the 4 hour crossing at noon CST and drove to Duluth, MN arriving at 6:30 CST. Quite a bit of rain, some heavy. Had some trouble finding the hotel since I wrote down the wrong name of the street. Its Clearwood, not clearwater. Anyway, here we are in our hotel with just about 3 hours to Bemidji where we stay put for 3 nights

[Maverick]

Did a little shopping at Target yesterday (Sunday) and drove about 3 hours to Bemidji. Was good to have an easy day after the long Saturday. Keni and Warren made a beautiful place cut from 160 acres of forest previously owned by Warren's parents. Warren and his late dad designed and built an octagonal house with spiral stair to the bedroom loft and cupola above.

Warren added two outbuildings.

Continued on next post.

[Maverick]

Deer-proof raised bed garden.

Octagonal house.

Spiral stair to loft bedroom.

Continued on next post.

[Maverick]

Two cabins by the lake. One with beds and one with kitchen, dining, and bathroom.

Small pontoon and fishing boat.

[Maverick]

Took a ride around the lake on this beautiful 80 degree day.

And a ride thru the forest, stopping at a county park.

Keni made dinner with Walleye fillets, wild rice, salad, and ginger bread & whipped cream.

One more day here and then off to Michigan UP.

[Maverick]

Yesterday we took a ride into Bemidji, a really neat town with lots of art and artists. Toured the town, visited an art museum and had lunch at an interesting sandwich shop. The women chatted and I took a nap and a walk around the grounds. Then, back into Bemidji for a great dinner at an Italian restaurant.

Today we drove to Calumet and checked in to our digs for the night. Tomorrow we'll check out Calumet and drive to Municing to visit friend George.

[Maverick]

This morning we'll drive by the Lutheran church where my grandfather's cousin (my 1st cousin, twice removed) was the first pastor.

http://www.stpaulstjohnlcms.org/StPaul/stpaulelc.htm

Then to George's house.

[Maverick]

Up this morning and called the church http://www.stpaulstjohnlcms.org/StPaul/stpaulelc.htm

Answering machine gave the number for Pastor Bryan Lundquist. Called Pastor Bryan and he agreed to meet us at the church and give us a tour. Turns out, Sunday they're celebrating their 140th anniversary and Pastor Bryan was pleased to meet a relative of the first resident pastor. Worked great for us!! Would have been even greater if we could have stayed for the celebration service. It's a beautiful church. I took way too many pics to post here but I'll post a few. The existing church is not the original building that my cousin pastored. This is a pic of a pic of the original.

Pastor Bryan.

The current church.

Continued on next post.

[Maverick]

On to George's house. He took us on a boat ride out to Grand Isle (?) for a view of the cliffs where the famous ice caves form in the winter.

It was a beautiful day on the water and a good thing we went. Next day (this morning) we scheduled the Picture Rock 10 AM tour and it was so foggy we couldn't see anything.

Took this picture to record what all of the scenes looked like. No need to take any more pics.

The tour company returned to dock and refunded all fees. So, we had a free boat ride but not much good to see.

[Maverick]

After the free, foggy boat ride this morning we drove to St Ignace and checked in to our really nice, old, inexpensive hotel on Lake Mich. Our room has a slider out to ground-level patio and lawn down to the lake. We liked it so much we decided to stay another day and reserved the room for tomorrow night too.

We walked "downtown" St Ignace, had an ice cream cone, a walk on the boardwalk, and a very nice dinner at Galley restaurant. I ordered the small portion of Walleye and Lois had a Whitefish sandwich. All good.

Then back to our hotel. Tried to open a bottle of wine but the el cheapo opener broke. Fortunately, the office had an opener that worked and we were able to sip our wine on the little, ground-level deck. So, all is well with the world and we're in one place for TWO days.

[Maverick]

We mostly vegged today. Had our coffee and donut holes (purchased yesterday) in the room. Walked the beach, napped, Sudoku on the deck, happy hour, more Sudoku, then GOOD, light dinner at Village Inn. We both had "Arnold" sandwiches named after a former employee whose name was Arnold. Warm smoked turkey, melted cheese, bacon (not on mine) on croissant rolls. No room for dessert.

Tomorrow it's off (2 hours, 44 minutes according to GPS) to Meredith and Tom's in Saginaw.

[Maverick]

Yesterday we drove thru some HARD rain in spots from St Ignace, MI UP, to Saginaw in the lower to see niece Meredith, husband Tom, son Lucas, daughter Veda, and dog Mavis. Found them all happy and healthy.

Had a 50 MPH ride in the ATV.

Out to dinner.

Veda modeled some new duds.

Lois and Veda did a US puzzle.

Couldn't get a pic of Mavis; it's hard to catch him still long enough.

Had a fun visit, good night's sleep and back in the car. Today we drove to Beckley, WV, checked in to the hotel and ordered pizza delivery.

[Maverick]

We're home after an easy drive from Beckley, WV to Winston Salem, NC. I-40 from Winston Salem here was hectic with lots of nutty drivers.

It was a great vacation seeing family and friends all along the way. We're blessed with great families and friends, some of which we may not see again given our ages and the distances between us. Glad we made the trip.

Met three fun dogs. The Shih Tzu that jumped between us in the B&B and wouldn't leave us when the owner called it, George's dog that was thrilled to see us come and thrilled to see us go, and Tom and Meredith's bird dog that wouldn't stay still long enough for me to get a pic.

Tomorrow morning I'll see how much weight I gained.

Lois' car is a great highway car but we could have used a bigger trunk. Luckily, Sirius XM gave her a 60-day free trial just before we left so we had music in all the remote places.

We missed seeing Edie and her family due to Gunnar's serious health questions and some other challenges they are dealing with right now. We'll make an effort to connect with them somehow, sometime soon.

Thanks to Tiresmoker for hosting our travel log.

Jim & Lois

[Basement Paul]

How many miles did it end up being?

-BP

[Fred32v]

It was fun following you, the Cossick Farm is in Togo, MN.,
not too far from Bemidji, the home of Paul Bunyan.