The Heat Caught Up With Us Again

Currently in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, and the heat has caught up with us again.  The guy on local weather said last night that the Twin Cities normally get 13 days of 90 degree weather a year; yesterday was #14 with a high of 95 and today should be #15.

Going to the Mall of the Americas this afternoon to dodge the heat.

Speaking of cool – the big Mystic Lake Casino where we are staying is hosting an open-air Beach Boys concert tonight.  It’s sold out, but our campsite may offer a better venue than the standing-room only tickets provide. 

Playing Catch-up

No post yesterday, and not much to report today.  Yesterday and today were basically a travel days.  We spent the night in Iron Mountain, Michigan -on the Wisconsin border and already back in the Central Time Zone, the drove today to Dell City, Wisconsin.

We’ll be touring the Dells tomorrow.

Wi-Fi

Didn’t think I was going to be able to post anything today.  Wi-Fi in this campground was extremely poor when we got here, and kept dropping out entirely.  I had quit trying to use it at all, then this morning the trailer in the next site left, and internet access has been fine ever since.

The only problem is that my connection is not on the RV park network.  I don’t know who I connected to – it’s a string of letters and numbers that don’t seem to mean anything at all.  I can still see the campground when I search for networks, but it show a signal strength of no (zero) bars.

We saw this double rainbow yesterday afternoon.  We set up in the rain, but after it blew over, we were treated to this sight.  You can barely make out the lake past the bushes on the shore, but the rainbows are actually out over Lake Michigan.

Cool

According to Weatherbug, the temperature at home this morning at 6 a.m. was 81.  The temperature here at our campsite in Cheboygan, MI was 59.

With a little help from a front that moved the hot weather east, we have finally managed to get north of the hot weather.

I Know Jack

We went to the Jack Pine Lumberjack Show last night.  The guy on the right is four-time world champion log roller Darren Hudson.  He’s in Mackinaw City practicing for the next international competition, which comes up in a couple weeks.

He’s also won “Bull of the Woods” all-around championships at several competitions, which means he’s pretty darn good at pole climbing.  The shot above shows him just starting down from the 90 foot stripe while his opponent, a Michigan College champ, is still on his way up to the 60 foot line.

He used his chain saw to carve a “rabbit.”   Actually, the ears became the legs for a little chair.

The little guy he gave it to didn’t like it much, but everybody else in the audience thought it was great.

He didn’t mention it himself, but Dan, the owner and M-C of the show, was a nine time world champion log roller.  I’m sure we saw him compete on ESPN a few years ago.

On the Other Foot

When we got to Cheboygan, we found that the Sheltons had a 30 amp site and there were no 50 amp sites available.  Somehow, their reservation read pull-through with cable (they have a satellite dome on the top of their motor home) and did not specify 50 amp.

They are moving down the road to another campground this morning.

Doing It Right

At Timber Ridge RV Resort in Traverse City, Michigan.  Nice place, but about two hours after we pulled in and got set up the 50 amp breaker at our site blew and wouldn’t reset – not even with our cable unplugged.

The girl at the office said that the maintenance man had already gone for the day, but she called the owner who told her that if we could get by on 30 amps until he could get back from an appointment in town, he would come replace the breaker.

He was as good as his word, and while working on the power pedestal he learned that it was our first trip to the area.  He told me “I have one more job to do after this, but I’ll come back later with some maps and help you plan a day tour for tomorrow that will make the best use of your time.”

Two hours later he knocked on our door with an armload of maps and brochures, laid out a route and told us everything to be sure to see along the way.

Just can’t ask for better service than that.