Thank you to the many blog readers who e-mailed asking if Terry and I were okay when yesterday’s blog didn’t get posted at the usual time. We are fine, we were parked at the Bad River Lodge and Casino in Odanah, Wisconsin, with no cell phone or Verizon air card signal.
We were pretty tired from our day of playing tourist on Monday, and slept in a little bit, not pulling out of the casino until just after noon. It took a half hour or so to get to Ironwood, just inside the Michigan state line, where we could get a signal. We stopped at a rest area long enough to get online and post the blog, and answer a couple of e-mails that needed immediate responses, and then we were back on the road.
In Wakefield, U.S. Highway 2 starts angling southeast, but we opted for State Route 28, which crosses the Upper Peninsula on the north. We’ve been along the southern shore several times, but this was new territory for us. Although our Rand McNally road atlas shows S.R. 28 as a “scenic route” it was actually an excellent two lane road, in very good condition, with wide shoulders most of the way, and spectacular scenery at every bend in the road.
We passed through dense forest, even seeing a sign for a Moose crossing, slowing down for the occasional small town, and enjoying every mile we traveled. The Upper Peninsula is a wild and beautiful place, and the people who live here are called Yoopers, hardy folk who love their unspoiled land, even in the winter, when snow piles up high and the thermometer stays in the negative for weeks on end.
There is water everywhere up here. Big lakes, small lakes, rivers, and streams everywhere you look. We passed dozens of lakes where we would have loved to have stopped and put our kayaks in the water, or cast a fishing line. Someday when we have more time, we need to come back up here and play.
Somewhere along the way, we crossed into the Eastern Time Zone, and mentioned that eight days ago we were in Pacific Time. I’ve heard of jet lag, but can you get RV lag too, from crossing the country so fast?
About 5 p.m. we reached Marquette, a neat town on the shore of Lake Superior, and ten miles east of town, we stopped at the Ojibwa Casino for the night. This is our third casino in three days, all offering free overnight RV parking. Amenities ranged from dry camping at the Black Bear Casino in Carlton, Minnesota, to water and 30/50 amp electric at the Bad River Casino in Wisconsin, to back in sites on dirt and grass here at the Ojibwa Casino, with 30/50 amp electric. And this one even paid us to stay! When we went to check in at the Customer Service desk, they asked us to join their Players Club, and in exchange, gave Terry and I $10 in cash each just for stopping by! How cool is that?
If you haven’t done much casino camping before, give it a try. It can save you a lot of money. We sell a guide to RV friendly casinos in our RV Bookstore. Just scroll about halfway down the page to the listing and order today. If you would prefer to get the guide as an e-book delivered by e-mail, just send me a quick note with your order.
But please folks, just as anywhere else you dry camp, be a good guest. This is what happens when you run your leveling jacks down on blacktop, without using jack pads. We saw this at the Bad River Casino. Isn’t that a nice way to say thank you and show your appreciation for a free RV site with water and electric?
Always use jack pads, like this RVer is doing, even on level pavement. Some RVers use plastic pads, others, us included, use wooden pads. Just use something!
We covered 180 miles yesterday, poking along at about 50 miles an hour most of the day. Today we’ll have another easy day, 160 miles to Sault Ste. Marie, where we’ll stop for a few days before we continue on to Traverse City for Miss Terry’s annual medical checkup next week.
Before I close, a few days ago I mentioned that if there was any interest, we would hold a craft show and sale at our Eastern Gypsy Journal Rally in Celina, Ohio in September. A couple of readers wanted to know if there was any charge for participating in the show. No, it’s all part of your rally fee. But I would appreciate an e-mail letting me know that you’ll take part, so we know how many to plan for.
Thought For The Day – Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once.
Click Here To Register For Our Eastern Gypsy Gathering Rally!
Nick Russell
World-Famous, New York Times Best Selling Author, and All-Around Nice Guy!
Recently left Aune Osborn Campground at the Soo. $27 per day plus a $2 registration fee. Didn’t make a reservation so couldn’t get a waterfront site. Great park for watching the ships go by.
So did you run that 20 bucks into a small fortune or did you leave it all at the first slot machine you came across?
Yes RV Lag is real and one does not need to go far. Last fall we went from Central Daylight time in SW TX to Mountain Daylight time in NM to AZ time in SE AZ. We were really waking up early for a while.
Man, what kind of idiot does that? Who could blame the casino for not lettng RVers stay there any more? We saw the same thing at a Wal-Mart in Oklahoma last year, and the guy was cussing and raising hell becase his jacks did not want to come up after he had buried them in the hot asphalt. He went in to complain to the store manager. This year wehn we came through signs said no overnight parking. Gee I wonder why?
Most of us know that Michiganders who live in the U.P. are called Yoopers.
But do you know what the Yoopers call the people who live in the “Mitten” of Michigan? They call them Trolls.
Because they live under the bridge!
I loved your statement Nick, “Although our Rand McNally road atlas shows S.R. 28 as a “scenic route” it was actually …. and spectacular scenery at every bend in the road.” Is that a statement as to the validity of Rand McNally characterization of road conditions?
Thanks for pointing out the folks not using jack pads. Unfortunately we let our go when we sold our RV in January but thankfully they were only cut 2×10’s. Unfortunately I recut some for our new RV and I’m a little worried that I cut them too small simply b/c I wanted to save space and weight. Sometimes we outsmart ourselves! Guess I can use the other ones for expensive fire kindling.