Touring Upper Michigan with Friends

We certainly enjoyed seeing Jan and Fred again and our time touring around Upper Michigan with them. Jan is an avid ‘fisher’ and Upper Michigan is a solid rural area where she can satisfy her passion.

The first place we visited was a State Heritage Site where they are restoring an old steel mill town including the coke oven.

Next we went off to one of Jan’s favourite places – an incredibly clear spring Kitch-iti-kipi (the big spring) in the Indian Lake. Water is trapped in bedrock caverns below Indian Lake and spurts up through the sand in the pond. The spring is in 45 feet of unbelievably clear water. A glass bottom boat on a cable is there so you can sit out in the middle of the pond and watch the fish mull around the spring.

Being with Jan and Fred reminded us of one of the great things about travelling in the RV – meeting and reconnecting with folks all around the country.

Rain and heavy traffic! Back into Canada at Sault Ste Marie. Did you know that the area around Sudbury was used as the training site for the Moon flight in the 60’s? We heard that they had ‘beautified’ the area. It still feels like the armpit of the world!! Yes, there is now vegetation growing on the moon-simulated landscape but it retains remnants of vast nothingness. Of course it was raining, grey and miserable to boot – that didn’t help any. It was good to get to Gail and Ken’s in Killaloe, Ontario.

We always think of Gail as the reason we went out to Cape Breton in the first place. Way back in the 60’s she told us how great it was – the rest is history – and a good part of the reason we are on this journey now! The area, like so many rural regions, has lost whatever industry brought the people there in the first place (like the Railway in Barry’s Bay) and has turned to tourism. Even in the 60’s this part of Ontario attracted ‘alternate-type’ so there is an abundance of local crafters and artists can keep the shops supplied with very unique products. I was able to sell ‘Jacob’s Tails” to a couple of places and Ken tells me I could probably have sold more if we had stayed around a bit longer.

We were hoping to get over to Luskville, QC (north of Hull) to visit Elspeth and James (a fellow I worked with at the Childrens Aid in Toronto) unfortunately we never made it. We did spend a couple of days around Perth, ON with Bruce and Ruth – also friends from Toronto days – who actually helped us build the dome in Cape Breton.

Perth offers a look at the kind of Canadian history that is just not there in the West. As we explored the countryside; the lanes, old homes and fences reinforced the uniqueness and history and of the area.

Smith Falls presents a look at the unique transportation system of the locks and brides along the Rideau Canal.

Onto Quebec City for the next leg of our journey!!