And On The 9th Day… an update from the roads

It’s August 4th, and Day 9 of The Epic Adventure.  I’ve been too busy soaking it all in to write this week as we earn our camping stripes and figure out the flow and logistics of life on the road.  THE GOOD NEWS:  We love it and Cassie couldn’t be a better camping dog if she tried.  We are all, as hoped and planned for, having the time of our lives!

First some stats:

• We’ve driven 2,236 km in 9 days
• That’s a total of 38 hours and 10 minutes of road time
• We had one spat but made up quickly 🙂
• We’ve been in 6 states – Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa and South Dakota
• We’ve camped in 5 spots – all a bit different with their own vibe and style

Our American hosts have been kind and helpful to a fault.  Everyone we’ve met so far has wished us happy trails and gone out of their way to make our trip better.  We have been in “The Heartland” and it shows.

Now for some details… before crossing the border, we made a quick pit stop to visit my dear friend and former boss / best coach ever, Linda, in Windsor, Ontario.  It had been years since we’ve seen each other and it was so great to re-connect and meet her partner, Rick.  Our only regret is that we couldn’t stay longer.  

The road and the border were calling so after a brief visit, we hit the Ambassador Bridge from Windsor to Detroit.  We were waved through to the Truck Clearance line with only one truck ahead of us so thought we were in luck as there were a few hundred cars waiting to get through.

But technology had other ideas – when we got to the kiosk, the border patrol officer’s computer crashed, he had never cleared a travel trailer through before ,and he had to call for reinforcements.  After waiting 20 minutes and chatting with our friendly man-in-the-box (who is thinking of retiring soon), Office Beckham arrived, asked for a tour of Spot the Camper and then finally let us through! 

Monroe, Michigan was our first stop at Stirling State Park on the shores of Lake Erie.  We set up camp and set off to walk through the park’s wetlands.  What a treat to see water lotus, heron, hawks, nesting swans, egrets and MUSKRATS!  (Yes, I sang the song and serenaded Mick).  The park is doing a great job of protecting the wetlands that are wedged between industrial areas and the back drop of tall smoke stacks and the iconic shape of a nuclear power plant tower contrasted sharply with the serenity of the marshes.

And there begins the theme of “contrasts” we’ve been noticing all week.

Day 2 in Michigan started with a tour of the War of 1812 Raisin River Battlefield, the site of a 2 day fight where the American troops were victorious over the Brits one day and then slaughtered the next, giving birth to the battle cry, “Remember the Raisin!!”

We happened upon the Monroe County Fair Parade so decided to check it out as it seemed the whole town had turned up for it.  The parade didn’t disappoint – chock full of horses, sheriffs, marching bands, local beauty queens, church groups, fire engines, 4H clubs, and even a Star Wars club of sorts who turned up in costumes accompanied by R2D2!  Cassie LOVED the parade and won many hearts.

The parade ended with 2 final floats, one featuring the Republicans who were Trumping up support and one manned by the Democratic Women who were making sure their voices were heard. 

On day 3, I turned 54 in Michigan and ended the day in Remington, Indiana, population 1,200.  We got set up at the Caboose Lake Campground – man, when they advertised “right off the highway” they weren’t kidding! – and headed into town.  As we walked the streets of this quiet town, we noticed that almost all of the local businesses were closed, their dusty windows staring mournfully out on an empty “Main Street”.  The town boasts a very cool brick Water Tower dating back to 1897 and a beautiful Catholic Church built in 1898.

As we were walking around Sacred Heart remarking on the gorgeous stained glass windows, the priest, Father Andrew appeared, noticed that “we’re not from around here” and kindly offered us a tour of the church. He’s only been in the parish since July 1st and was very enthusiastic about showing us his new home, even inviting Cassie to come along.  We chatted briefly about religion, and both Mick and I confessed to being brought up Catholic but not actively practicing now.

I lit a candle for my sister Lisa, my dad and Mick’s mum (as I always do whenever I visit a new church), we said good bye to Father Andrew, and he locked the church behind us.

A few minutes later, I reached for my phone to take another picture and couldn’t find it.  Yup, that awful feeling you get when you can’t find your technology appendage!  Realizing that I left it behind in the church, we went back to see if we could find Father Andrew and retrieve it.

After walking around what we hoped was the rectory, knocking on every door and ringing every bell we could find, we were about to give up when Father Andrew re-appeared, changed out of his collar and sporting a t shirt and shorts.  We apologized profusely for disturbing his evening, and he graciously let us back into the church so I could retrieve my phone from the pew where I had left it.  As we were saying our second good bye, he said, “It’s alright, maybe God wanted you to come back to the church”.  I smiled and thought, “Well played, Father…Well played!”

On Day 4, we travelled 245 miles from Remington to Hampton, Illinois. We camped in Illiniwek Forest Preserve on the banks of the Mississippi River where we watched pelicans fly and tug boats push massive barges up-river through the locks. We met a lovely couple, Cathy and Lee, who after learning we were visiting from Canada, gave us a jar of local mustard made in town.  They are retired, in their mid-70’s I would guess, and drive both a pick up truck and a red Nissan convertible.

Day 5 found us across the river in LeClaire, Iowa – yup, home of the American Pickers!  Of course we visited Antique Archeology and “got the t-shirt”.  The store did not disappoint, with hipster-chic found treasures we recognized from the show, like the rusted out, totally roached Indian Motorcycle they dug up in a front yard.  

We spent time at The Buffalo Bill Museum, too, exploring the Lone Star Riverboat, a 1920’s era one room school house and more Buffalo Bill memorabilia than you can shake a stick at.  Buffalo Bill, too, is a study in contrasts – on one hand, exploiting Native Americans in his side-show and on the other, advocating for their civil rights.  He earned his nickname “Buffalo Bill” by killing bison, yet was known as a conservationist.

On Day 6, we left Illinois and drove about 240 miles to Pilot Knob State Park in Forest City, Iowa.  On our drive, we saw thousands of acres of cornfields stretching as far as the eye could see and miles of bright blue skies broken up by tidy farms and towering windmills.  This massive country can make a girl feel small.

Pilot Knob wasn’t original ginally one of our planned stops – we ended up there as the other place we were thinking of staying was full.  What a wonderful piece of serendipity, as this State Park really is a hidden gem on the road less travelled.  On the flat tabletop of the heartland, Pilot Knob’s claim to fame is its the second highest elevation in Iowa at 1,450 feet.  

On Day 7, we wandered in to the Winnebago factory Visitor’s center and were able to jump onto a free tour.  We walked through a cool vintage 1967 motor home that was one of the first off their assembly line and then watched as workers built 2019 spiffy, shiny Class A palaces on wheels.

On the 8th Day, we drove 160 miles on Route 18 across the rest of Iowa – yes, you guessed it, more corn and more windmills – and landed in Canton, South Dakota.  On the way, we saw homemade road side signs reading “Jesus is Real”, negating evolution in favour of creationism, and extolling pro-life messages like “Real Men Love Babies”… these were dwarfed and outnumbered by huge commercial bill boards advertising the “Lions Den” Adult Outlet Stores and 74 Flavours of Beef Jerky.  

Today was our 9th day and we spent it in Sioux Falls, a river city on the rise. We visited Falls Park and watched the water cascading over the red quartzite rocks.  We walked around the ruins of The Queen Bee Flour Mill that was built to be the busiest, most productive mill of it’s time but went bust in just 2 years due to a lack of water power and unreliable wheat supplies.  

From there we strolled to the vibrant downtown where arts and culture are thriving!  There are so many cool sculptures (including my fave, “Space Cat”) along Phillips Street with ballot boxes for visitors to cast votes for their favourites.  We passed by a bank where, in 1934, John Dillinger and his gang staged a hold up and made off with $49,000 in cash after winning a shoot out with the police.

We saw cathedral spires and followed them through a poor run-down neighbourhood passed a Dollar General store through to the gorgeous Cathedral Historic District filled with palatial turn of the century homes.  I walked from the sweltering heat of a summer’s day into the cool darkness of St. Joseph Cathedral, a soaring masterpiece of marble, gilt and stained glass.

So far, it seems to me that present day America is truly a study in contrasts – we have been met with nothing but kindness from everyone we’ve met yet, while we have been here, we’ve heard about 2 different mass shootings on the news.  

It feels like coming home – but to a country that’s different enough than the one that I left 22 years ago to feel like foreign territory.

I can’t wait to see what the coming days, weeks and months bring us as we continue our journey.  Next week, we hit our western most points of Yellowstone and Grand Teton.  Watch this space for the next instalment of #marymickandcassiesepicadventure.