August 5th
Isabella County Fairgrounds to
??????????????
Woke up to a beautiful cool morning in the high
50’s with great promise for the day. We
had our coffee and quickly packed up the MH for the 120 mile trip to St
Ignace. That is where our morning ended!
When I pushed the button to close the rear
slide, Dave asked what it was caught on as it was sticking out an inch. We went back and forth until it didn’t move
in at all!
Note: Brightside RV fixed this slide two years
ago with new rollers and screws so this was not a good sign. Our second call to Good Sam Road Service
(this trip) resulted in a great guy coming out to the Fairgrounds campground
and taking a look at the problem.
After an initial consultation and great
discussions, we got the slide in all the way and followed our mechanic to the
repair shop where he rebeded screws and secured bolts!
Wonder what is going to be next???????? (This could qualify as a “trip from hell”
experience if our luck doesn’t change!)
Three Hours Later …… nothing happened
next! We continued up Hwy 127 to I75
crossing the 45th Parallel in Grayling Michigan. We are halfway to the North Pole from the
Equator, and the weather is beautiful.
The Mackinac Bridge was giving me worries as
the last time we crossed it I had my eyes closed! Now we were going to cross it in a MH giving
it a whole new dimension. The good news
was there were no high wind advisories … the bad news was construction on the
bridge and one lane was closed!
We made it, and I kept my eyes open the whole
time. Maybe I’m maturing! Came down into Straits State Park situated
under the Mackinac Bridge in St Igance.
Michigan State parks require vehicle passes in addition to camping
fees. The campsite was $35/night and
being an out of stater we paid $60 for a season pass to Michigan State Parks
for the car and MH. This was the cheaper
alternative to paying daily entrance fees.
TUESDAY, AUGUST 6TH
STRAITS STATE PARK, ST IGNACE
Forecast for today are showers and tomorrow
more rain so we are planning on Mackinac Island on Thursday. Today we drove down into St Ignace to check
out the scenes stopping, first, to view the Mackinac Bridge. It’s a wonder! Especially from the ground.
MACKINAC BRIDGE FACTS
The Mackinac Bridge connects the upper and
lower peninsulas at the Straits of Mackinac.
It is the third longest suspension bridge in the world and is still the
longest suspension bridge in the western hemisphere.
The width of the bridge deck is 54 feet with
two outside lines are 12’ and inside lanes are 11’ and the center mall is 2’
with the catwalk, curb and rail width at 3’ each side. Not a lot of wiggle room. No
wonder it doesn’t feel wide enough!
Fortunately the stiffening truss width in the
suspended span is 68’ wide making it 14’ wider than the roadway it
supports. The height of the roadway at
mid-span is about 200’ above water level and the main towers are 552’ above
water with the water depth of 295’ at midspan so you’re not likely to run
aground!
The suspension bridges are designed to move to
accommodate wind, change in temperature and weight. The deck at center span could move as much as
35’ east or west, due to high wind. The
good news, if there is any when you’re on the bridge, is it would not swing or
sway, but move slowly in one direction based on the force and direction of the
wind. After the wind subsides the weight
of the lucky vehicles crossing would slowly return it to center position. Oh
joy!
BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS EVERYWHERE!
KIWADIN CASINO
We took a drive through St Ignace along the
Lake Huron Circle Route and stopped at Kiwadin Casino (for a potty break and
maybe a lucky break!). First noticed the
RV sites. For you convenience, you can
camp at the casino for $10/night with electric and water and use the casino
facilities when needed. It’s an easy
walk…or crawl…to the slots!
Entering the front doors into the hotel lobby
with the casino to the left and check-in for the lodging to the right, you are
hit in the face with eau du cigarette!
We walked into the casino and noticed the penny slots. It didn’t think there were slots for less
than a nickle, but here there were rows and rows of penny slots. It was about 11:00 AM and the sounds of
dinging slots could be heard throughout the casino. We played a big $6.00 and lost a big $6.00 on
the penny slots. Had our fill, washed
our hands good, and left the casino life behind!
Came back into St Ignace for lunch and a stop
at the Chamber of Commerce to get the lay of the town for our rainy Wednesday. Had to stop at Mudicks on our way back to the
car to get our requisite fudge!
Returned back to town to attended a small
gathering in St Ignace of wine and beer tasting. For $5 we received 7 tickets to be shared
among the beer and wine samples. Dave
spent his tickets on the three craft beers, Bells Two Hearted Ale, Petoskey Minds Eye IPA, and Hard Cider.
Since this was sponsored by the wine shop the
selection of wines was larger. I tried
the Woodcutter’s Shiraz, the Turn Me Tempranillo and the Zolo Malbec. My favorite was the Zolo Malbec. We popped into the wine shop and noticed some
labels we were familiar with but also noticed the prices were several dollars
higher.
Great music was being played on the street. The entire evening was very festive and we struck up several conversations with other tasters!
We stayed until the drawing for
a bottle of wine and didn’t win. Just
wasn’t a winning day for us! Returned
back to Straits SP to enjoy our evening.
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