“THE ADVENTURE BEGINS”
Greeting and welcome to the first of my” reports from across the pond” Firstly thanks to Julain for this Blog (whatever that means?)
Ok so lets go back way back to the departure lounge at Gatwick arrived at 6.30 am bought a copy of the Times, ordered my full English and waited for my departure time happy in the knowledge I had an emergency exit seat with lots of legroom, sitting their I plugged in the ‘ol iPod and flicking through came across Vivaldi (the four seasons) and the opening movement appealed to me as it has always engendered a feeling of new and bold beginnings full of the promise of adventure. Ok so that’s probably a little anal but frankly I don’t give a toss. Its funny how you think of stuff at times of change, I have always believed that we do not take enough time to properly value the people we love and so over the past few weeks I have tried to remember this and at times when in the company of those “loved ones” I have taken a moment to quietly stand back and watch and savour those people, the conclusion of my observations is (and I have always known this) that I am so very fortunate to have those people and their love, I know sometimes its difficult to remember to take the time, its like trying to remember to drink less tea or eat less pies (Bradders!) but we should all try to remember now and again as it is such good food for the soul. So, sat in the departure lounge of this very English airport, home of the economy airline, the chav and the stag party where the fun begins on arriving for a 7.30 flight to Dublin (or some similar destination) for a few days and heading straight for the bar for that early morning out of the ordinary pint which brings the promise of much fun, and later, vomiting.
Newark international airport
Have just arrived at my transfer destination was waiting for that assumed grilling at immigration but the best thing happened, the bloke in front of me who I think was Egyptian or something didn’t speak very good English and there seemed to be a problem with his papers so the official asked for the man to follow him to a supervisors area well the bloke patiently didn’t understand as he walked straight up to an adjacent door and opened it the door being labelled “Maintenance personnel only” he was shouted at by the official and led to the correct area, perfect, so as I approached the area I opened my greeting with “Has he come to fix the heating” now this comment was obviously designed to give me and the official some common ground even if it was wholly unfair on the Egyptian, but I was tired and it worked so I sailed through and even got a “Have a nice trip” for my trouble.
Orlando
Landed at 8.30 US time 2.30am UK time went to motel and slept, the following morning I picked up my hire car and drove the 80 miles to lazydays which is the biggest RV (Recreational vehicle) centre in the world with a 150 acre site containing row upon row of coaches (the US for camper) with my trusty salesman Lee Perella showing me the way, after a little time I scored myself a 29ft Coachman with back bedroom ,bathroom and galley kitchen that can sleep six, ok so perhaps my estimation of how many US women I can talk into it at any one time maybe a bit on the high side but a blokes got to have dreams & to be honest my first intention is to travel and see stuff and not just go on a USA shagfest not to say if the opportunity arrises that I shant be taking advantage of it ! So there’s me and Lee out for a test drive when he pulls over and says “why don’t you take her for a while?” now appreciate if you will, that this thing is not only 29ft long and 10ft high but 9ft wide. But in the true tradition of the bloke bullshitter I gave him the ol’ line about having driven similar sized vans in the UK whilst straddling the beast, any way off we go, hmm, yes, not to bad, starting to get the old trucker feel, just me and my rig on the open road, chatting with Lee in a very relaxed “It’s ok everyone I’m in control” sort of way. Then with a combination of overconfidence and cocksureness drifted to the right and wiped out 3 mail boxes, at about this time Lee had also seen me heading for the boxes and hurriedly said “mi ou bos mr Ja “now what he wanted to say was “mind out for those mail boxes mr Jarvis” but as we all know when your trying to say to many words for the time avaiable you cant really rely on anything that comes out. I must however give Lee his due; he was obviously concerned about 1. The mail boxes 2. Damage to his product & 3.making a sale, he managed to craft his tone from a mixture of worry and frustration into an “Oh you rascal, Ha! Ha! “ sort of feel, later trying to reassure me that to mend them would be an easy job and that it “happens all the time” consequently he got a deal!
I’m now waiting for the whole money thing to be sorted and have taken a room in a motel for a few nights. I’ve started to wander around the local Wallmart superstore which apart from a plug adaptor for UK>US sells pretty much everything and starting to consider my first trip which I think will be up the eastern seaboard (east coast) on interstate 95 (it’s a motorway) the plan is to drive the 1800 miles or so up towards the great lakes then work my way down and around following the warn weather, I’ve got to say that although I’ve only been here 3 days the people are really friendly, even if your just wandering round Wallmart and you meet another shopper in “your isle” they smile and say hello not even knowing I’m a pom. Have always had the theory that attitude is directly attributable to climate these are, in the main happy sunny people with a fairly good outlook on stuff. I am wondering if this will change the further north I get, we’ll see.
Tues 6/9/05
Arrived back at Lazydays to pick up my RV just waiting for all the final bits & pieces to be finished off, when there ready I will apparently be given a walk through so I can become accustomed to all the stuff that goes on ie how to “hook up” and “visit the dump stations” Hmm… dump stations I think it sounds like it means ! Been shopping this morning for all those things a good “home on the go “ should have, in all truth I did use this to speak to a rather attractive women in Wallmart by marching up to her and announcing “I need a woman !” I then went on to explain that I had to kit out my RV and thought she could help me form a list and shop for those items falling under the heading “Domestic supplies”, she obliged but no action as within 3 mins she’d mentioned a husband etc and I thought it might be a little harsh to ask her to find me an attractive single assistant. Well any general observations to report? Yes the whole “fat American” thing, I know iv only been here just under a week but from what iv seen there are quite a few fatties but there are also a good covering of thinnies I think the difference is that the fatties are quite a bit fatter than those in the uk so there proliferation appears greater.
Weds 7/9/05
Woke up in the motel again this morning, while doing the routine checks the dealership discovered a leak in the LP (Liquid Propane) system, so they quite rightly kept it for another night to make sure all was safe. Hoping to finally get on the road today, but watching the weather on the TV there would appear to be a tropical storm (Ophelia) approaching the east coast of Florida which is not only directly in my way for heading north but may turn into a hurricane ! Hoorraah !! By purchasing a vehicle from lazydays I get to spend a few free days in a site of my choice so I can at least get a handle on the whole way of life thing and finally properly rub shoulders with some real Americans. I am as a you might imagine straining at the bit just to get on the road. Oh well hopefully next time I write I would have achieved that at least. Still Weds 7/9/05 but sometimes having the odd delay is very beneficial you see as iv been stranded waiting and iv had time for another look through the gumf they gave me in exchange for my purchase not only do I get a few free days at a camp ground but also 3 months free at a group called Thousand Trails 152 sites, plus for $478.00 I get all year membership plus a rate of $8.00 per night at Royal Park International parks and there are over 350 of those, this basically means I can probably just about afford to stay on proper RV sites for most of the time and yes these sites are close to all I want to see and also are on shorelines and in mountain ranges etc the good thing is it still lets me be free if I want a few days/nights just alone somewhere, by the way the one off initial joining fee for these resort companies amounts to over $8500.00 which is covered by lazydays, this might seem like a big benefit to me who only paid just over that for my vehicle but there are a lot of coaches here that are upwards of $500,000.00 and they sell between 350-750 a month dependent on the season so I guess iv got the big spenders to thank !! So my only concern leading on from my free RV sites is that they are probably designed for the serious RV’er with the plush new coach, my rig as you might expect somewhat follows the line of myself , a little older and a bit knocked about around the edges, still hopefully when they hear the old accent they’ll move there opinions from trailer trash to English eccentric , and do you know what, I think they will ! just sitting here iv hatched a great plan “Behold the majic of the iPOD/iTRIP” as the IPod is still relatively new I can wow them with its massive memory and then for my piest de resistance the ITrip (with love and thanks to BK & CB for both technologies) this piece of modern witchcraft allows me to play my ipod music through my vehical radio (yes Claire you would have been impressed, as I down loaded and set up all on my own obviously confirming that necessity is indeed the mother of invention !) the thought of it returned my mind to an old film “A Kenkucky yankee in King Aurthers court” starring Danny Kaye where he was transported back to medieval times and just as he was about to be beheaded worked out that there was an eclipse imminent ,so he vowed to cast Authers kingdom into darkness unless he was released! Needless to say the plan worked perfectly, so with the same bedazzlement in mind in years to come we may see a sequel perhaps entitled “A sussex trickster does the yanks!”
Although I cant see Spielberg reaching for the phone ! god the old mind certainly ran away that time ,but I liked it! Just been told the old bus will be ready for me in the delivery site at 5 pm, I have, as previously mentioned already begun to assemble the belongings of a good camper and am hoping Wallmart will open until late tonight so I may finish my purchasing as this will give me more time tomorrow as the luxury of my hire car runs out.
Thursday 8/9/05 5.50pm
MADE IT! yes its 5.50 its Thursday and im finally sorted all provisions are stored away itrip laying down some Wild Wood in the van and im just contemplating my first “in house shower” I may however wait until the morning when I shall attempt my first morning exercise hour, the thing is that luckily I know myself fairly well and I always function the best when there’s a little routine in my life so what better routine than one of exercise . Will finish now and take that first shower then the old tuna salad ,you see I do like me ‘ol routine! Well that was it and I gotta say it was quite good plenty of gushing water being carefull to just get wet then larther up then on again to rinse. I didn’t mention that today I had my “Walk through” where a member of staff takes you through the whole vehicle and iv got to say I was rather impressed by the old bus as its all designed to be really self sufficient it has its own water heater, water pump, the toilet flushes properly (this was one of my biggest concerns having had the pleasure of building site chem loo’s for some time, didn’t fancy the stench much!) fridge/freezer ,TV point and comfortable living space as well as a double bed at the back ! Must close now as I need to plan tomorrows first day on the road and possibly look at my next site, catch you later.
Friday 10/9/05
Finally on the road at 12.30 pm during my last few hours here have been perswaded to spend 3 days at a site near Orlando where I can be properly inducted to the RVing way of life, a motherly type at the dealership spotted I was a babe in swauthling clothes and sort of insisted ! My first drive on proper roads ! now I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little aprehencive. OK STOP RIGHT THERE ! what I mean to say is I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little SCARED cm’on guys we all know that the word apprehensive is just used by us blokes because we don’t want to use the word “scared” (Woops avoid soap box moment at all costs) So off we go and on to I-4 (remember from earlier it’s a motorway) well the thing is my van is 29ft long, 9ft wide and 10ft high and just fitts into a single lane, what I had failed to consider is that due to the fact that it is built to live in all the fittings and bodywork are very light as to not impede, its speed, anyway the upshot is that your going along about 55mph just minding your own business when you get overtaken by a frigging great lorry doing 70mph and his slip stream literally blows you to the right ! Anyway after a fraught but by the end more comfortable 50mile jouney arrived at Thousand Trial resort Orlando, and I must say its quite good, swimming pools,tennis court, boating/fishing lake (proper big) , pitch & put as well as organised bike rides around the preserve and nature walks, in there published weekly programme they advertise “Lakeside fireworks” but they actually mean gather by the lake and watch the Disney display for free ! Met a loud fat friendly American who sat next to me while waiting to sing up at dealership he said he lives on the resort and gave me his pitch number so I may look him up later. Anyway going for a shower now as they have this facility, excellent !. Have planned to drink some wine and eat ribs tonight, we’ll see.
Sunday 11/9/05
Well it’s Sunday afternoon the wine drinking rib eating thing of Friday night was a glorious success and in truth, intoxicated thoughts of you all brought a warm smile and a tear but as I have tried to explain on a few occasions its good to miss people it makes us appreciate what we have and the fact that iv gone for a while is a testament to the strength of those friendships , i have no insecurity about there value and strength on my return. (God !, I’m such a girl !!!) Starting the long haul up country tomorrow out on I-75 towards Unadilla a small town nestled in the heart of Georgia, have booked a pitch there for the old RV then Tuesday on up the 75 into Kentucky staying at a Flyin J’s truckstop just outside Walton, then by Thursday night will hopefully be looking out onto lake Michigan just outside the town of Mears were I intend to stay for a week or so and hopefully will be able to send this first instalment and some pics, before pushing on to Michigans upper peninsular which boasts miles of underdeveloped shoreline. Oh well all for now as its 5.22pm and I need to make sure everything is stowed away before tomorrows off.
Monday 12/9/05-Thursday15/9/05
Set off early Monday morning hoping to get a good days driving behind me as well as the Florida heat, took the I-75 north up into Georgia ,once again had a few early scares but within an hour or so was quite relaxed and enjoying having the confidence to look about at the scenery had a while slipstreaming a fellow RVer he however was driving a 50ft bus with a car on tow, but I did get that sort of “Convoy” feel. After 6 ½ hours & 366miles pulled off to my booked site for the night set up, ate and sat in the early evening sun and played my guitar (badly of course)
Early next morning I was off again once more heading north along the 75 all had gone well until I suddenly realised that the I-75 takes you straight through the middle of Atlanta , so imagine if you will good old PJ Jarvy Jarvo happily going along on the old country motorway, then, suddenly being filtered into a 10 yes folks 10 lane high way, with all lanes moving at different speeds and all manor of junctions and off ramps each with there own set of signs all of wich are different depending on weather the filtering road is an Interstate, a US Highway, Avenue , Boulavard or bloody standard trunk road ! AND all the other drivers on this “Satan’s carridgeway “ were your typical London city driver, rarely out of third gear and oblivious to any other road user especially a poor bloody pom in an oversized camper van ! Well after about 45 seconds I ……….ly said to myself outloud “right come on concentrate !” There was the odd pause in the movement of traffic and I surprisingly had the presence of mind to reach for my camera (which I have taken to having at hand on the dash ) and take a few snaps of the skyline
, well the rest of that days travelling was fairly uneventfull but I did notice that the country side became a lot more rolling the other side of Atlanta, moving on up into Tennessee and just north of Knoxville came to rest at the “Volenteer camp ground”
Now then ,up until this point I had only really encountered Americans who were pretty standard but old Bud and his little enterprise was something completely different,a real “Backwoods America”.
“Due to Buds lack of schooling he wasn’t quite sure when Christmas was , but was determined to always be ready !”
Whilst outside the camp store a woman (mid 50’s) asked me if I was staying and on my reply in the affirmative suggested that I might like to go to the dance that evening at the Old Oprey and pointed to a wooden building some 50metres away, and I thought shit yes lets get into it. Well on the stroke of 7.30 I left the van and walked down to the venue, I entered to be confronted by a group of 8 musicians, all of whom I later discovered were local towns folk, a dance floor about 25ft square and around this square were rows of chairs about 40 of which were inhabited by more local people not one under 50 and most ten years or so older ! Well the music began, what a bloody noise (now look I’m not country music’s greatest fan but I can appreciate anything played well, and this most definitely was not) anyway people began to get up walk over to others ask them to dance and begin the old, one step back two steps forward thing ! after fifteen minutes or so IT happened, despite my best looking down at the ground between dances efforts a small women approached and asked if I would and of course I said yes. It turns out that Ruth (my parteners name) drove 60 miles every Tuesday night to go dancing she was mid 50’s and very nice and polite, talking to her while we danced I discovered the she’d only been out of the state 3 times in her life but didn’t seem to care. I found myself feeling a little sorry for her but later decided that I guess she did have a choice, and, that contentment comes in many different packages, anyway after the initial “breaking in the new bloke dance” I was barley allowed to sit and had a few more encounters with ladies all of whom were delighted to have someone new to dance with, any way after about 2 hours I decided I’d done my duty to dance and the modern man and left. I considered taking some photos but felt doing so would turn these honest and decent people into tourist attractions, but I did do 12 seconds of secrect video which I hope captures the whole small town thing. (Please pay special attention to the multi-coloured gliter ball in the centre)
Click here for the video! [2.5Mb]
Wednesday drove another 350+ miles still on the I-75 up through Cincinnatti and left onto I-70 and pulled in at a site in the small town of Harmoney (PIC took off on my bike for the last few hours of daylight and came across an old abandend drive-in movie theatre it was abit eary but fun to actually see one, sadley had forgotten my constant companion Mr Camera so didn’t get a snap to show you.
Thursday drove a long haul 420 miles to reach Timberlakes on the east banks of Lake Michigan on my arrival met Josh, Rik, Tina and Tabby (blokes nice enough girls deffinatley do’able ! ) I asked about car hire for a couple of days as this area is quite away from anywhere and was told the nearest place was Muskegone (Muss-Key-Gone) a town about 35 miles away Josh was going down that way so he kindly offered me a ride down, got to the hire place and waved Josh off into the distance went through all the usual form stuff then placed deposit on Visa card and… ah slight problem card not authorised , so 5.30 US time 10.30 UK time $60.00 in my pocket SHIT ! well decided that the cab fare(around $60.00) back was a bit pointless so walked around to 5 motels and finally booked the cheapest one for $48.00, got some strange looks as booked in with T-shirt, jeans and little else. Any way got up at 5.30 the following morning and walked to a big 24hour supermarket and purchased a telephone card ($8.75), phoned my bank who confirmed that there were funds in the account but because I hadn’t told card services I was going to US and the card had been used a few times they had put a stop on it and requested that the retailer phone for authorisation, sadly it was , as mentioned 10.30pm UK time so nothing got done anyway enough to say we got sorted in the end. Spent Friday settling in and around 5.00pm decided to take my first walk across to the lakeshore (about 90 metres) and thought it would be cool to sit play my guitar (again badly!) and watch the sun go down, well, walking along for the first time I was struck by the ordinariness of the small wooded pathway it was like any other you’d find in many other parts of this or any other rural area, there was however the faintest sound of gently lapping water, which grew the closer I got , the wooded path dropped down and as I turned the last corner opened up onto the beach and the lake, to call it a lake is a massive understatement ,it’s like an ocean 80 miles wide & 260 miles long with waves and everything. I think the thing that struck me the most was how desolate it felt, how quiet and natural, it made me feel very small and insignificant like a single spec of sand on the beach itself. It’s strange but I think part of the feeling of solitude came from the fact that I have seen big bodies of water before but usually in the setting of a seaside resort ,where the view is always accompanied by the bustle of holiday makers or in winter the site of closed ice cream kiosks etc , but with this there was nothing.
As I watched the sun set over the lake its untouched naturalness was completely beautiful and made me feel totally calm and at home with myself
, if you care to look at the other photos you will see I took lots, I just couldn’t help it , I didn’t want to miss anything… The next couple of days were taken sorting out the last of the bits and pieces, a wireless internet provider (as the internet café is a dieing thing here and for a lot of the time I will be some distance from civilisation) and another “pay as you go” phone as the one they sold me in Florida doesn’t work in northern North America, great! On Saturday went to a SAND DRAG meeting this is basically the same as Drag car racing but along a 300 metre strip of sand cut out of a hill side it was fairly cool for a while and some of the Dragsters where pretty funky
but when you’v seen a few big fast cars going alone on sand very quickly there’s not to much left to hang around for anyway there are more pic’s if you feel the need. Took a trip up to a small coastal town called Pentwater very pretty with quaint main street and stores selling all the usual stuff
then went up to the dunes on Silver lakes these are around 5 miles from from where I stopped and are completely massive, sand dunes up to 70 feet high running half a mile back from the shoreline and about 3 miles along it, and again this was totally unexpected just a left turn of a wooded highway.
Weds 21/9/05
tomorrow I head north again for 1 nights stopover in Mackinaw City then over the 5 mile bridge to the Upper Peninsular where the shoreline becomes properly rouged and wild...
Friday 30/9/05
Well it’s been 7 days since I last wrote the reason for this will unfold as we meander through the last week or so, as mentioned drove up to Mackinaw city to stay 1 night on the shores of lake Huron then headed over the bridge into the upper peninsular, for some reason or other missed my junction to travel west and ended up fast approaching the Canadian border so turning around at the last exit before Canadian soil spotted a hitch hiker on the ramp I was going down so decided to pick him up; Entre Jeff as he climbed aboard we discussed his destination of Detroit and I mentioned that I wasn’t going that way until id been to Marquette further north (I had planned to drop down and cross Canada to reach Niagra Falls) well he said he was in no rush and asked if he could ride until I eventually got to Detroit area, I agreed. Anyway bear in mind if you will that this conversation took place within 3 minutes of meeting, by minute 4/5 he had told me he was a homeless Vietnam vet and an alcoholic “ I’m just an old hippy from the 60’s man” (he was 52 about 6ft 3in had a beard and was never without his bandana and sunglasses) I was about 3 hours from Marquette a university town on the shores of lake Superior and by the time we arrived he had also informed me that he’d been on the road for the last 2yrs as previous to this he had finished an 11yr stretch for bank robbery having previously served a further 8.5 yrs for 2 other bank jobs, and as we travelled I was give a rundown of the states correctional facilities as we passed signs for the towns in which they resided “ but I don’t steel from people” he said reassuringly, hmm...
On our arrival in Marquette we had our first slightly awkward conversation as I approached the subject of personal hygene as frankly he smelt pretty bad, he was surprisingly ok about me telling him that he smelt and was a little embarrassed which was a shame but the words had to be said, so armed with my spare towel and shampoo he marched happily to the bathhouse (most parks have these) on his return we discussed the issue of clean clothes and he admitted that all his clothes were dirty and hadn’t been washed for sometime, so the next point of call was a local laundry, he travelled with two small holdalls and a ground sheet neatly folded on top of one, as I watched him gather his spare dirty clothes from these bags I noticed that the contents, a few cd’s, and personel bits and pieces were very neatly arranged inside, and this site gave me a strange confidence about him. His alcoholism, another point of concern was also quite ordered , he carried a half gallon plastic bottle of cheap vodka and every morning he would rise and decant 75ml into a small empty water bottle, this he sipped throughout the day usually complimenting his intake with bottled beer during the afternoon (provided by yours truly) but by 8 oclock every evening he’d sit back and say “that’s enough booze for today” I asked him about his drinking and he told me that he was trying to cut down. He had lived in Detroit for his formative years, was married with two children Billy & Brandy his wife Sheryle had died in a house fire started by her lit cigarette, he showed me the newspaper clipping reporting the death it was dated 1998. He had not seen or spoken to his children for over 2yrs and was trying to cut back on the drink so as he put it “when I see them I can take care of my business” meaning he didn’t want them to see him drunk and out of control this I found admirable. He was very into sport and music and was knowledgeable on both his cd collection contained all the old 60’s drug sounds, Janice Joplin, Jimmi Hendrix and the like. His favourite expressions were “Hey dawg what y’doin” and “that’s good look’n out my friend” (a sort of thankyou, when I fed him or dropped him a few bucks for beer/fags etc) after our initial conversations I had an almost immediate trust of him, on our second day together I had gone exploring on my bike and returned to find him gone and the vehicle locked ,he returned about half an hour later telling me he gone into the forest to meditate and didn’t want to leave my stuff unlocked, I guess you could call that “good look’n out” in conversation he had proper opinions and could convey them intelligently ,as long as you had them before 12’ish. The day before we parted we were watching the morning news, (this had quickly become part of our daily routine) and I noted to myself how much more whole he looked just for a few days of proper food and regular trips to the bath house. On our final morning I dropped him a few miles outside Detroit and as we parted he showed me a Chippawa (native American Indian) handshake. I hope he finds his children and ultimately himself...
Well then stuff about me… the drive to Marquette was pretty cool starting with the crossing of the 5 mile bridge which joins Mitchigans main body to the Upper Peninsular this was a bit of a scary ride as every other sign leading to the bridge warns of high winds and the caution required, this allied with my previous observations about the van and Jeffs helpful remenicences about vehicles being blown off and their occupants plunging to certain death did make for a slow and apprehensive drive but finaly reaching the otherside without too many problems then up running along the top of the UP through both parts of the Hiawatha national forest and coming to rest at our destination, took my bike out for a spin, this certainly was a student town with lots of them out on the streets and in the numerous fast food joints that accompany such areas with one particular group who had set up a sort of makeshift bar on the garden outside their house, on the edge of the road a sign read “You honk, we drink” and by the look of them quite a lot of honking had taken place ! The town was fairly pretty with a large sports dome
the shoreline was again rouged and unspoilt with bike trail crisscrossing the town, spent two days exploring including a morning at a craft fair held in the big dome, then with rain forcast for the Sunday decided to us the day to drive back to Mackinaw but this time using highway 2 on the southern edge of the UP that tracks the northern edge or lake Michigan this drive again had some beautiful shoreline.
Once back in Mackinaw city planned to take the short boat ride to Mackinaw Island this small body of land is noted for two things , the first that the only vehicles allowed on the island are one ambulance and one fire engine, this is born out by this picture of an articulated lorry wich was driven onto a boat, then when it reaches the island is unloaded by one fork lift without leaving the boat!
everything else ,people goods etc are transported by horse and cart or bicycle and secondly Fudge making. Arriving on the island I decided that the first order of business was to circum navigate the island on my bike as there is a shoreline road that runs the entire 8 mile circumference. The shoreline was dotted with large houses all of which had a colonial feel which was later explained by a visit to Fort Mackinac built in 1780 to guard the straights of Mackinaw and captured by the British in 1812 during the American revolution whilst at the fort saw a riffle shooting demonstration the significance of which was that it was the first to use a breach loading rifle as apposed to a barrel loaded weapon letting a soldier fire 12 times a minute instead of 4 times, ok enough of the history stuff, visited numerous fudge shops where people were making and shaping the rich sweet confectionary, it was quite strange but no one I asked could actually tell me why fudge was the big thing, spent the rest of the day just bumbling around doing the whole tourist thing and had a nice relaxing day.These pictures are of the main street, see no cars!
Weds 28/9
drove down to just outside Detroit where I am spending a few doing nothing days to chill and plan my trip into Niagra and down into Washington.
FOOT NOTE TO THE DAY; Just cycled 10 miles round trip to the local town, firstly confirmed to myself that I am physically incapable of walking , cycling, driving etc passed a big supermarket without going in , I love it ! I can spend ½ hour just wandering around looking at all the stuff and in this one they had an English section so I bought 1 can of Heinze baked beans just as a treat ( $1.59 that’s nearly a quid !) as I’ve promised myself I would not do that whole “a little part of England everywhere I go” thing plus they had no Marmite my only real food miss.
Hope you enjoyed “The adventure begins” will post more end of next month.
Thought I’d add a little feature called “poem of the month” this is aptly named “The Journey” by Mary Oliver
THE JOURNEY
One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice-
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
“Mend my life !”
each voice cried.
But you didn’t stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with it’s stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough , and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do-
determined to save
the only life that you could save.
10/17/2005 2:28:46 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00) 
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