On the road again

We saw so much and were so close to so many animals from land or sea, that I have decided not to talk here, but instead, to show and hopefully make you feel what it is to be so close. We left our ship at least twice a day and this is what we experienced:  

  look: 42 miles of steel wire our boat to Mackinaw went twice under it There she was, the mighty Mackinac Bridge, touted as the longest (5 miles) suspension bridge when built. She lost that title years ago under the simplest of definitions: who is the longest?. The little write up in local publications reveals all kind of statistics, but driving over it and for that matter boating under it as we did 2 days ago, shows its mighty best. She may never beat San Francisco's Golden Gate, but crossing it was an experience nevertheless. the wonders of the road less travelled UP where you can drive 45 minutes and see no one And thus we entered the UP (Upper Peninsula of Michigan) country, wild and almost devoid of people and cars. Leaving one morning on our way to the next location we traveled 45 minutes without meeting a car or seeing a person, chipmunks and deer yes, but no signs of civilization.   As you the reader by now must ...

Part 1 June 8, 2013 Here are our rules of the road: 1. We travel to enjoy the road and thus no interstates, no chain hotels and no chain restaurants (with exception of occasionally Marriott because we need the points). 2. We do not drive more than 4-5 hours a day. 3. We look for "Americana" and have jotted the location of all National Parks on our map. We carry every state map and every AAA lodging directory and various reference books, as well as computer power. One of us drives, the other is the navigator and record keeper. We have till this moment, driven over 1500 miles and are today having a rest day in Mackinaw City, MI.   Have we already seen a National Park? No, correction actually yes, because, while with our friends Ron and Janet, who chauffeured us around in Northern Ohio, Ron pointed out a trail he likes to bicycle on in the Cuyahoga National Park. We were on our way to a cemetery, where we visited President Garfield's Mausoleum, after seeing the one r...