72 restored chevy pickup for Alan

So we went to a car show and Alan came home with a 1972 Chevy Cheyene pickup (Sport model).

Black with original interior except radio. Now we putt around town like ole farmers.:)

Back home

We left early in the morning from Wingates to beat the bad weather that was headed our way. We dodged the rain several times and even tied up to the wewa dock during one squall. Made it back to the boat ramp and pulled her out and drove home. It was a fun trip and hopefully we will do it again and this time head up the Chattahoochee River to Eufaula, Al.

Bainbridge, Ga

We left Wingates early and headed for Bainbridge. It was a nice trip and we found the town dock to tie up to. We walked along the river and through this beautiful Live Oak park to the small downtown area. Had lunch at a chinese restaurant which was the only sit down place available there that we could see. It was actually very good. Headed back to Lake Seminole and decided to stay at Wingates Lodge again for the night. They were very nice and we liked it there. Pulled in mid afternoon to our same spot as the night before.

Apalachicola River cruise to Bainbridge Ga

We left John's on Sunday morning after a great breakfast from our host. Alan and I wanted to cruise up the river to Chattahoochee and lock through to Lake Seminole to the Flint River. We had a beautiful day for cruising and made good time. Saw many houseboats along the river that people use as weekend or hunting camps. We stayed the night at Wingate lodge and marina for the night. We are going to cruise to Bainbridge, Ga in the morning up the Flint River.

Apalachicola C-Brat gathering at John's place on the River

Put the boat in at Apalachicola ramp and cruised over to Papa Joe's for some lunch. After a great meal we cruised over to John's for the C-Brat weekend of fun.

BACK HOME

We arrived safely and had a really great time on this trip to Wisconsin, and Lake Superior. We dropped off the car to Wayne and had the brakes fixed and was ready to go again. Scallop season is still opened so we took Zack and his friend Michael scalloping at St. Joe and had a fun time. We didn't do too bad considering this was our first time. We were planning to scallop the next morning, but TS Claudette popped up. We pulled the boat out of the water and headed home.

Birmingham-Oak Mountain

Oak Mountain state park in Birminham, AL is where we spent our last night on the road. It was a nice campground and you wouldn't know you were in a city. We left out early in the morning headed for Chipley.

Tupelo, Mississippi

We pulled into state park at Tupelo Mississippi and the place was empty except for one camper. It was a great place to do some hiking and chill out. We stayed 2 nights and cleaned out the car and organized our stuff again. We did not see Elvis or visit his home place so I hope he forgives us. This will have to be another day and trip.

Sandy Beach Campground Iowa 8-02 thru 8-7

After driving over 300 miles which we broke our rule we made it to Sandy Beach Campground. This was a really nice Corp campground between Cedar Rapids Iowa and Iowa City. We had a mishap about a mile from the campground. When we made the turn we blew our tire on the right side of trailer and hit the curve pretty hard. We limped in, got our campsite and set up camp. Alan changed out the tire with the spare and then we went the next day looking for another spare to have with us. When Alan was putting the spare back on the rig he notice that part of the trailer was broken. This was an important part because if we had to slam on brakes then the boat would have either landed in the back of us or come off the trailer and hurt someone else on the road behind us. We were also trying to take it easy on the brakes on the Tahoe because they were giving us a problem. At this point I just want to limp home to Wayne's Auto our trusted mechanic.

We called the manufacture of boat trailer and the part was being shipped to us, but it would be 2 days. We decided to rent an economy car to tour Iowa since we would be there for a week and to save the brakes on the Tahoe.

We rented the car and set out for Kalona(the amish country of Iowa) and Swedesburg( home of the swedish museum). We covered quite a few miles and saw a lot of farmland. There was miles and miles of corn and soybeans as far as the eye could see.

The next day we decided on visiting northwest Iowa and Wisconsin.

The third day we drove to Ames Iowa and saw the university, then to Winterset which is home to the many covered bridges in Iowa. This is also the area where the movie "Bridges over Madison County" was filmed. We had lunch at a cute little coffee shop that had wi-fi. The town had a great little downtown area and no WALMART. It seemed like you were going back in time with small business and drug stores with soda fountains. They had a Rexall drugs that had the soda fountain and grill just like the one I used to go into at Clewiston as a kid. It is a shame we don't see more of that in this country instead of the BIG corporate stores that come in and put these little guys out of business.

After Winterset we drove back to campsite exploring along the way.

We missed the UPS delivery of the part so we had to drive into Cedar Rapids and pick it up at the UPS center. Mission accomplished and Alan put the part back home and we were ready to roll again. We really enjoyed the week in Iowa exploring and it is really a nice place to visit. We had been through there traveling a few times, but having to wait on part gave us an opportunity to really see it.

Hinkley, Mn

We stayed at St. Crois state park for two nights. Alan did some hiking and of course we had to go see what the casino was like in Hinkley. Of course, they took my money. The campground was full for the weekend and kids everywhere. It was nice to see families spending time together in the outdoors and most of them in tents or more modest campers like popups. Very few big rigs. We will leave in the morning for Iowa which is about 200 miles.

Cruised for bread

We had stopped in Washburn on Monday at Coco's a new bakery that had opened and they have daily breads that they cook. We found out that on Wednesday was the roasted garlic bread. Well, I LOVE garlic so we decided to take the boat for one last cruise to Washburn. We docked at the municipal dock and walked up to the bakery, purchased my bread and had a nice walk back. We were going to go back to Madeline Island, but it was too early for lunch and the wind was picking up. We went back to Red Cliff , prepared the boat for a road trip back home. I had made plans with the office at REd Cliff to pull the boat out and back her into camping spot for the night. Of course , the spot was right next to the office and showers so we had many gawkers. One lady asked me how it was sleeping on the boat out of the water. I kinda looked at her(not to be rude) and said it is just like a camper inside except the only difference is that it will float. Maybe with this economy the way it is the boat dealers should market them as amphibious campers. Just a thought.....

Tomorrow the road trip home begins.

Festivals and concert

We attended the festivals in Bayfield and Iron River. We made a circle trip around from Iron River through Hayward then back to Bayfield. Later on we drove up to the concert and heard Marshal Tucker Band. It was a lot of fun, but we are tired. Not used to these late nights!

Sand Island fogged in

We woke up to the worst fog we have seen on the lake since we have been here. They were calling for fog until 1am Friday morning. We decided to make the best of it and cleaned the boat up and wait it out. Finally it did not life, but we could see enough to cruise over very slowly to Sand Island which was only about two miles from us. We made it over there, docked at the public dock and hiked to the lighthouse which was 2 miles from boat. When we got there, they were giving tours which was really eat. We then hiked back(another 2 miles) and started back to Red Cliff. The fog was lifting in some spots so Alan hugged the shoreline and cruised back slowly to our marina. We had a great time and we might do some cruising tomorrow if the weather is good. Saturday we have festivals to attend in the area and the Marshal Tucker Band show is Saturday night.

Sand Island, Corucopia and Little Sand Bay

Today we left Red Cliff after a leisurely breakfast which consisted of Coffee and Blueberry pancakes with maple syrup. Hum HUM Are you hungry yet?

We cruised to Little Sand Bay first to check out the dock there. We planned to stay overnight here and just wanted to make sure how many docks and the conditions of them. Afterwards we set out for Cornucopia (about 12nuatical miles) for lunch and to top off our fuel tanks. We pulled up to the marina, which is the same one Alan took a picture of last week when we came here by car. Nice young man greeted us at the fuel dock and we took on water and gas. He let us tie up to walk over and have lunch at Fishy Lips lounge and restaurant. Alan had a pan grilled fish (Trout) sandwich and I had chicken. We went into Ehlers general store and picked up a few things then stopped by the coffee café, grabbed a cup of coffee for me and of course, we had to try the fresh scone and muffin. A storm was brewing just southwest of us so we need to head back to Little Sand Bay. In just the hour we took to eat In Cornucopia the wind had shifted and picked up alittle. That is why this lake can be intimidating. We cruised by the sea caves and kayakers paddling hard to beat the weather. We made it back to Little Sand Bay and tied up for the night, ate supper onboard and watched a movie I downloaded on the laptop. Boy, it doesn’t get any better than this. Tomorrow morning we will cruise over to Sand Island and check it out before cruising back to Red Cliff.

Around the area waiting for weather to clear

Today we drove over to Duluth to pick up Alan's phone. Went to Sam's and Barnes and Nobles bookstore. We are back at boat getting ready for cruising tomorrow. It is suppose to be clear and beautiful so off we go island hopping and will stay overnight on one of them. Maybe catch some fish and fry them up.

Duluth.Minn 7/14-16 Tuesday and Wednesday

Since the weather was going to be very windy and possible showers we decided to take a road trip to Duluth for a couple of days. We drove into downtown Duluth, decided on a strategy then drove to CArlton to Black Bear casino and hotel resort to stay the night. Our first intentions were to take there shuttle into downtown Duluth to spend the day, but we decided to check out and drive in ourselves. We walked around Bay Harbor, went to the maritime museum and had some lunch. We then drove to Two Harbors, Gooseberry State Park and got a room at a B&B for the night. It was a great two day trip and we are now back at the boat and it is 54 degrees and dropping. They are expecting it to be 47 in the morning. To top it off it is raining. Well , we wanted some cooler weather!

Island hopping today

Today the lake was perfect. It started out this morning around 49 degrees and warmed up to 76 by the end of the day.We left the dock and cruised to Oak Island first and went on a 4 mile hike. The view was breathtaking and the workout was good for both of us. Alan caught a fish of the back of the boat, but no keeper. They are small mouth bass, but it has to be 22 inches or more to keep. It was fun though just to catch them. After Oak we went to Rocky Island and docked for a bit to check it out. We then cruised by Twin Island, Otter Island on to Stockton Island to check out the docking facilities there for a future overnight stay. They are docks that are managed by the National Park service. Hiking trails and picnic areas. It was the perfect day so far for cruising around the Apostle Islands and to top the day we went to Bayfield to fuel up , top off the water tank and ate dinner at Maggies in Bayfield. ow we are suppose to have windy weather for the next two days so we will stick to the land and explore the area in the next two days.

Cornucopia, Wisconsin

The water was too rough so we decided to take a ride and see the area some. We drove over to Cornucopia to see the Ehler's General store that is still like an authentic general store. It was a cute little town that consist of the post office(really tiny) , marina, coffee shop, and 2 restaurants. Even the has station was closed up and for sale.

Red Cliff, Wisconsin (Apostle Islands)

We departed from Winneconne around 12:30pm after waiting for garmin chip to arrive we had ordered for Lake Superior. We pulled the boat out of the water, loaded and unloaded stuff for the road trip. We took the scenic route, so therefore it took us longer to arrive in the bayfield area. We stopped at the visitors center and got some good inside scoop n launch ramp and marina 3 miles north of Bayfield. We pulled into Buffalo Bay campground and marina at Red Cliff and launched the boat and got a slip with electricity. We decided to stay for the month here(@ $8.34 a day with electricity and wi-fi, you can't beat that) and explore the area by boat and car.

It is on the indian reservation and very laid back.

Lake Winnebago, Wisconsi

Left Debbie and Phil's dock around 7am and headed towards Oshkosh. We took our time enjoying the view and taking pictures. After cruising through Oshkosh we were in Lake Winnebago and headed to Manasha for a lunch stop. Walked around a bit, ate at Naut's Landing(the only one open on a Monday) and then headed to High Cliff State Park marina. Docked at the marina and Alan went for a long hike on the hiking trails and I chilled out. They actually have Wi-Fi at this state park. Will leave in the morning for Fond du Lac.

Winneconne, Wisconsin

Arrived at Debbie and Phil's around 10:30am. It was a beautiful ride, since we took the back roads and avoided the interstate view. Will be here until Monday and celebrate the 4th here at their house. They have an annual party here on the 4th. Debbie has worked really hard in the yard and it shows. It was real relaxing to sit on the porch and watch the boats go by on the river. You never know what you will see. We always enjoy visiting them and they are great host.

Starved Rock State Park Utica Illois

Left early from Benton and drove to Utica Illinois. Camped at the campground Starved Rock state park for the night. Alan went on a 2 and half mile hike and I picked him up at the parking area. This is the same area that we stayed last year on the Illinois river in the Starved Rock marina. We were seeing the area from a different view this year. Pulled out at 4:30am headed to Debbie's in Wisconsin Wednesday am.

Rend Lake Benton Illnois

Pulled into campground at Rend Lake South Marcum campground that is managed by the Corp of Engineers. We decided to stay 2 nights there and the campsite was right on the lake.

Lake Superior Trip July 2009

Well, it has been over six months and we are back on the water again. Tending to the farm, chickens ad garden is nice, but we were ready for cooler weather.

Leaving mom and sons Adam and Zack behind :( to tend to the place, off we go.

We left Chipley around 6:15am Sunday . We drove to Rogersville Alabama the first day and camped in our boat at the Wheeler state park. It was a beautiful place and we caught up on much needed sleep.