September 4-5, 2012
So excited to be back on the road again! We had a tremendously enjoyable time back at
home, but it’s nice to be back out again.
Over our break, we changed our minds about heading to ID,MT after Labor
Day. Instead, we decided to head for
the North Shore and hope to catch some fall creeking with our friends. After 4-6 weeks, we’ll head back to the twin
cities for some last family time and then head west to California.
We got on the road around 1:30, after picking up our newly
repaired drysuits from Thrifty Outfitters.
Aside from 3 or 4 single lane/flagmen construction sites, it was a
smooth ride. It looked like we might
make it to our destination: Temperance River State Park, on just one tank. But, since we didn’t have a reservation and
might not find a spot, we decided to stop for gas in Silver Bay. I had to wait 7 or 8 minutes for the one bay
I could fit into. When I finally got to carefully
pull around and up to the pumps, it was frickin diesel! Grrr. (The front pumps by the truck were diesel,
the back by the fitty were gas). Due to
the layout of the parking lot, I could not circle around to any other
spots. So we just drove on. About 10 miles from the park, we got the low
gas light. But we made it!
The worker at the state park gave us lots of various options
for what was open. There were some
spots only available for a couple of days.
Some were longer. Some spots had
electricity. She was nice and did some
color coded circles on the campground map so we’d know what days the sites were
open when we drove to look.
Unfortunately, just then a storm moved in. It got pretty dark and was raining. We drove around and were dismayed to see that
all the sites were too short for us.
There were 2 sites we didn’t drive by, so we went back to the office to
just check if they were long enough. One
was, so we took it. Booked 5
nights.
Trying to park the rig in the pouring rain was quite
difficult. The side mirrors were useless
(reminder to self: get some rainx).
And we couldn’t keep the truck windows rolled down to yell instructions
to each other. The camp road looped,
and then the site was at an angle to that curve. Impossible to do without a way to
communicate proximity to trees upon backing up. Sigh.
And to make matters worse, we had an epic fail of our windshield
caulking project. Water was gushing
down inside on the driver’s side. Fricknfrack. I only tried 1 time to get backed up, but I
just don’t have the mind’s eye vision of the layout that you need to get it
parked. So Missy took over. It took longer than usual because of the
rain. I’d have to run up to the driver’s
door and give directions and then run back to the rig. And Missy couldn’t go more than a few feet at
a time because she couldn’t see me to signal if she might hit something. But in the end we finally got it done. Just as we finished the final set-up, the
rain stopped. Nice timing.
The next morning, we walked the dogs around the
campground. We noticed a super nice spot
that was right on Lake Superior with partially obstructed views. It was a non reservable, and whoever had
been in it the night before already vacated it. We didn’t like our previous night's spot very much at all
because it was right by Hwy 61 and the traffic noise was very loud. You can still hear the highway from the new
spot, but you can also hear the waves crashing on shore. So we booked it over to the office (running
to get in before a newly arriving camper), and Missy got us switched over! Yay!
So this new spot was also on a curved road with an angled
parking pad. However, the parking pad
has a jog in it. This spot supremely
tested our parking abilities. We got it
partially where we wanted, but then it was too close to a tree to be able to
use the ramp. We tried various methods
for jockeying, but had little luck. We
were worried about running out of gas, so we stopped and unhitched (for the 2nd
time) and went for gas. Got back and
were able to compromise on a parking spot.
The ramp is still too close to a tree:
Missy had to push branches out of the way while I snaked the ramp
down. We’re going to try to just leave
the ramp down all the time. I’m still
worried about woodland creatures coming to visit in the night, but Missy said
she didn’t care. One chipmunk has
already brazenly come into the garage to look around. Cassie was not amused.
After lunch, we took the extremely long hike (est. 1.5
minutes) down to the lake. It’s really mesmerizing
to watch the crashing waves on Lake Superior.
Sadly, the Budster was having great difficulty with the rocks, so we had
to bring him home. After dinner, Missy
and I rode our bikes on the short 2 mile section of the Gitchi Gammi
(spelling?) trail. I wish it was a
little longer. If we decide to try for
a spot in Tettagouche State Park, I know the paved bike trail goes for many
miles. So perhaps we should move? But for now, we are grateful to have been
lucky enough to get this awesome campsite.
What a fantastic view!
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