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| "officially, official. we are back on the road!" |
07.30.2016
We said our goodbyes, we gave our hugs, after months of speculation, we finally pulled out of the driveway and were on our way to Northern Michigan. Some of us were ready to go and some of us were a little drunk. I will leave it to you to determine who was who. Although, it should be noted that I don't really know how to tow the trailer and Aaron usually drives.
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| "it's moving day!" |
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| "Kalie is hiding and Aaron looks pumped as usual..." |
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| "forcing Brother to smile when he clearly feels like crying over us leaving." |
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| "adios Lower Peninsula & decent Verizon coverage!" |
08.05.2016
After a 5 day transition period from full hook-ups (driveway life) to boondocking with our new solar, we decided we were ready. Ready to actually, 100%, really, for real, leave on the second leg of this... I still don't know what to call it. Trip? Life? I have no idea...we left our moms.
We crossed over the Mackinac Bridge and called it good for the night. I appreciated having another night of free camping at the St. Ignace Welcome Center, and it was also nice that we didn't spend too much time in the car. Some of us had a relatively stressful day saying goodbye to their favorite sibling.
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| "doesn't she look artsy for a tin can?" |
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| "most comfortable seat in the place." |
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| "mom asked, "have you been to the beach yet?" sure have mother." |
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| "Woodland Park Campground - Day One" |
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| "Leigh doesn't do anything half way. rye flight, because why not?" |
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| "no, mother. I haven't seen a bear, but I went to another beach." |
08.06 - 08.09.2016
Woodland Park Campground - Grand Marais, Michigan
Leaving home this time was a lot different from the first time around. I'm not sure if it was because we are "experienced" at leaving and coming back now, or if it's because we were headed directly to meet up with road friends we had met the first time out. Either way, we were both glad that I was crying a lot less.
Camping in Michigan is something that neither of us had ever really done before, and it is nothing like in The West. We had a pretty difficult time finding anywhere we actually wanted to pay to stay and an even harder time finding somewhere free.
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| "vegan lo mein, because Leigh is my hero." |
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| "sometimes Kalie likes YouTube even more than I do." |
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| "Brian & Aaron - the happiest campers in Northern Michigan" |
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| "I was wrong about not liking quinoa..." |
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| "sometimes Kalie models." |
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| "Leigh wrote a blog post about us. click the photo to read it!" |
08.10 - 08.11.2016
Fox River Campground - Seney, Michigan
08.12.2016
Seney Township Campground - Seney, Michigan
Aaron's birthday was on the 13th which was mostly a driving day from Seney to Marquette. Poor guy... Nothing at all exciting happened until he almost had to fight an old man at the gas station. Many inappropriate words were exchanged, the mans wife seemed to want to see her husband die. I was highly entertained. To be fair, he wasn't even that old, and it probably would have been a fair fight considering Aaron's back.
Marquette wasn't the worst time ever. We got to camp for free in the casino parking lot and I won $26 playing my favorite slot machine (Howling Wolf) with money that they also gave us for free. We went out to dinner a couple of times but I wasn't really impressed with anything that I had. Could have been better, could have been worse.
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| "nicest looking Walmart that I think we've ever been to." |
08.16.2016
Walmart - Houghton, Michigan
We ended up in Houghton without a clue where we were going and it was pretty late in the evening on Tuesday night. Typical Earles family planning. So, we figured we would sleep at Walmart and then find an open campground on Wednesday morning. Seemed like a decent parking lot with lots of space so we weren't too worried about staying... but it actually wasn't all that quiet and we were excited to leave by the time morning came.
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| "Houghton Hancock Lift Bridge" |
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| "casual Kalie, being casually annoyed." |
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| "trees on trees on trees" |
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| "love." |
08.17 - 08.18.2016
Hancock Recreation Area Campground - Hancock, Michigan
What a rare treat staying at this campground was! We managed to find two open nights with full hook-ups. We ran the air conditioning, we watched Netflix, we used the microwave. It was a whole thing. Then our good luck ran out, obviously, because that's just the kind of people we are.
The night before we were supposed to hitch up and head west Aaron decided that since we had air conditioning, he was feeling fancy and that he should take me out for a night on the (small) town. We both wore pants and actual nice shirts without holes. We parked quickly and the night was really looking promising.
Then my lovely husband sprained his ankle and rolled down the parking deck ramp. He was bleeding on my clean jeans and his freshly showered body was tainted. He pressed on, hobbling his way to our dinner location. Aaron was determined not to let this day be ruined. However, the restaurant nor the food got the memo. It was dreadful. Again, the poor guy, he tried so hard.
At least we knew, we were finished with Michigan. It was definitely time to go!!
Michigan Travel Overview:
August 5th - August 18th
9 nights paid camping totaling $182
5 nights free camping
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