8 September 2023 Archbold to East Sparta OH

 We decided to take the route less traveled and took state highways down through Defiance, Ottawa and Cairo to US30. We have traveled US30 in so many states and have visited the easter and western most ends of the Lincoln Highway and much of the parts in between. We picked up US30 at Cairo and took it east to Canton. We are staying at our favorite RV park in this area, the East Sparta Beer Creek KOA ($98 per night with KOA discount). This time we got one of the pull through deluxe sites with a nice patio. But more importantly, it’s not on the side of the hill that has given us so many problems before. We're here to visit with family as much as possible. 

East Sparta KOA Site

5 September 2023 Mackinaw City MI to Archbold OH

 We followed the same route we took in 2018 but did not see the low bridge that gave us such a scare that time. We are staying at the Sauder Village RV Park ($40 per night) where we have stayed several times before. There only FHU sites are back ins which are a bit narrow. It would be nice if they would upgrade their pull throughs to FHUs. The campground is mostly open since the Village is closed for the season. 

Sauder Village Site

4 September 2023 World Famous Mighty Mack Walk

 When we checked in to the RV Park, they asked if we were here for the bridge walk. We had heard of the Mackinac Bridge Walk from our previous visit to the area in 2018 but had not thought about it when arranging our itinerary for this year. By pure chance, we are here for the walk. They started the bridge walk in 1959. In 2018 they changed the format and no longer offered transportation back from the other end of the bridge for free. We checked into options for walking the entire bridge then getting a ferry back, but it was an expensive option. We got up early and took a shuttle ($5 per person each way) from the RV Park to downtown Mackinaw City. The shuttle dropped us off a half mile from the start of the bridge walk. It is a beautiful morning, cool and sunny with just a light breeze. We arrived just before 8am. They were just starting to allow walkers on to the bridge (after the runners had cleared the west side of the bridge) when we arrived at the starting area. There were a lot of folks doing this walk. There were generational families that had done the walk for decades as a family, babies in strollers, elderly folks with walkers or wheel chairs, kids in wagons, dogs, etc.  It was an interesting mix. They kept trying to keep the crowd in one lane, but it kept pushing into the second lane. As we got onto the section of the bridge that was suspended, we could feel the bridge swaying under our feet from the thousands of people walking in sync. By the time we got toward the center of the suspension bridge, the swaying was much more pronounced. Our walking became almost a staggering from the swaying. Folks were stumbling and falling. The engineer in David was getting a bit worried by the amount of sway. We definitely did not feel any swaying when driving across it. We turned around at the halfway point and staggered back toward land. We decided this was good practice for the cruise next year! We finished up about 10am, crossing the finish line and collecting our certificates. We really started to feel it as we walked the half mile back to the shuttle. We walked almost 6 miles in two hours and 15 minutes and burned 1186 calories. We can now say we have walked the Mighty Mack!

Heading out

Getting on the bridge

Approaching the first pillar

Approaching the halfway point

Looking through the grates to Lake Superior

Heading Back to the first pillar

heading down hill!

The finish line!

1 September 2023 Michigan Wine Tasting

 We made the last of the RV Park Reservations for New Zealand next year and firmed up our plans for the fall of this year. We then found a winery in downtown Mackinaw City that featured wines from Mackinac Island Winery. Michigan is the 23rd state we have tasted local wines in. After sampling the few dry wines that they featured, we ended up getting glasses of beer to follow up. The beers were better than the wines.

29 August 2023 Ontonagon to Mackinaw City

 The drive across the Upper Peninsula (284 miles) put us on two lane roads the majority of the time. We drove across the Mackinaw Bridge for the second time. The first time back in 2018, we had to stay on the inside lane where the metal grid road surface kept grabbing and the Wanderer’s tires and shifting it around making for a scary drive. This time, we were able to stay in the outside paved lane, but the winds were high, so we had to keep our speed at 25mph. But it was a lot less scary this time. We are staying at the Mackinaw Mill Creek Campground ($94.16 per night). While checking in, they asked if we were there for the Mackinaw Bridge Walk. We had heard of the bridge walk before, but had not associated it with the Labor Day weekend. So, we may do the walk just for the experience. Our site is a large back in site that we had no trouble backing into (it wasn’t until the next day that we noticed we had backed into the wrong site, but they moved things around so we could stay in the site we backed into). This is a huge RV park on the Lake Huron Shoreline. Our primary reason to stay here is to get through the holiday weekend.