After 78 days, 29 states, and 15,168 miles....HOME! Looking forward to being able to do it again!

Ah, mountains again, but only around 3600 feet, and no snow. We ended up traveling on the interstate once we got into West Virginia, enroute to Bob's brother's house in SC. Talk about cultural shock! We happened to find a very nice city park in Bristol, VA, to spend the night.

We camped at Lake Hartley in Townville, just west of Anderson, SC. We had made plans to meet with Bob's brother and sister-in-law who live in Anderson. The campground was very nice and on the lake. We thought we might spend some time there, but I noticed a sign at lakeside that warned that due to high PCB levels, fish should be caught and released, not eaten. Not that we usually catch fish, but we decided if it was that contaminated, we didn't want to chance going in. With that, we decided that after we met up with Leon and Amy, we would start to head home. It was 97 degrees, and even w/his scalped "do", Charlie Dog needed a breather on the dock!

On Thursday, July 15th, we met with Leon and Amy. Amy used to teach at the same school I did in the Keys. I introduced her to Leon back in 1986, and the rest is history.

Photos from our visit with our Michigan family... Jeff and Kate; Joe, Bev, Bob, and me at Joe & Bev's home in Byron Center, and Michelle, Nathan, and Connor at their home in Grand Ledge, MI. Other photos available for blackmail...

We passed through a Mennonite community around Middleburg, IN, where folks shunned modern contrivances and rode in horse drawn carriages. We stopped for the night outside Fletcher, OH, at "The Poor Farmer's" rv park that had corn fields and about 500 campsites on 80 acres. Yeah, "poor farmer".

We traveled from WI into Michigan's Upper Peninsula (UP, or Yooper, as the Yoopers like to call it) across the Mackinac Bridge, where Lake Michigan is on the west side and Lake Huron on the east. It was mid morning, and very foggy most of the way along the waterside. We continued south on SR 131 and stopped to camp for 2 nights in Kalaska. It is about 23 miles east of Traverse City, where the "national cherry festival" was being held. Once again, it rained most of the day and night. Today, we left in the rain, but the skies later cleared. We went up SR 37 to Old Mission to see the lighthouse and land north of us. It was beautiful, with many lakes, cherry orchards, horse farms, corn fields, potatos, wineries, and woods. What beautful country! Tomorrow, Friday, July 9th, we will be in Bryron Center where we will spend the weekend visiting family.

Scenes from a small rv park in Gwinn, MI, in the north western part of the Upper Peninsula, where we stopped for the night. The park was on the Escanada River. Wild blueberries were abundant here. We crossed into the Eastern Standard Time zone, so we "lost" an hour today. Tomorrow, we will take Rte 2 and head into lower Michigan.

Self Portrait of "The Happy Campers" enjoying dockside at Big Stone Lake.

It starting raining about noon on the 4th and continued through the night. Today, it was clear in the morning, and then began raining again before noon, and has not quit. We had a great time, just the same. We'll be packing up camp tomorrow morning and heading to Michigan.

Some family connections...the road next to us is the same name as my great nephew, who we'll see next weekend. The elderly man in the photo is a work camper named Rod, who reminded us so much of my father, with a few exceptions...my dad didn't have a mustache, nor wear suspenders, nor would he ever work the "honey truck"!

Some pictures from Ducky on our last day here, before the storm clouds came in and we headed to safety. No fish, but with this gorgeous scenery, who cares?