Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Tillie Tours loved upper Minnesota, Wisconsin, & Michigan - relatively level, flat, scrub trees growing close to the road to keep John's eyes on the road, temperatures in the low 80's, lots of constructions giving her many chances to stop and cool her tires. John longed for the winds and hills & munched on pretzels to stay awake. Mary & Patty desperately searched for things to stop and see. (Perhaps Lady Bird had not travelled these roads when she promoted eliminating billboards.) When the welcome center host says "there's not a whole lot that direction", it is a challenge!
However, we did see...
- Forest History Museum in Grand Falls, MN (worth a stop)
- the shores of "Gitche Gumee" (Hiawatha wasn't in)
- breezed through Tula, MI with a pop. of 2 (1 house)
- took a 2 mile detour on an old cement highway with grass growing in to see the Toonerville Trolley... it wasn't back from its 6 hour tour (we all wondered what it took 6 hours to see!). However, the post card said it was the longest 2 foot gauge train in the world. The motel nearby advertised direct dial phones (and you've been wondering why it's so hard to find an internet connection!)
- the Soo locks between Lake Superior & Lake Huron.
Today we're in Canada and, thanks to the W. Nipissing tourist office, are able to add this to the blog (no photo upload available). The scenery is a bit more interesting but so far the only thing of note might be Bruce Mines (Canada's first copper mines) & Kaleb (home of a world champion dog sled team).