On this particular Workamping gig, we work Thursday through Wednesday .. 7 days on duty and 7 days off duty. At least one of us needs to be here at the park all 7 days, while the other can run into town for grocery shopping, a visit to the barber or other needs as they arise.
But on the 8th day … we’re free to take off and do as we please. And this has been a wonderful benefit of Workamping. We work about 3 hours each of the 7 days we’re on duty in exchange for our RV site, electricity, wifi, cable TV, heated pool and hot tub.
We have 2 weeks every month to come and go as we please and see the sights … and since we grew up here in Michigan and lived in Ohio the last 35 years before we hit the road, we’re fortunate enough to have friends and family visit.
Our first visitors were our daughter Sara and son in law Stu (along with Dulaney and Arlo)
Herb, Kathy, Dulaney, Sara, Stu, and of course .. Arlo
More recently we had a visit from my sister Betsy and brother in law Bob. They live in the Virgin Islands and were up in the Detroit area visiting their sons and were able to take a couple days to come up to Pere Marquette RV Resort to visit us.
Herb, Kathy, Bob and Betsy
My other sister Marilynn lives in Jacksonville and it’s always great to hook up with family and our visits are too far and few between.
Marilynn’s husband Rick was at work
This time we took a rafting trip down the famous Pere Marquette River. The river is 65 miles long and runs from Baldwin to Ludington and on out to Lake Michigan. We traveled only about a half mile as the crow flies, but it took us just about two hours to go from the landing at Green Cottage to Gleason’s Landing.
The Pere Marquette River is know far and wide for it’s excellent Trout and Steelhead fishing and since much of the river is in the Manistee National Forest, there’s a lot of wildlife throughout the area. The video below illustrates our relaxing ride.
So if you ever find an opportunity to visit northern Michigan, make a stop in Baldwin and take a great ride down the Pere Marquette River. Baldwin Canoe Rental is the ONLY canoe rental on the PERMITTED portion of the river and they know what customer service is. They’ll spot your car down the river so it’ll be there ready and waiting for you when you get to your appointed stop.
Tell ’em Herb & Kathy BALDWIN sent you … see if they’ll give you a discount (yea right)
So as our 4 month workamping gig in Baldwin, Michigan wrapped up, our plan was to come back “home” to visit the kids and grand kids for a week or so and then head toward Livingston, Texas where we will start our fall/winter workamping assignment on October 15th.
Ordinarily, we would just make the 6 hour drive direct from Baldwin, MI to Mt. Gilead, OH but … since we had time on our hands and a desire to see more of Michigan, we decided to head north instead.
Our goal was to get back up into the U.P. and this time head further north and further west. We headed out and spent our first night at the casino in Manistique (free camping w/ electric), visited the lighthouse on the jetty at the mouth of the Manistique River, and the next morning headed out US-2 where we had a great breakfast in a wonderful little family diner at Big Bay De Noc. After breakfast we headed on up US-41 through Marquette, Negaunee, and Ishpiming where Chuck said we just had to stop at “Da Yoopers Tourist Trap”.
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
Here’s a short video of our walk out on the Jetty at the mouth of the Manistique River where it meets Lake Michigan.
We continued on US-41 from Ishpiming (and we didn’t buy a thing at “Da Yooper Trap”), on up and THROUGH Alberta where we passed the Ford Forestry Center of Michigan. We didn’t have time to stop and check it out, it was getting late in the day and we had found out at about noon that there were only about 6 spots left at the state park at Copper Harbor, so we had to keep “movin’ on down the road”. Hopefully next year when we are back up at Baldwin, we can take a few days to go up into the U.P. again and check out this historic site.
As we drove through L’Anse and around L’Anse Bay staying on US-41 we were now finally just inside the Keweenaw Peninsula and heading further north to Copper Harbor.
L’Anse, MI and the Keweenaw Bay
Staying on 41, we drove through the college town of Houghton, MI – home to Michigan Technological University. So many “kids” walking the streets to and from class. They all look so young ….
Great museum of firefighting apparatus and memorabilia in Calumet, MI
We finally made it to our destination for the night, Fort Wilkins Historic State Park at Copper Harbor at the tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula.
The State Park was really nice and there was lots to see not only at the park (the historic fort) but also in the Copper Harbor area so we decided that we would stay at least two nights here.
Kathy had heard about “The Jam Pot” so we headed south on M-26 where we bought a muffin and some of their spiced peach jam. Had that for lunch and it was yummy.
We went to the top of Brockway Mountain to the lookout where we could see down to all of Copper Harbor, Fort Wilkins, and Lake Fannie Hooe. We continued on down M-26 through Eagle Harbor and Eagle River where we saw lots of waterfalls.
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
When our stay at Copper Harbor was over, we headed back down US-41 and across MI-28 through Ironwood and on into Wisconsin where we spent a night at a really nice campground-type RV park and we were lucky enough to get a spot looking out onto Indian Lake with full hook-up for only $30/nite!
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
Leaving Woodruff, Wisconsin we continued south and stayed at Hickory Hollow RV Park in Utica, Illinois the next night then down to Blue Lake Campground in Cherubusco, IN the following night before heading out to the RV Hall of Fame in Elkhart, Indiana.
Located just off I-80 at Elkhart, IN
Admission to the RV/MH Hall of Fame is $12 for adults, $10 for those over 60 years of age. It’s a walk-through self guided museum that resembles (somewhat) a campground. Many of the units welcome walk-throughs but some were roped off so you could only look through the doors and windows. If you were to stop and read every placard at every RV, the tour would very likely last nearly all day.
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
Although the drive from west central Michigan (Ludington area) to the Keweenaw Peninsula was a long one, it was worth it. We saw a smattering of what the area has to offer, and hopefully next year when we’re back up at the RV park, we can take a few days to make the trip north again to discover more.
In the meantime, we’re currently back in Ohio for a few days until we head out to our next workamping gig in Livingston, TX. More on that to come later.
