Michigan's Upper Peninsula

Slightly disillusioned with the first taste of the East, we were excited to see the worlds biggest lakes!

Heading to Deluth, {a tourist town on the far west side of lake Superior}, we lost count of the abandoned factories and ghostly smoke stacks lining the highway towards the lake.

Deluth was a friendly and welcoming town, although we felt like Evergreen fashion victims, surrounded by the flocks of conservative, polo shirt wearing, preppie college kids and their trailing supportive parents.

Watching the 1000ft grain tankers pass just feet from the boardwalk was impressive, but seeing people fishing next to sewer pipes was new to us.

Billboards advertising the beautiful and idyllic wilderness of the 'Upper Peninsula' of Michigan, led us East along the South shores of Lake Superior.

Driving for hours through towns interspersed with patches of thin woods, we were waiting for the wild to begin; we stopped at a Wall-Mart for ice when suddenly we realized, this was it... the eastern wilderness.

It seemed impossible to escape human development; at the furthest most point there were still visible streetlights and old chimneys peering through the defeated deciduous forest.

Trading the woods for 200yrs of industrialization led us to a copper mine tour; the hills are littered with mine shafts and smelters left from the wealth of abundant copper once beneath them.

The mine was cold, crampt and flooded; everything about mining is hard, heavy, polluting and generally scratchy. Above ground the people are accustomed to harsh, cold winters and seem blind to the surrounding mechanical carnage; the mine owner had found treasure in the form of pet, {sent gland removed} skunks! Fat snugly and completely spoilt!

Lake Superior was impressive but we longed for isolation, and we know where to find that in spades... Canada!

The Badlands of South Dakota

From Wyoming we entered South Dakota, stopping for some much needed supplies; food, water and restoring my vision with a quick repair job to the spectacles. Leaving town we came across some true Americana, a car battery store with a much needed monster truck to deliver all the hefty 20 lb batteries. We then headed to South Dakota's 'major attractions,' Mt. Rushmore and Custer State Park. Winding through the beautiful rocky landscape, the bright red sun rising in front of us, the view was suddenly blocked by a toll both and multi-level parking structure. We decided to see the monument from the luxury of the Camry as we slowly drove past the commercial complex. The 'locals' told us the real attraction was Custer State Park so we headed onwards. The best part of the park were the begging donkeys; they pulled me in with their huge eyes. As they munched away all of our veggies, they moved onto my sweater and I had to make a quick break for the car. At this point Julian and I had decided we had seen enough of South Dakota and made for Minnesota.
On our way we came across the Badlands National Park, and decided we would have a quick look. This turned out to be the real jem of South Dakota. The arid plains had given way to pinnacles of crumbling red, orange and pink clay. Contrasting the extreme terra firma, were the colonies of cute and squeaky prairie dogs. Their towns were littered with small fat babies, and their protective parents chirped of danger at the slightest noise. After watching the sun set over the Martian landscape, we cooked up a stew and slept uncomfortably in hotel Camry.

We entered Minneapolis, MN, looking forward to some urban conveniences, only to find tweakers and drunk hoards in an apocalyptic Mad Max like city. We escaped the following morning and headed to the charming sister city of St. Paul. There we walked for miles in safety through beautiful Victorian houses, including the childhood home F. Scott Fitzgerald. On our way out of town we stopped by the Mall of America in search of a better bed. Adjustments were made and we headed to Michigan's Upper Peninsula looking forward to the country and a good nights sleep on our new Ikea bed.

North Carolinian and southern charm.

After spending a few days in the strip-mall beach towns of North Carolina, the now healthy Julian, and myself were heading into The South. We entered South Carolina with the distant hope of staying at an old plantation, taking in the turbulent history of the south and eating some of their famous BBQ, and gumbo.
What we found far exceeded either of our expectations.





We stayed at Mansfield Plantation Inn, a rice plantation dating back to 1718. Paying $200.00 for our luxurious lodging had given us the keys to this once prosperous plantation, it's thousands of acres were ours to explore for the day. The next morning we had our first 'grits' breakfast (a southern breakfast too heavy for me to eat at dinner) in the formal dining room, once again the hefty price of the room had afforded us access into this elite world. This turned out to be the
plantation where many scenes of 'The Patriot' had been filmed.

We spent the next day visiting Middleton Place, a rice plantation that was for the most part burnt to the ground during the civil war. The grounds here, had been meticulously maintained; they had originally been a 30-year slave labored project of the Plantation's matriarch. We caught our first glimpse of an alligator here, sunning itself on the edge of the perfectly trimmed grass, two worlds somehow managing to coexist.

We spent some time in Charleston and Savannah simply... charmed. We took ourselves on historical walking tours and managed to see an open home, taking in the opulence their histories had afforded them. The streets were full of wealth; breathtaking homes, luxury cars, tea and coffee shops, and boutiques galore. Leaving town, I was surprised to see the the wealth ended abruptly, and The South's history of segregation still existed with clear physical boundaries.

Wyoming

After the tourist filled trip into Yellowstone, we were relived to find the road East empty and scenic.We wound through some really amazing roads, paved like a snake crawling through boulders and canyons. The North Eastern edge of Yellowstone is called the Beartooth Wilderness, and like the name suggests, it's jagged mountain ridges look like the dramatic country from the old wild west.

We slept on a dusty side road which looked to be an old, dried up reservoir, it was windy and flat with only knee high scrubs and cacti dotting the landscape. We cautiously drove the Camry off road into a small, cracked, gusty valley and cooked our humble meal in the shelter of the rear wheel. As it got dark small desert foxes yapped and howled as a massive moon rose over the empty landscape; it was like sleeping on an empty planet.

With no curtains, the moon's powerful rays kept me up all night. I often peered out the window looking for the shadows of the small little yappers and at one point a desert owl made a scratch landing on the car, I could hear its talons screeching as it walked about above our heads.

Sleep deprived we entered Wyoming on the I-90 where we found a tiny town to do laundry and enjoyed the friendly local “corn feed” types. We decided to splurge on a small log cabin, the owner treated us like family and cooked us dinner. I ended up posing in front of her husbands extensive hunting trophies. We drove out of Wyoming the next day, but it was by far the most inviting of the empty farming states we had seen so far.

Like the local boys told us "it's real nice here, but there just isn't anything to do or see; but sometimes one of the hunting dogs needs its guts stitched up, my granny does it on the back porch; that's interesting.”

Large animals in National Parks

We have left the familiar country of the Northwest and driven through fertile farmlands and rolling hills of wheat. We then climbed up into the Rocky Mountains and are now beginning to plow our way East through the Great Plains.
Leaving Washington, our destination was Yellowstone National Park, but in the end it was all the little unplanned side trips that we enjoyed more then Yellowstone itself.
We went to the old Montana State prison in Deer Lodge, which had housed everything from from gold rush bandits to cattle rustlers in the 1800s right up to the 1960s . We were able to walk through the prison cells and look at the contraband the prisoners made, the whole place had a very heavy feeling.
In Butte we happened upon The Copper Mansion which was built by one of the 'mining kings' who's massive wealth of over $17 million a month afforded him and his wife the Great Gatsby type lifestyle. The gaudy mansion was stuffed with Italian marble, diamond dust mirrors and exotic French fashion that only 'new money' could appreciate. We found the local history of the area to be rich like their mines, but as the money left the small town so did the apperiation for its now delapated past; the Copper mansion functions as a B&B, part time while the new owners repair the leaking roof and search for the lost original furniture.
Yellowstone was disappointing for Julian and I, we had thought of it as a wild, natural place where we might be lucky enough to see a herd of buffalo and perhaps a grizzly in their native seettings. Instead we found the park overrun with tourists clogging the roads with their hefty cars and the walkways with their burgeoning waistlines. It was where the unimaginative went to see 'nature' in a park built as a drive through.
Like many popular tourist spots we found the best parts hidden just off the main drag.
At the end of a winding, dusty road, we went for a long walk and were able to escape the madness long enough to find our piece of Yellowstone beauty- a hidden valley complete with four juvenile Buffalo bulls resting near a quite, twisting river.
As the trees shrink, and the hills are weathered away, we leave the green West and enter the flat dry lands of the Midwest.

Some images for viewing... Click to enlarge!

Copper Mansion, Deerlodge Montana. See the damaged walls and amazing clutter!


Yellowstone, Buffalo bothering from the drivers seat.


The beautiful rainbow pool, scratch screen -here- for sulfur smell!
The pool is cleaned of garbage thrown in once a year!


The old Montana State Prison, still scary in its retirement.


Built like a castle, The Shaw Shank Redmption came to mind as we walkd its halls; that is if Shaw Shank had included more violent shower scenes and executions.

The Olympic Peninsula

The Pacific Coast of the Olympic Peninsula was the first leg of the trip and the test phase of living from the car.
This is the most NW point of the US, Cape Flattery








Out for a brisk morning walk along the coast at Rialto Beach.








Making one of our many gourmet meals.









Tumorous trees, on the foggy summer coast.








That's a lot of Oysters shells and one handsome car!

Becoming Hippies

Life on the road is filled with strange rituals and dirty habits.
We have been camping with freinds in state campgrounds on Mt. St. Helens for three days, recovering from the exhausting hike to the top. Then on September 1st we set off alone for some beachfront parking on the Olympic Peninsula.
Things like going to the toilet in the night become little missions into the woods searching for clearings and listening for the packs of gang banging raccoons who's turf your on.
Other daily routines include boiling water for tea, searching for hidden parking spots or repacking the car after sleeping in the back; all things add up to complicating the normal rhythms of life.
After our first week of life in the Camry, we are getting comfortable with life on the ever new and changing road.