Journal entries are just that – the digital copy of my hand-written entries in my journal. If you aren’t interested in the daily details of our adventure, feel free to skip on to the next “regular” post.

Today’s our anniversary! We have coffee and tea while we finish loading. Top off the water, load the motorcycle and we’re ready. I wasn’t thrilled about having to manually load water into our fresh water tank, but the campground was delightful – pretty, quiet, and conveniently located. We pull out, empty the tanks and it’s only a few miles to Coco’s.

  
It seems that everything is home-made and most of it is local. It all looks and sounds delicious! Ashley gets eggs-in-a-basket and I get a sandwich. Ham, Wisconsin cheddar, seasoned cream cheese, 2 eggs on focaccia with red pepper, portabella, and onions. Plus a side of roasted rosemary taters. Wowzers! Delicious!

   
   We get a slice of peanut butter pie and local strawberry cupcake to go.

  
On down the road Ashley spots a laundry mat and we swing on in. First laundry in about 3 weeks. Were getting low on fresh options. 3 loads covered it, and the commercial driers were much faster than either of us anticipated.

  
Before leaving we have our desserts. Oh so delicious! The PB Pie was super rich, and the cupcake was very strawberry-ey.

Going through Minocqua caught our eye so we stopped for a quick detour on foot. Very touristy, but a cute town.

  
We head on to a Walmart in Merrill for the night. Head in and grab some spaghetti for a last anniversary treat – garlic pasta for supper! 

We cook and eat supper with the best view from a Walmart parking lot yet! Beautiful sunset. Only us and a semi overnighting. And the highway is just far enough away to not require earplugs.

  
I finally catch up on journaling about the last few days while Ashley reads. Even manage to get most of them posted on the website.

Journal entries are just that – the digital copy of my hand-written entries in my journal. If you aren’t interested in the daily details of our adventure, feel free to skip on to the next “regular” post.

Today’s the day we’re celebrating our 7th anniversary! It’s officially tomorrow, but we’re going to explore the sea caves by kayak to celebrate and it’s an 80% chance of thunderstorms tomorrow.

Ashley fixes breakfast while I prepare to unload the motorcycle and gather some snacks for the trip. We load up, check our directions one last time and head over to Cornucopia, WI.

It’s a bit chilly riding in hiking pants, and they’re too loose legged and thin of a material so they really flap in the wind and ride up my legs. Jeans are better, for sure!

We arrive about 45 minutes early, so after we sign away our lives in the waivers and get wetsuits on we head next door to a local everything store (hardware, groceries, bakery, decorations) and get a rhubarb muffin as a snack.

  
Walk back over to the outfitter, eat our muffin, and the rest of our party has arrived and is wet-suiting up. All of us gather, along with Tessa, our guide, and introduce ourselves. Then it’s time to load into the van.

 
The put-in is a couple miles down the road, where we unload everything and receive intructions on how to safely operate our tandem kayaks. The water is super smooth – the only disturbances being wakes from far-off boats. We can see all the way across the lake, over to Minnesota.

  
We strike out, aiming for the cliffs that start at the point. I’m sure we only scratched the surface during our half-day visit. We paddled into “the Crack”,  

 
the “Garage”  

 and through a very low “Washing Machine” a cave that opens to the lake from the “Garage”, but is so low that you lie down and propel yourself by pushing off the ceiling with your hands!  

  

 

 There was the “Keyhole” and more. 

       
All too soon we have to head back. Going back is straight across open water and in the sun the whole way. The sun wears us out more than the paddling!

We return and load everything back on the trailer. So glad I brought snacks and water – ate all my snacks during the trip (it was lunch time) and almost all of the water in my camelbak.

  
When we go back to the Bayfield, WI area, definitely go back to Lost Creek Outfitters and see if Tessa has any excursions open. They also teach wilderness/survival skills – how awesome would that be?

  
Back on the motorcycle, we head to Bayfield and park so we can explore this quaint town on foot. It’s a beautiful little downtown area and we thoroughly enjoy ourselves. We enjoy finding Fazer Chocolate, salted licorice, and Moomin books in the Scandinavian Design store – good memories from Finland for both of us! We stop at the coffee roasters/shop for a shared latte. Delicious!

Everyone seems to have ice cream in their hands (what is it with these northerners and ice cream on every block?) so we search for the shop – but don’t find it until leaving on the motorbike. A wedding seems to have just wrapped up on the pier.

On the way back to Washburn and our RV we detour down a side road in search of falls and cliffs that Tessa told us about. It’s a short hike to reach them. There would be some very pretty falls if it rained.

  
Back at the RV I prep for tomorrow’s departure while Ashley puts together stuffed peppers and corn on the cob.

Without a water hookup it’s annoying to have to lug over 7 gallons at a time from the spigot and pour it into our fresh water tanks. It is nice to know there’s plenty more water available and that we can empty our tank as we head out, though.

I hang the hammock for a moment of leisure and try to pick up someone on the nearest radio repeater. No luck. I can never seem to catch anyone, but that may be due to only trying intermittently.

After supper Ashley hammocks while I do dishes. We pour in 2 more jugs of water to the tank then it’s shower time before bed.

Journal entries are just that – the digital copy of my hand-written entries in my journal. If you aren’t interested in the daily details of our adventure, feel free to skip on to the next “regular” post.

Lazy morning in the RV. Taking care of house-keeping. Ashley reorganized some cabinets, now that we’ve been living in here full time. I entered all of our receipts to see how our expenses are running.

Calling for rain on Sunday, so tomorrow’s “kayak the sea caves” day. Looked at options and made a reservation. Booked our spot for 2 more nights. We’ll celebrate tomorrow and travel during Sunday’s rain.

Head out for a 55 mile bike ride. Route we found from map of local bike rides is a 52 mile loop, through the forest with good roads. It doesn’t take long for our first disappointment along the ride. Just on the other side of town we run into construction: “grooved pavement”. That will put your hands to sleep quickly on road bikes! This lasted for a few miles until we turned off the main road.

  
Followed street signs until realizing we were on the wrong road. Glance at the map and take a turn at the next intersection – gravel road! So we go back to the last intersection that we know is correct, 5 miles back. Fortuntely it’s either flat or downhill! Take the third and final option at the intersection – still the wrong road name but gets us out where we expected to be.

We ride on to the Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center to top off water and hit the head. A woman was giving out samples of locally made cheese. It was delicious! I had to go back for some seconds.

She also dispensed some knowledge about our route – road construction ahead. Which apparently means they cover the road in gravel. Unfortunately, our road bikes are horrible in gravel. Just at the beginning of the gravel, though, is a trails-from-rails path. Still sand and gravel and mostly used by ATV and snowmobiles, but at least we would bypass a hill and there wouldn’t be any cars.

We head on and follow her directions. We are paused on the road, debating if we remember them correctly when she catches up with us. We’re at the right place. She turns left toward home and we head right.

This trail is much better than the road, but it’s still horrible. Too sandy to ride on. Takes a lot of energy too move forward. We end up walking for most of it. Finally we come to a paved road, only for it to have a name, while our map has road numbers. We continue on a few more miles (at least 5 miles we walked on this trail).

The next intersection is also blacktop and has a number, but it’s the wrong one. We should have turned at the last one! The map shows that they intersect and we don’t want to walk back down the gravel sand trail again so we head on.

  

The trail turns to packed sand/gravel. We press on. It turns to loose sand – unbikeable. we hike on. I can see that look in Ashley’s eyes as we head further into wilderness. The contemplation of which branch will make the best spear, either to kill me for bringing her out here or for protection against bears.

After an eternity we come to a blacktop road. Checking the phone’s GPS confirms that we’ve finally reached the proper route. 42 miles down, only half of the original 52 remain! The blacktop makes a huge difference, we feel like we’re flying after a few hours of walking through the sand.

   
Unfortunately, we’re low on water. I’ve got a few drinks left and Ashley’s out. We know we can ride the remaining 12ish miles after we finish mine.

It’s past supper time and past time left to make something. We agree to stop at Sauce, a burger and shake joint for a meal on the way home. This thought keeps us moving and we were going to eat out supper tomorrow anyway so we just moved it up a day.

 
We pull back into town, only a couple of blocks from Sauce. Are they still open? Whew! 45 more minutes! Everything looks so delicious! What shall we choose?

I settle on 1/2 lb Portabella Swiss burger. Oh so delicious! Homemade buns and we split the house chips. Ashley gets a 1/3 lb with guacamole and pico de gallo. We top it off with a shared cookies-n-cream shake.

  
We enjoyed a delightful chat with Harry, who we assume owns Sauce. His son was running the kitchen. He loved the idea of our trip and we discussed traveling and different places to visit.

Energized and refuelled we hop back on our bikes and pedal the last couple of miles back to our RV for showers and some tea before bed. 69.14 miles complete for the day!

  
The day started off so well and then seemed to get worse as it went on. We made it without getting mad at each other, hit personal records for mileage, and it all ended on a good note with a delicious meal. Over all, it ended up being a good day!

Journal entries are just that – the digital copy of my hand-written entries in my journal. If you aren’t interested in the daily details of our adventure, feel free to skip on to the next “regular” post.

After breakfast we hit the road once more, heading back to the Ashland Peninsula in Wisconsin for our anniversary weekend – going to check out the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore.

Following the guidebook’s advice we aim the GPS toward Bayfield. Apparently there was only a single campground and we didn’t feel hugely excited about it. There were more options about 12 miles down the road so we moseyed along to Washburn.

The campground is well-kept and has electric hook-ups but only community water. Pay showers, so that’s disappointing. Right on the water so we’re only 100′ from Lake Superior. Very pretty view out the window, and plenty of scattered pine trees throughout the sites.

Settled in to camp for the day and headed out to explore Washburn on our bicycles. Gotta get those miles in! Didn’t take long and we’d covered the town. Spotted a few eateries that looked good for anniversary celebrations. We are debating if it’s worth going out for a nice restaurant – it’s been a few months since we’ve dressed up for a date. But there’s also the quantity argument. For the same or less money we can go to 2 or 3 cheaper places.

  
To get more miles we head back down the road to Bayfield. Stop for a break – snacking on home-made granola and water. I feel much better on the way back.

Stop for pictures in a field of flowers. I’ve been trying to get a picture of these for days while going down the road. They smell good and are very pretty! We weren’t the only ones stopping – at least 2 other groups had the same idea.

   
 Back in the RV we looked up activities and other campgrounds for the weekend. Supposed to rain Sunday, and we have to get in a long bike ride on Saturday. Without a water hook-up and our fresh-water tank empty, our new 7 gallon jug is handy – pouring it into the tank is a bit annoying. Maybe another campground will work better – we will look tomorrow.

  
Hard to believe, 7 years on Sunday! Ashley asked what I imagine 10 years will bring. Absolutely no idea. A year ago we were in the Bahamas. Now we live in an RV and are traveling the country. Neither of use thought we’d be where we are now. Maybe still on the road. Or settled and have a home/farm/business of some sort. I can only imagine, but I know that as long as we’re together it’ll be good!

Journal entries are just that – the digital copy of my hand-written entries in my journal. If you aren’t interested in the daily details of our adventure, feel free to skip on to the next “regular” post.

Well, that “relaxing rainy day” was exhausting. Forecast called for rain so we planned on staying home, reading and writing. And it did rain – woke us up during the night with drops hitting the roof. But when we woke it was a nice, sunny day.

  
So after a late breakfast we head out for a bicycle ride, since we’ve skipped all weekend due to rain and travel. We’re camped somewhere near Elephant Lake so we ride in that direction. Sandy gravel roads so the mountain bikes come in handy.

They are doing road improvements (laying down a fresh layer of sand/dirt) so we passed a lot of construction and had to wait for the stop/slow guy to let us through.

  
Finally made it to the lake and sat on a dock at a ramp for a snack break. Definitely didn’t have enough water but only one bottle holder on the mountain bikes.

  
Tired by the time we got back. After lunch we snacked.

  
Steak taco salad for supper – delicious! Reading and I finished crocheting a fruit hammock before bed.

  

Journal entries are just that – the digital copy of my hand-written entries in my journal. If you aren’t interested in the daily details of our adventure, feel free to skip on to the next “regular” post.

Woke to a pretty day – nice and sunny with big cotton-ball clouds in the sky. Good day for a motorcycle ride!

  
After breakfast and yoga* we get ready for our ride over to the Chippewa National Forest. Looking up from the atlas I see a little black bear out our window. Apparently the calm way that I said “there’s a bear” was humorous, as Ashley laughed about it all day long. It was small enough that we thought it might not be alone so we waited inside a bit before heading out to unload the bike.

   
       Off we venture, heading west and looking for the forest. There don’t seem to be any amazingly special areas so we’re just aiming to enter and find a pretty spot for lunch. After a wrong turn and 10 miles of backtracking we’re getting pretty close to my comfortable distance for a tank of gas. Fortunately we find a gas station (there’s at least 50 miles in there with nothing) and a sign indicating the forest is nearby.

  
We tour down a couple of roads that end in lodges or resorts before coming to a ranger/welcome station. They have a nice picnic spot overlooking a lake so we eat there. The water is clear, we can see down at least 8 feet to the bottom. You can follow the lily pad stems all the way down.

Forest visited we head back, topping off the tank at the same gas station.

  
About 10 miles from home I notice oncoming traffic has their headlights on and the occasional wiper blade going. Hopefully we can make it to the visitor’s center or gas station before the rain hits. No luck! It rains steadily for about 5 minutes – hard enough that we have to slow down. I have all the vents in my jacket open and the rain is cold!

It’s over and sunny again by the time we turn on the gravel road and get back to the RV. We load the motorcycle on the trailer and I get the grill ready.

We assemble beef kabobs and grill supper, along with some extra steaks for tomorrow’s tacos. After supper we read and crochet until bed.

* Doing a “sun salutation” routine is a great series of stretches to start off the day – makes a difference when I can’t make it to the chiropractor. Ashley has been attending yoga classes for at least a year now and missed those. She found an app for her phone with routines that she could download – and her mat fits just perfectly in the dining area hallway.

Journal entries are just that – the digital copy of my hand-written entries in my journal. If you aren’t interested in the daily details of our adventure, feel free to skip on to the next “regular” post.

We woke to rain on the roof, surrounded by nature. What a delightful setting in which to do nothing!

  
Tomorrow we will motorbike over/down to the Chippewa National Forest but today is our rainy day to sit at home. I read, finish my book of logic puzzzles and make a net fruit hammock (it is narrower than planned – will have to widen it later).

The rain throws off our plan of grilling – it’s too breezy to pull out the awning. So the steaks will marinate overnight and today it’s garlic spaghetti squash with broiled ‘maters and zucchini.

We’ve turned on the generator for a total of about 10 minutes and the only battery usage has been charging the two phones and Kindle. Water is definitely our limiting factor when off-grid: fresh for drinking, cooking, and showering and the grey tank for waste. Ashley had the great idea of buying some auxilary jugs for more drinking/cooking water. That would extend our time and we could store some decent-sized jugs on the trailer – which might help make it more front/back balanced and thus easier to load the motorcycle.

Tomorrow we check out the other national forest, then it is supposed to rain for the next few days. No further plans till our anniversary on Sunday (7 years!) so as long as the water holds out we may well stay a few more nights here in the Kabetogama State Forest, out nowhere surrounded by nature. More time for writing, reading, and drawing then.

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Here’s a quote in the brochure from Voyageurs National Park. It’s about canoe travel but applies to our RV life as well, me thinks.

What a way to travel – no trains to catch, no traffic to annoy us, no towns to reach by evening, no appointments to remember! We wander anywhere our whims take us, through these lakes. Freedom surrounds us. We are finding more than peace here. This is an authentic and profound release from modern intricacies.

~ Florence Page Jaques – Canoe Country Journal

Journal entries are just that – the digital copy of my hand-written entries in my journal. If you aren’t interested in the daily details of our adventure, feel free to skip on to the next “regular” post.

Whew, what an exhausting day for only shopping and driving!

After breakfast we planned out meals for the upcoming week as a) there was a nearby WalMart and b) we are planning on spending a few days dry camping out in the National Forest. We head to the food co-op and then WalMart.

Almost out of town (hours after we left and have made it a whopping 5 miles) we stop by the beach to visit the Artesian well one last time. We eat lunch and then round up every emtpy container that we have to fill with spring water.

   
 
Down the road we go, only to stop at the Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center a couple of miles down the road. Saw some birch bark canoes, climbed the observation tower and toured the art exhibit. Really nice place, if all about the region that we are leaving.

  
Roughly 2:00 and we finally hit the road, headed straight for Duluth. The food co-op in Ashland had some delicious looking cookies in a dozen pack and we plan to stop by the source and pick up just one each. We buy a couple of cookies and a brownie thing at 3rd Street Bakery in Duluth and continue on north. After getting gas (and finally getting to use our BP Rewards cards) we sample the cookies. Oh my goodness – delicious! The only possible improvement would be the addition of coffee and tea in accompaniment

  
Without a specific destination in mind, we search for a campsight along the way. Our goal is a spot in the Superior National Forest that we can use as a base to venture from on the motorcycle.

After stopping at 2 visitors/ranger stations that are closed we stop and have supper. I find that all of the state forests are open for camping for free (and hiking, fishing, etc. Great deal!) so we head in to Kabetogama State Forest. Ashley scouts out two potential spots, but after spooking some large, heavy animal decides she’s done for the night (she’s convinced it was a black bear and since she didn’t hear hooves I can’t think of what else it might be.)

We backtrack a bit to a truck stop with an RV park attachd to it. Fortunately for us, the RV spots were damaged last year, so that none of the hook-ups work. We are able to park for free – which was our goal anyway.

Right next to the train tracks, so a good night for ear plugs.

   
 

Journal entries are just that – the digital copy of my hand-written entries in my journal. If you aren’t interested in the daily details of our adventure, feel free to skip on to the next “regular” post.

Slept pretty well for a Walmart parking lot. After breakfast we deliberated over options and decided that we weren’t quite ready to leave Ashland and so we set off on our shortest RV travel day yet: approximately 2 miles down to Kreher RV Park – a city-run park right on Lake Superior. We snagged an easy pull-through spot in a corner and settled in.

Our host strolled by while we were setting up and greeted us. Very nice and helpful!

First order of business was to get Ashley’s back tire fixed. I was correct, that it was not correctly seated. Ultimately, taking it completely off and apart and putting it all back together again solved the issue.

Reorganized the tool side of the basement – much better access to the things we use regularly. Also adjusted the deadbolt on the door – so much easier to lock – now I don’t fear that the key will break off when using it!

We set off for a bike ride to explore the remainder of the trail from yesterday and to see what downtown had to offer. Got some water from the Artesian well – cold and tasty! We will swing by in the RV to fill up containers before leaving town.

  
On into downtown, where we are greeted by Gordy, the town’s ambassador. Delightful fellow, walking Main Street, greeting everyone and simply bringing cheer to their day!

We grabbed stamps from the post office (who’s hiring) and walked around Main Street. Had a delightful conversation with the bicycle shop owner, loved perusing the local food co-op and thoroughly loved the Black Cat Coffee House.

  
While enjoying our coffee, we discussed what we’re looking for in a future home locale – bike friendly, local food, good coffee, outdoor recreation, few bugs and no humidity (comparatively).

We are thoroughly enchanted with the area and want to explore it further.

Heading back along the bike trail we get back home and head out for a stroll, continuing on the path and out onto the Ore Dock.

  
Ashley plans the next leg of our trip up to Minnesota while I read.

We make turkey burgers and sweet taters for supper. Ashley grills while I refill our fresh water tank.

A neighbor tells us we have to visit the Apostle Islands and we rethink leaving. After much deliberation we decided to head on up to Minnesota and hope that the weather holds as predicted, then we can return on our way back down to Oconomowoc to visit Joni & Jim.

We also decided to save Isle Royale National Pak in Michigan for a later date when we can spend more than a day trip there – hopefully having family and friends join us for a backpacking adventure.

Before grabbing showers we stroll along the shore, watching the sun peek through the clouds over the water.

   
  

Journal entries are just that – the digital copy of my hand-written entries in my journal. If you aren’t interested in the daily details of our adventure, feel free to skip on to the next “regular” post.

What a full day! We woke in the national forest and got ready for the day, then headed out. It was nice to have all the curtains open and see greenery surrounding us.

  
A few miles down the road were a couple of highlights that sounded interesting – worth the hike. We drove to their parking lot and hiked up to St. Peter’s Dome and Morgan Falls. The dome allowed us to see Lake Superior and the Apostle Islands, some 20 miles away.

   
   On the way back down we took the side trail to visit Morgan Falls, a beautiful little waterfall stair-stepping its way down the cliff face. The guide book says the best time to visit is in the spring or just after a rain. We must have timed it perfectly after yesterday because it was flowing very well! Apparently that is Wisconsin’s second highest fall at 70 feet.

  
Next we headed out of the forest, and away from gravel roads, to the town of Ashland. Arriving in town we were both hungry and began looking for a place to eat. We spotted signs for both a bike trail and a city park so we pulled in. After a quick lunch we hopped on our bicycles and began exploring the trail.

   
 It was a nice path, wide and paved, that circled through the park and then along the shore of Lake Superior. We detoured the wrong way and ended up on the shoulder of the highway – fighting a brisk headwind on the way back. Rejoining the trail we head along the shore, checking out the marina, past downtown and beyond.

Alas, Ashley suffers another flat, in her new tube! and we discover that our tire levers are sitting in the RV’s booth. Fortunately, we searchd online and discovered the trick to taking tires off by hand. Though it still took a long time! Patched the tube and found the little metal splinter that was causing us issues. The tire didn’t look like it seated exactly afterward but Ashley said it felt fine.

We continue on and find a nice RV park (city run) right on the water. A few miles later we see a Wal-Mart, niether of which were shown by the GPS.

Ashley notices that her wheel seems to have a “flat” spot and it looks to me like the tire needs to be let down, reseated in the rim, and then aired back up. Easier done back at the RV with the foot pump, so we turn around. Checking out a plaque/map along the way shows that the trail circles on through down-town so we could have followed it on the rest of the way.

A commuter or two pass us, and we even notice that the Walmart has bike parking!

Back at the RV we notice that the back end of the motorcycle has “walked” over to the right and that one of the tie-down straps is missing. The eye-bolt it was hooked to on the floor has broken off!

   
 On the way to Walmart Ashley spots an ACE hardware and I pull in to grab a new eyebolt. At Walmart I buy a new lightbulb for the RV’s headlight that is out and a 4-pack of ratchet straps.

It takes awhile but I figure out how to pull the headlight out (apply liberal amounts of elbow grease) and go work on the trailer. I upgraded bolt sizes but now it won’t fit and I don’t have a power outlet to use my drill at the moment. We reload the motorcycle and realize that we can hook the strap to the trailer frame. That might be better than the eye-bolts – we’ll test it out and compare. The new straps are heavier duty than the old ones.

Jim and his wife pull in front of us for the night in a 5th wheel. Those things are huge! So tall! He comes and chats with me for awhile – recommends that we dive up to Alaska – aiming to be there mid-August, at the height of the Salmon run. He also recommended seeing Mount St. Helens – and to go directly to the visitor’s center at the peak, it’s nicer than all the ones you pass along the way. He and his wife were truck drivers for years and retired in Florida because it’s next to a warm ocean you can swim in and it’s affordable, compared to Portland where they are from. So now they take an annual cross-country trip from Florida to Portland.

He also recommended getting a map and highlighting all of the roads we take. We are already doing that, highlighting the roads we drive in orange and the motorcycle trips in green.

Ashley cleaned house while I worked outside and afterward we had supper. Finally popcorn while reading and then time for bed. Full day!