Upper Mid-West Summer Trip - By-the-Numbers [June 28 – August 4, 2016]

Our first view of the Arch as we crossed the Mississippi in the rain heading West (Go West young man)

This was a special trip for us in many ways.  We were able to spend a week with our marvelous granddaughter as we explored South Dakota.  We enjoyed a visit with a delightful cousin and learned more about our family while we were in South Dakota.  We went to the Northernmost Point in the Lower 48 at Angle Inlet, MN. We've now been to the Eastern, Southern and Northern-most points!  (Yes, we are map geeks.)

We stopped, rested, and did laundry at our daughter Marie’s house 4 times during the trip.  We generally don’t get to spend a lot of time with Marie, Dean and Marina, so it was very special for us to be part of their lives off and on for the month of July.  We really appreciate that they kept a bed made for us.

Family 4th of July in Minneapolis

We had a pleasant surprise on the trip home.  We stopped over one night in Fort Wayne Indiana at the city run Johnny Appleseed Campground.  John Chapman’s (a.k.a. Johnny Appleseed) grave was on the hill just behind the campground.  Apparently, he lived in Fort Wayne for the last years of his life, and is buried there.  We just had to pay the grave site a visit.

Johnny Appleseed gravestone

So, here is our trip by-the-numbers:

5,753  miles (our longest trip, yet!)

38       days

20       places stayed (11 private campgrounds [1 twice], 4 municipal campgrounds,
           3 state parks, 2 relatives [1 - 3 times])

8         National Parks, Memorials, Monuments and Scenic Trails (Happy 100^th Birthday NPS!)

13       States and 1 Province visited

3         new States and 1 new Province visited

2         caves visited

2         kayak paddles

2         lighthouses

49° 20’ 43” N Latitude, 95° 03’ 46” W Longitude - northernmost latitude visited

In honor of the 100^th birthday of the National Park Service, we are including photos here from the 8 NPS sites that we visited.

Jefferson National Expansion Memorial (Gateway Arch), MO

Effigy Mounds National Monument (Big Bear), IA

Badlands National Park, SD

Mt. Rushmore National Memorial (our first look from the road), SD

Wind Cave National Park (Boxwork), SD

Grand Portage National Monument (Birch bark canoes), MN

Isle Royale National Park, MI

Ice Age National Scenic Trail, WI

At Last - Lake Michigan!, Point Beach State Forest State Park, WI [July 31 – August 2, 2016]

All of the ShoreXplorers love the beach

Lovely Lake Michigan

We’ve visited Lake Superior four times over the years, and Lake Huron and Lake Erie twice.  We’ve explored all around the circumference of Lake Ontario.  Somehow, we’ve never spent time on Lake Michigan.  The Michiganers we’ve met who live near the Lake say it is the most beautiful of all the Great Lakes.  However, they caution, don’t try to visit during the summer, it is so popular with families taking vacations that you’ll never find a spot to camp.  They were right.

In some places the dune is right next to the water

In other places there is a lovely beach

As we started to plan our trip Eastward and home, we realized that we REALLY wanted to visit Lake Michigan.  We found that Point Beach State Forest State Park in Two Rivers, Wisconsin had a campsite available for Sunday and Monday nights.  Actually, we had our choice between two adjacent campsites that were available.   We chose one and someone else chose the other (we saw them through the trees).

Rawley Point Lighthouse

The dog beach on Sunday.  It was much less crowded on Monday.

The State Park is a long string bean along the shores of Lake Michigan.  It has a lighthouse and it has a dog beach.  What more could you ask for?

Looks like the ocean...

Ah yes, a beach-y afternoon

Handstands in the shallow water

The campground is a typical North Woods campground.  Pine and hardwood trees, punctuated with the occasional white birch tree.  If you walk east, you cross a large dune and find yourself on a lovely sand beach and an endless expanse of beautiful blue water.  It is just like being at the ocean except that it lacks tides and the salty smell.  The water off the beach was shallow and 70°warm.  Russ and Tiki went swimming on Sunday.  All three of us went swimming on Monday.  After 5 weeks on the road, we enjoyed some time loafing at the beach.

The round turret on the right is what remains of the old lighthouse

Another view

There has been a lighthouse at Rawley Point since 1853.  The original brick lighthouse was replaced by a steel tower in 1894.  The old brick lighthouse was cut down and roofed and made a part of the light keepers house.  The lighthouse is still in service, and is not open to visitors.  However, we had many photo opportunities to take pictures of the interesting steel structure and lovely old house.

A Marshy Swale - the wooded sections on each side are called Ridges

Along a Ridge

The park has special paths for bicycles and it seems like everyone gets around that way.  The paths run along the top of the ”Ridges”.  Back in the Ice Ages, the shoreline of Lake Michigan moved eastward.  The ancient dunes that were once along the shoreline are now inland as ridges or high places parallel to the current shoreline.  Between the ridges are “Marshy Swales” or wetlands where the lake used to be.

The Ice Age Trail - Happy B-day NPS!

The Ice Age National Scenic Trail [Happy 100^th Birthday NPS] takes you along the top of one of the Ridges.  The Ice Age Scenic Trail is a work in progress.  The intent is to create a trail along the outer edge of the last glacier that, during the last Ice Age, covered the area that we now know as the State of Wisconsin.  The trail will follow Ridges, and Moraines.  It will pass by Kettles and Glacial Lakes.  Right now there are sections of the trail waiting to be connected together.  It is a very cool idea. 

We were happy for these trail markers

Cool camp site for kayakers

We hiked several miles down the Ice Age Trail.  The hike along the top of the old dune that was now hardwood forest was lovely.  There were big, old trees, and scenic views of the marshy swales.  We came to two campsites.  One for backpackers along the Ice Age Trail.  The other was for kayakers who were paddling along the lake shoreline.  We decided to leave the bloodthirsty mosquitoes behind in the woods and returned to where we had parked our bicycles by way of the beach.

Tiki retrieving her yellow ball

Isn't this a pretty view?

Point Beach State Forest was the perfect finale for a wonderful trip.  And yes, Lake Michigan is every bit as beautiful as we were told that it would be.

Beautiful Lake Michigan

Where the ShoreXplorer was Born, Winnebago Factory Tour, Forest City IA [July 28, 2016]

Getting on the Factory Tour bus

We have stopped over in Minneapolis 4 times this trip, staying with our daughter and her family for a few days.  During one such visit, Russ was filling up the motor home at the neighborhood gas station.  A young man approached Russ, he worked next door at an ad agency and Winnebago was their client.  He loved meeting and talking to Winnebago owners and finding out how they used their motor home.  And, did we know that the Winnebago factory was just 2 hours south in Iowa?  Factory Tour!!! Let’s go…

An old, old Winnebago in the museum/gift shop

There are not many photos in this blog post because Winnebago asks visitors not to take photos during the tour. 

Winnebago employs 3000+ people in a town of 4000 people.  Some employees drive from 60 miles away to work each day.  The company is buying factories in other areas because they can’t expand any more in Forest City.  There isn’t anyone left to hire.  The company gives $1M back to the community each year in grants.  It is a non-union shop.  Every employee we saw or talked to was welcoming, pleasant and interested in telling us about their job.

The tour took us to "Stitchcraft"  where the fabric goods were sewn, then we went to welding.  The final part of the tour was both ends of the huge building called Big Bertha where the motor homes are assembled.  There are 3 assembly lines that start with the chassis built by Ford, Mercedes or Chevy.  They put on the floors, then the walls, etc.  It was fascinating to watch.

What we learned was that most of the pieces in a Winnebago motor home are made at this plant.  The water tanks and waste holding tanks are created on plastic molds; aluminum support members are extruded from aluminum logs, the chairs, couches and cushions are sewn and stuffed; the different layers of walls are laminated together; wooden furniture pieces are built.  You need a replacement piece?  The specs and design are on file, and they will make it for you.  

The plant has automated places; fabric and wood are cut with machines driven by computers.  However, most of the assembling is done by hand.  We now know why these things are so doggone expensive.

In the 1980s Winnebago sold off all of its completed motor homes.  From then until the present, they only make motor homes that have already been sold to dealers or individuals through dealers.  This mean that every unit in the assembly line is different.  A computer decides what fabric to cut, or cabinets to make.  The completed pieces are bar coded.  The wooden built-in furniture pieces hang on a revolving rack on the ceiling like the machines used at a dry cleaners.  The pieces are made available for the appropriate unit at the time it is to be installed. 

They make 36-40 motor homes a day, about 200 a week. 

We love factory tours, and this one was particularly interesting to us.  While the ShoreXplorer is relatively modest as far as motor homes go, it was nice to know that it was made with the same care and craftsmanship as its fancier siblings.