Michigan Mayhem

We headed south after leaving Sioux Falls and Lake of the Woods. Lake Superior is unbelievably huge - here is your educational trivia for the day – it has more water than all the other Great Lakes combined, and has an average temperature of only four degrees. For this trip we are going the Southern route, under L. Superior. This will take us from Ontario, through Minnesota, Wisconsin, and into Northern Michigan. This means one province and three states in a day!!! The terrain is very similar to the route above the lake, though, lots of trees, bogs, and rock. We were trying to cover a lot of territory in one day, and so ended up driving into the evening, which we usually try to avoid. Unfortunately, about 20 minutes out of Marquette, our stop for the night, a deer decided run out of the ditch at us. I saw it as it ran towards us, and managed to warn "Deer!" moments before it hit the driver’s side of the truck’s box, and then went into the front left corner of the trailer. David stayed very calm and did not lose control, but we could not stop right away as there was traffic behind us. We were all fine, but a bit shaken. The deer, unfortunately did not have a chance. The trailer has some damage, mostly cosmetic. We called in to the State Troopers right away to get them to make sure the deer was cleaned up, and then we had to stop to file an accident report with the Highway Patrol. Luckily the Troopers were in a town further down the highway. It was close to midnight when we were finished and we didn’t feel much like setting up for camping that night, so we stayed in a hotel.

We took the trailer into an RV place the next day to make sure there was no structural damage, which was a big relief. After a trip to Ace Hardware for some expanding foam and Gorilla Tape, we spent about 2 ½ hours filling and taping up the big dent and holes. (Guess who got to clean up the mess first, though?) It actually doesn’t look that bad, we just hope we don’t encounter a lot of wet weather, as we don’t need another mold problem like on our first trip.

As we continued on our journey the next day, we stopped on the shores of Lake Michigan to touch that Great Lake, and we stayed the next night at a campground past Sault Ste. Marie, on the shores of Lake Huron. That’s three Great Lakes in two days!

Today we are headed to Ottawa, about a 9 & ½ hour drive. We have to make up a bit of driving time because of our delays. We will be meeting up with Nana, Auntie Laura, Cale and Taylor who flew to Toronto last night, and are driving to Ottawa to meet us.