Wednesday, July 1, 2009
George's Body Shop, St Ignace, MI: June 8-11
We awoke on moving day to a steady rain that promised to last through the day and well into the night. There was also a steady 20-25 mph wind, which was worrisome since we were crossing the high bridge. We found a website that told if weather conditions were bad enough to warrant closing traffic, but evidently conditions like this are so frequent that they are considered mild. We took down & started our move in the rain. We couldn't figure out why our GPS was sending us south, until we realized that we had the preference turned on for "no toll roads", and since you have to pay to cross the bridge, it qualifies. The GPS was sending us via Wisconsin.
We got a good chuckle out of that, which was about the only chuckle of the day. Driving conditions through town and across the bridge were horrible, made worse by the fact that one lane was closed half-way across the bridge, so of course all the maniacal Michigan drivers, who do seem worse than usual by the way, had to speed by us, weather be hanged. There is an Information Center/Rest Area just past the bridge which we happily turned into after our white-knuckle adventure. This was one of our shortest travel distances (16 miles), but it turned into one of our longest travels days when, after we set up at our planned stop (a casino near St. Ignace), we walked in & noticed the trailer floor had a distinct slant to it. One of the landing legs had apparently given out. We called George's Body Shop, the only RV repair facility listed for St Ignace, who nicely enough came right out to check the problem. Upon seeing it however, he encouraged us to drive in & set up at the shop, which would make working on the rig a lot easier, plus we could have electricity. So we took down, drove back to St Ignace, and set up again, still all in the rain. Needless to say, we were soaked through, so it was nice to have George's electricity and free WiFi.
As a base for sightseeing, George's actually was preferable to the casino, which was 4 miles out of town. We had to stay in the first morning (which wasn't difficult since we are slugs) in order to discuss options for fixing the trailer, which boiled down to ordering a new leg or spending the rest of the summer in a off-kilter trailer until we found a different place to fix it. Naturally we chose to have it fixed. The leg had to be ordered from the manufacturer, Atwood, whom we've dealt with before & are real butts. Even though we were calling at 2pm they refused to send out the leg until the next day, so we had to bite our nails for two days hoping it showed up on Friday, since UPS doesn't deliver on weekends. While St. Ignace is nice enough, we wanted to move on by the weekend. Ironically, Atwood is HQed in Elkhart, where we had just been in early May, not getting much of our trailer work done. If they all have the type of no-help attitude that Atwood does, no wonder they're
going out of business!
The weather was still dismal that day, but we did get out & stroll around town, which is unremarkable in general but does have some splashes of charm. There is a boardwalk around the small bay on Lake Huron, and a small recently built lighthouse. We walked the boardwalk that afternoon, and again the next day when we got a visit from our friends Mary & Elaine, whom it seems we've known "forever". The weather was perfect for their visit, and we had a great time together, walking, talking, & having an early dinner before they had to head back home to their RV, which was parked in Sault Ste. Marie. They are spending this summer in the Maritime Provinces before going on another of their fabulous cruises. They plan them well and relatively inexpensively and do and see really interesting places. Later that evening, we drove to Straits State Park at sunset (here that means after 9:30!) to see the lights on the Mackinac Bridge.
Thursday we took the ferry to Mackinac Island, which is probably the big tourist draw here. Staying at George's meant we were just a short walk from the ferry docks, which added to the convenience of being there. Cars are not allowed on the island (they do have two emergency vehicles) and the only way to get there is by ferry, either from Mackinaw City or St Ignace, or by private boat. It was only a 3 minute walk from George's, and we caught the 10am ferry. It is hard to describe the transformation that goes on in your mind when you step into this culture: your transportation options are by foot, by bicycle, or by horse. Deliveries are done by horse-drawn cart. Mail is picked up at the post office -- there is no delivery, so house numbers are used only in emergencies. Houses are designed without garages, yards are designed without driveways. Life's pace is obviously slower, which feels wonderful in a small dose -- I wonder how desirable it would be on a permanent basis. An unfortunate side-effect is the smell -- anywhere horses congregate on a regular basis (the ferry dock, for example) smell strongly of horse leavings. This is certainly as offensive, although maybe not as much of a health risk, as traffic fumes. The island's biggest industry is fudge, and we sampled a lot & bought some. In the early days, the island was a center for John Jacob Astor's fur trade.
We walked most of the time we were there, but we did take a tour of the island by horse-drawn wagon -- probably not worth the time or money, but we did get to see some parts of the island that would have been hard to get to, even by bike. After getting to know our way around a bit, we ventured into the less touristy parts of the island and saw the places where "regular folks" had small summer cottages. We also saw the lovely Governor's Mansion. We have heard a lot about the economic troubles of the State of Michigan, and wondered at the "extravagance" of having such an expensive second mansion for the Governor. On the tour we learned that the mansion had been donated to the state for use by the Governor many years ago, the only stipulation being that if they didn't want it, they had to sell it for the original price of something like $15,000. We had an excellent lunch & dinner (both at the same place) and before we knew it it was time to catch the last ferry home -- and we had been worried that we would have trouble finding things to do.
We did get to see the famed Grand Hotel, built in 1887, that features a 660-foot porch and a strict after-6 dress code. It was featured in the movie "Somewhere In Time" starting Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour, so it has gotten even more "famous". Since the guests paying tons of money to be there don't like being stared at, they keep pretty tight security on the place, and you can't get in without paying the $10 fee for looking around (first floor only) and being "permitted" to purchase a very over-priced drink in the bar. We didn't do anything but look around from the perimeter and admire it from afar and see part of the lovely grounds. While we were eating dinner we talked with some women who had gone in a "back way" and looked around to their hearts content without paying the fee. We have filed that bit of info in case we ever go back! Unfortunately, unless you are a chambermaid, there is no way to look around at the various guest rooms. There are over 350 rooms and each is said to be furnished differently.
We spent Friday morning fretting over whether the landing leg would arrive - we didn't really want to spend the weekend in St Ignace - then finally decided to go grocery shopping. Just as we were leaving the UPS truck was pulling up, but we continued on with our fingers crossed. And (yay!) the leg was there when we got back. It only took an hour to install, so by 3pm we were paid up & ready to roll. We were going less than 40 miles that day, so we arrived before many other RVers normally reach their destination, even with our late start!
We got a good chuckle out of that, which was about the only chuckle of the day. Driving conditions through town and across the bridge were horrible, made worse by the fact that one lane was closed half-way across the bridge, so of course all the maniacal Michigan drivers, who do seem worse than usual by the way, had to speed by us, weather be hanged. There is an Information Center/Rest Area just past the bridge which we happily turned into after our white-knuckle adventure. This was one of our shortest travel distances (16 miles), but it turned into one of our longest travels days when, after we set up at our planned stop (a casino near St. Ignace), we walked in & noticed the trailer floor had a distinct slant to it. One of the landing legs had apparently given out. We called George's Body Shop, the only RV repair facility listed for St Ignace, who nicely enough came right out to check the problem. Upon seeing it however, he encouraged us to drive in & set up at the shop, which would make working on the rig a lot easier, plus we could have electricity. So we took down, drove back to St Ignace, and set up again, still all in the rain. Needless to say, we were soaked through, so it was nice to have George's electricity and free WiFi.
As a base for sightseeing, George's actually was preferable to the casino, which was 4 miles out of town. We had to stay in the first morning (which wasn't difficult since we are slugs) in order to discuss options for fixing the trailer, which boiled down to ordering a new leg or spending the rest of the summer in a off-kilter trailer until we found a different place to fix it. Naturally we chose to have it fixed. The leg had to be ordered from the manufacturer, Atwood, whom we've dealt with before & are real butts. Even though we were calling at 2pm they refused to send out the leg until the next day, so we had to bite our nails for two days hoping it showed up on Friday, since UPS doesn't deliver on weekends. While St. Ignace is nice enough, we wanted to move on by the weekend. Ironically, Atwood is HQed in Elkhart, where we had just been in early May, not getting much of our trailer work done. If they all have the type of no-help attitude that Atwood does, no wonder they're
going out of business!
The weather was still dismal that day, but we did get out & stroll around town, which is unremarkable in general but does have some splashes of charm. There is a boardwalk around the small bay on Lake Huron, and a small recently built lighthouse. We walked the boardwalk that afternoon, and again the next day when we got a visit from our friends Mary & Elaine, whom it seems we've known "forever". The weather was perfect for their visit, and we had a great time together, walking, talking, & having an early dinner before they had to head back home to their RV, which was parked in Sault Ste. Marie. They are spending this summer in the Maritime Provinces before going on another of their fabulous cruises. They plan them well and relatively inexpensively and do and see really interesting places. Later that evening, we drove to Straits State Park at sunset (here that means after 9:30!) to see the lights on the Mackinac Bridge.
Thursday we took the ferry to Mackinac Island, which is probably the big tourist draw here. Staying at George's meant we were just a short walk from the ferry docks, which added to the convenience of being there. Cars are not allowed on the island (they do have two emergency vehicles) and the only way to get there is by ferry, either from Mackinaw City or St Ignace, or by private boat. It was only a 3 minute walk from George's, and we caught the 10am ferry. It is hard to describe the transformation that goes on in your mind when you step into this culture: your transportation options are by foot, by bicycle, or by horse. Deliveries are done by horse-drawn cart. Mail is picked up at the post office -- there is no delivery, so house numbers are used only in emergencies. Houses are designed without garages, yards are designed without driveways. Life's pace is obviously slower, which feels wonderful in a small dose -- I wonder how desirable it would be on a permanent basis. An unfortunate side-effect is the smell -- anywhere horses congregate on a regular basis (the ferry dock, for example) smell strongly of horse leavings. This is certainly as offensive, although maybe not as much of a health risk, as traffic fumes. The island's biggest industry is fudge, and we sampled a lot & bought some. In the early days, the island was a center for John Jacob Astor's fur trade.
We walked most of the time we were there, but we did take a tour of the island by horse-drawn wagon -- probably not worth the time or money, but we did get to see some parts of the island that would have been hard to get to, even by bike. After getting to know our way around a bit, we ventured into the less touristy parts of the island and saw the places where "regular folks" had small summer cottages. We also saw the lovely Governor's Mansion. We have heard a lot about the economic troubles of the State of Michigan, and wondered at the "extravagance" of having such an expensive second mansion for the Governor. On the tour we learned that the mansion had been donated to the state for use by the Governor many years ago, the only stipulation being that if they didn't want it, they had to sell it for the original price of something like $15,000. We had an excellent lunch & dinner (both at the same place) and before we knew it it was time to catch the last ferry home -- and we had been worried that we would have trouble finding things to do.
We did get to see the famed Grand Hotel, built in 1887, that features a 660-foot porch and a strict after-6 dress code. It was featured in the movie "Somewhere In Time" starting Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour, so it has gotten even more "famous". Since the guests paying tons of money to be there don't like being stared at, they keep pretty tight security on the place, and you can't get in without paying the $10 fee for looking around (first floor only) and being "permitted" to purchase a very over-priced drink in the bar. We didn't do anything but look around from the perimeter and admire it from afar and see part of the lovely grounds. While we were eating dinner we talked with some women who had gone in a "back way" and looked around to their hearts content without paying the fee. We have filed that bit of info in case we ever go back! Unfortunately, unless you are a chambermaid, there is no way to look around at the various guest rooms. There are over 350 rooms and each is said to be furnished differently.
We spent Friday morning fretting over whether the landing leg would arrive - we didn't really want to spend the weekend in St Ignace - then finally decided to go grocery shopping. Just as we were leaving the UPS truck was pulling up, but we continued on with our fingers crossed. And (yay!) the leg was there when we got back. It only took an hour to install, so by 3pm we were paid up & ready to roll. We were going less than 40 miles that day, so we arrived before many other RVers normally reach their destination, even with our late start!
# posted by Doug and Willie @ 9:05 PM 
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