Hey Folks

I have been having technical and wi-fi issues, but hopefully that is sorted now.  

Mary Ann has the most beautiful home in a beautiful woodland spot, on a lake.  It is amazing.  So far I have seen different coloured squirrels, I am yet to see the chipmonks, racoons or deer. 

I am yet to take the stairs to the lake.  But I will. 

                                            Her home

                                            Her front/side yard

                                                   Squirrel through the back window

    

                                                            A dark squirrel

    

                                                Her house from the back above the lake

    

                                                    Looking down at the lake

We have had some really late nights, we talked until 1.30 the first night and after 2am the second.  We have not stopped talking, it is ridiculous, we don't even notice the passage of time.  We stayed at Mary Ann's on Thursday me to have some down time. Went shopping on Friday and spent most of Saturday packing and organising for our trip.  

            Sorry AUS, it was the only coke they had.  They don't have diet lemon here

We picked up the van on Saturday too.  It is a beauty, a 2024 Chrysler Voyager.

                                                Mary Ann being prepared...  and I'm glad she did

  

                                                 

Mary Ann was all about getting up at 6.30 and leaving at 7, after paking the final bits, checking her list for the umpteenth time and watering the garden, we drove off at about 9am.... But the adventure begins.....

We travelled north through Michigan until we reached the Mackinac Bridge.  We had some lunch and met a guy, Tom who had locked himself out of his car.  We had no tools to help him, although Mary Ann does have a hammer and a jemmy.  I have no idea why, I did ask her what she was planning on building, but she ignored me. anyhow, Mary Ann's arsenal was of no use to Tom, so he toddled off and found someone more useful.  He did return and insisted on taking pictures of the three of us with his drone.   I don't know why, I don't care why, I am just living the dream...

We drove for almost 600 miles, miles not Kilometres, it was a long day, but the senery was amazing, incredible forests.  I saw a lot of racoons, but unfortunatly they were road kill, so still no live ones.  We also saw a black bear that was dead on the side of the road.  It was amazing.  Really sad for him, but probably lucky for me that he was not dangerous when we met.  All those people eaten by bears, they saw a live one!!  We arrived late in Ironwood, as there were very few places to stay, so it was late and dark and we struggled to find decnet accommodation.  We do have the van we can sleep in if we want or if we get stuck, our beds are set up in there. We found at an hotel in Ironwood Michigan and it was a suite that cost us $119 USD, so not too bad, but we don't want to repeat of that everynight. 
 

Tomorrow it is on and upward to Wisconsin. Talk again soon...