Whelan's Wheels (go round and round, round and round): Big Mac

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Big Mac

NO not from McDonalds ... THIS is a really BIG Mac or Mighty Mac.

This weekend we went to Michigan's Upper Peninsula via Big Mac - aka the Mackinaw Bridge. Jeezum crow is that bridge hugemongous! The bridge separates Lake Huron (on the east) and Lake Michigan (on the west). All the photos in this post are of Lake Michigan.

We went with Larry, Sheila and Donni (the parents and aunt of my daughter in law Trisha). What terrific tour guides they are!

We left the Carson City area around 3:00 (after we picked Donni and Sheila up from their jobs) on Friday and headed north for our approximately 200 mile journey. It was rainy and windy for the majority of the trip up there. In fact because of the winds the bridge had a reduced speed limit and trucks were being escorted over the bridge. Please take the time to check out the link listed above ~ it is incredibly informative and there are also web cams there of the bridge. The Michigan DOT did a terrific job on that site.

Lake Michigan was our fourth great lake - we saw Lake Ontario when we were in the Rochester, NY area, Lake Erie when we were in Ashtabula, OH and Lake Huron when we were in Petersburg, MI and again when we were in Port Sanilac, MI.

Lucky Sir Arlo has played, swam and drank from four great lakes - is he one lucky dog or what?

Stay tuned for more posts from this terrific weekend ~ right now I have to go to bed - I'm beat!

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This is our story ~ and we're sticking to it.

Our attempt at a blog - quite scary isn't it?

We left MA in early October, 2007 after I (Tracey) retired September 5 as an executive assistant for a software developer and Rick retired from his job on October 1. We passed papers on our house September 28th and off we went. We traveled down the east coast to the Florida Keys ~ where we planned to spend three nights but 17 nights later had to leave our site because someone had reserved it a year prior! We then stayed in northern FL for another month and headed off to meet our Marine returning to the San Diego area after his second tour "over there". We spent several wonderful weeks realizing why grandparents get tired easily! After the San Diego area we headed to the "low desert" (certainly a new phrase for us) of CA and into western AZ .. and decided it was finally time to start the blog we'd talked about since August or so!!

So many wonderful things we saw along the way. And the people, oh the people. I have said so many times to Rick the best part of this journey has been the people. So, so many people with so many interesting stories. Think about it - think about the stories YOU have and multiply that by the many many people we must have met along the way ~ particularly a social person like Rick .. we met a rattlesnake milker in Sweetwater, TX, we met the camp hosts in the Keys who summer back in NH ~ talk about the best of both worlds! We met the female police Sgt. at the Sweetwater Elks whose son was also in Iraq at the same base as my son. We met people in Slidell, LA who survived Katrina and had a great attitude and a smile on their faces and were proud to share their local cuisine with us. We saw the Blue Angels, purely by chance, in El Centro, CA. Or the "campground" where within an hour of arriving our house had been hit three times by golf balls! Or the Elks lodge in Indio ~ the sweetest, bike riding, bartender ~ I just wanted to pack her up and bring her along on our adventure. Not to mention the aerial tram while we were there, the warplane museum for Rick who does NOT do aerial trams! The Salton Sea ~ WOW just WOW. We stayed in the lovely little town of Wilcox, AZ - there was just something about that town. How about Pensacola, FL where the Elks Lodge on the beach is now built high, very high, off the ground! Or what about Huntington Beach State Park in Murrels Inlet, SC - talk about beautiful. What a great place that was to spend our first Thanksgiving on the road with good friends - that was something to be thankful for, for sure. Our first Christmas and New Years in the Keys!! WOW. The love and support of a dear friend in FL while Rick had to fly back to Boston and we dealt with all that entailed with unexpected follow ups back in FL .. how fortunate were we through all of that. Not to mention having the new trailer outfitted in Myrtle Beach and staying at what a week or two a year is the Broken Spoke? Or the kind and soft spoken LA Police Detective who is on the gang unit? So many people, so many stories. And there is so much ahead. The people .. did I mention how wonderful the people have been - all different walks of life .. so many personalities, so many stories! I have said many times ~ I need to pinch myself every morning to be certain it REALLY is happening to US! We are so grateful.

Click here to see our pictures on picasa