Day 14: Christmas in July
Today was another very long drive day, and as it’d turn out, quite a warm one. Fortunately, it was also a holiday for Rob, so the driving could be split between us. We started by driving through Duluth and into Wisconsin on the way to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. No stops in Wisconsin this time, but we’ll be back on the way home for several good ones.
The HVAC blower problem we thought we’d fixed resurfaced, meaning no A/C on a pretty warm day–nearly 9 hours. We took turns driving and problem solving, trying a few things without success. We’ve eliminated most causes and are afraid it’s the HVAC controller, which is difficult and expensive to replace. We’ll keep thinking about it.
Oddly, we were talking about our last cross country trip and remembering when the bike rack nearly came out of the hitch. When we had to detach the car, thanks to a small parking lot with no turnaround, we noticed that again the hitch had nearly come out. Great timing, and we’re so thankful we caught it!
We took advantage of a few stops Rob had planned along the way, including Ironwood’s world’s tallest Indian statue, standing at 52 feet, erected as a tribute to the area’s Native American heritage.
We also stopped for a roadside waterfall that ended up not really being that visible, but it was a nice way to stretch our legs and check out the fitting preexisting graffiti under the bridge. Kelly also got some handholding from each kid.
Kelly took a pause in the day to show the kids where we were on a map. Like the last RV trip, the goal is to highlight our route in the atlas.
Rob keeps getting the smooth, easy legs of the trip with straight, well-paved roads, while Kelly ends up with the slow-rolling small towns or the crazy bumpy stretches. Kelly only has 500 miles more than Rob despite driving for SO many more hours than him.
We arrived tonight at 8:30 p.m. in Christmas, Michigan and learned that the entirety of Michigan is in the Eastern Time Zone, which we will continue to be in for the next many weeks.
photo 9.30.44