Week 1…Feels like Vacation

Our 180 didn’t get started when we thought it would. We had so many people asking when we were leaving that we took a guess, but when we didn’t feel ready, we were fine with taking a few extra days. Until you have actually planned and packed for something like this, you will never understand why exact dates and times just don’t work.

We finally hit the road at 11:30 am on Thursday, May 24, 2018 and headed for the Two Hearted State Forest Campground where a few of our friends were camping. We had been there once before although amidst all the planning and packing we failed to confirm a route there and figured we’d just follow our trusty Maps app on our phones.

For whatever reason, Maps decided to send us down some two-tracks that were not at all cool for our 50 foot rig to be traveling on. We were hoping the trail would pop out onto a better traveled road. It wasn’t until we came to a complete impassable wash out that finally turned us around. As Craig was slowly backing up our rig up a two-track hill, I was outside with Gus trying to guide him while being eaten alive by UP mosquitoes. During all this, poor Gus had to poop. As Craig was backing up, Gus dropped his butt in the path of the trailer. Craig couldn’t hear me yelling, so I had to drag Gus off the road as he’s trying to lay one down. Anyone watching this debacle would’ve been thoroughly entertained.

We got ourselves turned around and back on the main gravel road when we encountered pretty severe water over the road. Craig determined one side was shallow enough and we went for it and got through it just fine.

We rolled into the campground a few hours later than we planned, truck & trailer full of mud, happy to see our friends and set up for the night. We had a great couple days and said our goodbyes Saturday morning and headed to the Houghton area to meet up with a larger group.

We got to the Houghton area Saturday afternoon and set up camp on a friend’s 40 acre property. There was five truck campers, one travel trailer, and three tents. It was a big fun group and everyone had dogs. They all got along fine when we got there but Monday morning our little Gus got in a scuffle. We don’t know exactly what happened, but we’re assuming it had something to do with the fact that he was in “sniffing for food” mode and another dog came up behind him startling him causing the scuffle. He ended up with a cut under his eye and side of his head. It didn’t seem too bad so we tried to keep it clean and went about our day.

We spent time touring around the area, eating good food, drinking good beer and telling lots of stories around the campfire.

Tuesday morning we were able to tour the Keweenaw Brewing Company which was really cool to see. We even got to have a “freshie” right off the canning line.

As we headed out Wednesday morning to head to the Skanee area with everyone, we decided Gus’ wounds weren’t getting better. His whole jowl was swollen so we found a vet in L’anse to get him checked out. Because of the location of the wound and his orneryness, they had to sedate him. We hung out for 7 hours while they fit him in their schedule and patched him up. We joined everyone else at camp where we did some more touring, eating food, drinking good beer, and telling lots of stories around the campfire. It was significantly colder and rainier but we made the best of it.

So our first week felt like a normal vacation for us. We are pretty used to things not going perfect. If they did, then what would we talk about. It’s how we handle them that is important to us. Of course there is a little impatience and frustration, but we always end up finding a solution, working it out, and moving on.

We said goodbye to our friends Friday morning and are now on our own. We think it will feel more like our 180 as we get used to our own routine and schedule.

Off to Glacier…