RoadTrip: enjoyed a wonderful lakeside home in Michigan

7AM 10/12/2012

Hi Sandy, & Keren & Michael, et. al.

I got your message about you now having a greeting for your cell phone (reminds me that I need to update my google-phone msg...)

In Michigan, (a few days ago now) I did go up to Bob's house and got some shots of the awesome autumn foliage there - though it was cloudy at the time) and ran into Linda and we talked for a few minutes (she showed me some of her daughter's framed photo-prints of the Sawtooths and described the remodeling that Bob had done on the ground floor.)  That was sure a nice place you stayed at while here in Michigan!

Karen & Michael made me a delicious two-cook meal. Karen did the salad and Risoto, and Michael made the salad dressing & roasted the chicken, while I just had my hands in my pockets asking "is there something I could do or contribute to?"  I did offer my trail mix... and copied to their thumb-drive a bunch of picts I had  taken of Karen's garden in autumn-garb.

I left the next morning (yesterday) taking with me a bunch of cherry tomatoes and two books from the boxes of books that didn't sell at an event she had donated the books to (we drove somewhere during the day to retrieve the remainder - gave us a chance to talk - and do a bit of grocery shopping...)  I really enjoyed my stay and the chance to meet your sis and Michael.  I'll have to create an excuse next spring to veer from my planned return-route to revisit ...if only to take a closer look at all the plant books in Karen & Michael's collection!  

Thanks Karen & Michael!

Gary

Hi Gary,
I'm so glad you had a good time at Karen and Michael's and got a chance to meet Linda.
Sounds like you had a stroll down memory lane in Cleveland. Did you get a chance to visit your mom's grave? Is your dad buried there, too?
Well, at least you have family to see in CT and it looks like there still might be some fall color when you get there. Let me know when you arrive safely. I guess you're getting a taste of the cold weather back east. I personally dislike it after the leaves fall off the trees.
I've got a mild cold and still recovering from that surgury last week, but I did go for a hike at Armstrong Woods with Kathrin, Darlene and her friend, Randi.
Sandy

RoadTrip: Rapid City... Cleveland

1PM 10/5/2012
I'm much farther east now , in Rapid City, South Dakota, after "blowing through" Yellowstone just one day too early to catch some snow, unfortunately.  two half-day drives later (stopping briefly at Devils Tower yesterday morning and MT Rushmore this morning) I plan to visit a "Geology Museum" this afternoon in Rapid City and some stops in Wall along Hwy 90 a bit east of here then look for a place to overnight around the Badlands, which I hope to spend some time in tomorrow.  I've been snowed on about an inch or so each of the past two nights and expecting a third night of light snow tonight, but supposedly it will clear up tomorrow so hope for some good light in the badlands.
I may then spend another night in the area in order to have a full day's drive (about 10hrs) all the way to the National Forest lands between Lk Superior and Lk Michigan. I may spend a day or two driving along south shore of Lk Superior & Lk Huron, before heading south to visit Sandy's sister Karen in Manchester, Michigan.  May spend a day or so there maybe, then head to Cleveland and onwards eastward along the lakes I think.  So I might be in Ct as soon as end of third week of October?
Gary

3PM 10/5/2012
Hello everyone.
I just added money to my AT&T phone.  depending on how I make the call, it may appear to be from my Google#... (I will normally try to call this way) or, directly from the AT&T#...
Gary


8PM 10/5/2012
Hi Gary,
I got my cell phone fixed so it's ...; haven't gotten a voice mail greeting yet or put any numbers into it. ...
Be safe in the cold, wind and snow. Don't freeze to death in your sleep! I'm not sure if the fall color is through in Michigan, but my sister said they were going to get a frost tonight. Lake Superior wind and weather can be furocious! I'm glad you got out of the mountains in time. I've been to the Badlands but not to Devil's Tower or Mt. Rushmore -- send me a photo of Crazy Horse, ok!

Hey, while you are in northern Michigan (the mitten) look up my mom, Gloria and John ... I'll send her an email telling her you might stop in if it's ok.
They live on the south side of Higgins Lake (which is north of the largest inland lake, Houghton Lake), a short distance on a dirt road with other homes on it in the pines.
She will want to give you a hot meal, I'm sure. I'll give her your phone numbers, too.  From their house, it's about a 4-5 hour drive down to Karen and Michael's. Stop in and say hi to Bob - Karen will tell you how to get there; it's a short walk up from her driveway. Watch out for hunters this time of year in MI.
Please keep this information! ...
Sandy


2PM 10/5/2012
Thanks for the update. Now I know approx when to expect you. Are you visiting Maine and NH and VT?
Liz

7PM 10/5/2012
Hi,
When you are in Cleveland, you can look up Mom's grave at the cemetery. Ann went once on a day the office was open and they helped her find the location. I have the info somewhere but have no idea where I put it. If you email Ann, she may have it handy. I remember the grave is in an area where a tall brick or stone wall marks the boundary of the cemetery. Maybe you can google for info???
We also found the house, the street is still brick! and the house is still there, also the Lutheran/ German church up the street. The neighborhood has changed to mostly black people but much of it is the same, except more tired and run down. Even Grovewood?  swimming pool is still there, but it looks sooooo small! Everything seems small. The Paul Bellamy Elementary School is now a community center, almost like a salvation army center. The pedestrian bridge across the highway with the spiral access is also there, but it looks pretty dirty. Oh, and we stopped at the hospital too. I did not remember this, but the lawn (where we used to play while waiting for Dad to visit Mom), comes right up to the the sea wall at the edge of Lake Erie. I have no memory of that...weird.
We also found the beach we used to go to, that still looks pretty much the same, lots of parking and the tall narrow trees. We also went to the river area, ?Squaw Rock? Park closer to Shaker Heights??? I vaguely remembered certain things, like the cliffs.
I'm sure you will remember more things because you were older. Have fun exploring.
Liz

7AM 10/10/2012
Hi Gary,
Got your phone message yesterday.
I sent this last week, maybe you missed it...has suggestions on what to do in Cleveland.
If you go to our old beach on Lake Erie, please bring me back a few small pretty pebbles. Thanks,
ps   This is from an email I sent to you on Oct 5th:
just googled Lake View Cemetery. They have all the info you need on-line, incl a map, so just google the name of the cemetery. I searched the record and Mom is buried in Section 51, lot 1-88. Good luck,
I remember when we looked for her grave it was in a smaller lot which butted up to a tall stone or brick wall separating the cemetery from a side street. Her grave stone is very small and was a bit overgrown w/ grass. Dad had put on a Bible verse from Thessalonians: "The dead in Christ shall be rising first" . You should be able to find it. It's a very pretty cemetery with lots of trees and curvy roadways.
See you real soon,
Liz

noon 10/11/2012
Hi Liz,
I'm now in Ohio a bit west of Cleveland and have been catching up on email and studying the maps for the cemetery etc.   I'll probably pass through Cleveland today, but hope to find a spot to camp nearby to maybe have another go wandering around tomorrow.

Leaves around here look a bit early, so my guess is in upper-NY Adirondacks may still be close to prime, so I may swing up that way.  But I may decide to save some gas and time and take a more direct route.  I'll let you know within a day or so.  Sorry I'm still so bifurcated on that. I may just be eager to catch the leaves around CT?
Gary

6AM 10/12/2012
Have fun in Cleveland. Don't pass up the highland beach park, because I think you will enjoy hanging out there for a while. Hope the weather is nice.
I recommend you come home through the Adirondacks because the roads thru the park are very nice and the trees should be very pretty now. You can then come down the main highway south of the park, switch to the Mass Pike and then take rte 8 south into CT. Bethany is close to Rte 8. If you come as early as Sunday btw 10:00am and 5:00pm, stop in Litchfield, CT. I am exhibiting with a group of artists at the firehouse. I'll forward the invitation. Otherwise, enjoy yourself and I'll see you whenever,
Liz

7AM 10/12/2012

Got to my old home on Nottingham Rd in East-Cleveland/Euclid in the early-evening after a long accident-caused traffic on the highway through the downtown area.  Took some drive-by snaps of the old house & neighborhood, (nicely maintained neighborhood tucked away inside an otherwise very run-down area of town.)  Drove past OH Perry Jr High school - I recall going to school there with a bunch of rude punk kids, taking the bus thru an "ugly" commercial street to get there - it is indeed ugly and now very run-down with mostly abandoned businesses.  I drove along Lakeshore Drive to the hospital on the shore where mom had stayed, then drove via Euclid Ave through an extremely run-down area with mostly boarded-up store-fronts (stopping at an auto-parts store to replace my again-burnt-out headlamp)  to Lakeview Cemetery which is at the edge of the up-scale "museum district" of downtown (I remember going to concerts in Severance Hall there with my dad  - I had been taking violin lessons from someone who played viola with the Cleveland Orchestra.)  Unfortunately the cemetery gate was closed with tall impenetrable fence all around, so I decided to try to find somewhere to camp around the town of Mentor near Headland Beach that we used to frequent in the summertime.  Ran across a small town park after dark with a bunch of very tame deer and overnighted there.  This morning I made it to Headland Beach before dawn and took a few pre-dawn atmospheric picts of the beach in bone-chilling-cold wind and picked up a few pebbles.  Now I'm working my way back up the coast to have another chance at mom's grave.   

RoadTrip: 2day Overnight at Prairie Reef in the Bob. May traverse a snowy Yellowstone? then continue east

One last? backpack planned for next few days, then probably heading east

4PM 9/30/2012
Hmmm....  I thought I had sent this earlier.  Just found it in my drafts - will update it soon.
Hi everyone,
So I'm back in Choteau, MT after a pleasant 5-day backpack to the northern portion of the Chinese Wall in the Bob Marshall Wilderness.  I've enjoyed the continued above-average temperatures and dry conditions for this time of year, though much of the time it has been quite smoky from fires nearby - and much through forest already burnt just a few years back, though it was a varied mosaic of burnt and mature-growth forest. On the way in the aspen leaves and forest undergrowth were at the peak of their fall bright reds & yellows.  On my return, many of the same trees had dropped half their leaves, remaining leaves brown spotted black, and the undergrowth leaves were drying out and dulling to tans & browns.    

I had managed to wear out my tires on all the gravel roads I've been driving, so today I bought a new set of tires here in town (a locally popular brand purportedly good on the gravel roads in this area.)  I had gotten a quote from a shop near Great Falls for about $600 and these came to $560, though no wheel alignment was included as in the other quote.   Probably missed out on an excuse to visit Great Falls (unless I start heading east from here...)

Tonight I hope to drive a bit further south to Augusta, MT and tomorrow begin another backpack from the Benchmark trailhead back into "The Bob" to take a look at the southern portion of the Chinese Wall - Benchmark seems to be the more popular starting point to the wall, and there is a good vantage point on a hill called Prairie Reef early on in the hike, in case the weather turns nastier than expected sooner than expected on me.  The weather has been changing some and I hope for somewhat better atmospherics this time.  About mid-next week a more significant "pattern shift" is forecast, with rain and much colder temperatures.

After this backpack, I'm considering making it down to Yellowstone for a second brief drive-through, anticipating maybe some snow due to the weather shift, and in any event, fall conditions.  But I may skip that if the weather becomes too nasty.

Then I will be heading east.  Not sure what I should/could see along the way/out of the way in the midwest.  Any suggestions of oughta-see things?  I had thought I would have much more time to look around there, look at some of the tall-grass prairie lands, the major rivers, historic POI's like following the Lewis & Clark trail, etc., but I guess I spent extra time around the northern rockies, which I guess is OK.

I will likely take advantage of an invitation to visit Sandy's Sister who lives in Manchester, MI which is a bit east of Detroit.  I also do want to pass through Cleveland.  I may want to touch other areas around the great lakes.  Not sure what the state of the autumn leaves will be by the time I get east of the great lakes, but passing through northern NY & Vermont has been on my agenda.
Gary


4PM 9/30/2012
Hello again...
So I did follow through as planned and spent just two days up to the "lookout" on Prairie Reef with still disappointingly hazy views of the southern portion of the Chinese Wall.  Unfortunately I was there just a day too soon, or rather, didn't stay another day, because it did start to clear up just as I was driving away from the trailhead!

Now I'm in Helena on my way back to Yellowstone.  I plan to enter at West Yellowstone and leave a few days later via one of the two east-bound roads.  I expect to be there during the first winter-like storm to hit this area (tue-fri Oct 2-5) so it could be interesting, depending on how much it snows.   I'll be trying to find out whether they might close the east-bound roads for the season if there is significant snow - both of these roads go over high elevation passes.  I do have new tires AND two sets of chains (4 total, for both front and back, since I have AWD)  I plan to update you of what I've learned later today or in a day or two.
Gary

6PM 9/30/2012
Hi Gary,
Heard about the cold front that is supposed to move in back your way. Be careful. Hope you have enough warm clothing and a warm sleeping bag. According to the weather channel, the fall foliage has already peaked in the northern great lakes and northern Maine and NH and VT. We're beginning to get color here but peak in CT is mid to late Oct, although I think there is always a lot of nice color into November.
When you get here, we have a good local garage in case your car needs a tune up.
Have fun!
Liz

2PM 10/2/2012
Liz:
I do have warm clothes and sleeping bag at the ready, and just rearranged my car to make it easier to just crawl into the back to sleep without having to pitch a tent and deal with the wind and rain - except - I don't yet have a good solution for keeping windows open a crack without rain getting in - probably will use duct tape to attach a "rain-flap" of some kind.

Forecast is saying most of the snow will be north of Yellowstone, so I think I'll just need to contend with some wind and cold & rain.  (Too bad... no really awsome picts of snow in Yellowstone as I had hoped.)  I probably will still head through there, assuming I can get confirmed that the fax I just sent to take care of some important business (loooong story, groan!!!) did indeed make it and is acceptable...  So at the moment I'm still stuck at the library in Bozeman north of Yellowstone.

RoadTrip: add visit Karen in MI to agenda. Bought new tires in Choteau between backpack trips into The Bob

8PM 9/25/2012
Hi Gary,
I'm at Bud's. Where are you and what have you seen?
Karen, my sister in Michigan said she hasn't heard from you yet. She's off work until November so you should really try to stop in. They will welcome you. Do you still have her phone and address? Let me know if you need it again.
Bud says when you come back you can stay with us if you want to. We can come and go whenever we want to for our travel pursuits. He says he might want to drive up to Alaska with his trailer in June. I had told him I was considering the ferry. Like driving up to Bellingham ... I want to see Mt. Baker and the Northern Cascade National Park on the way up.
...
Let me know what's going on!
Sandy

7PM 9/27/2012
Hi Sandy,
I'm back in Choteau after a nice 5-day backpack to the northern half of the "Chinese Wall" in the Bob Marshal wilderness just west of here.  Since the weather still keeps being "sunny" (though smoky as well most of the time) I may do another several day backpack to the southern portion of the wall starting from Augusta - the Benchmark trailhead, to be exact.  The southern portion seems to be the more popular destination.  I may just go as far as a prominent peak that has a good view of the wall - depending on time and weather.  

I decided I have to bite the bullet and get new tires. one of them is bald and the other three nearly so.  I got a quote from a shop in the Great falls area but decided to go with a local shop here in Choteau - he sells a tread design popular in this area with all the gravel roads - seems appropriate for me... ...and the price is slightly cheaper than the other quote.  I'm getting that done tomorrow afternoon.  Only wrinkle is I can't get an alignment done unless I wait a week - so - I may decide to do that later at some point - which works out with my budget constraints because that's an extra cost...  

So, I'll have limited funds for October for gas & food and my "lodging costs" will have to continue to be near-zero - not a problem so far as long as I stay away from towns.  Tonight, alas, is an exception - $15 for a campground right here in town, convenient since this library is open til 8 and the "tent-city" at the CG has power!!! (Sort of a hexagonal shed arrangement with a "counter-top" etc near the center and 6 "partitions" delineating the different camp-sites.  Also, I'll be doing laundry there (coin-operated - I've gotten to rinsing out  socks & such during my backpacks, but still find the machine and drier hard to wean myself from - along with occasional hot showers...

Anyway, approximately: $600 gone for tires. 1700 miles from here to Karen at $4/gallon and 22mpg on my subaru, or about $300 to drive straight here to Karen's - google maps says it would take 30hrs.  I had about $200 left over from last month so I have a "discretionary" $400 to spend in October.  Ordinarily about $300 of that would be food, but I still have a lot of uneaten food I've been carrying around.  so lets say $200 for more food leaving $200 worth of extra driving I could do.  That could get me back for a 2nd look at Yellowstone in autumn.  hmm...  Or, Michigan to Connecticut by end of October - that was my original commitment.

I don't believe it! several times now you've told me Karen's name, address, email, phone, etc but I STILL don't have her in my contact list, and apparently all of those times were verbally over the phone written down on random scraps of paper, because searching my emails I find NO mention in any of our email conversations of her contact info.  SORRY - all those times I've "intended" to add it to my contacts as soon as I get back to the computer, but alas, I haven't.  (Actually, I do have her phone#)  Would you please be so kind and tell me again - IN WRITING BY EMAIL all in one place - maybe even with an email subject like "Karen ____'s contact info", her full name, mailing address, phone, email.  Thanks.  <end melodrama>

Bud's offer and travel plans sure sound attractive at this time.  Hopefully things won't have soured too much between you and him between now and then! Be sure to be good to him!  

What's Peter up to these days?  Do you two have any travel plans upcoming?

7PM 9/26/2012
Hi Gary,
Glad to hear from you! Be sure and get out of the mountain area before it snows and blows.
Suprised you are still in Glacier area -- ya, it was my favorite of the parks too.
Bud and I get along great; he's positive and mellow.
I don't have any plans to travel with Peter. He's in Venezuela with a friend.

Karen & Michael info ... Manchester, MI
Take I-94 (I-80 turns into I-94 in Chicago) to Chelsea/Manchester exit. Go south until you get to a red light (about 10 miles), turn left that will be Pleasant Lake Rd.
When you get to Schnieder Rd. turn right (it's the only way you can turn) follow until you get to a stop sign with a stone church and graveyard. Just past that about half a mile, look for Bemis Rd. on your right. Follow along the dirt road through the woods and when you come to the top of the hill, turn left down the dirt driveway. If you pass a big beautiful white farm house on the right, you went to far -- that's Bob's house! Stop in and say "hi" to him and or Linda.
Sandy

Hi Sandy,
Thanks.  Finally added it to my contacts (also can search for it in my emails.)
Does Karen have an email address?

Now I'm off to get new tires. will be back in the library later this afternoon before heading south to Augusta and find a camping spot on the way to tomorrow's trailhead - hope to be backpacking again for a few more days.
Gary

I think Karen's email is ... but she responds better to phone since she isn't at work now.
Where is Augusta?
Sandy

3PM 9/30/2012
Hi Sandy & Karen?
Thanks for Karen's email address.  Unfortunately at the moment I've still had virtually no phone service using my providers (AT&T or TMobile) so I haven't had a reason to activate either of these pay-as-you-go plans. But that may change in about a week when I expect to be spending nearly full-time on the interstate heading to Michigan as fast as I can (Or so is my current intention, subject to getting way-laid by any compelling distraction along the way.)

First, though, I'm heading for a 2nd pass through Yellowstone, timed to coincide with the upcoming winter storm due to hit the Rockies this Tues-Fri (Oct 2-5.)  My plan is to enter at West Yellowstone and exit on one of the two east-bound roads.  Hope to have a look at some of the geysers with extra-large clouds of steam due to the cold weather, and if I'm lucky, snow on the ground or at least with snow-covered hills as backdrop. Hopefully it won't be too much snow to keep the roads closed for the season.  (I'll be researching the past history on winter closures etc while I'm here at the Library in Helena, MT.)

Then I plan to head straight east to Michigan.  I expect that'll take me at least 4 days (I guess I'm allowing for some detours to take a peek at on-the-way POI's and/or to find a "free" spot to overnight in some Nat. Forest or such.

Sandy, assuming Karen won't see this email for a while (or at all if the address isn't right)  would you please call her for me and tell her the gist of my plans to indeed come her way within the next two weeks, (and let me know whether this would or not inconvenience her at this time.   Thanks!

I think it would be nice to visit for maybe three days or so - see some things in the area, but I then want to also move on asap to my sister's in Connecticut (with only one specifically scheduled stop in Cleveland) though if I have time I would like to maybe veer north hugging the great lakes and northern NY into VT before turning south thru Mass into CT.

I'd be curious what the state of the autumn leaves are at this time - it's already past-prime as far as rthe aspens here in the Rockies, but that may precede the peak for eastern forests....

Karen, if you are reading this before I've managed to contact you more directly by phone, It's nice to have the opportunity to talk to you, and I'm looking forward to meeting you soon.
Thanks both,
Gary

6PM 10/1/2012
Hi Gar,
I left a message for Karen on her cell phone that you should be there in a few weeks.
...
Please be careful with the snow and road closures!! I know that Wyoming closes I-80 when snow hits and if you don't have chains you get a big fine if they catch you. The wind blows like a bastard through MT, WY and the Dakotas. I don't know about Nebraska or Iowa.
I'm gonna hike to see the tule elk with Darlene, Kathrin and other women tomorrow.
I booked a one month trip to Guatemala to study spanish and see the mayan ruins and such. I return on Thanksgiving day.
Sandy

RoadTrip: Back in the USA after Waterton. Eyeing the Chinese Wall in The Bob.

9PM 9/17/20112
After a few days of good hikes in Waterton, I made it back across the border with hours to spare before my deadline to leave Canada.  I asked whether I would have trouble reentering Canada later if I wanted to take the northern route around the great lakes and the guy said no, now that I have shown myself reliable, that would be in my favor.  Well, that's good to know!  hmmph!

Rather late at the moment here in Browning, Mt (the town on the Blackfeet Indian reservation with the internet access in the cafe' attached to the grocery store.) Got gas, food, have been researching access to the Chinese Wall part of the Bob Marshal Wilderness where I hope to head next (after maybe one more hike in Glacier Park.)  Have a roadside turnoff in mind back towards Glacier to overnight tonight.

Weather still holding up for "forseeable future" next 5 days, so I hope to get to "The Bob" within that timeframe.  Then I'll need to decide whether I start heading east or squeeze in some more Rockies, will probably go back through Yellowstone & the Tetons again, maybe visit the Library in Salt Lake City which I've read is awsome...  Probably that's as far as I go before heading east.  Colorado will have to wait...

RoadTrip: a week in the Crows Nest Pass & Castle Spcl Mgt areas, heading to Waterton

9PM 9/13/2012
Hello everyone,
I'm back in Pincher Creek, the town just nothnortheast of Waterton, after spending about a week in the Crows Nest Pass area and the Castle Special Management Area just northwest and west of Pincher creek.  Had a few very frosty mornings and some very blustery days, some hail & snow, with high's reportedly around 11c, but now it's warming up again, at least next day or so..

Wish I had enough time to sort thru some picts, but again, not this time...

Plan to spend a few more days in Waterton, then back into the US, to hang out some more in the rockies, at least while the weather is good..  Still uncertain when I'll be seriously heading east.  Probably in another dozen days.
Gary

RoadTrip: been in the Crowsnest Pass Area, heading back to Waterton, then US

6PM 9/10/2012
Hi Gary,
I'm in Port Townsend on the Olympic Penninsula right now.
They don't have a card reader so I can't send photos.
I loved Mt. Rainier and also went to Mt. St. Helens.
Where are you?  Hope you are safe and having fun!
Sandy

4PM 9/12/2012
Hi Sandy,
I've been hanging out in the Crowsnest Pass area in the Canadian Rockies north of Waterton,  Today I think I'm heading back to Waterton for a few days before crossing back into the US.

Hopefully I'll be let back into the US!

Into Canada I got a bit hassled, they searched my car.  The guy said they were concerned because I was "rootless" (no obligations that would keep me from potentially staying in Canada.)  They gave me a special certificate that said I could not take a job or go to school here, and I would have to leave within 10 days, which is 5 days from now.

Sheesh!

After you headed west, I stayed in the Many Glacier area a few more days, doing all the hikes as far as I could in one day - to two of the same passes as I did from the Going to the Sun road, and Redrock Pass that is further west on the ridge as the "tunnel" (forget the name) towards Lk Elizabeth.

When I get back into the US I'll probably spend a few more days in Glacier then head a bit south into the Bob Marshall Wilderness hopefully doing a two to four day backpack along the "Chinese Wall" that's supposed to be a spectacular part of the Continental Divide Trail.

Then I'll have to decide whether I have time to head south again into Colorado or start heading east.   I suspect I will have to go east.
Gary

10AM 9/20/2012
Hi gar bear,
I am using a touch screen at bend Oregon visitor center.
Looking at the town as place to settle some point.
Canada sucks at the border. They hasseled me, too.
I just finished circumnavigating the Olympic peninsula.
More later and photos.
Sandy