2005's Trip WEST, a 4300 mile odyssey.

Wall Drug was the first stop 850 long miles from Chicago. We may be too old to travel that far in a day, but Wall, South Dakota is such a wonderful place to stop. Then it was on to Helena, Montana to visit Sandee's Mom and her brother & his wife.  Two days resting there prepared us for six days at Woods Bay on Flathead lake celebrating a 93rd birthday and a gathering of the "usual suspects." The rainbow indicates the pot of gold is in Lakeside, MT on the west shore of the lake, but we know better.

 

The Billings MT welcome center had this great sculpture display and Sandee spotted the Lewis & Clark depiction from the
interstate as we were pulling into Bismarck ND for the evening.

    

After  three days practice with Mac's new GPS device/toy and a stop with the Meyers of Pequot Lake MN we successfully
found our way to Grand Island, MI off the south east shore of Lake Superior.  The island is almost the size of Manhattan Island NY, but has only 14 residences with the land now owned by the US Forest Service.  Only island residents may have autos on the island so daily ferry service back and forth is provided by a pontoon boat. Connie & Hobby Beich were our hosts and their lakeside guest cottage was about as close to Lake Superior as is prudent.

 

 

 

Leaving Grand Island, MI we traveled south along the western shore of Lake Michigan through Green Bay, WI and out to the tip of Door County WI for the ferry across to Washington Island WI.  The Salemmes have owned a home there for the last
twelve years and it had been fifteen years since we had been to the island with them. There is a car/passenger ferry which made
the passage much easier as we could take everything and not have to try and figure out what we needed and could carry.